Sunday, April 22, 2012

Due dates mean nothing to Eliza!

Well dear friends. I am still pregnant.

Colton was 5-8 days early (depending on which due date you agree with.. the one my MO dr. gave me and I had for the first 8 months of my pregnancy, or the one my NC dr. gave me, and I had for the last couple months. They couldn't agree!) Either way - he surprised us early one Saturday morning and decided to get the show on the road. He wanted out, so he (in my opinion) punched hard enough to break my water. And I was so grateful! I didn't want to wait another day to meet him, and apparently he didn't want to wait either!

Since he was a week early, everyone told me my second child would be a bit earlier. I was very okay with that - and even expecting it. But the days have been ticking by and all of a sudden I am PAST my due date. Sigh. Every day my belly expands a bit more, and I can just see my stretch marks getting darker. (This may be an illusion. I'll have to let you know after she's born!) Every day it gets a little bit harder and harder for me to get on and off the floor to play with my sweet boy. Every day I am just a little bit more uncomfortable than the day before. The hardest part though is just how much I want to play with Colton and do all the things we had been doing even just a few weeks before, that have become very difficult for me. He LOVES wagon rides, and we used to take wagon rides down the street and back very often, then end up in the backyard to climb around on the play house, throw balls, run, splash in the water table, etc. Unfortunately, after pulling that cute little chunker (This boy is 30lbs last I checked!) around the street, when we get back my feet and ankles are so swollen I have to sit and just watch him play in the yard, with my feet propped up. It's not as fun that is for sure!

Picking up toys = difficult. But this has been good because I was super motivated to teach Colton to pick up toys, and he has gotten so good at it! He always needs prompting, and rarely initiates "clean up time," but when I tell him it's time to "play clean up" he knows what that means and he runs around the living room grabbing the different toys and putting them in the correct bins! Oh it's so nice! He is easily distracted, but as long as I am right there next to the toy bins, saying "pick up all the cars!", then "pick up all the blocks!" repeatedly, he does really good. Sigh.. my boy is getting so big. (He thinks clean up time is a game. Please nobody tell him that it isn't!)

So every day I ask God for TODAY to be Eliza's birthday. For some reason, his answer has always been "not yet." I don't understand why. I don't know if He is trying to teach me something (patience?!) or give me more individual time with Colton, but I am trying and trying to enjoy these last few days of being a family of 3 instead of 4.

I am just so anxious!!!!

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Eliza's Nursery

I have spent a lot of time googling, pinteresting (can pinterest be a verb yet?), dreaming, and creating for Eliza's nursery. The walls had already been painted pink with a dark pink trim when we moved in, and we made the decision not to paint them if we have a girl. The ceilings are 10' tall, so painting would be a bit more of a chore than usual! And so, after much time and energy (and less $ than I thought it would be!) here is a mini-reveal of what I have been doing to her room. More photos to come later :)

These letters are purchased unfinished from Hobby Lobby, painted white, and hung from ribbons. 
I made these cute little flowers out of the left-over material from her bed skirt and added them to each letter. I think it added a bit more of a personal touch to her name. 
This is Eliza's crib. It is the same crib we used for Colton, except this time we decided we were not going to spend the same ridiculous amount we did on Colton's bedding set, when he barely used it. And so, we are using this sage green crib sheet, as we already had 2 of them from Colton's nursery. We also had two sky blue ones, so he still has two sheets. I think it will work out just fine. :) I picked out this fabric online and hoped the colors were the same as I could see on my screen. LUCKILY they were! My mom helped me make ruffled crib skirt. We decided to only do 3 sides, since nobody will ever see the side against the wall. I think it turned out great! I love it!
I chose to use the base of the mobile from Colton's crib skirt, and just change out the danglies (what are they actually called? Stuffies?) Colton's set had two ships and two whales. I decided to attempt to make four birdies out of this cute fat quarter bundle. I think they turned out really cute! And they were the first stuffies I have ever attempted. :)
This is the large window in her room. We purchased these black-out curtains (My one actual splurge! But I used a gift card... so not actually a splurge..) and my mom helped make the inner curtains out of a fabric I chose online. I really really love the way it turned out. The next picture shows a closeup of the curtains so you can see the fabric better. The danglies in the window I also made - but I have close up photos of those down the post a bit :)
A close up of the curtain fabric. I was afraid it would be too much pink, but it actually helps balance it out since it's more of a patterned pink. It definitely takes away from the pepto bismol feel of the room :)
Here are the window danglies! A good friend helped me with all of the birdies, we came up with a pattern and traced it onto all the different colors of card stock and cut them out, adding the wings, beaks, and eyes. Whew was it time-consuming! Then I made these cute flowers to add in and add more color. 
These are the flowers on the window danglies. The crystals hanging from the fishing wire cast prisms around the room in the morning when the sun shines in. It's actually really pretty!
Next photo of these! It was so hard to capture what these look like with the window being behind. Back-lit photos just don't work for this!
Brad and I used some pinspiration and made this adorable bow holder/headband holder  for her. I think it turned out so adorable! We have plenty more space for her hair collection to grow! :)
And this is the lamp I had when I was tiny. My grandma gave it to me one year. The lampshade was in pretty bad shape, but the base is the real beauty of it! I love the clear glass, with an etched design. It's so feminine and perfect! Since it needed a new shade, my mom and I found one at good ol' hobby lobby, and then found this white ruffle fabric. My mom took this project on for me while visiting (THANKS MOM!) with only a little bit of help from me. I love the way it turned out, and clipping this adorable bright flower onto it just puts the finishing touches on!
Well? What do you all think? I will add a few more "finished room" pics to my blog in a day or two..and if I get REAL adventurous I might put a tutorial or two of the different things we made. (If there's something in particular you'd like to see a tutorial of, please let me know!)