Saturday, March 23, 2013

A hard day, but one that makes me feel so thankful!


"We must be willing to let go of the 
life we have planned, 
so as to have the life that is waiting for us." 
- Joseph Campbell

Today is a joyful, yet sobering day.
A day that I was originally dreading to get to, yet knew it would come.

Today is the day that our first baby was due to arrive,
for us to hold in our arms.

Today is bittersweet.

I think about today and wonder what it would have been like to be at that point, preparing to bring our first child home.
But then,
I look at my expanding belly and know that I can't imagine life without
our little boy, Jack.  

It's heart wrenching to think that we aren't able to hold both of our babies,
but I know this was God's plan all along.

I know that this plan is what's best for our lives.

"'For I know the plans I have for you', says the Lord, 'Plans to prosper you, and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" 
- Jeremiah 29:11    

Every time I think back
I remember the joy we felt in the 7 weeks we had with our precious baby.
The excitement to have our very first child.

I'm so thankful for that time that the Lord gave us with our little one.

I'm grateful that the Lord allowed us to be parents to our first little angel no matter how short of a time it was.

I learned more from that time than I could have ever imagined.
 The Lord has brought so much good
out of something that is hard to picture as anything but bad.

John and I have plans to just be together for the day.

We'll head to church first,
which is such a blessing for getting through this tough time.
To be reminded of the Lord and his promises to us.

Then we plan to just take it easy,
go out to dinner and a movie,
and to just be together.

I've had a little difficulty seeing the people that were due
within days/weeks of me, 
bring home their precious children. 
 I thought I would be sharing the experience with them
but I'm so grateful that I can look at them,
feel joy in seeing them with their babies,
and look forward to that time just 15 weeks from now,
when we'll hold Jack in our arms for the first time.  

    I thought today would be harder than it is...

At times it is hard,
 but it's awesome to know how much the Lord has done,
and how he has used this in my life.

It makes today a day that I am thankful for,
instead of a day of grief.

Lord, thank you for the time we got to spend with our first little baby.

Baby, we will always love you!
 
  

Nursery Sneak Peak! :)

I've been planning out the nursery, 
as I explained in my last post.
I'm so excited to work on projects to make it come together!

The other day John and I went to Lowes
to get supplies for a nursery project I'm excited about!

We have 2 posters we needed frames for
and I couldn't find any frames
that I liked, that went well with the decor,
that weren't suuuper expensive.

So... what else to do, then to commission your husband to make
DIY frames! :)

We went to Lowes and picked out some molding we liked
and while we were at it, picked up a miter saw for John.
We knew it'd make this project easier,
and that it's something we'd use a lot in the future anyway
so we decided it was time to get one.
John was like a child in a toy store
looking through the power tools, and was so excited to get the saw.

We also picked out some decorative trim to use 
to add detail on the frame.
It looks like rope and I think will be the perfect detail on the frames.

We're currently still working on finishing up the frames,

but here's what we have so far.





First,
 John cut the molding to the sizes we needed...
 



Then, 
since I'm pregnant and can't be around the stain
John stained all the pieces for me.
I love the way it turned out,
it looks weathered, just like I would picture nautical wood...


John also stained the "rope molding" detail,
which looks all worn as well, which I really like.

  
I'll post pictures of the finished frames with the pictures in them
after we finish them.

We also have received the anchor and wheel that I'll be hanging
on the wall above the crib...

 
 I'm so excited to see how it all looks when it's hung.

Here's a sneak peak of the rest of the nursery so far,


This wall has the bookshelf and navy blue drapes up...



And here's the crib and changing table my parents got us!!
I'm so excited to have a crib in the house,
it makes it all feel more real!
(The crib/changing table set we wanted kept going out of stock, 
so my parents bought it for us now)
Thanks so much for the gift mom & dad, we're really grateful!



 

That's what I've got set up so far!

Today, I'm 25 weeks pregnant! 
I can't believe it's going by so fast!
Only 15 weeks to go until we can hold baby Jack in our arms! 


Sunday, March 10, 2013

Baby Jack's Nursery Plans!! :)



So I know I'm only 23 weeks pregnant
and still have a long time to go,
but I've already planned out the entire nursery
(most of it at least).
I'm so excited to see it all come together.

We have decided to go with the nursery theme....

Nautical!

We had already painted the walls in the nursery tan 
(I planned on having a neutral wall color and then using colors in the accessories depending on the gender of the baby)

Both John and I love nautical things,
and I like how it incorporates blue 
(and I feel like, having a boy, its easy to get blue things)

Most of the themes for boys rooms are either jungle, or sports.
I like the jungle theme,
but I feel like I've seen so many people already use it,
and I don't like sports as a design theme.
I wanted the nursery to have a more mature look, not super "baby-ish"

So...
These are my plans so far!
You get to see my "awesome" art skills in the sketches.... 
I definitely didn't get my mom's skill in this department. 
In my defense, I only took about 5 minutes to draw these, 
so I wasn't really trying... 
but I know that even if I tried it wouldn't look too great.  
Lol.


I will show my sketch of each wall, and explain what each thing is...

First:



  
This wall has the two windows. 
I already bought the drapes, they're a navy blue.
In between the windows will be a framed picture of a cool nautical ship 
(it's actually a band poster, but it's SUPER cool!)
Under the left window is a dark wood cube bookshelf. Three of the cubes will have tan baskets to hold toys, the others will hold books/stuffed animals.

In the middle is where I plan to put the baby swing for now. 
I'm sure it'll move out into the living room after the baby's born, 
but I'll keep it there until it's needed.

Under the right window is a dark brown padded bench that has storage for toys. :)   

Second:

  
This wall has subtle, big, horizontal stripes on the wall in the tan and a slightly darker tan color.
The crib is a dark wood, and the crib skirt will be navy blue,
the crib sheets will be a variety of nautical/solid/patterned sheets.
Above the crib (high enough that the baby can't reach it when he can stand, and yes, we will make sure it is very securely fastened to the wall)
is an old fashioned map in a frame.

Here's a pic of the map:

     On either side of the map will be a wooden anchor, and a wooden wheel (each is 24" tall).

Here are pictures of those pieces:


  I love these wall art pieces!! :)


Third:


This wall is mainly a closet that sticks out,
but in the nook next to it I plan to put a dark wood dresser.
Behind the dresser I'll be putting up a cool net that my mom and dad have at their lake house and they're willing to give to me for the design! :)

On the side of the closets I plan to put up a "nautical knots" shadow box that looks like this:

      

Lastly:

  
(The garbage can is the worst ever... I don't know what I was thinking while I drew it)

This wall has the door, and behind it, is the changing table.
There are three drawers on this changing table, and open space above them, where I'll put two baskets for holding diapering stuff.
Next to that is my "diaper genie" :).

I still have to figure out what to put on this wall above the changing table.
This is the tallest wall in the room, 
so I'm thinking of taking a piece of old barn wood and painting a cute phrase or line of a song on it.

I'm still figuring out what to do for that...

Here's some of my ideas:
 



I kind of like the "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine" lyrics painted to look more like the piece of wood that says "twinkle twinkle".
But I also love the simplicity of the "sweet dreams" with the whale.

That is my design plan so far, 
 I can't wait to see it all come together! :)

Anyone who has input on which of the three signs you like best, let me know! I'd love to hear opinions!