37 Weeks

    It is time for a baby update! I went to the doctor for my weekly appointment yesterday and I am now measuring 38 weeks, although I'm only 37 weeks - FULL TERM! I am a full centimeter dilated and I am experiencing a lot of crampiness, which was truly worrying me, as I was scared I wouldn't know the difference between these menstrual like cramps and my real contractions. I was assured; however, not to worry - I'll know when they do finally start coming! 

      One day late last week, I woke up and realized that I could feel my ribs! For the longest time, I have felt Baby Madelyn up underneath my ribs, making it hard to bend over, even to eat. Although she has dropped a few inches, the doctor explained that before delivery, she will drop even more. The good news is that she is still in her head down position, perfect for delivery. 

     Yesterday the doctor said that if she was born today, she would weigh about 7 pounds. If she makes it to her due date (we are praying that she does!), the doctor said she would weigh a whopping 8-8 1/2 pounds - WHOA! Big baby! We will just have to see how big Madelyn will be! 

     Because I've had three people in the last day tell me they think baby will arrive next week (AHHH - NO!), I thought it would be fun to take a survey, just for fun! To participate and weigh in on when you think Madelyn will be here, click on the link below! 

When will Madelyn arrive? 

"Thank Heaven for Little Girls" - Baby Shower

    Earlier this month my wonderful sister in law, Julie, threw me a beautiful baby shower (with the help of her wonderful mother and my brother, believe it or not - I was completely surprised :) I finally got some pictures from the event and wanted to share. The theme was "Thank Heaven for Little Girls", and there were cute little touches like angel food cake wine (would have loved to have tried that!), angel food cupcakes, angel wings on the favors and invites, and a huge assortment of gorgeous roses in different beautiful blush colors. 

Wow, ladies - look at us. It wasn't long ago we were posing for pictures before going "out" at JMU. Then came the Bridal Shower pics...so hard to believe we are moving into the "Mommy" chapter of our lives. I think we're really starting to grow up, now!

Thanks for an amazing shower, Julie!

Baby Gear

     Well, summer seems to be flying by - and so do the weeks! I can't believe that in two days I will be considered "full term" at 37 weeks! People who see me; however, would certainly believe it, because apparently, I look like I could "pop" any day (which always causes me to say a little prayer that our baby decides to join us on the due date or a little after). 

   To me, it's like Christmas, or your wedding - although you're looking forward to it, can you really every TRULY be ready? My answer is no. There are still things to be done to prepare. This week alone, I've kept busy with my weekly doctor's appointment (still 1 cm dilated), 3 prenatal consultations for pediatricians, an infant CPR class, and our childbirth class. Our most recent project on the "to do" list that just decided to pop up involves fixing a leak in our ceiling from our upstairs bathroom - there is always something!

   Maybe I will change my tune and be ready after a few more weeks of 100 degree temperatures, swollen feet and ankles (we're talking MAJOR cankles), back aches, insomnia (I know, I know, I need to get used to that one), waddling, and "glowing" (aka sweating). 

     In the mean time, we've got all the baby gear popping up around the house, such as our swing: (Thanks Janis, Jenn, and Jordan!)

By the way, Bella seems to think this swing is a comfy little bed for her, as she has tried on multiple occasions to jump into it with no success. (Poor thing still has no idea what she's in store for!)

And our bouncer:

Thanks, Uncle Matt & Abbey!

Then there's our Pack N' Play, where baby will hopefully nap and have her diapers changed downstairs: 

Thanks, Aunt Linda!

   Speaking of diapers, they are all packed in and ready to be used! (Thanks, Tiffany!)

.... This weekend our hope is to finally install the car seat and get some other organizational work done around the house. I also need to go buy the rest of the supplies we'll need so we can finish packing our labor bags. I guess it's nesting time in full force!

Chalkboard Wall

     Here's yet another post about the finishing of the nursery (I know, it's hard to believe we are STILL working on it, but we are almost there!) 

   From the beginning of the pregnancy, one of the things I knew I wanted, boy or girl, was a magnetic chalkboard wall. Being a teacher, I envisioned a space for our child to be creative, express herself, and showcase her proud works of art. I also loved the idea of writing little notes to her and cataloging her milestones with the chalkboard space. 

I also knew for sure I wanted an open bookshelf wall when I fell in love with spaces like these:

         


I just LOVE children's books and think they are so fanciful and fantasy-like. The colors and decorations on the covers make for beautiful artwork and decorations themselves. 




    Although I wished for a wall of books, I knew our tiny room just didn't have the space to accommodate such a display, especially if I wanted to do a chalkboard wall as well. So, I decided to combine the two. The hubby was a little confused about how she would write on a wall of books, but I assured him I had a "vision" for the wall, and she would have space around the shelving and towards the bottom. 

So, we started with trying to paint with the magnetic primer first. After several clumpy coats and poor reviews read online, we decided that we didn't have the time, energy, or money to paint the several layers of magnetic paint we needed to truly hold her artwork/papers with magnets. I sadly gave up my magnetic dreams and we then focused on painting the wall with several layers  of chalkboard paint. 

     Next, I ordered a personalized vinyl wall sticker for the top of the wall from where else - Etsy. I used the quote, "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" from Dr. Seuss' book - it is one of my all time favorites and I just can't wait to see where our little girl will go in life. I hope she always dreams high and keeps her optimism. I thought the quote would tie in perfectly with her wall of books.

     Next, it was time to hang the shelving I ordered from  The Land of Nod and a pink clothespin hanger I found at Home Goods. Since my magnetic musings were dashed, I bought that piece super cheap to hang her artwork or special cards she receives in the future. For now, I hung a few dresses up because little girl's clothing is so special and sweet, it is artwork in and of itself.

     To me, the final product is one of my favorite parts of the entire room. I have another bookshelf and cork board rail, but don't want to clutter up the wall too much. She will need space to write on her chalkboard in the future - after all, that's what it's for! For now, we will leave the wall as is. I love it, and can't wait to read her books from her shelves each night!

ABC Wall

      One of the major things I knew I wanted in the nursery was an "ABC" wall. Thanks to Pinterest, when I began getting nursery ideas I found pictures like this that I loved. 

    I definitely wanted the letters to be wooden, but they can be so expensive when bought individually! I was about to purchase an unpainted set from Etsy for about $75 when by luck I found a baby store going out of business who sold me 25 of the letters for $20...Score! I picked up the missing "A" at Michael's for a couple bucks.

     Next, we (Mom) just spray painted the different letters white, pale pink, hot pink, silver, and champagne. We took extra "pearl mist" spray paint from the chandelier and did a top coat on all the letters, adding a little "shimmer". You know I think there can never be too much shimmer or bling!

     I think the end result is super cute. I used putty to hang the letters since they are smaller, and it saved us putting 26 holes in the wall. 

 ... Can you tell I'm a teacher? Hopefully she will learn her ABCs in a flash! If not, at least it's a cute decoration!

Nusery Closet

     The nursery is slowly but surely coming along. A few days ago I realized the closet would be a lot more useful if we built in some simple shelving to utilize all the space. Billy was thrilled that I had thought of yet another project to add to the list (HA). This morning we woke up and made a trip to Home Depot to put in the shelving. I am super excited that now we have more room for storage! Here is a peak of the shelving:

     Most all of the clothes have been washed and put away. Mom just gave me a bunch that I wore when I was a baby. I can't get over how well they've held up over the years. We even have the outfit Mom and I wore home from the hospital. The tradition will continue with little Madelyn! All the clothes are just precious and I never get tired of looking at them all! 

    They are divided by these little closet organizers I decorated according to size:

One last look of the (unfinished) closet:

    We are also planning on adding an extra shelf above the one running the length of the closet to store out of season/outgrown clothes, diapers, etc. Finally, we need to find a solution to the darkness. Somehow we are going to add lighting.

Newborn onesies

0-3 onesies

     The clothing is also put away in all the drawers, as well. The onesies neatly fold and store so well! 

Chandelier Makeover

     When I found out I was having a girl, I knew I wanted to add a little "bling" to the room with a mini-chandelier. The one I really liked was from Pottery Barn, and retails for $138.

     I knew that I didn't want to spend that much money on a new light fixture, especially since we had two other chandeliers hanging from the ceilings of our office and spare bedroom (don't ask my why!?) The only problem was - they were ugly, and brass.

     I decided to make over the smaller chandelier we had in our office for the lighting fixture in the nursery because I knew I also wanted a paper lantern mobile and I didn't want too much going on in the room. So, before, we had a VERY old ceiling fan in the nursery that looked like this:

    The chandelier began its  journey looking like so:

    One hot summer day I enlisted the help of Mom & Dad to spray paint the chandelier. I used a Rust-Oleum Universal Paint & Primer. I originally wanted the color of the chandelier to be a pearly white, so I chose the "Pearl Mist" color.

     We spray painted by hanging the chandelier from a tree branch outside. The spray paint turned out to be more of an incandescent color than I was expecting, so some of the brass finish underneath showed through slightly. In the end, I actually liked the color better than if it had just been a glittery white. It has a pewter look to it, which is nice, and ties in with the other hardware in the room. 

      

   Finally, I bought three packs of crystal beads from the craft store and used wire and hot glue to attach the beads to the chandelier.

     I debated with putting shades over the bulbs, but right now, I like it the way it is, especially since the hubby installed a dimmer, so now we can make the lighting as bright or dim as we like, which looks great with the reflection of the crystals.

    I think it's super cute for such an affordable make over project. My only wish is that it had a longer chain so it would hang lower on the ceiling, but there was nothing we could do to remedy this problem. I definitely am looking forward to re-doing the other chandelier. With a little spray paint, it is so easy!

DIY: Button Art / Hairbow Holder

     I am generally not a very crafty person, but I wanted to share a little project I did for the nursery a few weeks ago. I took several things I saw and wanted to buy from Etsy, and tried to save some money by doing them myself. Although it didn't turn out quite as beautiful or cute as my inspiration products, I think it turned out cute, and it was a lot of fun! :)

Here are my "inspiration" pics:

      I fell in love when I saw this beautiful button monogram, which this seller creates by hand sewing each individual button by hand onto silk.

     I also knew I wanted to have a place to display, hang, and organize all of baby girl's hair clips, like this one:

         

   Because I don't have a lot of wall space in the nursery (thanks to all the OTHER things I am planning on doing), I decided it would be good to combine the two using a canvas I had laying around the house and the metallic paint I was planning on using for some of the letters on the ABC wall. 

     Then I used a wooden letter "M" that I bought at Micheal's to trace the shape of the letter and hot glue the buttons on the canvas (I WISH I could sew them all on - but that just wasn't going to happen!

(Sorry the lighting is so terrible - taken with my camera phone!)


















     Next, I picked up some matching ribbon to hot glue around the edges of the canvas, to use to hold the canvas to the wall, and to hang the hair clips from.

     Finally, it was ready to hang! I think it turned out pretty cute - and it was way less expensive than buying the individual pieces through someone else! I really like the idea that I made a few little pieces to put in baby's nursery as well. 

     Now it's all ready for her little hair bows and clips....let's hope she has a little hair! :)