A (side of the) room of one's own.

Quick note: I had the best of intentions of keeping up with my twice-weekly posting habit, but I started slipping this month. The baby will be here in no more than 4 more days, so I guess it's to be expected. I'm going to try my best to do a good job, but bear with me if things are slow. I even made an effort to prep some "random things posts" that I can put up in a pinch while getting into the groove with a new baby. We'll see how it goes. I have a serious goal of blogging as often as possible so that I can document our life before I forget things! 

Back to regularly-scheduled blog fodder:

Ever since finding out about New Baby, I, like many other moms, I'd imagine, have felt a little worried that I would have trouble making sure that she gets the same attention as Claire and feels as firmly established in our family as Claire has been. I think about it a lot during the night when she won't go to sleep and keeps herself very much on my mind...

So, I started thinking about some of the little things I did for Claire before she was born and when she was a little bitty. The first thing that came to mind was the little owl mobile that Kat and I made for Claire when she was a few months old (it's actually still hanging above her bed. Her big girl bed. Because she likes it.). I decided to try my hand at one for New Baby, as well. I started brainstorming for it before Kat came to visit back in November so she could help (obviously). At the time, we didn't know if New Baby was a girl or a boy, so I wanted to make something that could go either way (we're not exactly gender-neutral in general, but I was aiming for it with this) and something that was meaningful. I decided to go with hot air balloons. 

It's not that hot air balloons are particularly meaningful or anything, but I decided they were whimsically representative of where I wanted to go with New Baby's decor. When we were deciding on how to "decorate" Claire's little corner of our apartment in Boston, our friend, Laura Kay, made Claire the sweetest matroshka pillow ("trosta"), which I later used for Claire's weekly and monthly pictures. Since Claire moved into her big girl bed last summer, she's been rather insistent on sleeping with her "trosta" regularly, if that shows you how connected she's been to her pillow. I was thrilled when we got LK's gift for Claire and immediately decided that matroshkas/Ukrainian-themed items were going to be how I decorated for Claire. Having lived there for 2 years, Ukraine is very near and dear to my heart, and I have quite a lot of matroshka/Ukrainian-themed items that I was able to pull together for Claire's room. I even framed a chocolate bar wrapper that I think is adorable and sports a little Ukrainian girl. When my Ukrainian friend, Nastia, visited me in 2014, she saw it framed and hanging in Claire's room and rolled her eyes at me. "Erinochka. We do NOT hang trash on the wall." Well, I DO, apparently.

I loved how I was able to use little items that were so close to my heart to surround my daughter; I see them as a reminder of a time of life that was full of adventure, independence and responsibility, friendship, relying on the kindness of others, lessons learned, opportunities to practice humility, and- most importantly- God's faithfulness in every area of my life. ALL things that I hope and pray are major elements of Bearsy's life. It will be so exciting to share with Claire the significance of her bedroom decorations as she gets older. And I want the same for New Baby.

Now, I realize that perhaps this makes me the worst Pinterest Mom ever, but I have strong beliefs that spending very much on decorating a nursery is a waste of money. At least for our family. Claire spent hardly any time in her room when she wasn't sleeping. That's actually still the case. I didn't even nurse her in her own room. We almost never changed her diaper in her room unless we had an overflowing diaper situation going on in her crib. Our family life was just not set up like that, so spending money on her room was pointless. Thus, we decorated with what we had (I even framed some of my favorite baby cards that people sent). 

We're doing the same for New Baby. The "theme" we've decided to go with is- loosely- travel/adventure/the great big world. Claire's Ukrainian theme is sort of in the same vein, I guess, but New Baby's will be a little broader, less country-specific. Brad and I have both been blessed to have traveled quite a bit, and I've lived in three different countries that were so formative for me, so we're going to use those experiences as inspiration. We want her to be surrounded with reminders that the world is big and diverse and exciting and compelling...and that our God is God over all of it. Now that I have a child(ren), I have so much more respect for my parents and my friends' parents (Hi, Mrs. Tidwell!) who supported us traveling and working overseas so much at such young ages. It kind of terrifies me to think about letting my little ones leave and go out into a world that is so unpredictable. Which is partly why I like the idea of this theme for my youngest daughter. As I worked on her hot air balloon mobile, I prayed over her and myself, asking that she would follow the Lord where He leads...and that I would be obedient, faithful, and supportive of what He has in store for her. It's scary and overwhelming, but I very much want it for her (and me).

So, her mobile is hot air balloons. Her pillow (that I made...I wish I'd commissioned Laura Kay to do it) is a koala (mostly because it's an exotic concept but not too complicated to design), and the pictures on her wall are of places that we've been or hope to visit, etc. I hope it inspires and encourages her. I pray that she learns courage and obedience and that she gets to experience seeing God at work in places outside of her immediate scope of Durham, North Carolina, the South, and the US. 

Before we left Boston, we bought Claire a "Mass Roots" burlap print from a vendor at SoWa (SIDE NOTE: guys, if you're ever in Boston between May-October on a Sunday, PLEASE go get brunch at Masa in the South End, browse the shops at SoWa, and then eat late lunch at the food trucks just past the SoWa farmer's market. Preferably, get a Green Muenster sandwich at the Roxy's truck. Then, take a nap before going to church at Church of the Cross at 4:30, obviously. You will thank me later.). ANYWAY, I took the guys' card and held onto it. A few months ago, I ordered this "Carolina Roots" print for the wee one. I was able to buy the same frame that we have for Claire's print, just in a different color. And no, in real life it is NOT Carolina blue. Like I would ever do that, as a Duke person. Sheesh. It matches the curtains in the girls' room almost exactly.

Here's Claire's on the other side of the room. 

We are a Waste Not, Want Not kind of crew around here. The fabric for the koala pillow came from my stash and the paper that I used to make the pattern was actually packing paper from inside our Ikea boxes. The papers weren't crumpled or anything, so I had Brad save them as drawing paper for Claire. And pattern-making for me, apparently. 

The finished product. Claire loves it, so I hope Baby Sister does, too.

Here are the balloons for New Baby's mobile. All of the fabric was salvaged from an old shower curtain (clean, non-moldy, don't worry) we inherited in our apartment in Boston. The filling I stole from some old throw pillows.

Finished product! I used skewers (like, from a pack you buy to grill kabobs...with the sharp tips cut off) and regular thread to suspend the balloons and cloud. The ribbon actually came off of a Vera Bradley set of pouches that Mom and Dad gave me for Christmas. It just happens to go with the color scheme in their room perfectly. How serendipitous. Claire loves this mobile and keeps calling it "the Baby's Owlies." Claire's mobile is owls, so that's her frame of reference. I think she's hoping that she'll actually end up with both mobiles for herself. Bless.

Baby Sister's side of the room. I'm hoping to add a few more items to the cork board on the end; currently, it's sporting a few pictures from a travel calendar.

I made this map when I was pregnant with Claire and had insomnia. I found a pattern (of sorts) on Pinterest and loved the idea. I used fabrics that I had from around the world and had the best time stitching it. I hope it piques the girls' interests in this great homeland of ours. I'm really looking forward to exploring it with them as they grow.

On the far end, I framed these two postcards. The bottom one is of the opera house in Budapest. Budapest is one of my favorite international cities. I've been twice (once with Brad!) and just absolutely loved it both times. I hope the girls can experience it one day. The top card was mailed to me by a sweet Boston friend when she visited the UK a few years ago. She knows of my Harry Potter love and sought out the cafe where Rowling charted out the course of the novels. She apparently got lost in the process of finding it and spent several hours searching it out so that she could buy me this postcard. I have truly wonderful people in my life. Clearly, I hope to share my passion for Harry Potter with the girls (in the right time and in the right way- I have strong opinions on this), and I would love to travel with them to the United Kingdom someday.

Here's her "Carolina Roots" print in its designated spot, next to a framed card that my friend, Karen, sent me a while back. I love this card because a) it goes with the hot air balloon mobile and b) Karen sent me this card during a very hard season for me here in Durham. We had had a brief conversation where I shared just a few of the things I was feeling and thinking, and the next week I got this oh-so-encouraging card from her that just made me cry and cry. Good tears, no worries. I love the idea of surrounding the girls with beautiful pictures, inspiring ideas, and reminders that we are so blessed to have people that love us so well. And, apparently, you never know if you will mail me something that ends up as art in my house. :)

I can't remember if I've shown Claire's side of the room before, so here's a shot for ya. On the far left are a framed shot of Bear and Amiee (top) and framed Easter egg wrappers of fancy matroshka dolls that I bought in Ukraine (bottom). Next is a matroshka that Amiee painted (!). Her "Mass Roots" print (green frame) is hanging over two framed matroshka note cards, which are next to the framed chocolate wrapper (yellow and orange matting). The poster right behind Claire's head is a vintage Soviet-era poster about reading. Hanging above all of that is a pennant banner I made out of Ukrainian fabric. It's a very colorful room, to say the least.

And that's where we stand on the "nursery decorating" front. Claire and I sure do like the way things have some together. Brad is glad that we've done something and likes the theme, but he doesn't have any particular leanings on decorating in general, so it's not quite as thrilling for him. That's fine; I'm glad he's studying important things, but I have very little specific interest in the Cappadocians (what? you aren't familiar with them?). Also, I should mention that Baby Sister will be in our room for at least the first few months while she's eating a lot in the night, so there's potential for changes to be made, if Claire and I feel the need. Or if anyone sends me particularly fabulous cards. :)