Baby Girl Nursery Planning

With our newest family member arriving in August, it's time to get serious about nursery planning!

Prior to having children I was always like "Why can't people get their nurseries done before baby arrives? You've got 9 months people."  Oh, naive non-mother Michelle.  What I didn't realize is that you feel like garbage the first 3 months. You spend the next 3 months getting your life back in order. Then you're like "HOLY COW. A baby is arriving in 3 months."  The latter is where we're currently at.

I had high hopes of being almost done with the nursery by now but babies have a way of showing you who is boss even before they arrive. I've had to move much slower this pregnancy than I did with Clark. I don't exactly handle moving slowly well but it's at least given me time to really think about the nursery plan.

My former craft room is being converted into the nursery. 

I've been receiving two questions: 

1. Am I keeping the chevron? 2. Are you sad to see your craft room go?

Answers:

1. Nope. I'm over the chevron. Good-bye. Interestingly enough we started repainting this room 5 years to the day that I started stenciling the chevron wall. It had a good run. It really would be easier to just plop a crib and dresser in here but you all know I can't do that. I must make things a challenge!

2. Honestly, I'm so excited for this baby and let's be real, my crafting time is limited these days. The only thing I was sad to see go was the green buffet but my brother adopted it which helped ease my pain!  I'm still debating keeping the button art above the crib (firmly secured, of course).  I packed up the items that I actually use and they are being stored in our basement guest closet. I donated the rest. It was nice to go through this room with a purpose and free myself of the items I will never use.

Next up, the plan.

The walls that were formerly grey have now been painted Privilege Green by Sherwin Williams.

The chevron wall will be covered in ivy wallpaper from B Darling Decor. I was debating between wallpaper and shiplap. Nate was totally against wallpaper at first but he was okay with shiplap. I sold him with the fact that the wallpaper is removable so if our darling daughter hates it 10 years from now, it'll be much easier to remove than shiplap.  (Also, sort of over shiplap. Say what?) 

The plan is to accent the grey/black/white with blush/rose. I purchased some inexpensive blush blackout curtains at Kohls. (Blackout curtains are one of my most recommended baby products! Because sleep.) I found the most perfect blush ottoman for under $20 at a local antique store. (Disclaimer: The wall color doesn't look accurate in the photo below.)

The ottoman will be paired with a rocker. I think we've settled on this one from Amazon.

We are debating between quality furniture and IKEA for the dresser.  We have really been focused on purchasing higher quality items but I think IKEA is going to win. Because children.

I'm still working on the finer details (where I always struggle).  I have purchased this stupid cute rabbit print and fun wooden camera. I still need crib sheets and a changing pad cover. More art work. Shelving. You know, necessities for a baby.

We'll be transitioning Clark (see his nursery here and here) to a twin bed and the baby will get his crib.  Wish us luck on that transition!

Nate and I are both motivated to get this going before July so I'll keep you updated!

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Big Brothers

Clark and Ike have some big news!

I shared our announcement on Instagram last week but figured I'd make it blog official for those of you who don't 'gram.

Clark and Ike are getting a baby sister and she's scheduled to join our family mid-August! We're all incredibly excited. 

Okay, Ike has no clue what's going on.  He's probably going to be angry with us again once he figures out what's going on.  He's still not so keen on Clark living with us. He tolerates Clark and is surprisingly patient with him, he just prefers when Clark is napping or visiting his grandparents.  

Clark is beyond excited.  He's setting things aside for baby sister to have (old sunglasses, shoes, toys etc).  He's telling everyone that "baby Sister in Mama's tummy".  We obviously held off on telling him until we were ready to tell the rest of the world. :) He does firmly state she will need to get her own bed though.  Looks like our plans for a crib to bed transition may be put on hold. 

Nate and I are super thankful to be adding to our family. We're also questioning our ability to handle a 3rd child (the dog is literally more work than the toddler). Our first hope is that she's healthy. Our second is that she takes after Nate.  Clark is 99.878% my mini.  Neither one us are equipped to deal with another Michelle.  I should be offended by this but I'm not.

I'm hoping to get back to blogging now that the first trimester exhaustion is starting to lift. We have a big basement project that we've completed along with some smaller side projects that have updated our now almost 10 year old home (how did that happen???).  There will also, obviously, be nursery planning and Summer adventures ahead.  Thanks for sticking with us!

Simple Curious George Birthday Party

I've never really understood time but even more so with a kid. Like somehow I turned 35 for the second time yesterday.  How does that work? Let's not talk about it.  Let's talk instead about how my kid is growing up too fast. He's already days shy of two and a half and I'm just now getting around to posting his Curious George themed second birthday party today.

The theme was fairly easy to decide on.  Clark is obsessed with "Ooo Ooo George" books.  He had a few handed down from cousins and he now knows where they are at in the library.  I personally think the monkey is kind of a brat. I mean he's always getting into trouble and then comes out a hero. What kind of lessons are we teaching here?  I digress.  

I also struggle with character stuff. (Yep, one of those Moms.)  I tried to balance Clark's love of George and my need for cute. I think we did okay.

It's easy to get caught up in the need to throw the MOST PINTEREST WORTHY PARTY EVER!  Luckily I have Nate to keep my crazy in check.  We decided to keep things simple and kept it to Clark's favorites: his favorite people, cake, cookies, pizza, and balloons.  Boom. Party complete.

To keep the party from screaming Curious George, I let George be the star of the desserts but went with polka dot plates and napkins. A "two" balloon paired with some primary colored balloons rounded out the decor.

We weren't running around like crazy (ahem, his first birthday party). I made the cake (with close supervision from my mother-in-law) and the cookies the day before.  (Clark is seriously still talking about these cookies.  He wants to have George cookies for every celebration. Halloween. Christmas. Valentine's Day. My birthday.) We ordered pizza for supper.  Easy peasy.

The house was filled with balloons.  They were literally EVERYWHERE.  The kids had a blast.  I mean, balloons. Cheapest entertainment ever.

Clark opened presents, sang himself happy birthday and went to town on his cake.  He's my favorite.

Also, I NEED to tell you all about my most favorite baby/toddler product ever.  See that cute outfit up there?  You know how you keep that outfit cute with cake and ice cream (besides removing said outfit)? These sleeved bibs!  We own like 5 of them. Okay, maybe 7 (1 in the diaper bag, 1 in the car). They are amazing. We've used them since we introduced solids and they are all still in great shape after multiple washings.  It's a shame they didn't have a George one!  But we do have a Nintendo one that is pretty amazing.

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