A Baby Girl and Her Nursery

As promised yesterday, a 35-week belly picture, an ultrasound update and a nursery.

U/S update: Addicyn is 100% perfectly healthy according to the doctor and the results of the bio-physical profile.  She is definitely small and measuring at only the 17th percentile but there is no concern until that percentile drops to the 10th percentile.  Addicyn is still a girl☺ and currently weighs 5 lbs. but I forgot (and they didn't speculate) to ask an estimated birth weight.  I was able to get another peek at my little sweetie and even found out that she has some hair already.  All of her organs are functioning properly and we watched her practicing breathing.  She had a full bladder and I learned that babies empty their bladder every 30 minutes.  This u/s was very informative.  Everything is right on point and I am relieved just getting the opinions of another sonographer and doctor. 

She has her face resting on her arm.

Now for this little girl's nursery: Don't expect a lot of creativity or wow factor like you may have seen on some blogs because you will certainly be disappointed.  It is elegantly simple - just how I want it.  This go around I didn't want a theme or especially nothing that screams baby.  Initially, I wanted pink toile but after pricing the fabric, I decided I didn't have several hundred dollars to spend so I started searching for an alternative.  I found her bedding at Pottery Barn Kids and it is the Katie design.  Due to the crib slats, it is hard to see its simple beauty so these pictures were taken directly from PB Kids website.

We are using Andrew's crib.  It is cherry finish because all of the furniture in our house (minus the glider and laundry hamper, lol) is the same finish.  The style of our crib doesn't allow the crib skirt to show as much as I would like but it works fine.  The nursery colors are all taken from the polka dotted crib sheet: pale pink, hot pink, chocolate brown and mint green.  I chose the wall color (Daquiri Ice) from the Pottery Barn catalog as well.  It is a Benjamin Moore color but we always use Sherwin-Williams paint because of that connection.  Initially, I thought it was a little too pale so I had D to darken it by 10% and it really matches the bedding almost perfectly.  Remember that paint color in pictures and on computer screens isn't accurate so it does look a tad darker in person.

Initially, we had the crib on the wall where the wall vinyl is placed but there wasn't room for the glider except in front of the window.  It just looked and felt awkward; I like this set up a lot better. 

The pink frame on the wall is where I'll add a photo of her from each of her first twelve months so if it looks empty now, it is.  The picture frame sitting on the chest of drawers contains a poem I had displayed at her baby sprinkle.  The small side table beside the glider is just perfect to place a bottle while trying to burp or rock her back to sleep.  The frame says Me and My Big Brother and will soon hold a real picture of the siblings.

I bought hot pink window panels and they match her bedding almost exactly.  I was a little concerned about them making her entire room a bright pink when the sun shines in but they don't.  I went with a changing table organizer this time instead of a diaper stacker because I just couldn't find a stacker that matched.  The stuffed giraffe is left over from Andrew's nursery and is no longer in the room.  A small trash can will go there.  We used the Diaper Champ last time because it used regular grocery bags instead of expensive refills but it was my biggest disappointment when it came to baby products.  It did NOT contain the nasty diaper smell so I think we'll use a small trash can like we did at the end of Andrew's diaper wearing days.  It forces you to see the diapers and change the bag daily so the smelly diapers don't have time to marinate.  We also installed a ceiling fan because her room is the warmest in the entire house.

Finally, the only wall I needed to decorate was behind her crib.  I thought and thought about what I could add that would be large enough.  I looked for wall art (didn't find anything I thought fit), thought about painting an abstract canvas (my last choice because I can't paint a lick), adding a shelf with pictures (she has enough picture options in there already) or adding her name in wooden letters (she already has her name on the wall art and on the matted signature frame).  As I flipped through one of my baby magazines, I saw an article about using your child's items in the future and for different purposes.  One thing it showed was embroidery hoop wall art.  At first, I planned to get random pieces of fabric matching her room colors but didn't find anything I liked.  Then, I had an idea of cutting up a few crib sheets that match her bedding but that could cost more than planned since her crib sheets were $12-14 each.  Plus, crib sheets are pretty thin so the idea of buying receiving blankets popped into my brain in the early hours one morning.  I went to my Babies R Us registry and found that the receiving blankets I had registered for were the perfect option.  I bought a pack of 4 receiving blankets for $16 and started cutting.  I also spray painted the hoops and within a few days, I had wall art that I think makes the room.  They are 4-5 different sizes and 4 different patterns that all contain the colors of her bedding.  I even made a 14"piece of hoop art for the tiny wall beside her changing table plus I have fabric remaining for receiving blankets - they just need hemming around the side I cut.

As far as I'm concerned, her room is complete minus one thing...a sweet baby girl!  Sometimes I walk in there, just relax in the glider and think about how our lives are about to change.  I try to picture all the activity that will soon fill that room.  I also got out her bouncy seat, which really just vibrates and her swing.  I haven't put her swing completely together and the reason Andrew is actually lying on the floor.  Can you tell Andrew is eagerly awaiting his sister's arrival? 

PS I wish I had a good camera that took better quality pictures.