Day 7: Highlights?

What were the highlights from your weekend?  Did you take the time to stop and cherish your life and the home you have?

The highlight of my weekend was playing with Eric and Emmalyn as she took renewed interest in her toys.  For the past few weeks, she has seemed discontent with everything around her.  She wouldn't play with her toys, didn't want to read books (except ones with pages she could tear), and found every stack of things in our house to disassemble.  But in the past week, she has rediscovered the things she should actually be playing with - you know, those things we spent money on or were gifted.  It's been awesome.  She hugs her baby dolls, kisses her sock monkey, and dances as she pushes the buttons on her walker.  She learned how to use her legs to push herself on her little wheeled vehicle, and delighted in the fun things around her.  She now knows her 'nose' and can point to hers and ours (along with her belly button).  I love this.  I don't want to constantly fight to entertain her and wow her with things; I want her to be content with what she has and not always search for something else.  I know that this depends a lot on a baby's temperament, but even at a small age, I want to work on instilling these things in her.  A few weeks ago, I did whatever it took.  That meant Youtube videos of VeggieTales, chocolate chips cookies, and Wal-Mart trips to get away from the next disaster.  But this week, it was great to be at home, playing on the floor and knowing that she was content and happy with her surroundings.  I'm going to hope and pray for more of that!!

Um, I also loved some peanut m&ms and scarves this weekend.  So good.

Day 3: Mirrors & Memories

The mirror hanging in our nursery is one of the sweetest touches in the room for me.  It serves as a constant reminder to stop and look at the precious face pressed against my shoulder.  During the day, Emmalyn has given some of her best smiles in that mirror, thrilled to see her own reflection or her daddy's silly faces.  But when I trudge up the steps to the sound of her cry, I don't always think of that smiling face.  Sometimes, it's hard to open that door.  And sometimes I'm still overcome by tiredness or distracted as I pick her up.  As soon as I pick her up and she wraps her little body into mine, I remember.  I look in the mirror and see her cuddled into me (something that happens so naturally, as though her little body was made for my arms), and I catch a snapshot of time.  I remember looking in the mirror like that when she was a newborn while she cried for no discernible reason.  I remember looking in that mirror when Eric and I were clueless as to how to help our sick baby.  And just tonight, I remember looking in that mirror and thinking, "I have the best job in the world."  What a divine privilege to get to hold this child and love her back to sleep.



About the mirror:

I have been reading Young House Love since 2009, and was thrilled with the reveal of their nursery for Clara about a year after I started reading.  You can really tell that they inspired some main elements in this nursery (the wall art, and today's mirror).  I saw this mirror at HomeGoods before they posted about it, and loved it.  I didn't buy it because I was trying to be budget conscious.  When I saw the painted reveal of the mirror in Clara's nursery, I started looking for it again at HomeGoods.  Of course - it. was. nowhere.  I finally gave up.  But while shopping with a friend a year later, there she was!  In all her black glory.  I painted her with a sample of paint from Lowe's.  I used a small brush to get in the nooks and crannies, and it took about 6 coats before I gave up.  You can only watch so much t.v. while hunched over with a tiny paintbrush.  People, just spray paint the thing.  Lesson learned.

Day 1: The Happiest Place in Our Home

Day 1 in 31 Days to Cherish Our Home

This is surely the happiest - and most complete - room in our house.  Ironically, it's also the smallest.  Who says that bigger is always better?  Eric and I decided that we didn't want to know the gender of our children before they were born, but I feared that would make nursery decorating bland.  Looking back, I can't imagine any other nursery.  I had a friend who said that she felt that gender neutral nurseries were destined to be "John Deere" themed, meaning that green and yellow were the only palette options.  Hopefully, we've proved that wrong (I do sometimes wonder if the room would seem too girly if a little boy laid in that crib though)!  It was impossible to get pictures of this room without the main attraction, so you can play "Spot the Emmalyn" in these pictures.  

The turquoise paint is Olympic No-VOC and we loved it.  We were covering a neon green wall, but it went on beautifully.  We didn't use this paint in the rest of our house, but I was able to paint alongside Eric without worries this way! I wanted to have a subtle elephant theme, and there are a few of them around the room.  I knew I wouldn't be able to find crib bedding that I loved in these colors, and Eric's mom made Emmalyn the gorgeous quilt you see on our brown chair.  I sewed a simple slipcover for the footstool to tie in more yellow and white.  Almost everything in the room had a little home-made flair to it, and tomorrow I'll be back back to begin details on these things:

- The wall art

- Semi-DIY curtains

- The seventeen-coats-of-yellow-paint mirror

We love to sit in this room, and it has worked perfectly for Emmalyn.  Everything in the room is functional, and her little space fits just right.  Maybe I'll just spend the next 31 days sitting in her room and soak up the happiness? (That is, after I empty the diaper genie).