Labor Day 2010: The Nursery!

This Labor Day weekend, Josh and I spent reconnecting after he returned from TN on Saturday morning and getting our son's nursery further along. We have done a ton in our apartment - there are some pictures here on our marriage blog about the rest of the apartment.

We are 47 days from Jacob's due date and life has been such a whirlwind... such a bittersweet time. Jacob will be our smile for 2010. His nursery's foundation began when we found the bedding we loved - described as a "vintage sports theme" - dark, deep colors that we love! As it has progressed and we've added things that Josh brought back from his mother's home this weekend, the theme has remained "vintage" and morphed into a family heritage, vintage theme... reflecting items from Josh's childhood, many having sports themes, and from his father and grandfather - and many wonderful things from my mother and Josh's mother - a family room. We love it! Josh walked in when we completed the work we did today and just beamed - "I love this room!" he said - and that made ME smile! It is the perfect nursery for our son, for this season, and for our new journey together as a family of 3 (plus our beloved puppies)!!

When you walk in the nursery, this is the far corner. There are SO many wonderful books on the bottom 2 shelves, just for Jacob from my mother. She has been collecting them for months! I have been setting up a corner for my glider for rocking and nursing Jacob - it is coming together! You can also see hung to the left of the bookshelf this great baseball bat/ball/glove hanger - it was Josh's when he was a child!

You can see the next wall where we hung a shelf and on it put some vintage, collector's cars that belong to josh. Next to them on each end are stuffed animals with corresponding books from my sister. The swing is FABULOUS, a gift from my mother (Grandmother Parish) - it swings in 2 different directions, has 6 speeds, a light, and plays music and makes different ocean/rain sounds. Josh and I had fun playing around with hit today.

This is a close up of my glider corner. The ottoman is in the living room for now so I can have my feet up when relaxing on the couch. We will put a floor lamp behind the chair and the table will be for a book and drink when I'm up nights. :-)

This is the full wall - the hand print picture is one Josh did as a child. :-)

Jacob's toy shelf. Most of the things on the floor are just there temporarily - the car seat will go in our car, of course, and we'll pack the diaper bag and diaper backpack.

On the next wall is Jacob's closet. This has been SUCH a work in progress. I got an organizer this weekend and after washing all of Jacob's clothes, bedding, blankets, etc. I was able to get a lot hung and put away.

Here's a close up of the smaller bookshelf on the closet wall - we'll use this for lotions, and miscellaneous things for Jacob. The top of the shelf has 2 things Josh brought home from TN - the baseball desk decor I love! And the boot is a glass from Southern Baptist Conference of the Deaf that was in Waco one year - so a Texas theme from my alma mater! The hand will hold pictures of family members for us to teach Jacob about.

Above the closet. Josh brought home these 4 hats and we were discussing where to put them - we both loved the idea of them being in Jacob's room... and Josh mentioned hanging them over the closet - I LOVED this idea! So, I grabbed my step ladder, a hammer, and nails, and got them hung!

The two on either end belonged to Josh's maternal grandfather (Ruth's father), the tan one on the middle left belonged to Josh as a child and the darker one on the middle right belonged to Josh's father, Clifford Bruffey. We're hoping to add a hat from my father and one of my grandfather's on either end.

This is the dresser! We bought it off craig's list and then took off the doors and drawers and painted it. The paint was great paint, but hasn't dried well - it's a bit "sticky" after days of letting it dry, but we love the color so if it gets nicked, we'll just spray paint! :-) We love this dresser, though - it is JUST what we were looking for. We'll eventually add a changing pad to the lower part.

On the dresser (above) is a football lamp my mother bought - we love it! This is the top of the lamp - how adorable!

Jacob's crib with bedding! (this is the crib I slept in as a child!) The mobile on it was Josh's - I had the same one! We have registered for the matching mobile to coordinate with the bedding - which Josh loves! We can't wait to add that! We just love this bedding. This picture was taken before we hung the hats above the clsoet.

Another shot of the crib with bedding - where you can see the window with the valence and curtain. Josh picked out the curtains - they match SO well! He hung them and the valence today.

A close up of inside Jacob's bed.

I was wanting to find the perfect outfit to bring Jacob home in - Josh and I looked at Target and Josh spotted this - we love it! It is a onsie with longer sleeves (in case it is cool in October) with a dog on it - in honor of our pups! The pants and jacket (which is SO soft) make it versatile depending on the weather when our little one makes his appearance.

It has been a great weekend and we've gotten so much done. Josh looked at me today and said, "We have NO idea what we're about to get into do we?" with a big smile - I just smiled and said "no, we don't!" We are excited and hopefully wise enough to know that we will learn as we go, even with the "preparation" we've tried to do with reading, discussing, etc. We know God will teach us much on this new chapter of our life together.

We love you Jacob and are so glad for the blessing of you!