The Nursery 2.0 and Other Baby Related Things

With only a few days before the newest Mangiaracina joins the world (days?!!??!?  EEK!!!!), we have put the final touches on the nursery.  As we mentioned here, we wanted to make some small updates to the space so that our new little guy felt like it was his own.  So with some new fabric, artwork and stuffies, voila! An updated nursery without any pain and suffering.

In addition to a new changing pad cover, a new teddy bear friend named Ted has joined the room.  James and Ed went to Build a Bear and made this new little guy for the baby.

I do need to thank friend Anna for the beautiful hand made blanket. The monster fabric was a real inspiration for the room.  In fact, we decided to update the artwork over the crib with monster-themed prints!

Another thank you needs to go to Sylvia for the awesome new valence.  Thank goodness for her sewing skills otherwise this would be a blank window. :)

I did once again dabble in the art of "sewing" aka an iron-on, no-sew crib skirt.  Not to shabby for a novice!  And a thank you needs to go to Cloud b for making such amazing products.  In addition to our Sleep Sheep which still hangs from the crib, the new baby is now the proud owner of the Tranquil Turtle (which James may or may not have already staked a claim on) and the Twinkling Firefly Frog.

And the last new addition is the birth announcement on the wall gallery above the changing table.  The only thing left to add is the baby's photo and hospital bracelet and we will be all set.

Other than the nursery, we have been making other areas of our world baby friendly.  The cars are now equipped with 2 car seats each which is totally weird.  James has shifted over and now sits behind the driver seat which did not phase him at all.  He didn't even notice.  He does ask about the infant seat and tells us that he wants to put his baby doll, Henry in it.  We take that as a good sign.

And even though we have what seems like every piece of baby gear on the planet, we made room for one more thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Q.  This puppy will be a great spot for our little man to nap on the main level since we no longer have room for a Pack 'n Play in the living room.

And finally, the bins. We have lots and lots of toy bins in the living room, but we needed to make room for baby bins for all the things babies need like burp cloths and receiving blankets and diapers.  Thank goodness our end tables have shelf space for this stuff!

There is still more to do, but nothing major.  I think the biggest thing is to get this kiddo out of my belly and into our arms.  The pregnancy has been great, but it's safe to say that I'm done.  Let's get this party started!!

Nursery Updates

With a new little man entering the household in a few months, we thought it was time to take a good, long look at the nursery and figure out a way to make it his.  We don't plan to paint it a new color nor do we plan to replace any of the furniture.  I don't even think we will move any of the wall hangings! Thus creating the challenge.  How do we make some subtle changes to James' former room so that baby boy #2 feels like it is his.

We spent a lot of time transforming this former storage space into the kick-ass nursery that it currently is.

In looking around, we quickly realized the best way to transform this space is with the accessories. We are thinking a new color scheme for the textiles (curtain, crib skirt, changing table pad cover, etc.).  Some new photos in the picture frames (pregnancy announcement, revised baby belly, etc.). Some new books and stuffies (James has already claimed his favorites and moved them into his new room). That kind of stuff.  Here are some initial thoughts.

Changing Pad Cover

Curtain Fabric

Wall Art

Stuffies & Stuff

We are liking the silly monster look and digging a grey/green color scheme to replace the yellow and white.  A lot of this is just spit-balling - we haven't pulled the trigger on anything yet.  It is fun to have another room to play around with again!

The Nursery: Revisited

Some of you have been asking how James' nursery is working out for us so we wanted to revisit it and show you how we have settled into James' room.

Creating James' nursery was a really fun project especially for a pregnant, nesting future mom.  We wanted to make sure that it was a comfortable, serene space where our baby could rest and play.  We didn't hone in on a specific theme, but instead used color to make the space cohesive.

We were thrilled with the end result and now, 7 and a half months later, we couldn't be more happy with the choices we made.  It's a small room, but we managed to utilize the space efficiently.  The best part is that James loves it.  When on his changing table, he loves checking out his little friends on the shelves above.  He loves sitting with Mommy and Daddy in the glider to have his baba or read a book. He loves, loves, LOVES his bed which is probably the best part.

So, without further ado, here is the The Nursery: Revisited.

The Nursery: The Final Reveal

So here it is at last - the final reveal. I know I have kept you all abreast of the nursery progress, so there really aren't any earth shattering changes, but there are a few new pops that I happen to love that just make the nursery what it is. I LOVE sitting in there - it is so sweet and calming and I can't wait for James to test it out. Not much longer...:)

So, without further adieu, the final reveal:

Baby James is scheduled to arrive on Thursday morning so we will keep you all updated. Thanks everyone for your love and support during the pregnancy. We love you all!!

MAURICE!!!!!!

You may remember from here, that I have a fixation with a certain stuffed giraffe that currently lives in the TIA office. His name is Maurice and my colleague and good friend Adrienne rescued him from the Melissa & Doug booth during our show in Dallas last Fall. Since he has been in the office, I have lusted over him, telling Adrienne that one of these days, I'm going to steal him for James' nursery.

Well, it looks like robbery is not in my future. Look who was on our door step yesterday:

MAURICE!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't even tell you how excited I am to have this guy in our house and part of our ever-growing family. I went nuts...seriously. Ask Ed. As soon as we took him out of the packaging I hugged him and then called Adrienne. I knew she was behind it and needed to thank her profusely. Turns out it is not the TIA office Maurice, but instead, our very own sent from the offices of Melissa & Doug.

Thank you Adrienne for making me smile bigger than I have it a while. And thank you Melissa & Doug for not only producing this adorable guy, but for sending one to James (and me). What a great industry I work for!!!

The Nursery: Take Five

We made major headway in the nursery this weekend - so much so that I think the next blog post about the nursery will actually be the final reveal!

So you have seen where we started, the paint job, the furniture, and the accessories. Now it's time to share the decor. While our Home Improvement Super Hero, Doug Kidd, was here helping us out with some kitchen projects, we got him to help us hang some shelves on the wall of the nursery.

I had ordered some shelves from West Elm...

...and when they came in Ed declared that in no way was he hanging them. Wall shelves are always tricky and we wanted to make sure they were very secure since they were in the baby's room. So we hired a professional. And thank God we did because they were tricky to hang and secure to the wall.

And we didn't stop there. We really needed some shelves for the baby's books. We don't have much floor space in the room for a book shelf so we needed some high quality bins to put the books in. I loved these from Pottery Barn Kids...

... but they were too big for the space we wanted to hang them up. In came Doug. I sent him the above photo and he made them for us and hung them for a fraction of the price. May I present, our newly outfitted nursery walls:

We do plan to paint the new shelves white, but you get the idea. We are soooo close to being done and I am LOVING the way it looks. I had a vision before we started and I have to tell you, it's great to see it come to fruition.

Only a few more things are needed and then we will be done. It's been a long journey...but totally worth it. Coming soon...THE FINAL REVEAL!!!!

The Nursery: Take Four

So, here we are again with another update on the nursery. Slowly but surely it is coming together and there really only are a few more things that need to be completed. But I did want to share with you 2 new items that have appeared since the last nursery post.

First off, if you remember from the "The Nursery: Take Three" video, were were in need of a little table to put next to the glider. I scoured the Internet, got lots of good advice from other Mommies on what to look for and ended up at Target where I found the perfect little table to hold our new lamp and iPod docking station/clock.

Not only does it fit perfectly, it has shelving where we can pile up the baby's books and it has a chic, contemporary feel adding to the overall style of the room. And if you are wondering about the blue and white blanket on the chair...well that is Ed's childhood blanket that his Grandma made for him. We thought it was a nice addition to the room.

The second new item in the room is something that I am very proud of because I actually made it with my own two hands. You may remember from this post that we were picking out fabrics for the valence. Well, we fell in love with more than one so we decided to use one for the valence and the other for the crib skirt. Check out the finished product:


I learned how to put this no sew crib skirt together from the Young House Love bloggers. All it took was the gorgeous fabric, some new scissors, an iron and ironing board, measuring tape and some ultra hold Heat and Bond. All I had to do was measure each side of the crib, cut the fabric a little longer on each side, make four hems and voila ~ a beautiful crib skirt!


I used velcro to attach it to the crib and I have to say, it looks pretty darn good! I'm majorly proud of myself that I didn't mess it up. This is WAY more Home Economics than anything I've ever done. I know that I didn't actually sew it (haven't been able to swipe sewing kits from any hotels lately!), but this iron-on adhesive is the next best thing.



Not to shabby if I do say so myself. I'm not so sure I want to tackle the valence on my own, but I did order enough fabric to give it a try and when I mess up, bring it to a professional. :)

So there you go...I'm thinking that our next Nursery post will be the final reveal. Only 11 more weeks until this little guy will be here!!

Merry Christmas Eve!!