Thursday, June 26, 2014

nash's vintage car nursery

It only took me 4.5 months to FINALLY finish Nash's nursery. 
Really, it's been done for over a month, I just needed to repaint his letters above his crib.  The original orange that I painted them was a little dark and it bothered me.  

So without any further adieu…..
Welcome to Nash's little Vintage Car Nursery!!!


I absolutely love how Nash's nursery turned out.  It's so different from Pearson's which is what I really wanted.  I loved and still do love Pearson's room, I just wanted to go a totally different direction! 
Pretty much everything in his room was custom made by my Mom.  (Sorry, she doesn't sell baby bedding.  It's a labor of love for her and she only does it for family!) Most of the fabric is from the Retro Rides Collection made by Premier Prints.  We got most of the fabric at Fabric.com.  The non-Premier Print fabrics we got at Hobby Lobby or Joanne's.  
My absolute favorite part of his room is his bunting.  His wall seemed so bare with just his name so this was the perfect addition.  When Pearson first saw it he said, "It's looks like a party in here!"  I searched and searched for rug that matched his room that didn't cost a fortune but I couldn't find one.  My Mom ended up finding these super soft bath rugs at Ross for $11.99 for a pack of two.  We bought two packs and then sewed them together to make one big rug!!
I was in no hurry to move Pearson out of the crib so we had to buy a new one for Nash.  A sweet friend sold us this adorable crib that is in perfect condition for $50.  Score!!!
All of the appliqués were hand cut out by my Mom. We put the fabric on the copy machine and blew up a picture to make an exact pattern!  We loved this little appliqué because it looks so much like Pops hot rod.  This hamper is from Babies R Us.  I just painted the base orange to match!
I love how his book bag adds a one of my Mom's little appliqués to the front of his crib.  
I am so glad that my Mom was able to make custom bedding for Nash because store bought bedding would not have worked with this crib.  There are no holes in the back to have ties.  We ended up not putting ties in the middle and making extremely long ties on the side to tie around the back.
When I first picked the Retro Rides fabric, I had no idea that Nash was actually the name of a car.  My Dad was super excited about the car theme of the nursery and bought this Nash hub cap off of Ebay for us! I love how the patchwork blanket turned out.  It adds so much color to that corner of the room.   Our chair (which was moved from Pearson's room) is a Best Chair from Lone Star Baby…..but sadly they have gone out of business.  This chair was a little pricey but it was definitely worth every single penny.  The little lamp and picture frame are from IKEA, I got the side table off of a Facebook Garage Sale sight for $10 and the little teal basket is from Garden Ridge. 
My made the valence and the blackout shades are from Target. Blackout shades are THE BEST.  It makes nap time so much easier!!!  I waited to put them in Pearson's room until he was 10 months old and that is when he finally started napping well.  I made sure to put them in Nash's room from the get go and he has always been such a good napper!! The little teal toy basket on the floor is from IKEA. 
My grandmother gave me this bookshelf for our guest bedroom when we first got married.  When we lost our guest room I just couldn't part with this bookshelf so I painted it to match the nursery.  Painting this bookshelf was definitely a labor of love.  I first painted three coats of Annie Sloan paint on it, but it wasn't sticking for some reason and it just wasn't as bright orange as I wanted it.  Next, I primed it then painted two coats of Sherwin Williams paint on it.  After six coats of paint it turned out exactly how I wanted it to. 
I painted the teal picture frame with craft paint and just covered a piece of cardboard with fabric.  The "N" came from Michael's and I just painted it with the same paint I painted the bookshelf with.  The middle frame is from IKEA with a sweet picture of my boys taken by Brooke Richardson Photography.   The little elephant that I use for his monthly pictures is from Target and he is wearing a Tried and True Designs onesie.  On the middle shelf, the teal basket is from Garden Ridge, the lamb was a gift from a friend, the little VW bug is a piggy bank of Matt's when he was younger. The subway art was given to me by a friend and put into an IKEA frame.  Nothing special on the bottom shelf!!
I fret over how I was going to decorate over the changing table for so long.  I ended up using this and this as an inspiration.  My Dad actually hung the shelves and mirror that were both from IKEA up the night I went into labor.  They sat undecorated/half decorated for about 3 months.
This is the dresser/changing table I had picked out to buy.  It's from IKEA and it sells for $299.  I kept looking on Craigslist for one but never found one.  When we went to pick up our crib from my friend, I noticed she had the dresser I wanted.  I mentioned to Matt that this was the dresser I wanted and when my friend heard me she said that she might be interested in selling it!  She called me a week later and said she would sell it to me for $75! Score.  We got all the furniture in Nash's room for $125!!!  Miraculously we found an orange changing pad cover at Babies R Us that matched perfectly.  I found the gray basket at Garden Ridge and my Mom made a little cover for it with one of our coordinate fabrics.  I painted the lamp stand with craft paint and bought a lampshade from Hobby Lobby that has sticky stuff all over it to cover it with fabric!
The orange frame is from IKEA, the motorcycle is from Hobby Lobby and the 11x13 frame is from Aaron Brother's.  Both of the pictures of Nash were taken by Brooke Richardson Photography
I made the two prints on the left.  I copied these.  Matt's co-workers sent us flowers when Nash was born in the cute little pick-up truck.  It was royal blue, but I painted it with craft paint.  I couldn't believe how perfect it went with his nursery.  
The last little thing in his nursery is a book sling that a friend made for me.  She stole all my fabric from my Mom's house and totally surprised me with this.  This little reading corner has been a perfect place for Pearson to hang out when I nurse Nash in his room.  
My Mom also made a super cute diaper bag with a truck appliqué on it and a carseat canopy that matches the nursery.  I need to take a pictures of those things to add to this post!  

Hope you enjoyed the little tour of Nash's Vintage Car Nursery

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

#thelinkhomeeveryday2014 {week 25}

{Day 169}
Waiting for swim lessons to begin. 
 {Day 170}
Nash got his DocBand and isn't bothered by it one bit!
 {Day 171}
Pearson definitely isn't swimming after his swim lessons but he learned so much.  
{Day 172}
Pearson always has his tongue sticking out when he is playing or concentrating on something. 
 {Day 173}
Getting ready to watch the USA soccer team! Daddy is teaching them young to love sports!!
 {Day 174}
I finally finished Nash's nursery.  I took lots of pictures and they will be up on the blog tomorrow!
 {Day 175}
The 3D movie at The Perot Museum put Nash right to sleep!

Monday, June 23, 2014

torticollis AKA twisted neck

If you are like me, I had never heard of torticollis before Nash was diagnosed with it.

Let me educate you….

According to WebMD…...
"Torticollis, also known as "wryneck," (literally means "twisted neck" in Latin) is a condition in which your baby's head is tilted. One of your newborn's neck muscles is shortened. So the chin points to one shoulder, away from the shortened neck muscle. And the back of the head tilts toward the opposite shoulder."

At Nash's 2 month appointment our pediatrician looked at Nash's head shape just like they do at every appointment.  She didn't seem too concerned, but she did say, "If I had to point anything out, this side might look a little flat."  She also asked me if he preferred to keep his head turned to the right, since the right side was the side that looked a little flat.  I had absolutely no idea.  I hadn't thought to notice because we had just spent the last 6 weeks dealing with the diaper rash from hell. 
After that doctor's appointment I really started to notice that he did in fact always have his head turned to the right.  I even went back and looked at pictures and sure enough he definitely had a preferred side.  
We were still a ways a way from our 4 month check up so I decided to chat with a friend who is an OT about it to see what she thought I should do.  She recommended that we start physical therapy because he probably had torticollis.  I'm so thankful for her advice and helping me get the ball rolling with going to physical therapy.  Sure enough she was right.  Nash has torticollis.
We had our initial evaluation on May 15th and began weekly therapy on May 27th.  We have been going for about 5 weeks now and are seeing some improvement.  Hopefully we will move to every other week soon and then graduate from therapy with a straight neck and strong muscles.
Our weekly therapy sessions are 30 minutes long.  Our therapist first takes measurements of his head tilt and range of motion to see if there has been any improvement then she does all of his stretches and exercises with him.  These are two of the stretches that I have to do with him at home 5 times a day for at least 30 seconds at a time.

 I don't always find the time to do these stretches 5 times a day but I do the best I can.
 It's such a pain to have to do these stretches daily and go to therapy weekly, but I have to remind myself that this is such a minute little thing.  It's totally fixable and we won't be doing therapy forever.  Overall we have a happy healthy little boy……he just has a twisted neck…..for now!!

meal planning monday

Monday: Stromboli

Tuesday: Mississippi Roast, Baked Potatoes, & Green Beans

Wednesday: Me: Mtg Boys: Leftovers

Thursday: Chicken Spaghetti, Green Beans & Garlic Knots

Friday: Roast Beef French Dip Sandwiches & Chips

Saturday: KITCHEN CLOSED

Sunday: KITCHEN CLOSED

Sunday, June 22, 2014

pearson's golf par-tee

Pearson loves all sports so this year for his birthday I decided to do a golf themed party after seeing a friend do the same theme for her son.  
I absolutely love how all the details turned out. I ordered all the printables and invitations from here. Her prices were great and her stuff is all super cute.   
I kept decorations very simple with just a birthday banner, two of the 8x10 printables, the invitation and one of his 3 yr old pictures.  All of the frames were stolen from Nash's room!! Table clothes, plates, napkins and clear serving pieces all came from the Dollar Tree and I borrow yellow fabric from my Mom.  I just love it when decorations come together for next to nothing!!

The party was from 11-1 so I served lunch.  I also kept things simple and didn't make a thing.  We went store bough all the way.  It made my life so much easier.  The cupcakes were from Wal-Mart.  
I served "Club Sandwiches" and "Peanut Putter Sandwiches".
We also had a "Bucket of (cheese) Balls" and "Golf Tees".
 And then some "Watermelon Slices" and "Orange Wedges".
I just love how all of the food lent itself to such fun names to go along with the theme.  
 Lolly also made Pearson the cutest golf shirt.  If you ever need a cute party shirt you can always contact my mom at Tried and True Designs.  She doesn't have these types of shirts listed but she can make custom orders!! She does the best work!!
For the party favors, we gave each family a golf club set.  These  were a little pricey for party favors ($5.88 each) but I figured they doubled as party entertainment and a party favor.  I would much rather give this sort of thing as a party favor over junk in a bag that is going to get thrown in the trash anyways.  
Before the party started Olivia got to give Nash a little loving.  She is such a little Mama.  
My mom "babysit" him for a little while then put him down for a nap.  It was nice to have her at the party so I could focus on the kids.  
I would have loved to have gotten a family photo with Nash included, but he was asleep for the majority of the party so we didn't get one.  
Once all of the kids arrived, we laid out blankets for the them to have a picnic.  
As the kids finished eating they began to play.  I didn't have any special activities for the kids because we had plenty of outdoor doors plus their new golf clubs!!
This kid was SO excited for his green cupcakes!!

I learned very quickly that I will NEVER do bright green icing on cupcakes ever again.  They made a mess, but they sure did make for some cute pictures!!
Pearson got some super fun toys from all of his friends.  He is a lucky little boy!! 
Matt was so sweet to let me have Pearson's party on a Friday during the day.  I am so glad he was able to take off work and enjoy the fun with us.  I went to a little girl's birthday party like this a while back and it was so nice to have it be more like a playdate and not interfere with family weekend plans.  
Happy Birthday to a crazy sweaty little boy! We had such a fun day celebrating you!!
After the party he came up to me and said, "Mommy, that was fun!"  That made all of the planning worth it!!