Jeremiah's Toddler Bedroom

How is it possible that Jeremiah has turned 3 years old already? And we are now expecting baby #3 in less than 2 weeks. Eeek!

As a result, Jeremiah is getting booted out of the nursery he shares with Emma and into his own room (which will also continue to function as a guest room) so that Emma and Baby 3 can share the nursery together. 

As a guest room, this tiny bedroom (10'X9') had very little in it except the furniture - bed, dresser, desk. Old curtains hung on the windows (only one panel per window too). No art or pictures were on the wall. The paint color was light and neutral but had a slightly greenish tint to it. So, I was starting with bare bones in here when it came time to create Jeremiah's new room.

I wanted to create a cute boy-ish room for Jeremiah that was still sophisticated enough for him to grow into and for guests to feel comfortable. And as usual, I had a very small budget (aroun $150) and wanted to use mostly what I already had on hand.

We started by emptying the few furniture items out of the room and Joey gave the walls 2 coats of paint  in a neutral color (with no green tint like before).

From there, I went to work adding new curtains and some new bedding, hanging art and pictures, and stocking the wall shelf with memorabilia and little boy stuff (most of it was on the shelf above his bed in the nursery).

Jeremiah is very excited about his new room. He loves the dinosaur string art and the arrow on the wall! He already took one nap in here. The black-out curtains are awesome for that!

His clothes were already stored in this room. So, he was already used to getting dressed in here, but his official move-in date with be when we get home from the hospital with baby 3!

Happy sleeping, Jeremiah!

Merry Christmas 2014

We included these simple pictures of Jeremiah and Emma in our Christmas cards this year. I took them in front of our Christmas tree. They aren’t perfect, but getting an almost-two-year-old to sit still is nearly impossible. ;)

 

The Nursery

It’s been almost 1 year since this room was “completed”, and I’m finally showing you the pictures I took 8 months ago. Do I get blogger-of-the-year award or something for that?!

This little room means so much to me. You’re going to see pictures of painted walls and curtains and furniture and books and stuffed animals… I see all the memories made during the countless hours I’ve spent in this room over the past year. Nursing. Rocking. Singing. Playing. Cuddling. Laughing. Changing his clothes. Changing his diapers. ALL of them in here … yes, I’ve not changed my baby’s diaper anywhere in this house except his changing table.

The room was already painted prior to finding out we were expecting a baby. So, I planned around the color already in place. I also wanted to be flexible should the room need to be used for a girl down the road. So, the basics are gender neutral. It’s the little accents that add some “boy” to the space.

This is one room in the house where I honestly had ZERO vision for what I wanted the end result to look like. But I knew I wanted it to feel a certain way. These are a few of the descriptive words that came to my mind: Light. Bright. Colorful. Playful. Fun. Relaxing. Flexible. Not theme-y… And I just started adding one little element at a time until the whole thing kind of came together (right before his birth). It was a magical moment for me. I just LOVED it. I still love it.

So, here are a few a lot of pictures. To start, you’ll see a pretty blank slate…carpeting we installed 2 years ago, white wood blinds, a lamp with no stand, a little furniture – including a little rocker that was Joey’s growing up (and originally came from his grandfather) and a dresser which I received from my grandmother’s farmhouse in Maine and my dad painted white. My grandmother passed away while I was pregnant. I love looking at these item and thinking about the history behind them.

This is the 2nd floor of our house, and yet there’s a door that leads to what could be a balcony on top of our back porch. But no balcony exists right now. So, one of my goals was to make that door “disappear”.

On the right wall, you see some green dots floating around. One of the first things I did in the room was order some polk-a-dot vinyl wall decals and randomly place them on 3 of the walls to act like a border going around the room. It took me 30 minutes to stick them on the walls. They have not budged, yet could be easily taken off if needed. They were a great way to add some “fun” and “color” to the room.

I also liked how they played off the polk-a-dot crib bedding I had selected. The bedding also fell in line with my “colorful”, “playful”, “fun” theme. It was a little more modern than I had originally considered. But I decided a little modern would be good for a boy.

Here are few pictures showing a finished space…

This is the view when you walk in the room. You can kind of see the door behind the curtains when it’s super sunny, but otherwise it’s pretty well hidden. Below is a close-up of the curtains right before I hung them. I LOVE THEM!

I tried to make use of every space in the room. In the picture below, you see the door entering the room (right) and the closet door (left). In-between the two, I hung a hook rail to hang receiving blankets, heavier blankets, and my nursing cover. A lot of function in other wise dead space. The ceiling is also new to the space. The gray blades play off of the gray curtains.

The corner where the crib sits in my favorite section of the room.

The shelves full of books and stuffed animals, a baseball and baseball glove (Joey’s grandfather’s glove), and a little boy hoodie. More toys and books and stuffed animals in the basket.

It just encompasses everything I wanted the room to feel. It also displays so many of the gifts given to me at my baby shower or passed down from family. We actually spent very little on this room. Maybe $300 total??? Amazing.

One of the last things we added (well, Joey added) was a video monitor to watch our little man as he slept (or played around as he likes to do these days). Many (good) video monitors cost upwards of $200-$300. Joey bought this security camera for $80 off Amazon and ran the wires through the attic to hook it up to our house’s Wi-Fi system. We then downloaded an app for $0.99 that allows us to use the monitor on our phones or tablet. It has full audio (although we rarely use that). You can control the camera from your phone to make it move and scan the whole room. You can also talk into your phone have it come out the camera for the baby to hear. BEST MONEY SPENT in this room. I don’t know how people survived baby-hood before this.

So, that sums it up. I’ll spare you more pictures of insides of closets and stuff. Although, his 2 semi-walk-in closets are another miracle when it comes to storing baby clothes and other items. No running around the house (or down to the basement) to pull out totes for the next-size-up clothes. They’re all in closets. So small, yet so functional.

I look forward to many more hours/days/years spent in this little room with Jeremiah.

By The Way…. We Have a Baby!

Yes, it’s been over 4 months since I’ve posted on this good ol’ blog. My longest break ever. But what can you say? We’ve been busy having a baby! Good excuse? I think so…

My last post at the end of January reviewed my inspiration for our full bath remodel. Well, the month of February flew by as we got that bathroom remodel about 75% completed so that it was at least fully functional by the time the baby was born (and now it's about 90% completed). I also continued to work full time up to my due date (thanks to baby’s late arrival), which was time consuming and exhausting. And we finished up last minute “nesting” items including decorating and furnishing the nursery.

I will have full reviews on both the bathroom and the nursery to come, but for now, lets focus on what’s been preoccupying my time since March 1, 2013 – my baby’s birthday…

Jeremiah Joseph Yonke

Born March 1, 2013 @ 1:04 a.m.

Weight: 7lbs 1oz, Height: 19 3/4 in.

Just 6 days after my due date (and 1 day before I was scheduled to be induced), this little man arrived in perfect style. Labor and delivery went smoothly – I was posting updates on Facebook up until midnight when it was time to push. I had to put my phone down at that point (pffffft).

An hour later, Jeremiah arrived (on my predicted birth date, I might add). Here’s a little video that Joey took on his phone shortly after Jeremiah’s birth (I just saw this for the first time last week!)…

I won’t give the long labor and delivery story now. I’ll just say that having my baby placed in my arms for the first time was one of the most amazing moments I have ever experienced. AMAZING. It was instant love like I could never have imagined.

I just stared in awe at this beautiful, perfect baby boy the Lord had given us. A precious gift that we had prayed for and longed for was finally in our arms. God is so good to his children.

After a few wonderful days in the hospital (it was a fabulous experience), we got to bring our baby home to care for him and love him and watch him grow (like crazy).

I’ve since quit my full time job to be a stay at home mom. Another dream come true. And I’ve stayed plenty busy soaking in motherhood experiences and caring for our home. Hence, the lack of blog substance.

But now that we’re in a nice little routine, I hope to spend some more time sharing our life with you – including some up-to-date photos of Jeremiah. And while this blog will still be very much about-the-house, it will now include a lot more family life since this bundle of joy is a much larger priority. So, look forward to posts about both house and home life with a baby!