Operation Nursery

Ever since we've known Baby Wheelock was a boy I've been planning the nursery...on a budget. There are so many great ideas out there, most of them a bit spendy, so I've had to dig deep and let the creative juices flow (along with roll up my sleeves and get some serious work done)!

It all started with the walls, but more importantly, the wall color. His nursery is the smallest bedroom in the house, so it had to be the right color (we didn't want to make the room seem smaller than it is). I had some fun picking out some bright colors that I loved...Richard wasn't too fond of them...he actually made a good point and suggested we do a neutral color so that as Josiah gets older and we change room themes, we won't have to paint the walls every time and create more work (and $$) for ourselves. So, just like that we had it narrowed down to a neutral color. Easy, right? I would have thought so, only did you know there are, like, a million different shades of neutral? Yikes. After a couple trips to Home Depot for paint chips and taking into account the owl bedding I absolutely fell in love with, we finally had our color and got to work:

The before color

And getting all the edges painted

I chose to do all the edge painting. I prefer the paintbrush over the roller, especially with the texture of the walls in this house...it takes a lot of muscle to get a good coat on, and lets face it, we started painting when I was about 6 or 7 months pregnant. I thought I picked the easier job of the two, boy was I wrong. I had to do so much bending and crouching I was in absolute pain for days afterward :(  But the finished product was worth it:

We waited until after our baby shower to purchase the other pieces that were needed for the room...new blinds, glider, and crib. With those purchased and assembled along with my homemade wall decor, Josiah's nursery is now ready for him :)

Now all we need is baby!

It's that time of year!

Let the craziness of the holiday season begin! Since I've been done working and have had more time at home, I've been able to get quite a few things accomplished. All my Christmas shopping and shipping is done (and what a relief it is)! I suppose I should back up a bit...some family came out in November. It was a busy time, but lots of fun. Boy, did this pregnant lady get worn out quick! We went down to San Antonio one day, had my baby shower on another, and then just did some random little things close to home. It had been awhile since I'd seen my mom, grandma, aunt, and cousin. It was great to see them all :)

The baby shower was a blast! My wonderful small group friends put it together and it was great to see some of my other friends/co-workers. I felt so special and was blessed beyond belief. We received so much for Josiah and have been given so much that friends could no longer use...a true answer to prayer financially. Shortly after my family left, Richard and I bought the crib and glider for the nursery. Those were the last of the big things needed to be purchased.

I love the bedding my family got us!

I've also spent some time making the wall decor for the nursery. I was lucky to find all my frames for cheap at Goodwill. I spray painted them and then got to work on the scrapbook paper owls I've been dying to create!

Before the paint

After the paint...a clean white

My scrapbook paper owls. These 3 will hang above his crib.

A little cheesy, but oh so cute!

The bible verse that inspired his name - "...turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength..." - my favorite part of the verse :)

We have yet to hang them all up, but we plan on doing that today...I'm eager to get his nursery 100% ready for him as we may be welcoming him into the world a little early. I went to my doctor appointment this week for my last, of the many, pregnancy tests (Group B Strep). He checked to see if I was dilated and after he told me he didn't expect me to be at all, since I'm still several weeks away from my due date, he discovered I'm 3cm dilated. We were both surprised! He told me not to hold him to his word, but proceeded to tell me there's a chance Josiah will be born before January. Now, I know people can be dilated at this point for weeks, which would put them at their due date, but it's been exciting (and a tad scary!) to think about our little guy arriving soon! I think we're as ready as we'll ever be, we just wait in anticipation now. This news gives me the motivation to get his nursery ready. There are just a few more things that we need to do...tidying up pretty much and hanging the decor. I'll post pictures of the final product when it's all done :)

I'll leave you with the latest pregnancy dream quote from yours truly (as told to Richard this morning):
"I had a dream I had our baby and he ended up being a kitten."