envisioning the nursery

When I started envisioning the nursery I had lots of thoughts swirling around in my mind. A little before Thanksgiving, I think, I settled on what I thought would be the color scheme but waited to see if it "stuck". It has and last night I created this inspiration board to have a visual for some of what is in my mind.

I want to use a lot of white to create a calming, peaceful, fresh, pure environment

but I also don't want it to look sterile or "untouchable".

I want to use just the briefest accents of bright colors to warm it up and make it happy and whimsical. I'm thinking apple green

sunshine yellow, orange, turquoise, a little bit of red and if it's a girl, a little hot pink and light pink.

Just right for a springtime arrival I think.

I'd love to know which picture is your favorite.

from top left:

orange striped crib sheet: giggle.com

sunshine yellow chest (I would love something like this for a changing table): Life Worth the Living

calm, happy, pretty nursery with a lovely yellow swivel rocker & the same white IKEA shelves I have (mine are 5x5): Me and Wee

orange pinwheel bedding by rosemary hallgarten for nurseryworks

globes (!) on top of a white armoire: Rachel Denbow via Ohdeedoh

happy citrusy tree!: via eating stars on flickr

happy, calm child's bedroom with lots of white, a red chair and a blue bench: Tracy Nors via Ohdeedoh

cool, old, wooden hangar holding print: Hijirik Studio on Etsy

white ruffle pillow: missmosh on Etsy

apple green cribs with white bedding: Little Apple Design via Project Nursery

pretty flowers in a sunny room: dollylovespink on flickr

again, lots of white but with some bright color accents: sierramills on flickr

white crib bedding with red embroidered elephants: haggyflickr on flickr

Kelly

baby's first shower!

Last Monday the baby and I had our first shower!

It was so much fun because

a) it was a surprise

b) it was a joint shower with a wonderful mama-to-be friend!

Last Monday we had an inservice day in our school district. All of the music teachers met together for a workshop all day. This is a really great group of people (who I didn't ask permission from to post their pictures on my blog, hence photos of only me but they were all there, trust me).

We were going along learning to play new songs and getting teaching technique help when they announced that we were going to take a break for a little shower.

We had it right there in the school cafeteria and they (two women teachers and three men) had a tablecloth, punch in a punch bowl, cake, nuts, pretzels, fun baby napkins and plates and presents. It was so special!

They each brought books for us. It was so much fun to get some board books for our sweet little one, including some of my favorites, anything Sandra Boynton writes!

One of the teachers even put music note ribbon around the books. :)

The start of Little One's board book library!

Do you have a favorite board book? What is it?

Kelly

Psalm 96

Psalm 96

Sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all the earth.
Sing to the LORD, praise his name;
proclaim his salvation day after day.
Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous deeds among all peoples.
For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise;
he is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the nations are idols,
but the LORD made the heavens.
Splendor and majesty are before him;
strength and glory are in his sanctuary.
Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations,
ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;
bring an offering and come into his courts.
Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness;
tremble before him, all the earth.
Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns."
The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved;
he will judge the peoples with equity.
Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
let the sea resound, and all that is in it;
let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them.
Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy;
they will sing before the LORD, for he comes,
he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples in his truth.

photo taken by Adrian of the hillside near his old house

tomatoes

do you have trouble remembering if tomatoes is spelled with an "e" or not?

i do.

what are you doing on this fine saturday?

kelly

winter kitchen

happy friday everyone

thanks for all your great comments this week!

kelly

working on the nursery

Now that the furniture is rearranged I am finding I have more motivation and vision for working on the nursery. There are still MILES to go but it's good to get started . . .

the parents

Jeremy, Mandy, Adrian and Kelly

Best parenting advice anyone?

Kelly

photos taken by my dad :)

sisters

Have I mentioned . . .

that I have a super fun sister-in-law who is also pregnant and we are DUE ON THE SAME DAY?????

When we made the surprise announcement that we were pregnant, my sweet and wonderful sister-in-law and brother who already knew that they were expecting #2 kept quiet until about a week later so we could enjoy our moment with the spotlight on us. Isn't that incredibly generous and wonderful? That is just how they are.

They called and told us about a week later and it has been so much fun to be experiencing the same things at the same time!

Baby bellies in the cold!

photos taken by Adrian

family photos

While we were with my family in Colorado for Christmas we decided it would be nice to get some new family photos.

Armed with our Christmas present of a new camera and a $15 tripod bought off of Craigslist while we were there, we headed out . . .

It was REALLY cold!!!

Family photos . . . DIY style . . . and I think we got some good shots

And we definitely had more fun than if we'd gone to a professional "old school" studio.

photos by Adrian

ebenezer

"Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Hither by Thy help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home."

from the hymn "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing"

by Robert Robinson and John Wyeth

(This has long been one of my favorite hymns.)

"Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, "Thus far has the LORD helped us."

1 Samuel 7:12 (New International Version)

* the word "Ebenezer" means "stone of help"

photo taken by my husband

I have been spending some time reflecting on how the Lord has brought me to the place where I am today. He is so good to us. His blessings are new every morning. Sometimes His answers come quickly (I had a prayer answered in ten minutes this week that lifted a heavy burden.) sometimes His answers come after much, much perseverance in prayer. There are prayers that I have been praying for well over a year or in some cases for multiple years that I have not seen a clear answer to yet. "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord."

Kelly

winter days

photo courtesy of my husband

How has your week been?

Mine has been full, wintry, good, busy, exciting, sickly, etc.

After a long, busy week in which I think I just wore myself out, I am heading into the weekend having gotten LOTS of sleep since school let our yesterday and ready to renew.

Some exciting fun things from this past week:

We are officially in the third trimester!

Wow! Homestretch here we come!

And speaking of stretching, little one is doing just that quite a bit and I feel it but it's so fun too. :)

Also, the much anticipated day of my sprint contract expiration arrived and I got an iphone! I'm so excited!

If you have one too, I would love to hear what your favorite app is.

Also, does anyone (of you local folks) know of a brick and mortar store that might carry cloth ipod cases similar to the ones I've found on etsy? I have been happy with my experience each time I've ordered on etsy but sometimes you just feel like touching the product and seeing it with your own two eyes while you're deciding what you want.

Here are some of the things I'm looking at on etsy:

I like the lace.

cute fabric, like the little clip

lace again and a handy dandy pocket for the earbuds, etc.

little bit bigger pocket

i think the wristlet would come in VERY handy

SUPER cute but no pocket

Have a happy Saturday! Don't forget to tell me your favorite app. :)

Kelly

Is there anything . . . ?

that cannot be improved upon with pom poms?

This is one of my kitchen cabinets (in my old kitchen actually).

To get this look, simply take off your ugly, plain, boring old apartment grade cabinet door. Thankfully on my cabinets, the holes for the screws are on the inside edge, not on the facing so you don't really see them. I just used double stick tape to tape up the fringe (or maybe tape rolled, I can't remember) and then line up your glasses nice and straight and there you go! :)

Do you like pom pom ball fringe?

Kelly

amaretti cookies

My mother-in-law makes these amaretti cookies. They are YUM, YUM, YUM!

I wish I could taste them right now. I almost can looking at this photo taken by my husband last year.

What is your favorite kind of cookie?

Kelly

more rearranging

and I think I like it.

furniture moving night

Tonight has been dubbed "furniture moving night".

I think it's going really well.

It's late and we're taking it easy and going to pick up on the rest of it tomorrow.

"Before" shots can be found here and here.

(photos of the guest room turned craft room turned nursery and then the dining room respectively found near the bottom of each post)

Thank you all again so very much for your wonderfully encouraging comments on my posts over the weekend as we're taking on the logistics of this wonderful transition in our lives.

Kelly

p.s. I had a great doctor's appt. today and everything is looking good with the baby! Such a blessing and a praise!

travel Tuesday - cool chandelier

Isn't this a cool chandelier?

I love that it is made of lightbulbs and kitchen utensils.

This photo was taken at the

in NYC which I just learned doing a little searching online is no longer open, unfortunately.

Do you have a favorite restaurant in NYC?

Kelly

park pictures - belly shot week 26

It's been quite a while since I've shown a belly shot so here are some photos that we (well, actually, Adrian, I just posed) took yesterday with our new Christmas present!

progress is being made

Thank you, thank you, thank you for your comments and e-mails about this post.

Keep 'em coming. :)

You have really helped me today.

I have smiled as I've read each of your comments and e-mails.

Thank you for letting God use you today to encourage me.

Progress is being made.

The shelves above are going to be going into the nursery and my little blogging spot is going to be moving out.

The shelves are cleared except for all of those . . . uh, yeah, scrapbooks . . . um . . .

I have also been realizing that perfectionism/idealism is indeed creeping in even though I felt like I had already let it go by making compromises such as not buying a crib new, bringing a baby home to an apt. rather than a house, etc.

Well, don't worry folks, perfectionism and idealism are apparently alive and well. I not only seem to want a nursery that will "work" for the baby and for us but I want it to look just so mostly for me but also . . . uggg . . . this is hard to admit . . . I want it to look just so for you guys and for people who will see it in person and I think people expect a nursery to be something specific and just so for a baby and I find myself wanting to measure up to other peoples' expectations. uggg . . . I know I'm not the only one who ever feels this way but it's hard to realize and admit that you've fallen prey to pride.

Kelly

fitting it all in

Anyone have any encouraging stories of how yes, you did manage to rearrange your stuff, make a nursery out of an already full room and live happily ever after? I think I could use the encouragement and moral support today. :) Thanks. Kelly

Happy Twenty Ten

Thank you all so much for sharing in this little community with me.

I appreciate the interaction with each of you who leave comments and e-mail about what you read here.

I hope you all have a very blessed and happy 2010.

Happy New Year!

Kelly

photo taken in downtown Pueblo, Colorado