Baby Boy Nursery Reveal

Welcome to Cayden's room! Alhough the walls have some empty frames for newborn pictures that I haven't printed yet I decided the room was completed enough to call it ready for a reveal post! A little about the room: I'm not really in to theme rooms, as in the "room in a bag" type themes. I'm also not into baby-ish stuff with little bears, duckies, lots of pastels. I really wanted to create a room that he could grow into. It's a boy room, not a baby room that he will grow out of in two years. Although I did fewer hands-on DIY projects in this room than I did in Adalyn's room, I feel like I put just as much love and personal touches in it.

I made this cute little door hanging on a whim. I bought the letter at Hobby Lobby thinking I'd use it on the frame wall, but I ended up not using it there so I modpodged some scrapbook paper (left over from lining his dresser drawers) on the front and hot glued some twine on the back. I think it's just so cute!

 The view walking in from the door. I wrote an entire post about my pinterest curtains I made here. I absolutely love them.  I feel like they bring so much character to the room! They may actually be my favorite thing in the room!

The bedding is the Alligator Madras Nursery Bedding from Pottery Barn. I loved the plaid bumper and crib skirt and the wide blue and white striped quilt and pillow make me happy. (I know bumpers are not recommended but we've never had a scare with Adalyn's and I love the look of them and the purpose of them. If we are ever uneasy about Cayden sleeping with his face too close to the bumper we will revisit the topic, but I'd rather a padded bumper than a breathable one.) 

Oh look! There's my precious boy with his waking-up-face in his cute bed. I love his alligator sheets!

I opted to not get Cayden's name on the quilt so that I can possibly resell or reuse the set at a later time. I did get his name on the pillow and I love it!  (This pillow will be in all of his growth pictures.)

The glider had been in Adalyn's room and I'm glad the greens could work together. 

The Ikea Foto light over the glider was our overhead table light in our kitchen until last spring when I was at Ikea and saw a new light fixture I wanted for our kitchen. Light fixtures are so inexpensive at Ikea! This one was going to be sold on Craig's List and was sitting in the basement when it struck me that I could put it in the nursery. Jonathan rewired it to be a plug in light fixture! (I wish the cord was white but that wasn't a possibility.) 

I got the little Roxo Stool table from Ikea. Perfect for a glass and nursing accessories (that are hiding behind the adorable metal "C" from Hobby Lobby.

The decal on the wall is from Five Star Signs on Etsy. I was so very impressed with the quality and ease of application. (Many wall decals are difficult to apply to the wall but this one was easy!) I think this is a perfect focal point and it looks so cute and preppy.

I love the prints that are next to the glider. I already catch Cayden looking up at them. Of course all of the prints in the room came from my friend Shannon. I had some ideas of quotes and graphics that I wanted in the room to make the room personal. She helped me lay out the frames (all from Ikea - surprise surprise) the way I wanted them on the walls. Then we decided on what to put in the frames. She used the colors of the room and made all of the prints coordinate. I love how they all turned out! These two are two of my favorite prints (click on the picture to enlarge it to read them). The empty frame is for a newborn picture.

Here is the wall of frames. I love how this turned out. 

The middle frame is deep like a shadow box so I took the glass out and had Shannon make a plain chevron graphic and found that cute small metal "c" at Hobby Lobby to put in it. It was the perfect size!

The two empty frames are for newborn pictures. I really love the personalized birth stats print. It's fun that all of the prints go together since they were made together. Each item on this wall has a special meaning. Love it!

I love how the blue diaper/wipe bin and laundry bin (both from Buy, Buy Baby - can't remember the brand) match the walls perfectly. What are the odds?? I also just use a trash bin in the kids' rooms since I don't believe that those diaper genies do anything special. (Plus a trash can looks nicer than the diaper genie.) Do you spot Adalyn's step stool? She has one in his room and one in the living room. She likes to see what's going on at the changing table and crib. She stands and talks to him and tries to give him his paci. It's so sweet.

I love this print with this Bible verse. I really wanted a verse over the changing table to make it meaningful.  I sit at night and feed Cayden and read those words. (Sorry about the glare on the frame.) 

Can you see that precious little robe hanging on the hook? So cute!

Here is the wall with the door and closet on it. The chest fits in that corner nicely.

The green lamp came from Target. It was their cheap brand ($15 I think). I was a little worried to try a bright lamp but I think it makes it look whimsical and like a kid's room. And the green matches perfectly.

The set of cars/trucks are from Ikea. Jonathan picked them out as our first boy toy that we bought. When we got them home I put them on the chest and loved how they looked there so I left them. Again, I love the touches of colors since they are all in the bumper.

The frame on the wall  is from Ikea. The two pictures in the frame are pictures from Cayden's hospital pictures on his first day. The top space is waiting for a picture and the middle picture he actually looks like he's smiling. I just love that picture. 

The monkey was Adalyn's gift to her brother when she came up to the hospital so I decided to leave it out as decoration.

My aunt sent Cayden these precious shoes with his name and birthday (on the other shoe). I love that they are saddle shoes and they are just so cute. They had to be part of the decorations!

One of my sweet friends that I work with brought us this wooden block when she brought us a meal after Cayden was born. I've never seen anything like it. Each side of the box is engraved with birth stats, the top has a "C" on it, and the bottom is engraved with who gave us the block. This is seriously such a wonderful baby gift! Love it!

I love this growth chart! (Adalyn also got a similar one in a different color.) These charts were on zulily from Farmhousefive Art for more than half off the regular price. I actually ordered this before I even decided on a room design, but I figured it would go with anything! I can't wait (but I can!!) until he can start using it!

I have to add a picture of Cayden's closet. Jonathan moved the clothes rack up in order to make space for the Ikea Expedit Shelving Unit and he added a second rack. He put the shelving unit together and we added a drawer insert in one shelf and bought 5 Drona Boxes to organize stuff in the other shelves. I was going to leave more shelves open for books/toys and we may do that at some point, but for now I love being able to keep stuff in the shelves out of sight!

I'm pretty sure his closet will never again be this full! We were very fortunate that an old coworker of mine from the bank contacted me after Cayden was born and asked if I was interested in her son's old clothes. I knew she had good taste and that her son was always dressed really well and all the sizes were the correct seasons so of course I was interested! I didn't need any 0-3 or 3-6 month clothes but she gave me 0-24 months worth of clothes. (Plus a huge box of shoes.) Instead of buying each piece we bought the whole lot for one price so since we had bought the 0-3 and 3-6 month clothes I went ahead and put them in his closet with the clothes he already had so his closet is bursting at the seams! The shelving bins and also those garbage bags on the top shelf have all of his 6-24 month clothes. We are set! So thankful for that blessing!

Thanks for taking a tour of Cayden's nursery. It's my favorite room in the house right now. I just love it and I hope you do too! 

Baby Boy Nursery - Process

Finally. Nursery pictures. Well, not yet. This post is going to be before and during pictures. Tomorrow will be all of the after pictures. Sorry for the teaser:)

Cayden's room used to be our guest room, which has now moved down to our basement. (I don't have pictures of the new guest room yet...)

 This is actually the bedroom set and bedding that I had before we were married. I still love it. (Well other than that chest of drawers that we ended up donating.)

 Of course I didn't get pictures before we starting bringing nursery stuff in. (The white Ikea chair went into Adalyn's room to replace the glider that is now in Cayden's room.)

 I wanted white board and batten in Cayden's room so Jonathan and my dad put in a lot of hard work to make it happen. First Jonathan taped the room, which was actually quite difficult to get a perfectly level line.

 Then Jonathan painted the blue on top and white on the bottom. I actually only got two sample blue paints which is a record for me. I usually have 10 or more test colors up on the wall, but we scored with this color. I loved it. (Of course I can't remember the  name of it right now -Navy 3 by Valspar??- and I'm not about to go climb in our garage to find the can.)

 I had seen a few how-to's in blog-land and pinterest for inexpensive board and batten. This is the one we actually used. We bought two sheets of 1/2 inch plywood and asked Home Depot to cut it into a bunch of 3 inch pieces. They didn't love us but it was better than renting a saw. And it was WAY cheaper than buying individual boards. We actually only used 1.5 of the two boards. 

 My dad and Jonathan worked so hard to get the boards all spaced out evenly.  This was a good project for two math brains. They were all about being exact! :)

They finished with 4 inch wide horizontal boards as a chair rail. They went back and filled in all the screw holes and caulked all of the edges and then did another coat of fresh white paint. I think it looks amazing!! Doesn't it add so much to the room?

See that electrical outlet that sticks out like a sore thumb? That is the one thing left in the room that we have not yet done. I'd like to switch out all the outlets and the light switch for white so that they blend in. But that isn't really in the plans right now. Just something I'd like at some point. (Don't think I had overlooked it) :)

Next is the reveal. Be excited. I am!...

Update: Click HERE to see the nursery reveal pictures.

I'm linking up to Beneath My Heart September Best DIY Projects Linky Party.
I'm linking up to Thrifty Decor Chick October Before and After Party.

Jonathan's First 10K Race

On Saturday morning Jonathan ran his first road race. (The past two races he has run have been mud races with obstacles. So this was his first road race and he didn't pick an easy 3k or 5k to run.) He decided to start with a 10k. Back in 2008 Billie and I ran the CASA 10k. It was the first year for the race and it was my longest distance ever at the time. I ran the race again in 2009 with Lindsy, Courtney and Nevada. Billie was very pregnant with Eli and came to cheer us on. In 2010 I was pregnant with A and last year I was only up to running 5k so I didn't even consider running the 10k. Obviously this year I wasn't going to be running it but during my pregnancy Jonathan picked up running and he decided to sign up. (I'm hoping to be able to run it with him next year! Not that I'd actually run with him since I'd never be able to catch up.)

So now that you've heard the history of this race, I'll tell you about this past Saturday. It was a beautiful morning out. Sunshine, blue skies, a wonderful breeze and a teensy bit chilly. The race is held at a park near where we used to live and I've run a few races over there. Honestly even though I wanted to weave around the park to see Jonathan at the different points, I didn't know if I could do it fast enough with the double stroller and be at the right locations in time. So we just parked it near the finish line and cheered for the runners. This year they had a 5 and 10k that had the same start time and finish line, so since Jonathan was in the longer distance we were able to be entertained by the 5k runners coming through while we waited for him.

Adalyn was half asleep and a bit confused. She kept asking "Where dada go?" from the time J lined up at the start line until he crossed the finish line. It was pretty cute.

 I had to capture the picturesque Kentucky landscape beyond finish line. I love running in places like this.

 Adalyn was waving at the 5k runners as they came through.

 Watching for dada. (And having a little leftover breakfast.)

 Thankfully Cayden did this the entire time we were there! 

Since both races were going at the same time and the bibs were the same colors I couldn't tell when the first 10k runners started coming since there were a bunch of 5k runners still on the course. I wanted to count how many were in front of J but I honestly couldn't tell which runners where for which race. (Probably not the best set up for a race, but what can you do?)  But I could see a really far distance down the path in order to watch for J. I didn't know what time to start looking for him but I knew whatever time I thought he might come in, I should start looking about 10 minutes before that because he's blown out the competition in his past mud races. I told Adalyn once I could see her daddy that she could get out of the stroller to get him at the finish line. (I could do that since it's such a small race and there weren't tons of people around.)

I got some great pics of J headed toward the finish line.

 I love this picture. Seriously. Look at that Kentucky fence. Perfect scenery for running!

 Jonathan said he saw Adalyn's face light up when she figured out it was him running towards her.

 A sweet lady offered to get a family picture. Next year I'll be in running gear... Hold me to it!

 Jonathan had a time of 45 min 24 sec.  Pretty awesome for 6.2 miles! He came in first in his age group and 11th overall!! I'm so proud! Seriously. Who does that? Who places in his first race?? My husband. That's who! I think he's hooked on running now. I'm so glad we could be there to cheer for him and celebrate with him!

8 Weeks Old

Cayden turned 8 weeks old yesterday. How is this possible?? Time has flown by. I can't believe my maternity leave will be over in less than two weeks. As I did with Adalyn I have taken weekly pictures of baby C. I'll take weekly pics up to 16 weeks and then do the monthly pictures through the first year. It's a little hard to remember to do each week, but honestly I wanted to have the weekly pictures because I think it's so much fun to see the difference in the weeks.  I also think it will be fun one day to look back at both kids and compare them week to week.  My friend Shannon made the onesie ties and they are super cute in person but some of the designs are a little hard to see in the pictures because I'm not able to use my camera in anything other than automatic mode.  So here are a ton of pictures documenting Cayden's first 8 weeks...

Home from the hospital.

 Adalyn wanted to get in on the fun.

 1 Week Old

2 Weeks Old

 3 Weeks Old

4 Weeks Old

5 Weeks Old

 (The face right before a melt down.)

 6 Weeks Old

 7 Weeks Old

8 Weeks Old

 This is the first time I've captured a smile with the camera and not my phone!

At 7 weeks we finally started into size 1 diapers and now at 8 weeks I've packed up all of Cayden's Newborn clothes. He's still a little peanut for his age but to me it feels like he's growing fast.  He seems to be less fussy (other than right now when I'm trying to finish this post:)) now (may be due to my elimination of dairy...) and has slept through the night once. Usually there is one wake up and sometimes there are two wake ups. Sad face. I'm hoping that we can continue to get better with sleeping before I go back to work. He's gotten on a pretty good 3 hour eat, play, sleep routine during the day but he does like to be held to sleep which won't be great once he goes to the sitter. Oh well. He'll learn. As you can see, he has started smiling. It's very rare but it's so sweet when it happens. He loves laying under his jungle gym and looking at all the colorful animals hanging. But when he's done laying under it, he is DONE! :) He feels the same way about his bouncy seat. It'll be fun to see his personality as he grows. He's such a sweetheart. I just can't get enough of him!!