We moved into our current house almost three years ago. When we saw this:

we put “remodel the bathtub” at the top of our to-do list. Now, almost three years later, we can finally check it off our list. Why we kept putting this off eludes me. The tub has been Toby’s personal bathing spot because no human would willingly shower in there (sorry Mom!). Since Toby’s white, no one notices the tiny paint chips stuck in his fur. Not wanting to risk some toxic contamination, we crammed poor caleb into his infant sink tub until he couldn’t fit onto it anymore. From there, we transitioned him to our bathroom. I finally got tired of Caleb’s creepy rubber duckies staring at me when I showered and called someone to fix the guest bath tub.

Now it looks like this:

Caleb has his own bath, Andy and I can shower in peace, and Toby can be paint chip-free. Win win win.

I finally had enough motivation to paint the bathroom when I ordered my first prints for the house. Here they are displayed in our “new” bathroom.

And here’s the other side of the bathroom, complete with toilet-drumming baby:

Over the past few weeks, we made some renovations to our living room. When we moved in, most of the house had tile floor and the living room had a huge arcadia door. The problem with the door was that it was a 20-something year-old squeaky single pain heat monster. During the 100+ degree summer, the living room would be at least 10 degrees hotter than the rest of the house, and with it being the most used room of the house, this was a problem.

We also had a rug we bought for the previous house to cover up the tile in the living room. Since Caleb’s been here, I’ve been sitting on that floor more than the couch and have noticed how thin and uncomfortable it was. We decided to invest in a new dual pane door and some nice new carpet to help the living room feel more inviting. a few weeks ago, we got our new carpet installed and the door was installed yesterday. I can’t believe how much more comfortable the room is now. The carpet is so thick and plush and makes the room look twice as big. The door reduces glare and definitely keeps the heat out.

Before:

Notice the gray rug and aluminum patio door

After:

My gracious husband hung up the remaining decorations for me last night, and today we got a few remaining items and touched everything up. After literally months of sewing, painting, assembling and decorating, The nursery is complete. Here are those long awaited pictures as I promised:

Nursery from the hallway

Dresser and shadow boxes (Andy’s first pair of shoes are in the center one)

Crib, rocker, and the letters Brandi painted for me

9 weeks to go! Caleb is over 3 pounds and over 16 inches long. Andy and I both agree we feel cheated out on this week’s produce of the week: four naval oranges.

We had a doctor’s appointment today and got some questions answered. I’ve been a little concerned with the baby being breech this late in the pregnancy. I could tell by how low his kicks were and how he liked to have his head on my right side just under my ribs. One night this past week I thought he turned and have felt his kicks all over the place on top and on the sides. I told my doctor about this and he felt around. Turns out that he’s lying transverse (sideways) with his head on my left side and his feet kicking my right side (which totally makes sense to me now) so he’s not quite head-down yet but he’s on his way. I guess he likes taking his time. He’s been pretty laid back as far as fetuses go so maybe that will carry over into infancy. I wouldn’t mind a calm baby.

Other than that, We did the normal doctor’s visit stuff with the heartbeat and uterus-measuring. His heartrate was in the 150’s which is a little higher than before only because he was nice and awake. He even kicked the dopplar a few times trying to get it off. I measured 28 weeks but the doc said that was pretty typical for a transverse baby.

Ever since he turned, I’ve been getting these wierd sensations when he scrapes his hand or foot across me. The only way I can describe it is like getting tickled from the inside. I’m usually a very ticklish person normally especially on my side. Since his feet are right there, everytime he moves his foot across my side it makes me jump. This seems to be one of his favorite activities right now because I’m getting “tickled” several times a day.

The nursery is a little more complete. I was able to get the crib mattress and some sheets with the money from my baby shower repeats and some gift cards. So now the crib is basically ready. Once we get the rocker we’ll be able to hang some things up and really finish the nursery. Here are some pictures of the crib. And for all you who are worried about my set up, I will not have the bear, pillow or blanket in the crib when the baby’s in there. It’s merely for my aesthetic enjoyment right now.:

Okay, with some gentle persuasion from Andy, I gave in and decided to update on nursery improvements. I think everyone remembers what it looked like pre-baby:

Since then, Andy and his aunt painted it and the furniture has arrived. I was able to put a few of my sewing creations in there although I don’t think I’ll be able to use the bumper or the mobile. The crib is kind of an awkward shape. the bumper sits too high and can’t tie around the posts when it’s almost to the top of the rail and the mobile only fits crib sides that are 2″. As you can see, the sides are way thicker. I may have to persuade Andy to hang it from the ceiling.

The dresser looks great. All it needs is a changing pad on it. If you look closely, you can see our wireless internet gadgets squeezed under there. Unfortunately, the only cable hookup is in this room so that will have to stay.

For another project, I copied some pictures out of my first addition Peter and Wendy book (for those of you who don’t know, that book is very special to me and is probably one of the few things I would rescue from the house if it were on fire) and framed them. Here they are framed…:

… and here is what they actually look like since I couldn’t get a good picture of them in their frames:

That’s all we have so far. We’re mainly waiting on the rocker to come in so we can finalize where everything will be laid out in the room. Once that’s finished, we can hang up the shadow boxes and the beautiful letters my sister-in-law painted for Caleb. I guess I will be keeping everyone updated now, thanks to Andy.

Today we visited Baby’s-R-Us once more, and at Briana’s urging finally picked out a crib and dresser and ordered them;  very nice, dark cherry wood, and we’ll have them within 7-14 days.  Bri insisted we order them early due to the fear that they wouldn’t be in stock or available soon.  I told her they would surely be available immediately and sure enough they were.  I was right! (I get to be right once every 7-14 days….)  I’m glad we ordered them though…every little purchase like this, every preparation, makes it all the more real.  Here are some pics of the purchases…

Now we have to get the room ready and paint it (I’ll be doing that to prevent pregnant-paint-mommy-syndrome…very scary).  The crib is convertible, meaning it will be able to become a regular bed once that day comes.  Because of this, we also had to order the rails for it as well as a guardrail, because if we wait it might be out of stock by then.

I completely remember having a guardrail as a kid.  My dad made me one.  I was terrified of falling out of bed at night. One time, in the middle of the night, I somehow fell off and got all wrapped up in my sheets, and was left screaming for help from the floor of my room.  Luckily my pops saved me from under the covers.  Phew.  Remembering that guardrail had me thinking of a common Christian misconception though.

A lot of the time people on the outside of Christianity look at things like God’s precepts/commands as rules and regulations that those inside must “follow” in order to be seen as righteous in God’s eyes.  They don’t realize that God’s commands and precepts are truly just like guardrails on a bed.  They’re there for a purpose, and the purpose is not to make people jump through hoops, but to protect us.  Christ alone is our righteousness, not our obedience to rules.

God gives us his word and the wisdom and truth within it as a “guardrail” for our lives.  He knows the things that will make us fall out of our beds and get twisted up in the sheets that would destroy us.  It may seem like a silly metaphor but it’s an appropriate one.  God knows what’s ultimately best for us, and a Christian’s obedience is a reflection of their faith in Christ and comes through an understanding of God’s ultimate control and sovereignty.  That his “guardrails,” his Biblical precepts and commands, keep us from self-destructive lives in which we fail to glorify Him.  What’s amazing is that those times we still manage to jump over them and fall out of bed (which I all too often do), He’s there to comfort us and rescue us in the middle of the night, just like my Father did when I was a little dude…twisted up in my dinosaur sheets.

Now that I know my brother and sis-in-law got the quilt I made them (see this post), it’s now safe to show everyone the finished product….

Here’s the quilt all laid out:

And here it is after I wrapped it up to send away:

I’ve just about finished everything I need to make for Caleb’s room. So far, the list of things I have made has been a crib bumper, crib skirt, curtains, two baby blankets and a pillow. And get this, I’m still not finished. I plan on wrapping a lamp shade in fabric and possibly making a changing pad cover depending on how depleted my fabric supplies are. I’m not one to plan ahead and get everything I need in one fell swoop so I have been taking daily trips to the local fabric store down the street. Let’s just say the nice ladies down there know me very well.

Since I’ve paced myself well, I just have to wait impatiently for Andy and I to get our lazy butts in that room and clean it out. Furniture would also be nice. These are things that will probably get done around September/October. I honestly don’t think I can wait that long to see what everything looks like.  I’m half ecstatic to see the finished product and half terrified I messed up on the measurements. I literally keep myself up at night bouncing between visualizing a beautiful baby boy’s nursery and sitting on the floor surrounded by crooked skirts, bumpers and curtains tearing my hair out.

In the mean time, My sis-in-law (who is an amazing artist) and I have bartered our talents out to each other. She’s painting some letters to go over Caleb’s crib and I’m making a quilt for her daughter. I picked out the fabric today and am really excited with how everything looks. Here’s a sneak peek:

That’s all you’re gonna get until it’s done and sent. I don’t want any particular sister-in-law to have the surprise ruined for her.

Can you believe this disaster area will eventually be our child’s room?

Yeah…. Me niether. As of right now, we have an old mac, iron/ironing table, extra desk, golf clubs, 8 foot foldaway table, sewing machine and a plethora of accessories, two lamps, about 10 yards of fabric, office chair that belongs in the office, guitar, camera accessories, and a fake tree.

This would make a great “I spy” game. Can anyone find the blanket basket?

Don’t ask me where we’re going to put all this stuff. Surely not in the closet, it’s even worse. Hopefully in a few months I’ll be able to post beautiful sweet nursery pictures that could be straight from a Better Homes and Gardens magazine. Until then, I’ll have to deal with the “black hole”.

Oh yeah, I’ve also changed my mind on the color scheme (big surprise there).  The crib bumper is already finished and I’m beginning the skirt and curtain. I’ll post some of the projects I’ve completed once I finish a few.

It’s started. I am officially entering the “nesting” phase.

I’ve already made a crib quilt for Caleb’s room. It looks kind of blurry in this pic, but click on it and it’ll look way better.

It took me a record time of three days to complete. I’m planning on using the colors in the quilt for the nursery. If i’m feeling ambitious enough, I’m going to make curtains and a crib bumper to go along with it. The walls will be a light blue and I’m thinking dark cherry furniture. It’s kind of hard to picture now, but I’m pretty confident It’ll look fabulous when finished.

Other little projects I’ll work on when I will be more “ahem” with child will be to wrap some of those wooden letters in fabric and hang them up. We also have these shadow boxes that are cherry colored. I’m thinking of displaying little artifacts from when Andy and I were little in them.

I may be getting a wee bit ahead of myself, but I have a whole month left of summer vacation and usually have plenty of free time during school. And making an entire quilt in three days has gotten me quite motivated.