Code Blue... and Brown: Myles' Bedroom

 
Before Myles had even turned one year old, he lived in 4 different houses. I had set his nursery up in our house during my nesting phase. I really enjoyed putting it together, but since I knew we were going to be moving soon after he was born, I didn't do as much as I wanted. No paint on the walls and not as many DIYs as my little heart desired. But it had enough personal touches to make it feel like a true nursery.

When Myles was 4 months old, we decided to move into Mark's duplex. We had begun thinking about California, so we were trying not to spend unnecessary money on rent anymore. We were living in a mansion compared to the duplex apartment. The kitchen is the size of a bathroom, the closets are about 3-feet wide/deep, and there wasn't even enough space for all the nursery furniture to fit into one room. It was only a temporary situation, but it was quite intense and my anxiety was at an all time high. I didn't even think about wasting my time decorating his 'nursery' there.  

We were there for about a month, we I couldn't take it anymore. It wasn't only the apartment; that was really just the straw that broke the camels my back. Not anything to get into now, but the point being that Myles and I went to live with my parents for a while. My intentions were for our stay to last a couple months tops, but we ended up staying until we moved out to California. So for 5 months, Myles and I somehow managed to live together in one room. At the time organization and space were the last things on my mind. I was just happy to be with family and have the extra help.

In July, we shipped ourselves out of Illinois and landed in the beautiful state of California. We are still renting, so I still haven't gotten to really go all out on the decorating, but I have tried to make this our home for now. I kept the color scheme and most of the decor from the first nursery I put together. I haven't really added anything because he will be transitioning into a big boy bed/bedroom soon. I can't wait to put that all together! But for now here is his room:

*Sorry for the poor quality of pictures; the lighting is not conducive to picture taking because I have black-out curtains and only one small lamp.*  

This is our reading/nursing nook. Every night, as part of our nighttime routine, Myles gets a story read to him. Then it's lights out and I nurse him until he is relaxed and drowsy. 

The three frames were a gift from my baby shower. They have classic nursery rhythms printed on them. I'm not the biggest fan of the chair... Can we say early 90s much?!? But it was a cheap find on Craigslist and it is actually very comfortable. 
 Book Rack: Winsome Wood Magazine Rack, Espresso
Comforter: Blue and Brown Geometric 9pc Crib Set by Sweet Jojo Designs

Valance: Blue and Brown Geometric 9pc Crib Set by Sweet Jojo Designs
Room-Darkening Curtains: These curtains have done wonders for Myles and his sleep. When I used to lay him down at night, he would cry because he would see me walk out. Now it is literally pitch black in his room with these curtains and he has learned that dark means sleep. So far he is not afraid of the dark, but I am sure at some point he will be. We will probably get him a little nightlight if he ever needs it. But if you are having trouble with your little one sleeping, I would totally recommend giving these curtains a try!

Dresser: bought used from a friend (JC Penny)
I sewed some blue fabric together and laid it over the dresser to hide the couple of scratches on the top.
Mirror: Bed, Bath, and Beyond (years ago) I spray painted it dark brown
His sound machine and baby monitor are in the right corner, covered by some frames.
Frames were bought at Dollar Tree. The lamp was bought at a secondhand store. I painted it to match the bedding. I used rectangle-shaped stencils to draw out the pattern. Then I just painted all the rectangles with different blues and a dark brown. 

Changing Table: Graco Lauren Dressing Table, Espresso
 Small Navy Blue Bins
Light Blue Bins: Badger brand, but I can't find the pack that I ordered anymore
Giraffe Canvas: Gordman's
Pillow: Blue and Brown Geometric 9pc Crib Set by Sweet Jojo Designs
Picture Frames: Dollar Tree

I put this picture gallery wall together for under $10. The frames came from Dollar Tree and the prints were less than $1. And the ultrasound pictures were free! Well.... not really.. they were probably the most expensive item in the nursery ;) Good thing I had insurance! The top four pictures are from baby Myles in the womb, from 10 weeks to 30 weeks. The left two are from our gender reveal pictures and the right two are from Myles' first minutes here on Earth. This is probably my favorite part of his room; looking at those pictures never gets old.

And finally, where my little sweetheart lays his head at night :)


Crib: Graco Lauren Convertible Crib, Espresso  
Bedding: Blue and Brown Geometric 9pc Crib Set by Sweet Jojo Designs



Okay... maybe I have a tie for my favorite part of his room. This was a DIY project I did while pregnant. I knew for a while that I wanted to put this saying in the room somewhere, but I just didn't know how. This saying was something my dad used to always tell me... always.. it instantly brings a smile to my face whenever I see or hear it. I hope that Myles will one day feel the same way. 
Although it's not perfect. I am happy with how it turned out. I bought four canvases from Walmart and spray painted them dark brown. Then I used letter stencils to write out the words. I then painted all the letters with 4 different shades of blue. I had to do 3-4 coats of paint for each letter, so this took me a long time! I added some stickers and a few pictures of our family; one from 7 weeks, one from 8 months, and one from his 1st birthday party.... 
"I love you more today than yesterday, but not as much as tomorrow" 

Thanks so much for stopping by and checking out his room! I can't wait to start on his big boy room!

Are any of you transitioning to a big bed/bedroom soon? Are you putting a decor theme together? What are your ideas? I would love to know!

   

Pregnancy IV: Gender and Baby Shower

On to Part IV... if you missed the previous, read them here, here and here. 

     From the very first moment I found out I was pregnant, I was hoping for a boy. I guess this was for a couple reasons. One being that growing up I spent a lot of time with my much younger sibling (11 1/2 year difference), who happened to be a boy. He was my sidekick and we were together ALL of the time. I watched him grow and learn, eat and play; we had a very strong bond. So raising a boy is what I know most about. Two, growing up and still for the most part now, I was never very 'girly.' And although not a total tomboy either, I certainly never cared too much about what girls are 'supposed' to care about. I only ever played with Barbies because I liked building their houses. My true love was Legos. I never actually played with them though, I would just build them and set them up on my Lego land table. I was never into dress up or princess type stuff; if I was allowed to dress myself I would just grab two random things out of my closet and run off to go play. I also loved getting dirty. I used to love riding my bike through the potholes in the ally after it rained. Anywho..... point being I am way more comfortable with boys and boy stuff. I was scared to have a girl because I don't know anything about how to raise one. Girl babies are supposed to be dressed up all cute with bows and ribbons and pink (blah!) and I am just not into those things. I felt like I wouldn't be giving her a true girl experience if I didn't make her all 'girly.' I really worried that I wouldn't be the mom I should be to a girl because I didn't know how. And I really wouldn't want to rob her of being a true girl just because I didn't like those things. Luckily, my mom knocked some sense into me with some great advice that it would all work out as long as LOVE always comes first. What a smart mom huh? Not sure what I would do without that woman. I knew that I would love my baby no matter what the gender, but if I had a choice I still wanted a boy.

    During the first few months of my pregnancy everything pointed towards us having a girl. I was pretty positive I was having a girl for several reasons:

1. Early on every dream I had about the baby it was a girl
2. Most of the old wives tales indicated girl:
1. Baby had a high heart rate 
2. Dad gained weight 
3. Craving more sweet things (RED MANGO!!!) 
4. Stealing my beauty.. duh blaming that one on the growing fetus inside me
5. Preferring to lay on right side
6. Mood swings.. also blaming this one on that fetus
7. Carrying baby weight all over mid-section 
3. Chinese gender predictor chart said girl; try here to see if it was right for you
4. Since I was scared to have a girl (as explained above), I figured that's what I would have so that I would be shown that I could raise a girl perfectly fine.

    My mom and step-dad had been encouraging us to not find out. It would probably be the biggest rush and most exciting thrill to be surprised by the gender at birth. Ideally, I would have loved to have waited, but in reality I knew that my OCD and anxiety wouldn't have allowed it. So we had planned to find out at our 20 week anatomy ultrasound. The ultrasound tech began by showing us all of the organs e.g., heart, brain, stomach, liver, lungs. I loved being able to actually SEE the little heart beating. She took pictures of everything she could and then asked if we wanted to know the gender. I hesitated because I knew that once I said yes, there was no going back... but then I jumped back into reality... duh... of course I wanted to know!! So she moved her wand to check it out and low and behold... the little stinker had its legs crossed!! No big deal... right... just move around a little bit... push on the stomach a little bit... I mean it can't keep its legs crossed forever.... can it? 

  Well I found out that the answer to that question is yes... well maybe not forever, but as long as my ultrasound took. However, the tech did say that she was pretty certain it was a girl because although the legs were crossed, she didn't see and boy parts sticking out. So at that point we were pretty convinced we were having a girl. We starting making a baby girl name list and encouraging each other that we would do just fine raising a girl; we realized that if God wanted us to have a girl, he would give us the love and wisdom to raise her the best possible way.

  Maybe I should have taken it as some sort of sign that we weren't able to find out the sex at the 20 weeks ultrasound; maybe that sign was that we should listen to my parents and not find out. Maybe.... but then the tech told me that she wasn't able to get all of the heart pictures she needed so we would have to get another ultrasound in a couple weeks. If that was to test my willpower against temptation.... I clearly FAILED, because at that second ultrasound at 24 weeks I again said yes when she asked if we wanted to know the gender... and this time I had no hesitation. The build-up of having the ultrasound, not knowing 100%, and then waiting another four weeks was just too much. Naturally, during that four week waiting period, I did a lot of gender ultrasound picture "research." I could have probably gotten my ultrasound tech certification for all the hours I logged. Point being, I knew exactly what the girl and boy parts looked like in an ultrasound picture. So when she put that wand on my belly and I looked over at the screen, I knew in an instant what I was looking at! I knew Mark didn't have a clue what he was looking at, but I didn't say anything; I wanted to see his reaction when she said "It's a boy!" I think we were both shocked, really shocked at first. We had a hard time actually believing it.
    Over the next couple of days as it began to set in, we grew more and more excited. So it was complete torture to have to wait to tell everyone until the weekend. I wanted to wait because I had had plans to take gender announcement pictures and didn't have time to take them until Saturday morning. So that morning Mark and I went out into our backyard for a little amateur photo shoot; just him and I and an iPhone. That night we told our parents, and then the rest of the internet world with these pictures: 

  I had my baby shower in June at about 32 weeks. I decided I wanted to have just one big shower for all family and friends: we invited people from my mom's side of the family, my dad's, my step-dad's, Mark's side, and our friends. I went with a green and brown jungle theme. I thought it would be really cute and I had originally wanted to do his room in that theme. Unfortunately, I really didn't get a lot of pictures from the shower, but here are a few. 





The sitting tables had brown table cloths with palm tree center pieces, confetti, and streamers. The food tables had green table cloths and brown 'dirt' (the paper grass used for baskets). My mom and aunts made all the food and my cousin made cupcakes. I don't have a picture but it looked super cute and all tasted delicious.













My mom made these party favors: trail mix inside of the blue bag tied with blue ribbon. I wish I would have taken a picture of the gift table. I was so blessed with all the gifts for Myles. He was so spoiled with lots of cute clothes, blankets, pacifiers, diapers, wipes, a tub, toys, and LOTS of books (per my request).











This was the front entrance table. I framed a few pictures: the first is Mark when he was little, the second is me when I was little, the third is a picture from the gender reveal, and the last one is two ultrasound pictures of Myles at 20 weeks. We also did a door prize where everyone that came put their birthday on a piece of paper (shown in the picture) and whoever had a birthday closest to Myles' due date won. Mark's grandma won for closet before in July and my friend Katie won for closest after on September 5th.







 








We also had everyone decorate a plain white onesie for Myles. My step-dad cut out cardboard to put in between the layers of fabric so they wouldn't stick together and then people used fabric paint to make a custom onesie just for baby boy. I made the sign that said "Please show baby Ham how much you care, make him a onesie he will love to wear" and credit for the baby drawing goes to Mark. I hung a couple in his nursery and kept the rest for keepsakes.

Here is me opening a present. It took a long time to open them all and at 32 weeks, I was definitely tired after all that. While opening presents we played present Bingo. I made Bingo cards for everyone that had different types of gifts that are typically given at a baby shower.  Every time I opened something on the card guests marked it off, then when someone got a Bingo, they won a prize. I liked it because it kept people entertained while I opened gifts. We also played a "Price Is Right" style game in which people had to guess the price of certain baby items like diapers, wipes, onesies, soap, etc. The last game we played went with the jungle theme. I made a list of animals and people had to match them with the female, male, and baby name of that certain animal, e.g. Deer would be matched with doe, buck, and fawn. Unfortunately, that one was not very fair because I had a guest that was in Vet tech school at the time (I did not know this though lol).

             A few shots of Mark and I                                   My mother and I

This is one of the invitations my very talented aunt made

All in all I had a great shower. So many people came out to celebrate and love on Myles. To know that he was so loved even before he was born brought (and still brings) so much joy to my heart. More than anything else in the world, I want Myles to know how much he is truly, honestly, and deeply loved. One day I will show him this and he will see that from the very day we knew of his existence he took over our hearts in such a way that we would never be the same. Even as I am sitting here writing this and he is sleeping in his crib 5 feet away from me, I can't imagine how I could possibly love him any more; and yet when we wake in the morning I somehow love him more! My father and I had a special bond over something he would always say to me and now I will pass it on to Myles:

"I love you more today than yesterday, but not as much as tomorrow."

My words to love by