The Nursery

We have the nursery completed.

Really done.

I honestly have a hard time believing it. Everything that I had in my mind's eye to do in this room... we did. I have never been able to say that about any room in any of our homes ever before... not even a nursery. I'm sure it will continue to change as Baby grows, but - as "done" as a room can get - it's done.

And I am immensely thankful.

That last sentence in itself makes me want to cry. I know I just said I wasn't much of a sentimental blogger, but you get me going on babies... and I'm done for. I am so thankful that we were able to make this room. To give our baby girl a bright, cheerful, clean place to rest and play. (Remember the "before"?) But, also, because the room is for me, too. I've mentioned before that it's very likely Baby will be our last little one, and I am so glad to have this one finished nursery. This one little room that expresses so much of what my mama heart feels about the privelege to nurture and cherish a little soul entrusted to us.

Physically speaking, the room was inspired by the scrap quilt created by my grandma and great-grandma many decades ago now. And also the pink & blue vintage piggy bank that is exactly like the one my sister and I had in our yellow bedroom as little girls. But, emotionally speaking, it is inspired by motherhood... by family... the joy and wonder of having a baby in the house. This baby. Our baby.

I wanted this room to celebrate her. And all the love that surrounds her. And to be a room meant for enjoying her.

Have you ever read the poem, Song for a Fifth Child? That link gives a little of the author's background, and I'm struck by how similar the ages of her children were to our own. I started out in my motherhood as such a "doer". A listmaker. But time and perspective have a way of mellowing us. I'm sure sometimes I take my gypsy ways a bit too far now, but I still so much appreciate the overall reminder the poem gives. It's really the perfect sentiment for Baby's nursery photos.

For our fifth child...

Mother, oh mother, come shake out your cloth!
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing and butter the bread,
Sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking!

Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby, loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew
And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo
But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren't her eyes the most wonderful hue?
(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo.)

Oh, cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
But children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down, cobwebs.

Dust, go to sleep.

I'm rocking my baby.

Babies don't keep.

a nursery peek & MH 8

Well, this is kind of goosey.

Because, usually, I would have around five Making Home photos to share and add to the collage page. BUT, this week was a 10 on 10... and I really want to use a couple of those photos... and one of the bird kissie pics... but you've already seen those, so...

What do I do? Post TWO whole pictures?

Dorky.

Especially when these are the two I have for this past week (last week)...

A new tablecloth and a birdfeeder.

Rockin' your socks!

Now what?

Hmmm....

?

Let's take a peek at the nursery! Why not? I'm taking forever to finish it (as usual). So, let's just take a little sneakity peek. Baby and SweetP were playing in there together the other day, and I took advantage of the pretty light. You can peep in corners and scope out the background. I'm really hoping to get a true "reveal" up soon!

A couple of smallish painting projects and a few hours at the sewing machine and I'm done. It's just finding the time for those last bits, you know? I'll be sure to share real deal photos when I wrap it up in here, though!

If you're interested in seeing which photos I added to the Making Home project, remember you can always get there via the sidebar button or just click here.

Thanks so much for the encouraging words, lately, guys. They mean a lot :)

House Tour 2012: Bedroom 2 (SweetP and Shug's Room)

Annoying. Blogger is being strange. strange. strange. This post looked perfect in the "preview post" window and all the html is fine, but the published post is all super wonky. Hopefully, it will be a bug they fix. Otherwise, I'm going to have to fiddle with it - which I cannot do right now or even this morning. Sigh. So, hopefully, you can read this!


****************************************




Wow. I took a lot of pictures of this house.

A LOT.

Originally, I was going to show you the entire upstairs all in one post. Then, I thought no, that's too much, I'll save the master bedroom and bathroom for a second one. Then, on Saturday morning, the sun was happily shining and I started snapping away. Way too many photos for just one post... or even two.

So, this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to post three different posts today. One in the morning, one around lunchtime, and one later in the afternoon. And - I think - one a day after that until Friday(?). That way you don't have to wait for annoyingly long posts to load up and you don't have to fall asleep wading through my bajillion pictures of star banners and stuffed animals.

Sound good?

Okay. House Tour 2012!!! Par Tay!

Let's start with bedroom 2. We finished the first layer in this room almost exactly a year ago. You can see it all new and pretty here.

It started out, though, like this...



With a hole in the beat door, like this...



Then, a little over two years ago now, it looked more like this...





At first, right after moving in, we had Little Dude's crib in here. But, then he broke it jumping up and down one day. I know. Not cool. It was the side rail that broke, too. Interesting, considering now they don't make cribs with slide-down rails... for exactly that reason. Anyway, I can't remember where he first slept in a bed. Maybe it was in here? This is a twin bed, and that's his cross-stich from Grandma on the wall, so - maybe? It's possible I took the bedrails off just for a picture.

(Yup. I think I did. The side rails are in the first picture.)

Eventually, though, the two oldest girls were in here, then got booted out to bedroom 4 so we could work on this bedroom, then back again after we finished it, so we could work on bedroom 4.

Yeesh.

So, now they've been in this room for a year. I took a lot of pictures because they're (Lord, please, Lord!) going to be moving to their permanent bedroom in about a month. And this will be Baby's nursery then. Lots of changes afoot.

Here's the room as SweetP and Shug's temporary bedroom, as of today... and for just a little while longer. SweetP is eleven and Shug is nine and a half.







Always with the clothes on the chair. I am defeated.





Still no doorknob! ha ha.





And this last one is from January... just because I like it.



The End! (Except to say that the wall color is Laura Ashley "Stone 2" and the trim is Benjamin Moore "White Dove".

Check back in a few hours for the second post. It's a two in one!

mama night and... a craft room?

I ran out of time to show you the rest of my pictures on Friday. People needed to eat and all that.

The nerve.

Before I started my last post, I walked around the house with my camera... just snapping whatever I wanted to share. I made it downstairs to the family room, but not beyond that. I wanted to show you some more of SpareOom.



The whole big deal SpareOom Makeover is a ways away still, but I'm thinking I can so something to this room this winter.



I've started organizing all the JUNK. Which is a good place to start. Taking lots and lots of things to Goodwill. They've been there too long. Since the move. I'm not good at downsizing, apparently.

Last April, I was daydreaming about creating some little sewing space in the laundry room. Just daydreaming, because the laundry room isn't done, either. I just reread this post (the title totally made me laugh) and I was struck by how my daydreams for a space like this are still the same. Especially in winter. A place to go when it's too cold to go anywhere else, but you really just need a little time to regroup.

quick note: I'm not talking about a replacement for time spent in prayer and quiet reflection, journaling, reading the Word of God. I mean when you need to make something, listen to music... loudly because you aren't using the white noise maker, and be surrounded by pretty color for a few hours. Maybe not everyone benefits from this kind of evening as much as I do, but... I do!

Meg has an amazing craft room. Just last week, she posted new photos of it. I was able to get a feel for the layout better than before. And guess what? It's tiny! That made me think. How could I carve out a little nook of brightly colored inspiration? How could I use what I already have and make it work for me? In JANUARY???

ha ha. I'm being dramatic about the winter now. But, seriously, it has been a real problem in the past. I think, partly because we've been so proactive with my winter weirdness this year, it's not nearly as bad as I make it out to be. But, I still find myself thinking of planting flower seeds or sitting by the pool on a regular basis :)



I have my Mama Nights on Thursday nights... most weeks. Last week Sam brought pad thai home for dinner. I kiss him, kiss the kids, head to Spare Oom, crank pandora, and do whatever for the next 4-5 hours. What a blessing. Seriously. I don't take it for granted. It's a huge, huge blessing.

And my children are a huge blessing, too. I must think so... I keep having them :) I don't want to communicate that they are anything else. I love them to bits. Remember, though... they are always here. ha ha. For realz! Think about that for a minute. NONE of them go to school NONE of them hop on a bus. That's our choice and I wouldn't have it any other way... it just means I need to be purposeful about a little rest. Rest from work, rest from demands, and rest from my small, precious crowd. I'm a better mama for it. A better wife.

Plus, we have pretty things in our home the next day!

Thursday is also my big cleaning day. So, I kind of wipe myself out on purpose, knowing that I'll have the evening completely off. I get so much done. It's awesome.



So, I grabbed my pad thai, cranked Jack Johnson (the happiest... especially his Curious George children's station... not really kiddie music), and made something. Or a few things.

Friday, when I walked around with my camera, I took photos of the new additions.



Pom pom trim on Punkin's pillowcase.

And I know a pennant banner is hardly news, but it was new to Brother. And he loved it. Camo on one side...



... muted yellow on the other. Not pastel... mustardy, but still bright enough.



Punkin and Brother share this room, as you may recall. I have had to try to figure out how to decorate a space for an (almost) 5 year old boy and a 7 year old girly girl. Not. easy. The pom pom trim and the yellow side of dude's banner are to appease her. She didn't want camo. Of any kind.

It's coming along. I hope to share a little official progress soon, but there are still some key projects I want to finish up first. For now, it's looking like this...



Which I like. But, Punkin wants more pink. Stat.

Or just some pink.

In about 2 years, Baby will move in with Punkin, Little Dude will get his own room, and she can revel in all the pink she wants. For now, I'm thinking a pillow is about all I can work in to a room shared with a boy.

Speaking of Baby, we ordered a crib for her this weekend. She's getting to the weight limit on her bassinet. It will still have to go in our room... her "nursery" is still her older sisters' bedroom. But, I've decided to go ahead and start decorating the nursery as hers. That way, when SweetP and Shug get to move in to Bedroom 4, I won't have two bare rooms at once. And the nursery will be closer to done... homier... when she finally does get to go in there.

The vintage dresser will stay when Bedroom 2 becomes her nursery. I made a little happy banner for her.



Makes me smile :)

This week, I have to use my Mama Night to start thinking about birthdays. Little Dude and SweetP have birthdays on the same weekend in mid-February. And dude wants Star Wars. A Millenium Falcon cake. ha. And costumes. For all the kids.

We'll see about that.