From Holding Cell to Nursery

That's right, the room off of our living room that our little lady will reside in is finally taking shape. Since we moved in, this room was more or less a holding cell. We had in the back of our minds that it had serious nursery potential, but were using it for a desk and a random book shelf in the meantime. Now with less than three months til her arrival, we have officially begun "nesting" as they call it. Weird.

Last week Jeremiah and Cameron painted the boring beige walls a calming gray. Glidden's Smooth Stone to be exact. Although I hadn't envisioned gray (since we have hues of it in other rooms), we think it's a nice neutral against some bold fabric choices.

In addition to the dining room curtains, my gracious mother also manufactured a set of panels for the babe's room. Jeremiah and I scored that crazy fabric from the same Joann sale I mentioned before. We don't plan to actually use the curtains to cover the french doors though. Hoping instead to find a pair of white roman or roller shades to give the girl some privacy and darkness for when she's sleeping straight through the night from day one of being home. You guessed it, she'll be the perfect baby. Aren't we lucky?

Another big excitement was the arrival of the crib. Thanks to the in-laws for the generous gift! Jeremiah got right to work putting his daughter's throne together and fortunately the process ran very smoothly. The white and brown will tie in other pieces that will go in the room and of course the added drawer is a definite storage plus. Loving it! Once it's adorned with a mattress and some fabulous bedding it'll be all ready.

Excuse the awful lighting in the photos. The crazy lamp I bought from IKEA casts much-less-than-ideal shadows all over the place and makes for a dimly lit room. I don't claim to be a photographer, but I sure know shadows and minimal lighting make for terrible pictures. You get the idea though...

Dining Upgrade

Since December 29th the dining area off of our kitchen has been a bit lacking. And by a bit I mean a lot. Gray walls and a white table and chairs. We would have been a bit more ambitious with this space had we not found out about my pregnancy so soon after moving in. But in anticipation of the little one, some projects have been put on the back burner. Fortunately, several weeks ago Joann was having a big fabric sale (read: 50% off with an extra 15% off with the teacher discount) and soon after my mom was arriving for a visit. That meant, killer fabric for much cheaper than normal that could be made into curtain panels by a seamstress much more advanced than myself (see also: much more patient). I'm convinced I'm not cut out for sewing. I have huge aspirations, but every time I sit down to my trusty machine I just cannot produce anything either (a) quick enough or (b) legit enough. So thank God for my mom and her handiwork. We're loving how the fabric ties in to the living room color scheme since we have a pretty open concept layout.

Another upgrade came by means of a lucky last move. With my brother now living in our once-guestroom and a baby soon living in our last empty space in less than three months (!!!), we've had to get rather creative with furniture and storage placement. A childhood dresser we planned to have in the nursery (but then realized wasn't going to work in that space) was one of the last items left needing a new home. I was convinced it would never work, but it was one happy accident when my mom and I tested the dresser out in the dining room as a pseudo-sideboard. Of course, it needs a bit more love in the form of a substantial piece or pieces of artwork above to beef it up next to the tall curtains. I have some cheap ideas running through my head, but have a feeling it could be another seven months before this area sees another upgrade.

The Details

The Big Reveal

Shamefully, most of you are just now getting a glimpse of the big bash we threw to announce our baby's gender on May 31. That's right, we decided to throw a "gender reveal" party the night I had my 20-week ultrasound that allowed us to know whether our little one is a boy or girl.

Without our immediate families nearby, we thought this would be a fun way to make the surprise a big excitement for us. Luckily, we've met some great people down here who were totally up for it and went along with the silliness quite well. My friend Kate offered to reveal the gender to us by means of filling the inside of a cake with blue or pink icing.

At first we thought we would have to find out the gender before the party in order to be able to tell Kate, and in order not to miss any details of the ultrasound. We were wrong, which made for even bigger fun that night as we welcomed our friends and informed them we still didn't have a clue. During the ultrasound we were able to see plenty of the baby's movements and features without actually knowing the gender. The technician moved the screen out of our view while she was looking and let us know it was very clear and she knew exactly what we were having. Ahhh! To our surprise, the ultrasound lasted for what seemed like forever because our child wouldn't cooperate, stubbornly refusing to move into one particular position. How surprising. My mom is currently eating that up big time. We ended up having to go back two weeks later in order to get this last measurement, at which point we were able to confirm the gender and see it for ourselves.

And how did Kate find out? Jeremiah flagged down a nurse in the hallway and had her call Kate and read what the technician had wrote on a slip of paper in an envelope for us. Perfect!

But back to the big bash.

Our friends played along and kindly showed up in blue or pink, revealing their prediction. Jeremiah dressed in pink and I was in blue. Although what seemed like 99% of people have predicted girl, our split was about even that night. We had a place for name suggestions, which as you may imagine, got slightly out of hand. Pink and blue candy, tissue paper pom poms, blush wine in blue cups, and a fabric table runner I made all created a festive atmosphere.

Once everyone was gathered and had had time to enjoy each other's company it was time for the big reveal! Jeremiah and I each made a cut in the cake and lifted the slice to unveil PINK icing.

It's a girl!

Everyone celebrated, and Jeremiah didn't gloat too much. I probably reacted terribly...you know, like opening gifts in front of people, you always look fake or unappreciative. But oh my goodness I'm excited! I always thought it was surely a boy and always imagined having a boy first, but now envisioning our little lady I wouldn't have it any other way. We're in for one fun and wild ride.

And let's not forget a shout out to my friend and amazing photographer, Kate Joyce. You're so great!