Nursery Reveal!

It pleases me that blogger is making it's way back up the ranks of my "most visited" tabs. We're making a comeback!
That I've now jinxed. Huzzah.

I'm finally gonna show off my baby's adorable nursery and probably blab a lot about where the things came from and how we came to own them and all that boring stuff. If pictures are more your jam, there'll be plenty of those, so feel free to skim over the words. I won't be offended. Probably.

My lovely baby being lovely as momma figures out the settings on our new Nikon. Our first DSLR! (See, I told you I was going to be blabbing.) We've been subsisting on old point-and-shoots or our camera phones and they just weren't quite cutting it anymore with our wiggle-worm. On a quick note, that lamb up in the corner is one that I remember having as a tiny child. It plays "Mary Had a Little Lamb" a BILLION times when pulled, but being so old, it quickly peters out to just tinkling a note every few minutes. So, in essence, completely creepy. 

The bumper we (I) bought on a whim from Goodwill before we even had an actual crib to put it in. Bell before the bicycle, right?

Speaking of creepy, this lil' gal is another toy that comes from my childhood. Her head is made of porcelain and yet she's made it through countless moves and remains whole and undamaged, which is nothing short of a miracle. She plays "Memory" from Cats and her head slowly moves in a circle. Not demonically around like an owl, that would be horrific, but rather led with the chin, as one would in an exercise warm-up...if that makes any sense. I love her to bits, though. Plus she kind of poses as the Mary to the little lamb from above, so it works.

Grandma Miriam gifted us that baby sign, and she painted it that perfect shade of blue herself! I love that it just happened to match the color scheme that really materialized out of nowhere. I didn't do it on purpose, considering most everything came from what we already owned or purchased from Goodwill.

This is the "fun" corner. Or, rather, it will be when Ander is old enough to really enjoy it. He's already showing interest in that piano book (and Mark has enjoyed playing around with it as well, so double win!) and he loves to lay on the floor, arch his back, and just stare at all the colorful books. The entire Series of Unfortunate Events was gathered over many years at various Goodwills all over the valley. I just recently, as of a couple weeks ago, finally found the last two I'd been searching for, just in time for this photo shoot!
As I mentioned in previous blogs, those letter blocks were made by my parents back when I was a baby and I am just overjoyed to have them for my own child.

I just had to include a closeup of this cute photo-set. Obviously, Ander is in the middle, with Mark on the left and myself on the right. It's my absolute, hands down, favorite shot of baby Mark. While I was pregnant I would hold this photo and just pray that our little guy came out looking exactly like Mark. And boy did I get my wish. I'm just there for good measure, really. In my jammies, holding a tiny kitten. As one does.
And of course, a photo of Andy from the hospital for comparison. In fact, I should probably switch out his photo in the middle since it's from his blessing back in the beginning of September and thus considered outdated. Like watching weeds grow!

And here we have the "where everything happens" station. Sleeping, diaper changes, laundry basket, blankets, the essentials. When Andy was tiny (who am I kidding, he was never tiny), we actually had the rocker in this corner and he would stare up at the large painting and grin like he was the happiest baby in the world. They were some of the first smiles he ever had. I like to think it's "haunted" by a friendly ghost.
Andy's crib was an adventure to come by. We craigslisted for weeks and had an unfortunate run-in with a jerk of a seller, but then it turned out to be a blessing in disguise because right after we lost that crib, this one came up, for cheaper, and it is such a beautiful color and quality make, we much prefer it over the one we were initially going to get anyway!

Best seat in the house. We got these matching blue recliners at Goodwill for $14. Total. They swivel, and rock, and recline, and they're so comfy. I lived in this chair when Andy was born. Slept in it, ate in it (cried in it), it made my life a lot easier. And I actually just bought that cute lamp yesterday at Deseret Industries. I'm seriously an addict, friends. Reference my thrifting post for further evidence.

That quote, "My whole heart for my whole life" got me through many a late night/early morning feeding and/or crying session with some semblance of my sanity. And however sweet the nursery always was, a little bit of added sugar never hurt anyone. /wink
Adorable hedgehog candle courtesy of the best gifter of all time; Allora. It's seriously stressful being her friend cuz you know she's gonna think of the most amazing thing to give you come the holidays and birthdays and you're just sitting here like, "everyone likes rocks, right?" #inadequatefriendisinadequate

So that's where we spend a lot of our time! It's a far cry from the crowded office/storage/baby room we had back in the apartment, and I'm so grateful that we now own this cute home and I've been able to decorate it however I wish. And now I get to do the holidays! We're so excited for Andy's first Thanksgiving and Christmas. He's going ga-ga for real food, so I'm anticipating lots of grabbing at the mashed taters (sweet or otherwise), peas, and giving me the begging eyes for some ham. We'll mash up whatever we can to see how he likes it, but poor guy will hafta forego the meats this year. And we may have a comatose baby come Christmas with all the noisy, crackly wrapping paper he'll inevitably be buried in. He'll be in absolute heaven.
As will mama and daddy. Naturally.