The Nursery

(Any Northwest baby needs a good set of jackets!)

I'm two days from my due date and I'm more or less done with the nursery. There are a few loose ends still -- that good-looking couple in the frame on the bookcase is not Andrew and me (I could never have bangs that stylish, thanks to the blessing of a front double cowlick), and there is another empty frame on the wall where I've asked my sister-in-law to write a Bible verse in calligraphy/handwriting much better than my own. But other than that, I think I'm done.

I really wanted the baby's room to feel like an extension of our house, and not a magical world of all things baby (I'm already a bad mom). After all, Andrew and I have to spend a lot of time in the room and I'm fairly certain the baby is not interested in what wall color I laboriously chose for him, nor in basically any other design choices I made. So I figured I might as well create a space that is functional for the baby, but that I enjoy being in as well. So for that reason, the room ended up including a lot of neutrals and a pretty simple design scheme (euphemism for borderline boring), including a lot of grey, white, and navy blue. The room is also extremely small so it needed a certain minimalist quality to not feel cramped. I'm certain if we were having a girl, I would have painted the walls pink and gone all out with a gold and glitz theme that I probably would have later regretted (or not). But I'm happy that much of what we purchased and were gifted we can likely use again, regardless of our next baby's gender.

Side note A: Yes, there happens to be a letter B hanging on the wall behind the baby's crib...but who knows what that really means. Baby? Brown? Bilbo Baggins? You never know.

Side note B: Also, I was really into getting a live plant for the baby's room. When I brought the plant home one day, Andrew asked me what it was. "It's the baby's plant," I said. "The baby's plant? Why would the baby need a plant?" my husband inquired. "Well obviously because I want the baby to be able to breathe clean air. Obviously." To which Andrew responded, "You do know that plants actually take oxygen at night and produce carbon dioxide..."

Well...No. I did not remember that. Sorry I don't have a Masters in Botany or a 4th grade-level understanding of plants. And I'm sure Google can answer this question, but what does it all mean? Plants still create more oxygen than they take, right? The baby does benefit from a plant, right? I spent too much time researching crib safety that I didn't have much time to research the pros and cons of foliage and newborns.

Anyway, the nursery is simple and light and I look forward to spending many a day and night here. The only problem is that I accidentally bought a tiny clock that makes a ticking noise (they should really have labels on the box) and if anyone knows how well I do with ticking clocks, they know that I in fact do not do well.

Get here already, baby. Your Martha Stewart grey walls await you.

Resources:

 

Crib: Amazon DaVinci Emily

Bookcase: Target Threshold

Dresser: IKEA Hemnes

Crib Sheets: Pottery Barn Kids Preston

Crib Mobile: Pottery Barn Kids 

Crib Skirt: Target

Alphabet Artwork: Society6 Helena Lunding (no longer available)

Iron Letter: Anthropologie

Rug: Overstock

Wingback Chair: IKEA Strandmon

Pillow: Target Simply Shabby Chic (no longer available)

Foot Pouf: Target Threshold

Curtains: Target Threshold

Changing Pad Cover: Amazon Aden + Anais

Wooden Toys: Thrifted

Hardy Boys Books: Thrifted

Globe: World Market

Plant: IKEA (they don't list their plants online)

Grey Vase and Plate: Anthropologie

Bear Artwork: Society6 Amy Hamilton

Grey Mirror: Target Threshold

Storage Baskets: Target Threshold

Maternity Photos

My sister graciously agreed to take some maternity photos for me a few weeks ago. So I strapped on some high heels and we trespassed onto a neighbor's field and proceeded to document my 36th week of pregnancy.

















A week later, I convinced Andrew to walk outside and take a few pictures with me so that we would have some documentation of the two of us during my pregnancy. If you know Andrew, photos with him are the worst. And I mean that completely lovingly and respectfully, but the worst (apologies all these years later to our wedding photographer). I told him it would only take 10 minutes and he actually started his stopwatch. In the end, he was a decent sport and didn't fake smile/grimace too much, especially considering it actually took 14 minutes and 23 seconds...I was later told. And at least we got a few shots!


I can tell a significant difference in the size of my stomach just from that one week duration. And since I am a few weeks late posting this, I'm actually just 9 days from my due date now -- and almost ready to experience labor if it means no longer having to make a heaving sound in order to roll over in the middle of the night, and if it means not feeling like my feet are actually starting to break apart underneath me when I go grocery shopping. #drama

All that is to say, we love you, baby. And look forward to meeting you soon. Some people express their photographic love towards their babies by doing the little heart sign around their belly, but we not only love you, we want you to live long and prosper. And be a Star Trek fan. Your mom does, at least!

Portland Baby Shower

This past weekend, I was blessed to have a baby shower with some of my dear friends in the Portland area. We had good weather (which in Oregon in April is a relative term) and good food and I'm lucky to know these women and be able to call them my friends. Plus, they brought me gifts...well, some forgot their gifts on their kitchen table on the way to the shower, but I made sure they suffered for it.

We started off the day with some coffee in the park and a little round of celebrity baby name trivia. At this point, I realized most of my friends were celebrity baby illiterate and I was slightly impressed that they don't read Hollywood gossip as much as I do offended by some of their answers.


Only Hillary proved to know her famous babies and was rewarded for her E!News browsing. Sometimes it pays to read People Magazine and keep up on the Hollywood gossip (that's why I follow Hillary Duff on Instagram).

We had brunch at The Veritable Quandary and while the atmosphere was lovely...the food. Oh my, the food. I must remember to go back and order all the things from the menu.



My baby was spoiled with some lovely presents. My friend Sally gifted me this beautiful handmade baby quilt.



And Karyn remembered that I loved this Pottery Barn mobile, of which she was far more impressed than I was.



J/k...I was super excited.



I received some homemade burp cloths, an umbrella stroller, lots of great books for the baby, trendy-but-not-too-trendy clothes, swaddling blankets, bath gear, and other necessary and cute things the baby needed.

My friends also gambled on my due date.



To which I want to add that all these June people are dead to me. Only Kari is my real friend who believes the baby will come early...who consequently is the same person who forgot her baby shower gift to me. So I guess we'll call it even.

Clearly I am a pregnant optimist and predicted my due date to be 10 days early. But let the record state that I do believe the baby will come early. So when I'm 42 weeks pregnant and still haven't gone into labor, no one remind me of that prediction.

There were also some funny and adorable advice cards that were filled out.
 

The most common advice seemed to involve saying goodbye to sleeping and hello to a lot of coffee. People also consistently told the baby that they hoped he received his father's brains and my skin tone. I mean, I get that Andrew's SAT/GRE scores were genius level...but it's not like I'm an illiterate sunbather who can only offer the baby my tan skin as compensation for all my intellectual deficiencies. I'm sorry -- do I not have a brain too? I think people just misread the questions and they really do hope the baby gets my brains and Andrew's pale skin.

My sister's card -- who believes I will be a "terrifying" mother. Thank you.

Kari wins a few more points back for her comment about Andrew's wife-choosing abilities.

After some final bacon eating and baby name suggestions (people seemed keen on Mandy's idea of "Light" for a first name), we ventured out for some final photos.


Also, literally half the people at my shower were pregnant. The beautiful thunder stealers, in order of their due dates:



Thankful for the family who was also able to be there, including Andrew's aunt Kathy and cousin Molly.



And my sister, whom I made the mistake of telling that no one had made me feel uncomfortable by touching my stomach during my pregnancy. This is no longer true.



My bff Karyn made a lovely hostess and for once we managed to take a non-awkward pregnancy photo together.



Because, seriously, it's hard.



Basically, I had a lovely time and I am grateful for these people and was so blessed by their company.

As of the day of my shower, I was officially 35 weeks and starting to feel it. But I survived wearing heels the whole day and it felt nice to get dressed up and not just wear the same 4 maternity shirts that currently fit me.

I'm in the home stretch now, and can deliver at the birth center as early as this weekend. I'm hoping the baby holds off just a few weeks longer, though, in time for us to actually finalize a name and get him a crib mattress to sleep on.



Cheers to new babies and old friends!