Baby Rodgers - The Nursery

Let's start with some before pictures, shall we? I took these the day we officially started working on the room. It was just being used for storage before and as you can see was a pretty sad sight. But it's so encouraging to see that something truly beautiful came from this mess. 

Just a forewarning….this post is basically a tribute to the incredible hard work, construction intelligence and loooong hours Jonathan put into this room remodel.  I'm so proud of his dedication to our family and it shows in the beautiful results of this room. And whether we're here long enough for our son to remember this room or not, I hope to show him these pictures and tell him how tirelessly his Dad worked. How no matter how exhausted he was, or how late at night it got, his Dad joyfully put all kinds of love into these four walls. 

Because I don't have the brain for this construction stuff (and honestly my body couldn't do a lot because of the pregnancy) Jonathan did mostly well….everything. I wielded a paint brush, the broom and held stuff steady while he nailed or made cuts, but that's about it. I'm so glad we could work together to make this happen though. 

And then, after all the hammering and measuring and nailing and sweeping and cutting and glueing and crying (ok, that last one was just me) we can now show you the happy results. 

From the beginning, I didn't want his room to have a definite theme. My requests were lots of natural light, white space with simple & eclectic (not necessarily baby themed) decor. 

Check, check aaand check ;)

The barn door that's currently behind his crib was built from scratch by Jonathan. It's one of our favorite things in the room. 

These wooden toys came all the way from Maine. He was very much a part of that trip and we wanted him to have some souvenirs too.

We plan on making the wall space by his crib into a gallery wall. We started with the art prints in the picture below. We plan on putting them in frames eventually but washi tape does just fine for now. I was so excited to find them on Etsy for $5 a piece. They're instant downloads that you can print right at home! There's SO many gorgeous options to choose from. It's easy, affordable and the prints are so much fun.

I am aware of how dangerous it is for me to have discovered I can do this.

This knitted blanket was handmade by his Aunt Mel. I can see many, many newborn photos being taken with him snuggled up with it! 

Mostly the way we decorate this space is just by keeping an eye out for anything we like and buying it if the price is right, because we're bargain hunters ;) Overall, I want to keep it pretty minimal. Plus, we're giving ourselves freedom to change it all up if we want. For instance, that green chair in the picture below? It's definitely temporary until we get a good rocker in there.

And I'm not putting any pressure on myself to get it all decorated before he gets here, that's why some walls are empty still. I'd rather take time and find things we absolutely love than fill this space with stuff we kinda-sorta like. 

At some point during the remodel we realized that this room could have two functions (we got the idea from my sister, Beth, who did the same with her little boy's room). Not only is this the nursery, but it now serves as a guest room as well. All thanks to a handy little captain/trundle bed Jonathan put in! 

Here is a picture to represent how happy I was about this bed:

I've been wanting to have a space to offer our friends and family for years. It makes me so happy that it's ready and waiting for whoever needs it now. Like I said before, it's a trundle bed so it was two beds for the price of one! Oh and did I mention it also has storage drawers for Pickle's things? Talk about a good use of this space. I'm so pleased with it, that we plan on buying one just like it to put in our other guest room once we get it finished.

A little bunting I made from postcards I collected in Maine. 

That's about all there is too show for now. I catch Jonathan just standing in the doorway of this room all the time. I don't blame him, it's a lovely room. It may have taken sweat, frustration and love to create but it was worth it.  My end goal was for this to be a joyful, beautiful space that one could truly enjoy spending lots of time in. And that's just what it turned out to be. When I look at all of it together I feel very proud of what Jonathan accomplished and maybe a bit teary because of what it all means. We've created a physical space to welcome our baby. He's already held so strongly in our hearts but now there's a place for him in our home as well. 

We're ready for you, little boy.

I know this post is already long but I'm gonna end it with a little letter to our little man-cub below.

 As always, thanks for reading! 

Dear Pickle,

See that little sleeper up there? Me and your Dad bought that before we even knew if you were a boy or a girl. It was so cute and perfect that we had to get it. Plus, 'we can always take it back if it's a girl' is what we said. I'm so glad we got to keep it though because it means that you are you and we love that! Jesus just knew who you were all along and He must have wanted us to get a little preview of that. 

The closer we get to meeting you, the more we're getting to know you. In small and fleeting ways, perhaps, but all of it knits you even tighter into our hearts. Like the fact that you've never been one to respond much to sound. Yes, you'll move if Daddy talks directly to you or if there's some loud, unexpected noise. But touch….you must love physical contact. Almost every time Dad places his hand on my tummy you move, roll or kick back. I could be way off, I know, but I think you're taking after your Dad already with physical touch becoming one of your primary love languages. 

The other morning, we experienced something very sweet. For the past few weeks, we've been  'playing tag' with you. We'll tap or press gently on my stomach and you'll kick right back. You'll push against our palms and then quickly retreat deep inside where we can't feel you that well only to punch back with all the force your tiny body can muster. You make us laugh a lot when you do that :) But the other morning it was different, I was laying in bed and felt your body roll tightly to my right side. I began rubbing it, trying to figure out what part of you it might have been (a knee, your back, or tiny foot perhaps?) Instead of your usual playful jabs, you just laid there and pressed slow and steady right back. It was as if you wanted to be touched. Maybe you don't know what that feeling is yet, but you know you like it and didn't want it stop. Your Dad woke up and once I explained what you were doing he took some time to physically affirm you for while. My heart was so happy for us all to be together like that. Oh, I can't wait to really and truly get to know all about you soon! 

And from the moment I first saw you on that screen way back in January I've wanted to hold you and tell you how much I love you. Dad is so impatient to hold you too. We're ready when you are and really can't wait. 

Love, 

Dad & Mama