Nursery Reveal: Rustic, Feminine, and Budget Friendly

It's finished! The nursery, that is. The rest of the house is still pretty much a disaster, but the nursery is light and airy and clean, and sometimes I go sit in there just because it is so peaceful. 

See what I mean? So calming! Even Coco loves to curl up on the changing table and sleep. I'm so excited about how everything turned out. I think it's a nice mix of style: a little rustic (real deer antlers definitely make an appearance) while also feeling feminine without being super girly. And definitely budget-friendly, since so many things were thrifted, hand-me-downs, or total DIY projects. But I think that makes me love our nursery so much more.

One of my favorite DIY projects is the ceiling fan. It used to be pastel, with each fan blade a different color. A few weeks ago I took the blades off and had James spray paint them gold. (He insisted, since it was too windy to paint outside and it probably wasn't wise for me to spray paint in the garage.) 

The blades could probably use another coat of paint, but I was impatient and wanted to get them back up there. With the leftover paint, I spray painted the little corner shelf. That little thing has led quite a life. My sister rescued it from the trash when she moved into her first apartment, and passed it on to me when she was done with it. It was black and had been shoved in a closet for awhile, but now that it has a fresh coat of paint it has a whole new life in the nursery.

The dresser and rocking chair were actually projects I started before getting pregnant. The dresser was a steal at our local thrift shop for $20, and I was super drawn to the chair at the same store so I snagged it too. I painted both of them with chalk paint, and I spray painted the hardware for the dresser. Well, I did for the bottom two drawers. The top drawer has new-to-me pulls. When I worked on the dresser I didn't really plan on it going in a nursery, but it's so perfect in here.

The old mirror was also from the local thrift store (The Old Store), as was the gold side table. The lamp is part of a pair I bought at the Salvation Army a couple years ago, and I love it so much. The barnwood frame came from an event The Old Store hosted last year, and the map in the frame is an awesome map of the history of America and the buffalo (from the local Bison Shop, appropriately enough). The diaper pail is really just a plain trash can from Wal-Mart that I put gold polk dot decals on. Nothing special, but it will get the job done and also look pretty! 

James mounted the apple crates that we'd used at our wedding, and I love them there. The top one holds the stuffed animals James and I used as babies, and the other one my stash of aden + anais swaddle blankets. The canvas in the corner is from Lindsay Letters and is just temporary - after we get newborn photos done, we'll be putting them there and moving that canvas back into our living room. 

We used the Hello Love banner at our wedding so I couldn't resist including it here. The crib was my Christmas present from my parents and one of the few new things in here! James prepped the cedar branch. I'd initially wanted to mount it on the wall over the crib, but I like it better just off to the side. Plus it seems a bit safer over there!

We're less than a month away from the due date now, and things are feeling very real. We have one more shower to go, and then we'll stock up on everything we are missing off our registries. But at this point we have all the important things. The only other big item we want/need is the bassinet, but we have the pack n play set up in our room right now, so that would work if we needed it too! But we have a good starter set of bottles (sterilized and ready to go), plenty of clothes (that are already washed and put away), car seats (installed and waiting baby), and diaper stash (cloth, anyway). 

I guess the waiting game starts now! I'll spend the next few weeks trying to get the rest of the house clean and ready, not to mention working my tail off on client work. Plus I'm in the process of rebranding and starting a collaboration with a web designer, so there's a lot going on right now. At least staying busy should keep me from fretting too much about when she's going to come :)

Previously on Mrs Robbins Sparkles...

Gone Crunchy: "Natural Childbirth"

Here’s the thing. I’ve always had an inner hippie trying to break free from the conservative Type A perfectionist holding her hostage. Sometimes she succeeds, and I find myself heading down a rabbit hole of crunchiness. It's not exactly new. I've gone through phases of it before, when I made my own laundry detergent and toothpaste, joining a food co-op, that kind of thing. But the baby is really bringing out the hippie these days. 

For example, I've been doing lots of research on birth, specifically "natural childbirth". (I'll explain the quotes later.) I've had some friends who had babies and really didn't know what to expect or how things worked, and I didn't want to be that way. So I've watched documentaries (the Business of Being Born) and read books, and really tried to understand what to expect and decide what I want (and don't want). 

In an ideal world, I'd love to have a home birth with a midwife and doula. I know women who have gone that route and they loved it. However, my husband vetoed that super fast. (As a firefighter and EMT, he thinks about all the things that could go wrong.) Since there aren't many actual birth center options here (and he still wasn't comfortable with that option), I found a hospital that offered midwives and a more birth center-y vibe, and that's where we initially planned to go. However, thanks to insurance changes and a major hike in our deductible, when we realized I could give birth for free at a facility in my hometown, we couldn't justify the cost of that hospital. 

(Health insurance is ridiculous, y'all. But that's another topic for another day.) 

I switched to the new facility toward the end of last year, and it's been great. They also primarily use midwives - I actually haven't seen an OB at all. It is a little frustrating that I don't know which midwife will actually attend my birth. Like many places (including the original hospital I'd planned on using), whoever is on call that day is who will be there with you. So it's really the luck of the draw if you get the one you want. Not that I have a favorite really, but there are some who seem much more into the "natural childbirth" idea than others, and I'd love to end up with one of those crunchier ladies :) 

Now let explain why I keep using quotes around the phrase "natural childbirth". While I love the ideas surrounding that phrase, I hate the phrase itself because it implies that women who get epidurals or have C-sections have an unnatural childbirth. And that's so not true! Personally, I'm planning an unmedicated birth and have been taking childbirth classes and doing research on alternative pain management. But that's just me. If you want an epidural, by all means, go for it! If you need a C-section, I totally get it. I think every woman needs to do what is right for her and her child. For me, the idea of an epidural actually freaks me out more than birth itself. However, I totally reserve the right to change my mind! 

I think the most important thing is that women understand what their options are. And I will probably write about this again after I actually have the baby and can better understand what it is I'm talking about! For now, I’m planning a complication and intervention-free birth, ideally one that starts on its own and doesn't involve a medicated induction. But stuff happens, and I'm absolutely willing to change things up and do what needs to be done, whatever that means. (Though I really really want to avoid a C-section!)  

I'll share more about what childbirth class I'm taking and my thoughts on essential oils in labor, as well as my plan for using cloth diapers in the coming weeks. But I'd love to hear birth stories from anyone who wants to share. Preferably positive ones - I have to get this kid out one way or another in about 8 weeks, so maybe we can save the scary stories for after that, ok? 

Previously on Mrs Robbins Sparkles...

The Baby Belly

Happy Friday! Popping in to say that I am coming back NEXT WEEK with a brand new series called "Gone Crunchy". In it I'll explain why I'm letting my inner hippie come out to play, and how that's going to look as we add a little girl to our family. (And I promise it will launch next week. I've already written the first post.)

But first, let's talk about something that's been bothering me recently. 

I've been dealing with a lot of comments about my body. I expected that to happen. There's something about being pregnant that makes people think they have the right to comment on every little personal detail (and ask some really inappropriate questions). But really, I've been dealing with some less than nice comments about my body for years, so I'm not that shocked. 

Here's the thing: I've gained 20 pounds over the last 31 weeks or so. My midwives tell me I'm measuring exactly where I should be. Our little girl is constantly wiggling around, elbowing me or doing some sort of dance in there. All her ultrasounds have looked perfect, and her heartbeat is always strong. There is no reason I should be concerned. 

However, everyone keeps telling me how not big I am. Seriously, everyone. We could fund our daughter's college education if I had a dollar every time someone said this to me. I know everyone has the best intentions when they say it. But hearing it over and over again, literally every time I leave the house, is starting to wear on me. It's beginning to make me wonder if I'm doing something wrong, to the point that I'm starting to lose sleep over it. 

I know most pregnant women deal with some sort of commentary about their weight gain, or lack thereof. The thing is, no two women are alike. Some carry their babies super high and straight out. Some carry low and compact. Some just have a tougher time with weight gain - others have a tough time gaining weight at all. And everyone starts at a different place! For example, here's a comparison of me at 12 weeks and me at 31 weeks:

Clearly things have changed, and I don't just mean losing my tan or the fuzzies on the tank top.(What can I say, when you wear the same thing almost every day the fuzzies are bound to happen.)

Pregnancy is hard enough without having to endure endless comments about your body. Can we all just agree to stop commenting on pregnant women's bodies? Actually, can we stop commenting on women's bodies in general? There's just so many other things we could be talking about! 

If you've made comments like this to pregnant women (or women in general), don't beat yourself up about it. But maybe next time we can talk about something else? I'd love to tell you about the nursery we've been working on, or the Hypnobabies method, or the cloth diaper stash I'm collecting. Or you know, how my business is going since leaving my 9 to 5! 

I do hope some of you are interested in the cloth diaper and Hypnobabies info, because that's totally going to be covered in the new Gone Crunchy series. So stay tuned :)

Previously on Mrs Robbins Sparkles...