Minigirl Update

26 weeks and the pregnancy is going well. Other than my plummeting immune system and the shortage of suitably ripe mangoes at the grocery store, we are doing just great. She is growing fast and is already up to 2 pounds! She has chubby cheeks and long legs, from what we can see on ultrasound. I have gladly regained my taste for coffee and Diet Dr. Pepper. Although they have to be consumed in small amounts, it's still satisfying to have my old vices back. Josh is getting antsy about when he will get to meet Minigirl (aka, Emily, Little E, MB2), but for now he is settling with talking to her and singing her made up songs via my belly button. Chris is starting to embrace the fact he will soon need tune up his princess movie knowledge. I am hoping to set up a crash course with his expert girl daddy friend, Brent, any day now.

As per my slightly Type A personality, my goal was to finish Emily's nursery before the school year starts and life begins to move at lightening speed. Thanks to my fabulously understanding boys, I succeeded in my goal. As you can see, Josh was up for the challenge and helped us IMMENSELY when it was time to paint and organize the room. He loved his little spot under the crib.

Josh had his own little paint roller and did an entire wall of the nursery all by himself.

He was having lots of fun painting creations on the wall. Here is the ALLIGATOR he rolled onto the wall. He was very excited and named him "Croc." Hummm... go figure.

Operation Nursery Gender Reassignment:

BEFORE

AFTER

To save money, that I will no doubt need for purchasing shoes, bows, and tutus in the future, I sewed covers for Josh's old bumpers and did the bed skirt in matching fabric. My mom taught me to sew years ago, but I can only sew a straight line at best, so this was quite a project for me. I am happy how it turned out, as long as no one inspects my work up close, that is. I love the bed skirt because I made it double-sided. You can see the other side of the skirt in the picture above with Josh under the crib. This way, when the baby can not have the bumpers in her bed, all I have to do is turn the bedskirt around and I can still have my favorite fabric showing. I had a lot of fun and in total, the entire bedding set cost less than $50!!! Not too bad!

Here is the view from the door. Please excuse the photo quality. Those pink curtains are a killer on the lighting. Upon the advice of some highly stylish friends, we went with grey walls and it looks great in person. We were very pleased. It took some convincing, but in the end Chris loved the grey, but probably because it toned down all the bright girly colors. I love the rug I found on clearance at Pottery Barn Teen. Matches perfectly!

I love me some puff balls because they are fun and cheap. To fill wall space, I made these banners out of scraps of fabric left over from the bedding. I wish I could take credit for the ideas, but I got them all off of Pinterest.com, my new favorite place to spend countless hours that should be utilized doing something more productive.

I ADORE baby feet. Therefore, I ADORE baby shoes. So, naturally, I am using Emily's tiny shoes to decorate with until she actually needs to wear them. Here are my favorite, for obvious reasons. Tricia found these perfectly themed shoes on Etsy for Emily. They came with a matching bow. Someone, make the cuteness stop.

I found this lamp for $8 at Target and used more fabric scraps to make little flowers to decorate the shade.

This used to be a black picture frame that I wasn't using. I wrapped pink yarn around the frame and made it into a little monogram plaque to spice up the crib headboard.

Chris MADE me get rid of my favorite comfy chair and ottoman because it took up 3/4 of the nursery, but we found this glider/ottoman set on super duper sale at Babies R Us. I was skeptical about the color, but in the end it turned out okay. I found this cute and perfectly size chandelier at Hobby Lobby (50% off of course) and Chris was a good sport and hung it despite his best efforts to keep me from adding a chandelier to the room. As you can see, this is Josh's new FAVORITE spot in the house. If you can't find him, he has most likely come into Emily's room, turned on the chandelier and settled in to read a good book or play a nice game of Angry Birds on "his" iPod in "his" new comfy rocking chair. I think he likes her room more than I do, and I REALLY like it!

I can't wait (but, I will!) to get Emily here so we can welcome her to her new room!