Now that both the girls are sharing the nursery, we need to transform it from “Callie’s Room” to “The Girls' Room." I fully intended this blog post to be about my plans for the girls' room, but as I sit here writing and writing, I realized I can't tell you the plans of The Girls' Room till I share the back story of Callie's nursery first! There are so many gems I just have to share. So here's the deal, I will post a "Part 2" all about the girls' room in the next 24 hours - I promise! Stay tuned for that.
When we were pregnant with Callie, I dreamed and dreamed and dreamed of every possible nursery theme. The more I felt connected to our growing baby girl, the more I knew that she (and our future babies) would be SUCH a ray of sunshine in our lives. And that's where my inspiration came from; sunshine and daisies!
(Sidenote: These daisies in our front yard bloomed the weeks leading up to Callies birth! It made my soul sing!)
Our colors would be white - classic and pure; mustard yellow - the best color ever; and pink - of course.
I found this awesome print on Pinterest that summed up my feelings towards this sweet baby girl; bright, playful, youthful, and perfectly imperfect. But I could not, for the life of me, find where it was sold!
So, I found this floral print sold by Caden Lane our runner-up and fell in love! I loved that it looked a little more mature and dainty. They no longer sell this print, but they do have a ton of other wonderful nursery prints - highly recommend!
I also loved how it incorporated sage green - so calming. I purchased the throw blanket, a fitted bedsheet, and diaper changing mat sheet. I also purchased my FAVORITE mustard yellow velvet curtains off of Amazon (which are still in my top 3 favorite purchases), and a gallon of pink paint from Sherwin Williams.
However, at the time Tyson was still in school and working part-time and I was working full time. Our budget was extremely tight and that was where our nursery decor budget tapped out; all the cutesy wall decor that I wanted would just have to wait. LUCKILY I was gifted these framed letters spelling Callie's name by a dear friend. This woman was one of my youth leaders in church growing up and became like a grandma to me. She made such an impact on my life. Come to find out, she MADE these framed letters by hand! She took my mom to a craft store to make sure she picked out the perfect fabrics; ones I would like and would match our nursery theme. This was a heaven-sent gift.
On top of that, my mom gave me a lot of the decor leftover from my baby shower that matched our color scheme. I was SO grateful for these beautiful and thoughtful gifts! They are what made her room so special!
We painted the room soft pink! Oh, that reminds me! Haha - so I wasn't sure how much paint to buy since it was a very small room. I also didn't have a ton of money, so I just bought one gallon and prayed it would be enough. It wasn't. I needed just a little more to trim out the room. So, I actually went back and bought a sample size of the pink paint. Because it was such a small quantity of paint, the color wasn't EXACTLY the same. Oops! But I couldn't afford another $60 can of paint so it would have to do! Luckily, you couldn't notice unless someone told you to look for the slight color variation! Haha.
I also didn't have money for a crib mobile... I'm sure if I would have picked one out in time to put in on my baby registry, someone surely wouldn't have gifted one to me, but I just couldn't find the perfect one! Picky girl problems haha. I had an idea and a plan though! I pulled out the dozens of beautiful flake flowers my mom had gifted to me from my baby shower decor, I bought an embroidery ring for under $5, borrowed a glue gun from my neighbor, and while I waited for baby girl to arrive (a whole week later than expected!), I made this:
After 3 months of sleeping in her bassinet by my bedside, it was time to move Callie to the crib in the nursery. Such mixed feelings! Luckily, Callie was sleeping a full 8 hours through the night by 2 weeks old. For those of you who know how terrible my delivery and recovery were, you can believe me when I say: This was so beyond necessary and a true heaven-sent miracle. That can't go without saying, my child-expert mother helped play a huge role in this accomplishment as well!
I know some mothers can't wait for the day their baby moves to the other room so mama can get some dang sleep! (And I TOTALLY feel this!) But, this transition from bassinet to crib was hard for me - I remember feeling like she was so vulnerable in the other room and too far from me!
One thing that genuinely helped - and this is SUCH a "Mom Thing" to think (HA!) - was purchasing a REAL mobile for her crib. It made me feel like I've done ALL I can to make her feel safe and comfortable in her crib. I mean, I also had 3 extra months to find the perfect one and set aside a little money for it! Ha! And the perfect one I sure found! I mean look at this darling thing. I found it on Etsy; it was handmade in Russia - how cool! Gotta love Etsy.
I sure loved that tiny little nursery. So many memories...
I remember taking this picture of Tyson holding Callie the day she came home from the hospital. Tyson gave her a room-by-room house tour and ended it by rocking her to sleep in her new nursery decorated with LOVE just for her.
I remember a few days later crying in that same rocking chair during an early morning feeding from the sheer pain of that torturous recovery.
I remember the day after my mom went back home, my face nearly missing a straight shot of poop while changing her diaper. Oh, how I wished she was still there to help me and laugh with me! It took more time to clean that mess up than it did for her belly to make it! Sheesh!
Yup. That happened. It made it across the floor and onto THE WALLS!
I remember her sitting all by herself for the first time on that bedroom floor. I cried. Tyson recorded it all.
I remember the sound of my 6:00 am alarm clock (every. single. morning.), walking like a zombie into the nursery, waking her up, and feeding her before getting ready and heading off to work. I was like a thief in the night - most of the time she never even opened her eyes. She just let me change her diaper, ate, and went back to bed.
Even though the room was small and our budget was even smaller, that nursery was the most special and adored room in the entire house. It safe-kept our most prized possession: our firstborn, our daughter.
Our sunshine daisy, Callie Rae.
Sincerely,
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