Our Un-fearful Feelings

So, Jason and I were discussing the other night how much more enjoyable this pregnancy has been for us that previous pregnancies.

With my first pregnancy, I was 17 and terrified. Since we were placing the baby for adoption the entire pregnancy, though free of complications, was emotionally draining on us and our families.

When I was pregnant with Jack my pregnancy was wonderful physically. I'm one of those girls that actually enjoys being pregnant and giving birth (not to mention that it wasn't new to me) so that part was great and we were SO EXCITED to be having our first baby. However, as a first time mom I was terrified of the actual "mothering" aspect. Lots of "what-ifs" and "how-tos" are involved with your first child.

When we were expecting Caroline we were a bit more laid back having "been there, done that" before. However, I felt so much anxiety about sharing myself with another little person. How could I possibly have enough love for another child like I did for my son?! When she was born it was, of course, evident that there was plenty of me and my love to go around!

This time we're like, "we've got this!" Pregnancy is old hat to us and we feel confident in our parenting skills (usually). Our love for our little bean has already grown and grown and he/she is not even here yet. We're nothing but EXCITED this time. No fear! What a blessing to be able to celebrate this baby and our growing family!

The Big Kids Room

In preparation for our little Jingle Bell (or Jingle Belly, whatever) to make his or her appearance in December, we've redesigned Caroline's room to be "the green room" as we now call it. Jack and Caroline are now bunking together and LOVE it. And I love the room. Really, really love the room.
The view from the door

The book and toy corner

The shared dresser. We've had it since before Caroline was born (used it as a changing table when she was a baby) and we couldn't love it more. It has SO MUCH storage and looks just as lovely (almost) as it did when we purchased it (from IKEA) four years ago. We'll be getting another one for the nursery and one for our room as well. We love it that much.

We've got a couple of white floating shelves to hang on this wall. The plan is for each kiddo to have a place to display some of their special things. Also, we'll be getting a couple of less girly lamps to "man up" the room a bit. Probably something like this from IKEA. Have I mentioned that I love IKEA?

Another shot of the beds. We purchased them online from a local company (didn't know they were local till we bought them). Their customer service was amazing and we had them within THREE days of purchase! They were pretty straightforward as far as assembly goes and I love that they can be taken apart and used as twin beds later on. The bedding is the Bright Stripes collection from Pottery Barn Kids. Love it and LOVE the deal we got! We outfitted both beds for well under $200 TOTAL which is a feat when buying from PBK. So happy about that.

A different angle of the dresser and the view outside. I just hung these curtains yesterday and they are exactly what I wanted for this room. I was sure to hang them high (had to since they're 95 inches long) and wide. They really add drama and interest to the room and trick your eye into thinking the window is huge. I also just love how airy they are. So pretty. But not too pretty for my big guy. I'll probably replace the lamp here too. Which will be so difficult for me because I *heart* this lamp.

There's plenty of space to play in here and I'm amazed at just how much time the kids spend in their room.

Jack's bunk with his beloved train picture and a great little reading lamp, from IKEA of course. He loves it up here.

The shared closet. This is something that was stressing me out. I just wasn't sure how it was all going to fit but it did. I just added another rod and moved Jack's stuff in. It also helped that I cleaned out all the non-clothing stuff (like Christmas paper and a wooden Rudloph who was wrapped in twinkle lights). Caroline's dress up drawers even made the cut.

All in all, I'm really pleased with how the entire thing worked out. It took us a good day and a half to paint the room (over dark chocolate brown walls... we used two coats of Martha Stewart's Lemongrass, color matched to Valspar's signature series paint + primer from Lowes) and several hours to assemble the beds. I've been working a bit in the room each day for the last week to complete little projects (moving Jack's clothes and toys in, organizing the closet, hanging curtains, etc) and it's coming together nicely. I've still got a few things to do (hanging shelves, assembling the "frame wall" over the toy shelf, finding lamps and a lower pile rug) but it's already the most "done" room in the house. In fact, this room is definitely pushing me forward to tackle some more projects. I've got quite a list, as you've seen several posts back, and I want to accomplish as much as I can before the Littlest Maurice arrives around Christmas.