Saturday, May 23, 2009

Nursery Theme

We are at 19 weeks as of yesterday! Yay! Feeling good, finally getting some sleep at night the last couple of nights. I had sinus/allergy problems start at the end of last weekend and couldn't sleep for a couple nights. One night on the couch in order to prop myself up enough to be able to breathe while sleeping. Oh and Jason was on midnights this week, which usually makes it harder for me to sleep too. Only 1 left tonight though!

I still like to eat about every 3 hours, but I have become accustomed to that a little more now so it's not so annoying when I'm all of a sudden starving. I've come to expect it. Amazingly so far this entire pregnancy I have not put on ANY weight! I am surprised at each checkup that my weight has not changed since they weighed me at the very first visit in February. And people, this is not for lack of trying! Like I said, I eat about every 3 hours and it's not huge portions, but it's a decent amount of food (and not empty calories either) and I'm stuffed full. I guess this little one just has the high metabolism like I did when younger. (Secretly I have missed that. Eat whatever I want and not gain anything.) :-) As I type this I am snacking on a peanut butter and honey sandwich to help me last until 12:30 when I go to lunch with my mom.

Everyone has been asking 3 questions right now:
  1. How are you feeling?
  2. Is it a boy or girl? Will you find out?
  3. How are you decorating the nursery?
Well, #1 is kind of starting to get annoying, but I understand that there are so many that just want to know if I'm doing ok. Sadly when I explain some of the "symptoms" I'm having no one else has been able to relate to them. Which is okay, maybe one day someone will ask me about it and I can tell them how I coped with them.

The second one is of course what everyone REALLY wants to know. The sad thing is, I still don't know! At our next appointment in June we could possibly find out, I'll be far enough along for them to at least try to figure it out, but I still don't think I want to know. I've heard lots of opinions on this. Some say, "It's still a surprise when you find out now because you didn't know before." Or one couple we know had the husband tell the wife when the baby was born. That seems really special too! So often I try to please people to keep the peace, but for now, I'm still holding out on not finding out until birth. Feel free to try to persuade me, I've really enjoyed some of the things people will come up with to go one way or the other. :-)

And finally, what IS the theme for the nursery?! We've kept in under wraps until now because we had to get in the color palette to choose from. It's here and Jason and I have started working on it, so now I know the colors. Our theme will be..... drum roll please.....................


Noah's Ark

We have decided on this theme because it is gender neutral and that is what we want because it will carry through any and all kids that we might have. I'm not one to buy everything in one color then have to go back and buy it all again later in another color because that just doesn't work for how we want to spend our money. Plus, once a child is a toddler and outgrows the crib and/or we have another child and need it, then they will go into their own room with a design/theme that suits their little personality and preferences. (Within reason of course.) So for us, we liked the idea of Noah's Ark.

Now then, the colors. The next big hurdle to get across. I knew I did not want to purchase the crib "sets" that are out there because they just don't suit my style. I don't need a crib comforter/quilt because you can't use it until the child is 2 years old or so, and I won't hang it on the wall as decor. The styles and colors the Noah's Ark choices are definitely not me either. I'm going to be spending plenty of time in this room, so I want it to be something I can relax and enjoy. So I decided I will make my own sheets and bed skirt. (Still debating the crib bumpers, don't really see a need for them right now.) We don't want everything all "matchy-matchy" either. So the only option was to find a "theme piece" and base the room off of it.

Many of you remember last year when Jason got me started on cross stitching. View past projects HERE. Well we've come a long way! This is what I found that we both loved and thought it would be perfect to center the room on. It's called "Noah's Journey."

I purchased the chart and charms package off of ebay and then ordered the thread and aida. This past week the last of the back ordered colors came in and it has been started. I sat down with all of the colors, there are 31 to choose from, and chose the ones I liked best for colors in the room. I scanned them so that everyone can see. Remember, they are scanned so the colors will be slightly different on each person's monitor. I've also included the number for the DMC thread so if you'd like to see it in person you can go to any craft store that carries DMC thread and find them.

So now, everyone knows what the theme will be and the colors. Hopefully that will occupy everyone for a while as those that wanted to make something by hand will have a better idea of the colors/style we are going for. Please, please, please don't by anything and everything that looks like Noah's ark. We don't want to have a TON of it in the room. We want this cross stitch to be the main piece for the room and we'll just accent it with a few other items.

I hope this catches everyone up on what has been happening with us.

Now, let me leave you with this:

Post a comment on your best reason as to why or why not to find out the gender of the baby.
Maybe this will help me decide. ;-)