Ideas for Baby Girl's Nursery

We are having a girl...a pink, pink baby girl. I'm not a big fan of pink. I just think it's 100% girly girl and since I'm not the typical girl I guess that's why I have never had a huge love for the color pink. I do love purple, though. I guess the blue added to make purple helps me feel like it's only 80% girly girl. Our Baby Girl's room will have a lot of purple...a lot, a lot of purple actually. So will that much purple make it 100% girly girl? Uh, oh, we could be back to square one. Good thing Derrick hasn't painted yet.

Baby Girl's room is currently painted a medium brown from the bottom up to 5 feet and then a light tan to the ceiling. Oh, yes, and a very boyish sport balls border wraps around the room's middle. At first, we thought we'd paint a lilac above the brown. Now, we're going all purple, like I said previously, and plan to paint lilac walls from top to bottom. There is so much wood in her room that we'll still get a lot of brown. To add a little more brown and a lot more awesome, we ordered this decal of a huge brown tree with green leaves. It will grow over her crib so she can fall in love with the sound of the wind rustling its leaves at night. Well, not exactly, although I never googled "noise making wall decal." Derrick's best friends' sister, Jayme, gave us awesome white wicker furniture that we get to use in the baby room. So, how about a purple, brown and white nursery, Little One? You can have a splash of green in there, too. It will make it less girly girl. I think we're down to 75% now.

Now for the real pizazz, a plum colored accent wall that wraps under the huge window. Yes, I think so! And, BAM, two white trees contrasting that beautiful plum backdrop. I think it is a bit daring but fun and I'm sure it will turn out well. We also plan to add cute birds all around and maybe a bird house or bird cage or two. Maybe, just maybe, I'll make Baby Girl a bird mobile but we'll see. No promises, Baby. I found a darling, spunky one but it requires sewing. At least it doesn't require a sewing machine because I don't know how to use one of those fandangled machines. (Oh, my Aunt Linda, is probably so ashamed right now.) Anyway...birds...lots of cute birds.

It has been so fun to research ideas and make a couple purchases for our Baby Girl! We are getting more and more excited as we get ready. There is still a lot of ready to get but we're on our way. We'll post pictures of her real room once things are actually completed. Oh, and I'm searching for crib bedding. I don't like any of the bird themed ones so I'm thinking we'll go with a solid color. The search continues...yay!

Awesome mobile, huh? I might be able to make it (Spool shared the fabric bird template) but my sister might also be able to buy her niece one that's just as awesome. :) And the search continues for a bird mobile, too...yay!

Flashback: Liam from Month 1 to 12

1 month old: Look at those tiny feet

1 month old: Wanting to be snuggled, not stretched out.

2 months old: Same outfit as a month ago

2 months old: Much happier about stretching out long

3 months old: A preppy outfit from Thea Lauren and Uncle Olli

4 months old: Wow, what a change

5 months old: Like my shiny drool?

6 months old: A huge smile because I can sit up on my own now!

7 months old: Look at that face!

8 months old: Getting ready to crawl!

8 months old: Like how I just now realized I should put something in the picture to label the month?

9 months old: Nakey...showing off his cute jean diapers. "I poo in blue"

10 months old: Liam will not stay still!

11 months old: So grown up

12 months old: Whoa, so, so grown up...yikes!

The growth during the first year is incredible. The milestones reached are impressive. The love compounding is unexplainable. God has blessed us beyond measure with our Baby Boy. He is "Mr. Sunshine" to Yiayia and Grandpa, "Pookie Joe" to Pomma and Papa, "Bubba" to Dada, and "Honey Bear" to Mama. Liam is a super smiley and joyful boy. He is so alert and interactive. And, you betcha, he can pour on the charm. Month to month, we are extremely thankful for our blessing. It is amazing to think of where we came come from. It is unfathomable to think of where we have yet to go. Adventures await every sunrise.

Flashback Friday: Liam is ONE!

Our baby boy is venturing into toddlerhood! My oh my! What a difference a year makes. There was so much growth and so, so many milestones our little guy achieved. The time flew. Liam is such a joy. I sure do have the best job in the world. Liam is a fun one to stay home with everyday. He makes me laugh and I get so many bonus smiles and snuggles from my Bubba. The past year has been full of wonder. I can't believe how much we've been blessed by this life. The new experiences a baby brings are priceless. I adore my smiley, independent, energetic son! Happy 1st Birthday! May the toddling begin!

For Liam's Big One we had a birthday party at our house with family and friends. A lot of friends showed up to help celebrate our little fella. Throwing a first birthday party is a bit challenging for two main reasons. One, the baby doesn't really have friends he's been begging you to invite. Well, we are proud to say Liam has a BFF, Noah Gray, but Liam wasn't begging me invite him persay. :) Two, the parents don't really know what their kid loves so there is no easy choice for theme or special foods, etc. We assumed Liam likes lions because he responds with a mighty roar when he hears the word "lion". We did a safari animal theme with plenty of lions. He loved the big lion balloon. I made cupcakes for the occasion. We had decadent chocolate ones with chocolate frosting but the biggest hit were the pumpkin cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting...mmm! Liam smashed his cupcake to pieces yet got some in his mouth and seemed to like it.

We said "no gifts necessary" for little Liam because we knew he would get plenty from family. Not everyone listened and I have to tell you about one of Liam's favorite. Liam opened this Mega Blocks semi-truck (from Jenn Miller and Chris Livsey) and then never put it down. You can see in the picture to the left that he didn't care about the card or the unopened box of clothes, just his truck. Throughout the next 30 minutes, Liam said "vroom" dozens of times a pushed his truck around on the floor. This is his first vehicle and I guess that's what he's going to be into. A little truck boy. Oh, and he did like the box of the water table Yiayia and Grandpa got for him. He doesn't know there is anything inside it but it has "friends" on the front that he kisses or he sits on their heads, either one.


Liam's birthday was such a wonderful celebration. I'm thrilled to have a one year old. I guess that means I better stop calling him Baby Liam. I know his Dada is very proud. We look forward to many more birthdays, trucks and cupcakes. (We took video at his party but I don't know how to get it off the video camera and post it here. Maybe Derrick can help with that this weekend and you can see our big one-year-old in action but maybe not..sorry, no promises. After all, "finish sharing Liam videos" is not on my Finish List.)

Finish List

Well, it looks like it has been almost 7 months since we posted something on our blog. That's pathetic!! I don't like that. Of course there have been many amazing things to report. We just didn't set aside time to share them.

Let's see if I can steer us back onto the path of regular blog postings. Setting goals goes hand in hand with the New Year, right? Well, I read a little something about a different kind of goal setting; it's called A Finish List. This type of goal setting is something I feel I can conquer this year. There are many things I have started and really want to finish. It will benefit many if I finish things I've started. So, you guessed it, one finish goal is focused around our poor, neglected blog. Here it is in writing so it happens: Finish catching up on 2011 posts! I'm going to try Flashback Friday posts that will share highlights of our amazing 2011. Look for those goodies coming soon. I guess today is Friday so I better do a Flashback post this afternoon. "Liam, go take a nap so Mama can write about your birthday..."