Baby James' Nursery!

Well, I'm back with another post in the same week! Oh my, things are getting crazy around here waiting for Baby James to arrive. Thanks for so many encouragements on keeping this blogging thing going. It really is fun to share and document life.

I have had so much fun decorating a nursery for a baby BOY... for our Sweet Baby James. His room makes me happy, and Caroline's new big girl room {which is still a work in progress!} makes me smile too because she is loving the little details and the big girl bed. More on that to come...

For now here are a few pictures of our little man's room:

The walls in this room were already yellow, and I loved the subtle creamy color... so it stayed. Jay was happy to not need to re-paint anything. 

 I added blues and natural colors and lots of burlap to the room. 

All of the art work for the walls were either gifts or things I made, which was important to me because I wanted to re-use as much as possible and keep things simple, in-expensive, and sentimental. 

 This is the same changing table from Caroline's nursery. Its my favorite because it is just a fun old dry sink from an antique store that worked perfectly for Caroline. I did purchase new baskets in blue and white polka dot and burlap from hobby lobby. 

Jay picked up this wooden cross on a trip to Texas back in January specifically for James. Love his thoughtfulness and style :)

Caroline has made the transition to a big girl bed relatively easily, and we are using her same crib for Baby James. His blue and white bedding is from pottery barn outlet that I picked up back in november on a black friday special. It is the Row, Row, your Boat Bedding. 

OH, and don't worry, we haven't gone completely wacky and hung that elephant painting off center over the crib..... My sweet, and VERY talented friend Emily painted the above elephant paint for Caroline's nursery, and she is painting me a matching one with a giraffe to go bedside the elephant over the other side of the crib. Its the last detail for the room, and I am so excited to see it soon!

My mama and Jay helped me to make the super popular and VERY easy rain gutter book shelves. They are the perfect thing for this spot in the room, and to help corral all of our millions of books. Caroline loves the shelves too! We used this tutorial, and I am really happy with the turn out. It ended up costing us about $30 total and about an hour, if even that long. 

 I didn't get the best picture of the curtains, but they are white with tiny stitched vertical stripes and are from ikea. They were what we already had in the room when it was a guest room, and theyworked perfect with the bedding. 

I did order black out fabric from Fabric.com and made liners for the back of the curtains so that I can pull them closed and block out the very bright morning sun light that comes in this room. The black out fabric was super cheap, like $4 a yard and I needed 5 yards. It works great and makes this room really dark even in bright day light!

Oh, and my sweet Mama found this neutral glider at a consignment sale in Greensboro. It is in perfect condition and was a great gift for the room. She is the best :) Caroline is still fairly attached to having a rocker in her room so it is nice to have two. 

Baby James' dresser was our one big purchase for his room. I found this one in the PERFECT colors at an antique mall here in Virginia back in January. Both my Mother-in-Law and Mom agreed that it was just made for this room. The colors were just too perfect! It is also well made and not particle board {i am pretty partial to sturdy, real furniture}. 

The sweet J is wrapped in yarn by my dear friend Jessie who is so talented and such a kindred spirit in all things baby and craftiness. I love that she had it as a decoration at Baby James' shower and it is now in his room!

 The mirror over the dresser was something I bought for $10 last summer from Home Goods. It was on clearance, and I bought it on a gut feeling just knowing it belonged to me. I wasn't even pregnant, and it sat in a closet until I found James' dresser and then it was the PERFECT fit. I just love when that happens! I usually never buy anything unless I know I have the right spot for it because I hate clutter and extra junk, but this mirror just spoke to me :)

James 1:17 is our verse for sweet Baby James. He is our perfect Gift. 

The giraffe lamp is from World Market. Love it with the simple textured white burlap shade. It is a soft glow for late nights. 

Sweet James, your room is all ready for you... and so are mom and dad and big sis. Come on! We are ready to snuggle and rock you!

The Last 7 Months of Life…

Oh, Hello!

So I took a little, extremely long, break from this little blog. And you know, in typical crazy pregnant last fashion I decided that 1 week before Baby Boy is due was the perfect time to re-start / catch up on the past 7 months of life. Ha!

Seriously though, I do want to document my sweet Caroline's life. I haven't been the best at keeping up with Caroline's actual, hard copy baby book {surprise, surprise…} and I want to have this blog for her… and hopefully Baby James to look at when they are older. Plus its fun to share life updates and be a little creative… so I'm back, and we'll see I do with balancing it when there are two kiddos?! {ah!}

Here is sweet Caroline over the past 7 Months… Girlfriend, you have changed so much, and remain such a JOY!

It is so hard to put into words all the ways you have changed... and continue to change. You really are such a neat kid. I know I am partial, but seriously, you amaze me everyday with how much you are learning and growing. Caroline you are laid back, fairly reserved at first, but also have quite a feisty streak and are confident in knowing what you like AND what you don't. You are reasonable, and I can usually get you to focus for long enough to explain what or why we are doing something, and then you are easily agreeable.

You adore music and love to sing songs. Your little brain amazes me with the words and lyrics that you remember. Your favorites are "Hello! How are you?", "God Bless the Moon", "Row, Row, Your Boat" and the ABC Song. You can count to 12, know lots of colors, any animal there is, and most of your shapes. You love to pretend to  drive the car {and still HATE your car seat. It is by far our biggest daily battle.} You remember so many words and can talk a mile a minute, but also take your time to observe a situation before jumping right in.

Caroline, you love other kids. You are so interested in knowing their names and holding their hands and giving them hugs. Sometimes you get so excited with other kids that you just want to grab them and squeeze them or poke them in the eye. There is nothing vicious about you, but simply want other kids to play and interact with you. We are working on this baby girl. You love your little friends and play dates to the library for story time, Chick-fil-A for lunch, the park, or friends houses. You share so well for the most part.

You are a Daddy's girl all the way. You pretend to go to "meetings" like Daddy, ask me a million times a day when Daddy will be home, and get so excited for any special Daddy dates you have. I don't blame you one bit baby girl, because your Daddy is the best. He loves you and think you just are the greatest thing... and you are :)

You like Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, dancing to the Hot Dog Dance song, Doc McStuffins, Barney, smoothies for breakfast, going down the really tall slides at the park, petting Bella, reading stacks of books, puzzles, playing in your kitchen, helping Mommy make pancakes or cookies, playing in bubble baths, and flopping around like a silly girl on Mommy and Daddy's bed. You have such an infectious laugh.

Snacks are your favorite.. well Blueberries are your absolute favorite, followed by ice cream or cookies... but really there isn't a fruit out there you don't love, and are a great eater over all. Breakfast is your favorite meal. You have mastered climbing the stairs up and down like a big girl. You are sleeping in a big girl bed and doing excellent. We have started potty training at your request, and you really are making good progress. After baby brother arrives and we adjust to a new normal you will have it down in no time and be ready for your big girl minnie mouse panties!

Speaking of baby brother... you are as excited as can be for Baby James. You know he is in mommy's belly, and even though I don't think you fully understand that he is coming to live at our house, you sure are excited to talk to him and sing to him. You are going to be the best big sister and love him so well, just like you love on your baby dolls. I am excited to see you two together and watch you interact. I know there will be some transition times, but it will be an adventure and part of our family story.

Caroline, I could go on and on because truly every day with you is an opportunity to rejoice in the blessing of YOU. Thank you for your sweet spirit, your challenges, and your growth. We love you more than you will ever know!