Lo's Nursery Reveal

Well, here it is.  The projects have been completed and we are feeling ready to bring our baby girl home.  We still have a while to go though!

First off we have the rocking chair corner.  The rocker was the first baby gift we received, compliments of the Hubby's parentals.  The ottoman is something that my father-in-law made for us soon after we were married.  It was honey colored and covered in burgundy fabric so we gave it a face lift with matte black paint and new fabric.  The side table was made by Mr. D.  It holds itself together with no glue or screws, it's pretty dang cool.





 The bedding was made by my Mom.  She is obviously extremely talented.  I have yet to put on the crib skirt, but we have one!

Revisiting the rocking chair corner- I kept seeing these "gutter shelves" on Pinterest and fell in love.  The Hubs made these in a flash.  I love the flexibility of being able to switch up what is on display.  He loved that the stuff won't be a falling hazard for the baby, it's a win-win situation.  And, don't miss the little shelf that is at baby girl's reach for her board books or toys.

 The changing table was purchased with a bed and side table from a friend over a year ago.  We thought we would paint the whole thing some funky color but then we saw the idea of just painting the top on a couple of home decor blogs and loved the look.  I initially thought that I would change out the hardware but I just love how it looks.  Hubby used auto body paint for the white so it should hold up fairly well.  The changing pad cover, by my Mom again.  The large painting was done by me, Hubby has named it "The Gay Zebra".  The basket on the top was something my sis insisted I have for diapers and wipes.  And, to the left is the closet.  I nixed the bi-fold door and did curtains on a rod instead, so much easier!

The crib- it's navy, it photographs black...we love the clean lines.

 The collage of round mirrors add pizazz without adding too much color.  I didn't want anything competing with the fabulous crib bedding.

Last but not least- a pink chandelier.  No little girls room is complete without one! 

Credits:
Crib- Modena 3 in 1 crib from Wal-Mart
Fabric- Roco Beat from Hobby Lobby
Rocking Chair- TJ Maxx
Chandelier- purchased from ReStore and painted Watermelon
Round mirrors- Target
Diaper basket- Michael's
Rocking chair pillow- TJ Maxx
Curtains- Mia grommet top panels from Hobby Lobby
Curtain rods- Lowe's
Stuff to make gutter shelves- from Lowe's

You So Crazy...I Think I Wanna Have Yo Baby

Well here's what I look like at 34 weeks.  There's no denying that I am pregnant at this point.  I don't mind the attention though, I find that I get preferential treatment wherever I go these days.  Trying to cross traffic?  No problems if you've got me in tow...everyone stops to let me through.  Hungry?  You will get your food in no time and lots of it!  Don't want to wait in line for the bathroom?  People always ask me if I want to cut in line so I can go before them.  I don't take them up on it but it's restored my faith in humanity.

So, six more weeks to go.  This little lady seems to be growing like a weed.  I go back to the doctor on Tuesday and I am anticipating that they will tell me that I finally gained weight...it sure feels like it anyway!  And, the stomach area isn't looking so hot these days.  Hubby asked me yesterday if my stomach skin hurt because this seems to have occurred overnight, so tonight he spent an embarrassing amount of dough buying me creams.  In the words of En Vogue "Whatta man, whatta man, whatta man, whatta mighty good man."  You've got that song stuck in your head now, right?  You're welcome!

North Carolina Museum of Art

While accompanying the Hubs on one of his business trips to Raleigh we stopped in at the North Carolina Museum of Art.  We were both rather impressed with the collection that they had and how sleek and modern the building is.  This is part of it, there is a whimsical metal tree out front.

North Carolina Museum of Art

Hands down the coolest piece that this place had. This installment was quite large and was made from spools of thread.  The image was made hanging upside down but there was this cool wand that you held and looked through to see it right side up.


The cool wand that inverted the image.

So neat!

A close up of the spools of thread that made up the image.

I loved this drapey piece.  I love modern art pieces in general because they are so colorful and I never met a color I didn't like.  This guy was HUGE!

Overall view of the piece of art.

Zoomed in a little you can see that the piece is made out of different wrappers that were woven/sewn together. I can't imagine how long it took to complete!

Close up shot-  It's made out of wrappers.

 I wish I would have gotten a closer shot of this one because the attention to detail was amazing.  The lines were so crisp and where they intersected it looked like it was woven and not painted.

I loved this one!

I just think this one would make me so happy if I got to see it hanging in my home everyday.  Of course, I'm partial to anything on a square canvas anyway!

So colorful.

I finished the large painting for the baby's nursery last week that Hubby lovingly named "The Gay Zebra".  I haven't gotten around to posting pictures of it yet but when we saw this painting we decided it was The Gay Zebra's long lost cousin.

The cousin to my nursery artwork.

If you ever find yourself in the Raleigh area I suggest that you check this place out.  From doing a little research on the area I found that there are 20 museums in Raleigh and most, if not all, are free of charge.

The Shower

Well, the shower of the century was held a week ago.  It's been a whole week and I just got done washing clothes up to 6 months...we have clothes all the way up to 3T so I've got a ways to go.  The shower was awesome.  My family and friends truly outdid themselves and it showed.  The theme was "She's Ready To Pop" so there were lots of poppies, popcorn, and other pop related food items.  We had baby fruit pizzas, poppy seed salad, ham delights, caprese pops, fruit bouquets, mini chocolate brownie trifles, spinach dip and much more.

The day before the shower my sister and sister-in-law went and deep cleaned my parents house, rearranged furniture and got the kitchen cleared out and ready to go for food prep.  The evening before the shower my sister, BFF Heath, Hubby and I set out decorations and attempted brownie pops...epic fail!  Heath left after midnight and the rest of us had a big sleepover at my parents house.

Heath is ballin'!  The master of the tulle balls and photographer extraordinaire the night before the shower.

 The morning of the shower we woke up early to get ourselves showered and primped for the big day.  Everyone came early to eat breakfast together and to start getting all of the food items prepped and plated.

Making lemonade out of lemons, well...trifles out of failed brownie pops.

Meanwhile, the nieces tried their very best to help but there wasn't much that little girls could do.  They finally all decided to go outside to play and later came in to do a trial run of bringing me presents like it was a relay race.

Kiki showing off the shower outfit that all 4 of my nieces wore.

They also did a little quality control with the popcorn bar.  We had all kinds of gourmet popcorn that included peanut butter and chocolate, caramel, cheddar, butter and the crowd favorite "pinkalicious".  It was a fruity popcorn that was hot pink to go with the pink, yellow and orange color scheme.

Lou helping herself to the popcorn bar.


Then before we knew it, it was time to get the party started.  People started coming by about 30 minutes prior to the start of the shower to drop off gifts.  I think someone said that there was about 50 people in attendance.  All I know is, there were a ton of people!  I tried to speak with everyone, but with only 2 hours to do it in I'm sure I failed.  I was able to mingle for about 30 minutes before present opening, then I did the present thing for an hour and a half.

Munchie and I posing with the "baby prom dress" that she picked out especially for Miss Lo.

 All of the nieces and nephews picked out and wrapped present for our little lady.  Kiki and Lou gave her a precious lady bug ensemble from Gymboree, E and J Man gave her toys, Munch gave her the baby prom dress and Gigi gave her a faux fur blanket.


Hair bow jail!  An amazingly talented woman made all of these for my girl...love it!

 We got so many awesome gifts but this is one of my favorites...look at all of the hair accessories!  Aside from these I think we were gifted at least 30 headbands.  She will definitely be well dressed.

Custom nursery bedding made by my Mom.


My Mom is an amazingly talented seamstress. Not only does she sew but she also smocks.  She made all of the bedding for Lo's nursery.  This is the quilt and the bumper pads that she made.  I will post pictures of the nursery soon.

This picture cracks me up, it was taken after all of the guests had gone.  Check out my ankle socks!

Me, Babs and Nell.  I am exhausted just thinking about all of the hard work that these ladies put in to the shower.  Hubby and I feel so loved. We are continually amazed by the outpouring of love for our little girl.  She has so many people that are anxiously anticipating her arrival.  And when she gets here, we will change her clothes 10 times a day so we can get good use out of all of the outfits!

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My birthday celebration with the sibs.  I think we ate on this piece of cake for days after!

I had a great birthday this year- dinner with the sibs and spouses, breakfast date with the parentals, a photo shoot that I'll treasure, lunch with my BFF is ya know what I mean, dinner with our fabulous friends that made steaks and mini cookie cakes for the occasion.  I am one loved lady!

Model For A Day

Our fabulous BFF, Heath, took our maternity pictures a couple of weeks ago.  Actually, it was on my birthday to be exact!  The weather was horrendous, it was cold and rainy.  I don't know how on earth she was able to get so many amazing shots but she rocks.  I was 30 weeks along at this point.

Visit her photography site at H-Alexandra.com

Lady Street, because we're having a little lady.

My sweet, sweet hubby.

The bump.

Striking a pose in a parking garage while it poured rain outside.

Just me!

I love the texture that the brick adds to this picture.

How cool is that tiled wall behind us?!