DIY Nursery...and it shows

When I found out I was pregnant I was so excited. If it was a boy I was going to decorate in blues and greens with little airplanes and cars. If it was a girl I was going to have pinks and lavender and flowers everywhere with cute "hootie"owls.
Then I realized how much work that was going to be and if I was going to do this, I only wanted to do it once. So I decided to go gender neutral.
After many trips to Babies 'r Us and Buybuy baby, I've come to realize that gender neutral is really drab. It was all neutrals! Everything was beige this and toupee that and every shade of brown there was, but hardly any real color. So I decided I needed a different inspiration. And I settled on Dr. Seuss's book All the Places You'll Go.
Here's how it turned out.

Now because I did put so much time and effort into this I'm going to brag and show each thing I made and how I made it.

The colors for the nursery I got from the cover of Oh, the Places You'll Go. As soon as those were picked out we painted the nursery (mostly Sean, but I did stencil out the stripes)

Next I tackled the crib linens. I made fitted sheets in each color and a puff quilt to match. This puff quilt was constructed purely from my mind, there was no pattern. It's probably because of that lack of a pattern that made it so difficult to do, and I will probably never ever do another one because of it. But it did turn out well and I admit I want to snuggle under it myself. The fabric for the backing is so soft, I get drowsy just thinking of it (or that could be the sleep deprivation).

Next I took a copy of Oh, the Places You'll Go and cut out the pages and modge podged it to a large canvas. At first I was nervous because I wasn't sure what I was doing. But to my surprise, it actually looked pretty good. 

After taking all the pages out of the book, what can you do with the cover but turn it into a sideways clock. The sideways was not on purpose, I could not get the clock mechanism to go straight. I'm still not sure what I did wrong, but it looks Seussy to me. 

As soon as I picked the theme I knew I wanted a hot air balloon mobile. But apparently no one makes them and certainly not in the colors I had for the nursery. Luckily etsy had a pattern for it that was really easy to follow. I was actually making this in the hospital while I was waiting to be induced. 

Every baby blog and book recommended light canceling curtains. But trying to find fabric for that is almost impossible. So I had some old light canceling curtains that we had at the condo, I shortened them only to realize that every where the needle went light shined through. So I took fabric strips left over from the quilt and Ironed those strips onto the curtains covering the seam line I made in the curtains. The tie backs are actually just ribbon that we used at my sisters wedding, it happened to match the nursery perfectly.

As is tradition in our family, every baby gets a crocheted chevron blanket. I couldn't find the colors of the nursery so I had to special order it.

I knew I wanted to put a decal over the crib, but the Dr Seuss ones were so expensive I couldn't afford them. That's when my sister's best friend came to the rescue and made this for me.

With the wall opposite the crib looking terribly naked I took some old picture frames, painted them with the same paints we used on the walls, and used some scrapbook paper to make these hot air balloon pictures.

Last of all I wanted to put a bunting over the crib. So I used the extra scrapbook paper to make this.

And nesting isn't just a mothering instinct. Sean has been making these little "monsters"for the nursery also. They each have a name, my personal favorite is Mobey.

Welcome James

After much waiting, we were finally able to welcome Sweet Baby James into the world.

What is the birth story you ask, well let me tell you.

James was due March 15th but, as I anticipated, he came a little late. So with him not coming on time my doctor decided to have me come in for a neonatal stress test on March 17th. So I went in for the stress test and my Blood Pressure was a little high so they did some tests and sent me back to my doctor. She promptly told me that she would like to induce me, right then. I, of course, was not ready, so I asked if I could go home and get some things first. She looked pursed her lips, but said I could go if I hurried back. So at 3:00 pm Sean and I checked into the hospital.
It could just be me but it seemed to take a long time to get us going. Since I was not dilated yet, they couldn't give me pitocin. So instead they gave me cytotec hoping that I would eventually dilate. Well, 8 hours later I still hadn't dilated so they told me they needed to do a balloon procedure. Now from my days in Nursing school there is very little I remember about OB/GYN, but I did remember the balloon. They dilate you by gradually putting in saline in a small balloon. The nurse explained the procedure to me and it was everything I remembered. I said to the nurse how painful that sounded and she said that they do it gradually but they could give me some pain meds if I had any pain. So the resident came in and said I should only feel some mild cramping (she must have some horrible "mild cramps"). I hear the nurse ask if she wants 200 cc's and the resident says that she would like 800cc's which I remember being the full amount. And as soon as the balloon was filled I thought I would scream. I told the nurse that I would definitely be wanting some pain meds and right away. After some further examining the resident realizes that my water has broken and has mecomium in it, which means the balloon had to come out. I was not sorry to see that thing go, it was the worst pain I have felt in my entire life. So about an hour later my pain meds have worn off and I am still feeling quite a bit of pain. So the nurse comes in and I tell her I either need another dose of fentynl or an epidural and that I would certainly prefer the epidural. She says that because I'm still not dilated that I probably shouldn't get an epidural but she'll leave that up to the anesthesiologist. Thank heavens I knew the anesthesiologist. He could tell I was in some serious pain and promptly placed the epidural. After the epidural was placed she gave me an exam and found that I was dilated to a 5. Two hours later I started pushing and an hour after that James was born. I've been told that not many women remember their labor that it's a survival thing, but I actually remember it. I remember with every push Sean was "pushing"with me. I remember the nurses saying we were getting close but I didn't believe them. I remember the doctor saying that he'd come out with this next push and I thought, already?! But he was soon out. I remember holding my breath until I heard his cry. I remember my doctor showing him to me then handing him over to the NICU nurses. I remember all the comments about his full head of hair. I remember the stitches. It's a surprising amount that I do remember.
After about an hour I got to hold my little guy and was sent up stairs to recover.
My recovery went well, except for breast feeding but that never really goes well for any new mother.
James had a couple of issues. At times he couldn't keep very warm and would have to stay under the warmer in the nursery. Also his heart rate would drop down to 70 beats per minute (anything under 100 for a baby is considered bad) and had to have an ECG and be seen by a cardiologist. Luckily his heart rate only dropped that low when he was sleeping, but came right back up to normal range when he was awake. So the cardiologist gave us the ok and we were able to take him home.
So far he has been a little angel baby and I've been so lucky with him.
And now, more pictures:

Just a tid bit about this picture. Annicka was taking these pictures and wanted to do some nakie baby pictures on the fluffy white blanket. Well she saw this trick on pinterest where you get the father to lay under the blanket with the baby on his chest. Sean did not want to do it because he was afraid that James would just pee all over him. Well we tried this then when Sean was moving to sit up he was holding James in the blanket and we thought that was a great pose. So Annicka hurried to take the picture and exploded all over Sean. We figure that's why he looks so content in this picture.

This is a pretty typical scene in the Rogers home now. This boy gets plenty of snuggles. We actually use the term "My turn"constantly in reference to holding James.

This was taken on his 1 month birthday, and yes he is still in some of his newborn clothes. We had some trouble at first getting him to gain weight. When we would take him in to the doctor he would gain inches but not much weight. So now he is in the 80th percentile for height and 10th percentile for weight.

Here he is on his blessing day. We had to hurry and take a picture before he had a 'splody diaper and ruined the blessing Auntie Karen let us borrow. It was a good thing too because when his Grandpa James was holding him he 'splodied all over Grandpa James white shirt. My poor dad was cleaning his shirt off and every time he thought he was done he would find another spot where Baby James had gotten him.

This first month with Baby James has been wonderful. Of course there have been sleepless nights, loads of dirty dishes and laundry sitting undone, and many tears, but it has been the best month ever and I'm sad to see it go so quickly. Every moment with this little guy is precious.