The Nursery - Final Product!

So, it's finally done.  Well, it has been for a while, but I'm finally getting around to showing it to you.  You would not believe how hard it is to find time to snap a few pictures and upload them!  Ok, so as a reminder, here's what the room looked like before we bought the house ...

And here's what it turned into as we moved in ...

Then we painted it ...

And built the crib ...

And then Ellie was born and progress slowed waaaaaaay down!  But it's done now - or at least really close to it. I keep coming up with new things that I want to add, haha!

Why don't we just take a photo tour?

The embroidery sign on the door, made by my sister ...

(sorry it's crooked - Ellie was losing patience at this point!)

Crib, immediately inside the door ...

Old picture, from before she was born, but it still looks the same!

AWESOME mobile, also made by my sister ...

Next to the crib, the reading corner with my awesome glider...

Here's a closeup of the shelves that we put up here.  Several years (two houses) ago, I found these at a thrift store for a little bit of nothing and picked them up.  I had no idea what I was going to do with them, but they were just too cute, so I had to have them.  We (and by that I mean Andy) gave them a fresh coat of paint and they add just the right *something* to this corner!

We received the piggy bank, the cross, and the adorable porcelain bootie as gifts, and I picked up the picture frame at Target.  I decided that I'd make everything on the shelves pink so there was a splash more 'girly' in the room.

Across from the reading corner is the bureau that we refinished.

We use the drawers as storage for linens for the crib and changing table.  The cubby houses our cloth diapers (and some disposables for the babysitters).

And the tall section is her 'book shelf'.

Eventually, we plan to put actual shelves in there, but for now, the crates will do.  Unless she gets another book.  Then we're in trouble.  That's actually only 2 thirds of her books - there's another crate full in the living room!  Not that I'm complaining!

The animals on top are made by TY (yes, they're still around!) and are called Beanie Boos.

I found them at the store where I was working when I was pregnant.  I just love them to bits and thought they were too cute to leave there!  It took me forever to find the zebra, though.  Eventually mom and I found it at Kohls on a random trip.  Some day maybe I'll let her play with them, but for now they're just decoration :-)

Next to the wardrobe is the dresser with the changing pad on top.  The drawers are very handy to store extra diapers and wipes, clothes to grow into, and extra bulky quilts and blankets.  Stuff that you don't have to access terribly often.  On top we have the changing pad and the wipes warmer (which is currently unplugged because it's warm enough around here!) and the cream and spray that we use on her bottom.  It functions incredibly well and I really like the setup.

Above the changing table is the name sign that I made (with a lot of help from Andy and my sister).  It was quite a project.  So much so that I have an entire post dedicated to it.  I've just got to upload the pictures...

Next to the dresser/changing area we have two little trash cans - one for her cloth diapers and one for trash.  And her hamper - nothing terribly impressive there.  I thought that by getting one white can and one black we could keep track of what goes in what, but after washing several wipes with the cloth diapers I decided they needed labels.  Some paper letters and few coats of Mod Podge later and we have cute cans that don't get co-mingled!

Then there's her closet.  

Such a big closet for such a little girl!  On the top shelf we have bins for too small clothes (which I need to just move into plastic tubs for storage, but I haven't gotten any bins just yet, so that'll have to wait a while longer) and baby proofing supplies (which we need to get down and start installing!).  The clothes are hung up by size.  The wire shelves I had left over from college.  I got the small bins and the baskets from the Dollar Tree and the fabric bins on the bottom came from Target.  The small bins on top hold little things and they each have a chalkboard label, so I can change the contents as I see fit.  

The baskets in the middle hold pants, socks, and onesies (that aren't a part of an outfit).  On the bottom, we have toy storage (for toys she's not ready for yet), health things (like an extra thermometer, bulb syringe, dental hygiene kit for when she's older, bubble bath for when she's older, etc. ), and other various things she's not ready for yet (like sippy cups and utensils and such).  On second thought, maybe all that should go on the top shelf, haha!  Like I said, I'm never quite done with it.

And that's the whole room!  I'd like to get a clock, but I need to find one that doesn't tick.  If it ticks, it will broadcast over the monitor (which is VERY sensitive) and keep me up all night.  My Aunt Carlene also cross stitched this BEAUTIFUL quilt that I would like to turn into a wall hanging and put somewhere in the room. 

Maybe above the trash cans and hamper?  I don't know.  I need mom to come help me with that one sometime :-)

Well, I hope you enjoyed the tour!  Ellie turns SIX MONTHS on Friday and has a checkup next Tuesday - check back to see how BIG she is now and for a never-before-seen flashback video from when she was first born!  (haha, how's that for a cheesy teaser?!)

35 Weeks and The Internet.

Ok, so it's been a while since I updated, but it's not my fault, I swear!  Our internet has been so unreliable here and it seems like I can only manage to access it via my netbook, not my usual computer.  This just makes the whole blogging process a lot more difficult, so I've let it go.  Luckily, today the internet gods have smiled upon me and I am here to bring you up to date on all the progress that's gone on!

First of all, I made it to magic number 35 on Saturday!  This means that the docs at my preferred hospital aren't scared of me anymore.  They don't have a NICU there, so they won't deliver before 35 weeks.  So unless something happens and the specialists want me to go to the big scary hospital with the NICU, I will be delivering at my preferred, smaller hospital.  YAY!  Developmentally, Ellie should be about the size of a (small) coconut right now.  At our last measurement on the 10th, she weighed approx. 4 lbs. 1 oz.  Sounds good, right?!  Yeah, still less than the 5th percentile.  We'll get measured again on Monday (yes, Christmas Eve) and talk to the specialist doc about a 'delivery plan' that may or may not include inducing me at 38 weeks.  I have mixed feelings about that, but I talked to a friend at church who was induced at 39 weeks with her daughter (who is now 3) and she had a great experience and didn't even get an epidural, so that's encouraging.  I feel like I'm ok with being induced as long as I can still go to my preferred hospital.  I've had appointments with all the doctors there, know my way around, and that's where we took our baby class so we're even familiar with some of the nurses.  I'd really feel more comfortable there, so there's going to have to be a pretty good reason to make me feel ok going somewhere else!  In other news, she is still head down (thank goodness!) and has started her decent, but has not fully dropped yet, so I'm still gasping for air but glad I'm not waddling too badly just yet.

Last night after choir rehearsal I was surprised with another baby shower thrown by the wonderful choir!  Everyone was so kind and generous and the snacks were AMAZING!  Unfortunately, since it was a surprise, I didn't have my camera with me, so we don't have any pictures to share.  There are a lot more nursery supplies and baby clothes to put away now though!

Ok, on to nursery progress.  There has been a LOT of progress made, which makes me feel SO happy!  The new crib came in (defect free!) and Andy got it put up in about 30 minutes.

That's got to be a record or something.  Mom came down the other weekend and whipped up a beautiful crib skirt for us (the bumpers are still in the works) and we've got a mattress and sheets in there too!

Close-up of the crib skirt that mom made!

We've also got the changing pad all set up on the dresser and tested out the wipes warmer, so that station is ready to go!

Now if we can get the blinds hung and get the valance up around them, we will be in pretty good shape.  Andy's still working on painting the armoire, but I told him that it wasn't 100% necessary to have it done before Ellie is born.  I don't know why I said that.  I think I was trying to be nice or something.  He is working on it, though, and it will hopefully be done in the next few weeks, which is good because it will provide a LOT more organizational space!  Things are just kind of stashed away in different places right now and it's not making a whole lot of logical sense, so I'd like to get all the furniture in there so I can decide where things need to live instead of having to function in this 'in the meantime' state.  Don't get me wrong, I'm still VERY pleased with the progress that we've made!  I just have a desire to feel 'done' before she arrives so that I don't have to worry about tying up any loose ends afterwards.

There's one more project that I'm working on currently and it's one that I'm really super excited about!  My sister came over last week and helped me get started with it and now I'm waiting on a few more things to come together before I can finish it.  I don't want to spill the beans before it's finished, but here is a sneak peek for you . . .

. . . stay tuned for the final result coming (hopefully) soon!  Ok, off to get the house all ready for Christmas!  I've got the shopping done and the presents wrapped, now I just have to tidy up the kitchen and dining room so we have somewhere to eat!

34 Weeks and The Nursery Goes Green!

Hey there!  Things have been super crazy around here trying to get things unpacked/fixed up/organized before Ellie arrives in just a few short weeks.  Here's a quick update . . .

We are 34 weeks today!  Every day she's getting bigger and stronger - trust me, I can tell!  We will get measured again on Monday and see how much weight she's gained, but the OB said this week that I've gained several pounds, so hopefully some of that was her, too!  All of my recent tests and checkups have been going well, so there's really nothing to report on that front.  AND we have our very last baby class on Monday night.  Apparently after that we will be ready to be parents?  I don't know.  Andy's probably a little more nervous about it than I am, even though we both have pretty much the same amount of experience in the baby department.  In last week's class, he was asked if he had ever bathed a baby before.  Of course he hasn't, but he HAS bathed a cat, so it really can't be much harder than that!!  The only way to really learn how to take care of your baby is to have one and have to take care of it, right?  So we'll be fine, I'm sure.

In other news, the nursery has undergone an EXTREME transformation this week!  It went from looking like this . . .

. . . to looking like THIS!

Isn't it cute?!  Ok, so it's still pretty incomplete, but it's major progress!  My father-in-law thinks we should have pained it a 'nice, light lavender' instead of the green, but what does he know ;-)  I think it's beautiful!  We have also put up the crib, but found a defect in one of the pieces, so we had to take it back down to try and return it.  It's purely cosmetic and we're pretty sure that Andy can actually just paint over it if they won't take it back (we're past the 90 day return window), but we're going to try exchanging it first.  Drama drama drama.  

We did get the mattress ordered, so that should arrive sometime this week - and hopefully we will soon have a crib to put it in!  AND, I washed a whole bunch of baby clothes this week and got the diaper bag all packed with her coming-home outfit!  We also have the car seat bases installed in both of our vehicles.  It feels good to be a little bit prepared, since I know that practically any time I go to the doctor, there's a chance of having a baby that day.  Next up, assemble the hospital bag as much as we can and finish up with the nursery.  If we can get all that done before Christmas, I will feel great!  Speaking of which, I really need to put up our tree and get out the other Christmas decorations!  And maybe I should consider doing a little shopping for my family.  Hmmm.  I guess there's more to do than I thought!  I better go get started!!  I'll update again next week with more nursery pictures and the results of our growth scan on Monday :-)

PS - Here's an updated belly picture for you - taken after Thanksgiving dinner.

Ups and Downs

The past two weeks have been so full of ups and downs for us.  I'm exhausted.  It's been so crazy I haven't even wanted to give updates, but now enough has happened that I just have to!  But first, a baby update . . .

We have reached 23 weeks this weekend!  I can hardly believe it.  Baby Girl is kicking and punching like a champ and Momma loves it!  Well, most of the time.  Sometimes, she gets me in some kind of organ that really hurts.  But it's still very encouraging.  Andy still hasn't been able to feel anything, which makes us kind of sad.  I swear she's strong enough that he should  be able to feel her, but she always stops moving as soon as he touches my stomach.  Even when I touch it, she stops.  It's very frustrating.  The internet tells me she's about the size of a grapefruit now, but I'm not so sure with how she was measuring a few weeks ago.  The other cool fact is that all of her facial features are fully developed now, so we should (hopefully) get some good pictures at our next scan!

Ok, on to the life updates . . .

First let's start with an up:
Andy is making terrific progress on the furniture for Baby Girl's room!  We have the glider that is completely done and sitting in the living room . . .

. . . And it's super comfortable too!  I actually use it a lot already.  Last week, the dresser was also fully completed . . .

The picture is bad because of the horrible lighting in our basement, but it really is pretty.  We painted the hardware oil-rubbed bronze and I think it looks really sharp against the Marshmallow White.  And then just this past week, he has been working on getting the wardrobe sanded down and ready to prime . . .

Again, horrible pictures because the lighting is just terrible, but you get the idea.  They were gorgeous pieces of furniture before, and I really like how they are turning out!

Down:
Last Friday afternoon, on my way home from work, my car completely died.  I made it onto our road, but not quite home, so I had to walk the rest of the way.  This in itself was very upsetting to me, seeing as how it was a hot day and I'm quite pregnant.  We had it towed to the mechanic, who was closed for the weekend and couldn't diagnose anything until Monday.  So on Monday we got a call saying that it was the alternator (which is a fairly expensive part) and it was located in between the engine and the dash, so there would be quite a bit of labor as well.  Between driving Andy's car (when he wasn't at work) and borrowing my Father-in-law's car, I was able to make it to work and all my other commitments for the week, but it wasn't enjoyable.  I'm used to driving my SUV, so driving around all these little cars all week long just drove me crazy - not to mention how hard it was to get in and out of them!  Anyway, my car came home on Thursday night, but the bill was $659 (which is a lot for us).  So we had to pull money from our budgeted areas for moving expenses and improving the new house once we move in.  It's frustrating to be doing so well on budgeting for upcoming expenses and then have to use it because an unforeseen circumstance arises.  We were proud though that we didn't have to dip into our savings for our down payment and closing costs, so that was a little bit of a silver lining to an otherwise cloudy event.

Up:
On Saturday (the day after my car broke down), my mom came down to take me shopping at some nearby outlets to get ideas for clothes for Baby Girl!  It was so much fun.  We were supposed to be just window shopping so that she could get a feel for my taste in baby clothes and stuff like that, but we ended up walking away with a few adorable outfits that were just too cute to leave at the store.  I love that even though we moved away from my parents last fall, they still live close enough to come visit like that on a semi-regular basis.  It also made me so excited for the baby to be here so I can dress her up and snuggle her all day long :-)

Down:
Monday evening, I had to work.  That, in itself, is not really too big of a down.  However.  This particular retail job requires that I do a lot of straightening of the store.  I go around and put things away, straighten the items on the shelves, pull things forward, etc.  It ends up being a lot of getting up and down off the floor to reach the bottom shelves.  At 8:59 (we close at 9:00) I stood up from kneeling on the floor, and my pants ripped right out.  The new girl that I was training thought it was just hilarious, but I wasn't so amused.  Here's what I had to walk around in the rest of the night . . . 

Yeah.  Luckily, we were only there for another hour finishing things up and my t-shirt was just long enough to pull down over it.  Now, if you've ever been pregnant, you probably know this already, but those of you who haven't, let me make this very clear:  Maternity clothes are flipping expensive.  Seriously.  They cost just as much (if not more) than regular clothes, but they NEVER go on sale.  So when I found some on clearance at target for 50% off, I snatched up two identical pairs right away.  When I was wearing them, though, it felt like one pair was a half-size smaller than the other.  Not enough to be uncomfortable, just enough so that I could tell the difference between two otherwise identical pairs of jeans.  I guess the tight pair got just a little too tight on Monday night.  I now only own one pair of jeans and a pair of capris.  The weather has cooled down sufficiently that the capris are officially out of season.  So I have one pair of pants to wear to work and no money to go buy more because all our money just went into my car.  I guess I will start saving my pennies and hopefully be able to get a second pair in a few weeks.  It just feels ridiculous to only own one pair of jeans, but I guess that's the way life goes!

Up:
This is the big one.  This past Friday, I was in the music room and my phone chimed letting me know I had a voicemail.  Our cell phones don't get great reception in our house (because of the tin siding, we think) so it never rang, but the voicemail was very surprising!  It was our Realtor, Janet.  She's been awesome, by the way.  If any of you are ever looking for a house in my area, let me know and I will get you hooked up with her.  Anyway, she called to say that we heard back from the mysterious investor that was the last piece to the puzzle.  They wanted us to change something.  Andy got home and she called and actually talked to him and it turns out that they will approve it if we push our closing date back (from October 19th) to on or before November 9th!  Of course, we said yes to that and went right out and signed the papers agreeing to it.  So we don't have all the paperwork from the banks and such yet, but we DO have a closing date SET for no later than November 9th!  It will take another week or so to get the rest of the paperwork in and then we will file the actual mortgage application and schedule the inspection and really get the ball rolling.  The best part, for me, is that I know we will have the keys by November 9th.  No more waiting and wondering.  It's time to start packing.  Well, we decided I could wait until the beginning of October to start that so that I have a week to just enjoy this good news and get mentally prepared.  The only drawback is that now yesterday was the first day of Autumn and I don't get to put out any of my fall decorations.  But I'll take it if it means I get to put up the Christmas tree in a house that we own!  I just feel so excited and so relieved.  This is really, finally, happening.  And just in time too, because I was starting to feel antsy about getting the nursery set up :-)

Neutral:
I have mixed feelings about this next one because it hasn't happened yet.  On the 27th, we will go in to the specialist for the scan to see why Baby Girl was measuring so small.  I've been really hungry this week, so I hope she was just a little behind and will have caught up by then.  Andy can't get the day off to go with me, so my amazing Mom is coming down so I don't have to go alone.  I'm not really worried, I just don't like having to wait so long to find out.  Luckily, a doctor should actually perform the scan and be able to tell us something right away, so that cuts down on the waiting quite a bit.  Anyway, just please keep us in your prayers this week for good reports, calm nerves, and a cooperative baby!  

(Also, I told Andy that we need to agree on a name for her before I go in for this appointment, so hopefully that announcement should be coming very soon as well!)

20 Weeks, A House Update, and A Guessing Game!

Today we have reached the halfway point!  20 weeks!  We definitely had a growth spurt this week.  I've been getting hungry roughly every two hours.  I feel huge!  Baby is supposedly the size of a banana, which means 10.2 ounces and 6.5 inches.  He or she is moving around a lot more (I'm 99% sure I feel it now!), which is great, but it also means wiggling right into my bladder or up into my stomach, giving me heartburn.  Oh, the heartburn.  Tums are my new best friend.  Some people have told me that means I'm going to have a hairy baby, but I dunno.  My mom apparently had a lot of heartburn with my sister and I don't remember her coming out particularly hairy.  I mean, she had hair, but she wasn't furry or anything!  Leg cramps have been plaguing me at night too, which, along with the heartburn and continuing crazy dreams, mean that I haven't been sleeping very well.  Not cool when it comes to being coherent for work!  Hopefully not too much more of that (work) though, before I can leave and concentrate on the studio and the baby and getting into the new house!

Speaking of the new house, we heard from our Realtor this week!  Here's the background situation, in case you don't already know.  We found a house and I fell in love with it.  Andy took a little more time (he was hesitant about the pool, of all things), but after we found out about the baby, he was on board with it too.  We put in an offer in June and it was accepted by the sellers right away.  We signed the paperwork on June 25th.  Typically, we'd be homeowners by now.  However, the sellers have gone bankrupt, so the house is tied up in Bankruptcy as one of their assets.  So, it had to be released from Bankruptcy court before we could do anything with it, which we were told would take around 30 days.  THEN, the house is in short sale, which means that the bank is letting the owners sell it for less than they owe so that everyone can get out from under it before a foreclosure has to go through.  These particular owners had also taken out a second mortgage at some point, which means that both banks have to approve of the sale price and the loss they'd be taking on the house.  That can take anywhere from 60 days to 6 or 7 months after the Bankruptcy release.  So, we have absolutely no idea when we are going to get into our house.  In theory, this works out ok for us because we're currently renting right now with no lease, so we can stay as long as we need and then leave whenever we get the house with no penalties or anything.  But there is a slight chance that all this could drag out beyond January, when Baby is due to arrive.  So there's a lot of stress there.  We could either be here with no room for the baby, or at any time get a call saying we've got the house and have 30 days to get all the paperwork and inspections done and move in.  That's a lot of pressure every time the phone rings.

So we got an email from our Realtor the other day.  She said that the listing agent has gotten verbal acceptance from the bank holding the second mortgage!  Our offer was enough to cover the entire debt to the first bank, so they aren't an issue.  However.  There is a surprise FOURTH party that no one (not even the listing agent) knew about until this week.  The second bank had sold their portion of the mortgage to an investor at some point.  So now we have to wait for written approval from them too.  The bad news is that we don't know who this investor is, so there's no way to tell how long it could take.  The good news is, out of 4 parties needing to approve our offer, we are down to the last one.  It's still crazy stressful.  Every week that passes with Baby's development, I worry that we won't make it into the new house in time to get the nursery ready for him or her.  I just have to keep reminding myself that God allowed all this to fall into place like this on purpose.  We wouldn't have gotten pregnant or gotten the house if it wasn't going to fall together ok.  That's a tough thing to remember, but I'm trying :-)

So, that was the house update!  Now, onto the guessing game.  Andy and I decided long before we even thought about getting pregnant, that when the time came, we wanted to find out the sex of the baby.  We're going to have that opportunity on Thursday!  We go in early on Thursday morning for the Anatomy Scan, commonly referred to as the ultrasound.  We'll (hopefully) get to find out boy or girl, but also learn all about how our baby is developing.  This is good, but also a little nerve wracking.  If there's a physical or developmental problem, this is when we'll find out.  So I'm a little anxious going into it, but holding on to the exciting part about finding out more about who will be joining our lives in January.  In the spirit of friendly competition, let's open up the debate!  You tell me: will it be a boy or a girl??  There are a lot of ways that people say they can tell, so I'm going to try to give you the answers to all the wives' tale questions . . . 

Heart Rate:  160 both times we've listened in.
Craving:  Sweet things like fruity candies (not chocolate at all) and also some salty things like chips and pretzels, but mostly pizza and pizza-type foods (garlic bread, pizza rolls, etc.)
Heartburn:  Yes.  Definitely.
Carrying High or Low:  I don't know.  The baby feels to be sitting pretty low, but when I look at my belly, the widest part seems to be smack dab in the middle.  Well, you tell me.  Here's the 360 view of my baby belly at 20 weeks, including a backside shot for if you are like my coworker Jackie who swears that you can tell by looking from behind . . . 

There you have it!  That's all the information I can think to provide you with.  If there's anything I missed, let me know.  So, what do you think?  Am I cookin' a boy or a girl in my oven??

The Nursery, part 1

As I've mentioned, Andy is very, very motivated to make progress on the nursery in any way possible.  I figured that to help with the process, I would keep you all informed about said progress :-)

First, the plan.  I had decided long ago on a jungle/safari theme with a lot of greens and browns.  Gender neutral, but nowhere near pastel or yellow or anything like that.  Bright and fun, that's how I like it!  I found some adorable TY beanie babies (remember those??) at my store and bought them up last fall.  They're called Beanie Boos and they are stinking adorable.  Look it up.  Seriously.  Go Google it now, I'll wait for you to get back.

. . . 

See?  Aren't they cute?!  I got the Lion, Monkey, Giraffe, and Elephant.  I'm still contemplating whether or not I want the zebra.  Anyway, they'll probably sit on a shelf with some canvases that I will make with letters to spell Baby's name.  So that was the entire foundation of my idea for the nursery.  Pretty loose concept, right?  The next thing we did was buy a glider with matching gliding ottoman.  Yeah.  We were at a thrift store and Andy spotted it in their tiny little furniture section.  He had me sit in it and I nearly fell asleep.  It was just that comfortable.  So we bought it for a whopping $13.  Plus tax, of course.  When we got home, we did a little research and found out that it is a nearly $500 Dutalier glider and ottoman set!  The cushions need recovered, but mom is taking care of that for us.  Thanks, mom!!  The wood was also a very light shade, which really did not fit my taste.  See?

Not the prettiest thing ever, but definitely the comfiest!

It was then that we made the next big decision about the nursery design.  We wanted to buy the crib new, so that it would meet all of the current safety standards, and decided to go with white so that it would be easy to match other furniture to.  For the rest of the furniture, we're going with used.  We won't be getting a changing table because we decided to use a dresser and one of those changing pads on top.  We were shopping around on Craigslist and found a set of dressers that were in good shape and could easily be sanded and painted white and they were even a reasonable price!  However, they were way too big for in a nursery.  And they came with a queen bed frame, headboard, and footboard.  Not really something we needed for in there.  And then it hit me.  Upgrade our furniture and then use ours for in the nursery!  Since getting married over three years ago, we've been using a hodgepodge of furniture from our childhood bedrooms and the frame that our mattress came with.  It's about time for an upgrade.  So we bought the new furniture and moved it in and we love it.  Maybe we'll refinish it some day too, but for now it's perfectly functional they way it is.  

So we took the old dressers down to the basement with the chair and Andy got right to work.  

The dresser that was in my bedroom growing up.

He sanded down the chair and the low dresser that will be the changing table.  We decided not to use the tall dresser (that was his) because of some detail work that didn't look like it would sand very well.  Instead, we will be using the wardrobe that matches my old dresser.  It's a beautiful old waterfall set that we are all sure will look just lovely in white.  The wardrobe is currently still living at my parents' house, so it hasn't been started yet, but that's ok.  The rest is making wonderful progress!  

The 'painting room' makes the basement looks like the scene of an alien autopsy!

Painted chair parts

The ottoman is completely done and the chair is almost there.  After that, it's the dressers and after that, we're stuck.  You see, here's the nursery . . .

This will be the nursery.  Minus the horses, of course.

Unfortunately, that's not the house we currently live in.  So, aside from little decorative projects here and there, the rest will have to wait until we move.  The hope is that the timing will all line up perfectly, but the realist in me knows how unlikely that really is.  I'm trying not to think about it so it doesn't stress me out.

One last picture and I can take very little credit for it.  This is the quilt that my mom made for the nursery.

I can't wait to wrap my munchkin up in this beautiful, snuggly quilt!

Isn't it fabulous?!?!  You can see her entire post about it here.  I've been in love with the animal fabric for years and my mom, my sister, and I spent a few hours in Joann's one Sunday afternoon picking out the rest.  I haven't even seen it in person yet, but I absolutely adore it.  She'll be making more to go along with it, including a diaper bag, a cover for the car seat, and the rest of the bedding for the crib.  I can't wait!  Everyone is working so hard to make a beautiful home for this baby to be born into, I'm just so overwhelmed and grateful.

That's what we've got thus far.  I'll keep you updated as more exciting things happen!