Give me an "E"

Eli is lucky to have an amazing "Uncle" Billy (He has lots of amazing "Aunt"s and "Uncle"s that aren't blood related, but might as well be!).  Uncle Billy is awesome in many ways, but one special way in which he is awesome is that he crafts wooden name letters for all the babies.  He started this 4 years ago for his first daughter (adorable Ally) and recently for his second daughter (cute Kenzie).  We were so excited that he cut some letters for Eli just after he was born. Currently, they are hanging over his door.  I have been meaning to get photos and post them for months now and here they are, finally!

Thanks Uncle Billy!

Baby Bumpers

What to do with those crib bumpers that came with the nursery bedding set?

After I posted photos of our nursery, my friend Mary Beth contacted me to let me know that currently, many groups are recommending to REMOVE the bumpers from cribs because many babies have been injured by them and they may increase the chance of SIDS.  She sent me some great info (Mary Beth works for EPIC Every Person Influences Children) and I found this article (and its links) full of good information too.  Before Mary Beth contacted me, I honestly didn't realize what a safety issue bumpers were, but I definitely removed them before Eli started sleeping in the crib (Thanks MB!). 

Then I thought to myself "What can I do with these adorable bumpers?".  I am not crafty enough to sew them into something cool.  So I just added them to the very, very bottom outside of the crib.  We live in a small apartment without much storage (for all of the diapers that I hoard when they go on sale!!), so this was a good way to hide all my stored items under the crib and add a bit more color!

Anyone else do something cool with their bumpers?

The Nursery!

Here it is!  Baby Wynne's nursery!

Thanks to Nana & Pop-pop Wynne for the crib
and Grandma & Grandpa Snekser for the dresser!!
(Already the grandparents are spoiling Baby Wynne!)

 

While we live in an apartment near NYC, we're lucky that we have a spare room!
We converted this corner into the "nursery" while the rest of the room remains "guest room".
You can sort of see the bookshelf of toys and books to the right, and in front of that we still have a double bed for all of you to come and visit!  :)



It's Fisher Price Ocean Wonders bedding.



We painted the walls this green color when we moved in, but Ryan decided we needed an "ocean" to put our sea creature clings on, so we painted a two-tone blue border around the crib corner.
(Here, you can see the Octopus' Garden (in the shade)!)



And my favorite, purple whale!  :)

Surely, no one is surprised by the nursery.  I mean:
(1) It's green!
(2) It's ocean creatures!
(3) It's "gender neutral"!
(4) It's cute!
(5) It was on sale!

I will be honest .... and surely I will write more about this later ... Ryan and I like DEALS!  And this baby bedding was a great deal.  Of course, I bought it last July.  No, not July 2011.  July 2010.  Before we were pregnant.  Before we were married!

Honestly, we both really liked this baby bedding.  Ryan and I had spent some time at Babies R Us because some friends were having babies (as always!) and I mentioned that I would obviously like fish bedding for whenever we had a baby.  After looking at the four ocean themed beddings, we both liked the Ocean Wonders the best.  I liked the purple whale and that it didn't look too boy-ish with all the blue and Ryan liked the vibrant colors and the cartoon-like animals.  Then ... something terrible happened ... I went in to a Babies R Us again (for yet another baby shower gift) and it was gone!  I found out that Fisher Price was discontinuing the bedding and it was all on clearance.  I may have then called every Babies R Us in New York State to find one that actually still had it in stock!  Luckily, I found one!  :)  And we got the bedding for $35 (sheet, bedskirt, bumpers and quilt).  Anyone who has bought a crib bedding set lately knows they can run from about $100-$250!!  To get the one we wanted for a quarter of the price ... How could we say no?  :)

The fact that we already knew our nursery theme also contributed to the timing of setting it up.  Everyone is impressed that we have the nursery done "early" (some people may be cringing at the thought of having it done so many weeks before the baby is expected).  There's lots of reasons we wanted to get it done early.  If we waited "till the end" it would be December ... which for us means the craziness of giving finals, ending the semester, Christmas, and snow.  None of these sounded like a good time to set up a nursery.  Plus, I am already having enough trouble lifting and moving things.  What would it be like at 8 1/2 months pregnant?  It just seemed to make sense to us to get it mostly organized now.  Besides ... we're more than half way along!

OH -- And I want to point out that Ryan put the dresser together all by himself!  He is amazing and surprised me with it when I got home from work!  He is already the best dad (and an awesome husband in every way!)! 


We hope you enjoy the nursery!!!!!  And we hope Baby Wynne likes it too!