Pinspiring Friday!

     I finally finished Owen's shadowbox of newborn memorabilia today. I am really happy with how it turned out. Tim helped me a lot when it came to laying out all the items because I had a hard time figuring out how to fit them all in. That whole thing about guys have better spatial skills is totally true. We hung it in Owen's bedroom above his rocking chair so now all of the walls in his room have something on them. I was able to fit in a picture of Owen, the identification card from his hospital isolet, his blood pressure cuff, his newborn hat and socks, his footprints, his measuring tape, his pacifier, and all of our hospital bracelets (we had five in all).

Here's the finished product!

The new view of his room from the door. Now I just need to finally get some curtains!

Now it's hanging above the reading nook.

Owen's Nursery Reveal

     I'm finally ready to reveal Owen's nursery. I know this is a little late coming, but we had Owen's furniture delivered not too long ago and we finally hung up all the art we have for the walls just a few weeks ago. I really love how the nursery turned out. There are still a few things that I would like to add to it, including curtains and a bookcase, but it is mostly done. It is my favorite room in the house. I remember before Owen was born I would peek in there about three or four times daily just to imagine what it would be like to have a baby in there. It is such a special room and I hope that Owen enjoys playing in it for however long we live in this house.

      
     This is the view of Owen's room from the doorway. I would like to add curtains to the window to maybe bring out some more blue. Also, because the sun starts coming up here around four in the morning and sets after nine, so it's tough convincing Owen that it's time to go to sleep for the night when the sun is still out. 

This is the complete view of the right side of the room.

This is the chair that I rock Owen in to get him to sleep for most of his naps. Next to it is his basket of books for reading time. We need to get him a bookcase soon because he now has more books than will fit in the basket.

This is a complete view of the left side of the room.

Here is a close-up of his bedding.

This is an elephant embroidered on his quilt.

Just in case we forget whose room it is.

Nursery progress

     We are slowly, but surely making progress in the baby’s nursery. We’re still waiting on the crib and changing table to come in, so we’ve been working on organizing the closet and getting things put away so that when the furniture comes in, we can finish decorating and everything quickly. Here is a picture of the crib. We ended up ordering a different one than we previously planned because we wanted a crib that looked a little more masculine. We also ordered the dresser which appears on the far right in this picture, though we didn't buy the hutch that they have on it in the photo. 

And here is the bedding again, in case you had forgotten. My grandma who passed away recently bought it for me in December. It is going to be such a sweet reminder of her every day when I go into the baby's room. 

     So far, we have painted the nursery light green to match the bedding (Pottery Barn Kids Eli Elephant) and Tim installed some shelving in the closet to better utilize the space. I have been washing and putting away baby clothes (and blankets and bibs and towels and socks and etc., etc., etc…) I also bought some wicker baskets to store baby stuff neatly. So far, the four baskets contain baby socks, blankets, bibs, and toys.

 Here's a picture of the baby's closet. The other side of the closet has more hangers for clothes we get in the future. It doesn't have any shelving. We'll put something tall on that side, like a clothes hamper. 

 This kid has a pretty nice wardrobe so far. We have outfits in sizes newborn-12 months. Hopefully he won't outgrow everything too fast. 

 I love these baskets. They are so useful for storing little things. 

     We also recently bought some cute elephant print art prints on Etsy. I think they are really cute and continue the elephant theme from the bedding. I'm thinking that I will frame them in white and hang them above the changing table. Here they are:

     We also have a painting by Tim's cousin Katie for the nursery, but I'm trying to come up with a few more ideas for wall decorations, especially something for above the crib. I was thinking of trying something crafty myself, but we'll see if that actually happens. I'm also thinking about curtains and perhaps a rug. We'll see.... there's not much time left!

Our little blessing at 29 weeks

     The pregnancy is progressing as it should according to my doctor's appointment last Wednesday. They weighed and measured me and listened to the baby's heartbeat. It was a strong 148 beats per minute. I met another doctor from the practice and we bonded over our southern roots and our craving for Chick-Fil-A. I also was tested for gestational diabetes. The doctor mailed the results to me and I found out today that I tested within the normal range. So yay, no gestational diabetes for me! Anyway, my next appointment is in mid-February, so I'll have another update then. 

How far along? 29 weeks, 3 days

Baby’s size? The baby is the size of a butternut squash (about 2.5 pounds and 15 inches long). His muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and his head is growing bigger to make room for his developing brain. To meet his increasing nutritional demands, I'll need plenty of protein, vitamin C, folic acid, and iron. And because his bones are soaking up lots of calcium, be sure to drink your milk (or find another good source of calcium, such as cheese, yogurt, or enriched orange juice). This trimester, about 250 milligrams of calcium are deposited in your baby's hardening skeleton each day. No problem. I have had about a gallon and a half of milk this week, not to mention some yogurt.

Sleep? Sleep is good.

Food cravings? Milk. (We’ve gone through more than two gallons in the week and a few days we’ve been in the new house). Fruit, especially citrus and apples. And perhaps a chili dog from Sonic. Guess which ones are probably what the baby wants and which one is me…

Food aversions? Nothing really.

Symptoms: Mainly just some back pain in the evenings. And I’m starting to get the first trimester fatigue feeling back.

Best moment this week? This was just a funny moment that happened this week. Tim and I had finished eating dinner and were watching TV in the living room. He had his hand resting on my belly in case the baby moved and I was hinting for the tenth time how much I was wanting some ice cream. So I look down at my stomach and ask, “Do you want Daddy to get us some ice cream?” And right after I asked, the baby kicked really hard right under Tim’s hand. Needless to say, somebody made a late night trip to the grocery store. 

Movement?  Lots of movement. Generally in the early morning and late evening. And after I’ve eaten.

What I miss about not being pregnant? Nothing.

What I’m looking forward to? Picking out decorations to complete the baby’s room. We painted the nursery this weekend. It turned out so cute. I peek in there several times a day. We painted the room using Olympic zero-VOC, low-odor paint. The color is called Quaking Grass and matches really well with our Pottery Barn Kids Eli Elephant bedding. 

     We spent last week taping off the doors, window, ceiling, and floorboards and painted the room on Saturday. Tim did a few touch-ups on Sunday and now the room is completely painted and ready for furniture, wall decor, curtains, etc. The furniture is still going to take at least another month to come in (boo!), but once it does come in, we can move it in right away and hopefully get the nursery all set before little mister comes. 

Here are our painting supplies that we picked up from Lowe's the night before. 

My master painter at work. Tim was really gung-ho about painting the nursery. It's really sweet to see him excited about preparing a place for the baby. 

The nursery

     Tim and I have been looking at cribs and nursery bedding since we found out we were pregnant. This last week while we were in Athens visiting for Thanksgiving, we found the crib and dresser that we want. And we've also decided which nursery bedding we'd like. We have to wait to order the crib and dresser until after we've moved, and we haven't ordered any of the bedding yet either. I'm glad we finally made a decision. 

  Here is the crib with the dresser (though we don't plan to buy the hutch attached to the dresser). It's made by Bona Vita and is called Hudson. We like it best in the chocolate color. It's a convertible crib, meaning it can be turned into a toddler bed, a daybed, and finally, a full size bed. I also like it because it looks masculine enough, but not too much that we couldn't use it in the future for a little girl if we decided to.

This is the bedding we've decided on. It is from Pottery Barn Kids. It is called Eli's Elephant. I really like elephants, but I'm not a big fan of really big cartoon-looking bedding for nurseries. This one is a little more simple and classic, I think. And I love the combination of blue and green.

Here is a close-up of the design on the bedding. 

And last, but not least, here is the matching crib mobile. I think it is really cute. The other thing I like about the mobile is that it plays Henry Mancini's jazz piece "Baby Elephant Walk."

Pottery Barn no longer carries the matching rug and window valance, but I think not having everything matching perfectly will keep the nursery from looking too theme-y. What do you think about our choices?