Apples & Owls.

the beginnings of our gender neutral nursery....
Thanks to all of your input, the armoire was purchased and brought home! I am SO excited that we got it... it's the most amazing piece of furniture ever!! Chris already sanded parts of it down and re-finished it and built a new magnetic latch for the door. We're going to put some shelves in the tall side eventually- and all of baby's clothes and blankets and burp cloths will have a place to live now! Yipee!!

I don't know if I've mentioned it, but the nesting instinct has hit me like a freight train already. It seems so early! Maybe it's the fact that we already have pretty much everything we need at our disposal, so it has been much less daunting. It's more like 'rearranging' this time than revamping an entire room.

SO nice.

All of the owl stuff is still up and around from when this room was Myer's nursery, but I will probably change some of it out once we get closer to having the baby, or maybe after the baby is born. I'm thinking that if it's a girl, it would be fun to incorporate a sweet apple motif into the room. (Although, I guess that could possibly work for a boy too?) I think an apple themed nursery has some serious CUTE potential. Besides, I've been craving apples during this entire pregnancy, AND I have very fond memories of this toy from when I was little:


The Fisher Price 1972 Happy Apple chime toy! Do any of you remember this from growing up? Or am I dating myself? Actually, it was my oldest brother Jared's toy. I wasn't even BORN until nineteen-eighty-mumble...

Anywho, as I was getting the crib all situated today, it really hit me. We're having another baby! The moment that brought this reality home to me was when I was moving the crib mattress from the lowest setting back up to the highest setting again. I don't know why, but it's like it all suddenly sunk in, and I felt so happy!

And then, today at church, there was a moment during worship when I sat down (due to GIRTH issues, you understand) and I rested my hand on my belly and instantly heard a voice in my mind saying, "I am so excited about this child!" And I just knew that it was God speaking to me about this baby and I felt completely overwhelmed with His love. It was one of the sweetest 'God moments' of my life, and all it took was a single sentence! God has this amazing way of knowing exactly what we need to hear, doesn't He?

I'll never forget it.

18 Weeks.

(just shy of) 18 weeks


My midwife reminded me at my appointment today that my ultrasound is scheduled for next week. NEXT WEEK!! I don't know why, but I was thinking it wouldn't be until the end of November.

I experienced a moment of crisis and felt my face flush as I realized that I could potentially find out if there's a little boy or girl in there within the week, even though Chris and I have decided against finding out the gender this time around. All the possibilities raced through my mind in an instant... I could decorate the nursery if I knew what we were having! I could get all his or her clothes ready if I knew what we were having! I could focus in on the name search if I knew what we were having! I could be a good girlscout and be ultra prepared if I knew what we were having!

I had to call my husband so he could talk me down off the ledge. With just a few words from his lips, I was able to remember why we'd made the decision we had made. Waiting was just right this time around. Waiting was good. And important. And also.. fun and exciting!

As if to confirm the return to my senses, the thrift store gods opened up their bounty to me today and led me to these perfect 'gender neutral' pieces for the nursery walls:





They are painfully adorable, are they not?! Finding these two gems made me SO excited about putting together our gender-neutral nursery for this baby!!

They match perfectly with the vintage baby quilt I found right before I had Myer:



I can't wait to show you guys the process as we get this sweet little room all set up! It's going to be so fun!