Caleb's Nursery and Other Preparations

July was quite the stressful month! My little sister, Kayla got married to the love of her life at the end of the month (her wedding was so much fun) and so there was a lot of celebrating and preparing for that. I also had some crazy ordeals with grad school that I won't go into here, but August 11th I turned in my last grad school assignment ever! After 4 tedious years of working on this Masters in Mathematics, it feels amazing to be finished...almost (I have a final oral exam scheduled for Sept 3rd- hopefully Caleb comes after that). All that to say, the last couple of weeks have been wonderful and a lot of fun preparing for his arrival without a lot of other things on my mind.

Thanks to a lot of help from my mom (Mimi) and inspiration from Pinterest and sweet friends, his Nursery is finally finished! It feels so good to have it done! For those of you who are curious, I'll post some pics and explain where I got things/how I made some things :)

The view from his door. The curtains were from Ikea (only $19.99 for the super long kind you can hang from above the window. And thanks for a great idea from my friend, Laura, they were really easy to make black out. I simply bought the black out material from Joann's (when it was on sale for 50% off) and then just sewed a simple line straight across the top of the curtain. The material is 55' wide and the curtains are too, so there was no need to cut horizontally, only length wise. Super easy and much cheaper than black out curtains. And I think it actually works better this way.

This is the door decorator I made for the hospital door- it is just a canvas (on sale from Hobby Lobby) painted. The verse at the bottom says "Every good and perfect gift comes from above" James 1:17 and the little circles are blank right now, but waiting for the time, date, height and weight of our little man once he makes his arrival.

This was the first craft I made for Caleb's room. I bought small canvases from Hobby Lobby (when they were on sale for 30% off), and I bought the wooden letters from Hobby Lobby as well. I actually had almost all of the letters from when I asked my bridesmaids to be in my wedding (I had taken a pic with each letter in "Will You Be My Bridesmaid" and then made a little collage- the only letter I had to buy was a C). I am always thankful when God provides in small ways like that. I got the fabric at Joann's. Putting them together was simple. After ironing the fabric, I just pulled it tightly around the canvas and used a staple gun to keep it in place. I painted the letter a mix of baby blue and another blue (I just did baby blue at first but then it was too light) and used hot glue to attach them. Since they are so light, I used pushed pins to hang them on the wall. They work perfectly. The stripes on the wall were really easy to do. Thankfully, I had a really talented friend (thank you Laura!) share with me her method and come over and help- the tutorial can be found here

The crib, rug and clock were all gifts from Mimi (she is just a tad bit excited). We did try to do things as economically as possible while still making it look cozy. The crib is a Graco (and wasn't super duper expensive- all cribs sold today have to pass the safety ratings), and the mattress is a Safety 1st Heavenly Dreams (rated very highly-I may be slightly obsessed with ratings- on Amazon and only $50). The rug was an awesome find from Ross (one at Baby's 1st furniture was 5 times the cost) and the clock was from Ross as well. The glider is a Best Chair from BuyBuy Baby (so thankful for those 20% off coupons!) 

Mimi also bought the mesh crib liner from BuyBuy baby and we bought the zipper sheet from Amazon. I read online at Lucie's List (an awesome recommendation for any new mom's out there who are trying to determine what to register for- thanks Katie!) that these sheets are awesome for middle of the night accidents. You don't have to take the mattress out, you just zip the top layer off and zip another sheet on it's place. I have a waterproof cover underneath.

I made the crib skirt for super cheap and I didn't even use my sewing machine for this project. I found a great youtube video here: No Sew Crib Skirt. I bought the material at Joann's (with a 40% off coupon), some iron on and sticky velcro and some iron hemming tape- pretty simple and I really like the way it came out :)

We opted out of buying the 200 gliding ottoman that came with the chair and looked around for a "cheaper" option for a while...We spent a little more than I wanted- we got this for $89 from Target, but I love the tufted buttons and that it opens for toy storage eventually AND we had gift cards so we didn't actually have to pay full price for this. Oh and, I think this is versatile and can go other places in our house besides a nursery one day so it can be used for years to come.

I cherish these blankets so much. The blue one was made bymy brother's sweet girlfriend, Ale and the quilt was made from our long time family friend, Ms. Denise. I love it- it is hard to see in the picture but it says his name, Caleb Paul Hughes

The cute little white table is from Big Lots and the precious lamp is yet another gift from Mimi from Target.

This hangs in between the curtains, above the window. I saw something like this at Baby's and Kid's 1st Furniture but thought I could make it for way cheaper. I just bought this wooden plaque from Hobby Lobby for like 6 bucks I think (and I got %40 off) and then I pained it with the same paint I used for Caleb's letters and used a white paint pen to write Jesus Loves Me.

This is the diaper changing station/dresser full of lots of fun things! We got this chest from Ikea for $249 (I think). It was definitely an adventure putting it together, but in the end, so worth it. We have a diaper genie on the left (for our disposable diapers and wipes) and a step trash can I got at Bed Bath and Beyond (20% off coupon + I found a gift card from our wedding) that is lined with a cloth diaper liner for when we start cloth diapers around 1 month old.

This is a lyric from one of my favorite worship songs of all time, In Christ Alone, that was painted by my sweet friend, Nicole.

Mirrors can be really expensive. Thankfully, I had this mirror (it used to be in our bedroom but when we moved it didn't really have a place to go) and I had originally gotten it at Kirklands for 12.99- a steal! I bought a 3 dollar can of white spray paint and there you have it- almost as good as new. The little gray containers I found at Marshalls Home Goods and the shelves were only $3 each from Ikea (did I mention, I love Ikea!). They didn't come in white though, so we just spray painted those as well. I decided they needed a little something extra so I made little pennant banners out of material and twine I already had. I think it added a lot. I was lazy so I didn't hem around each triangle. I just folded over the top and sewed to keep it on the twine.

I got these frames for 1.99 from Ikea and I had the blue scrapbook paper already. I just looked up online some cool font styles and tried to freehand them the best I could. The verse on the left is Jeremiah 1:5 and the one on the right is Psalm 19:14. On his closet door I hung a chalkboard sign I had made for Maternity pics.

The drawer on the left has pacifiers, nursing things and health/saftey/grooming goodies.The drawer on the right has hats, mittens, socks and burp cloths.

The drawer on the left has swaddling blankets and swaddle mes (summer infant) and the one on the right has cloth diapers (I haven't washed those yet)

The drawer on the left has the smallest clothes newborn and 0- 3 month (the ones I've already washed) s as well as little pants and sleepers. The drawer on the right has bath time goodies- washcloths and hooded towels.

The drawer on the left has bigger fluffy blankets and extra sheets and the one on the right is kind of misc. right now- extra cloth diapers, bottles, some toys, etc.   

The last wall. The little banner was made by sweet friends from Bible study who threw us a  shower. The lamp is actually 11 years old. I got it when I went to college, but just spray painted it blue and covered the lamp shade with some of the material I had left over from making his name. I got the frame on the left from Big Lots and the one on the right from Hobby Lobby . I also got the C (it's the cardboard kind) from Hobby Lobby and painted it. The cute little blue hat is from Bryan's parents.(Gigi and Poppy)

The maternity pictures were taken by my amazingly beautiful and talented friend, Madeline Mohr, you can find her blog here

I saw this idea on Pinterest.We got a cheap shelf from Target (like 25 bucks) and then to spice it up a little, I used some old cardboard that was lying around and a box cutter to cut it the exact dimensions of the back of each space between shelves. Then I covered it with some material and I actually used duct tape to hold it on the back haha. Easy. Peasy. But it adds a little.

His closet. The little C was made by one of my sweet students! He has clothes (thanks to so many generous friends and family) in there organized by size (Mimi bought him some dividers for his clothes to keep things organized). We have a lot of diapers, wipes and bigger items at top for now. I can't wait to use the baby carriers!

We got the hamper from Home Goods. And we have his diaper bag, the fisher price kick and play mat and a boppy waiting to be used.

We have been busy putting together stuff! We have the swing, Rock N Play, bouncy seat, two strollers- well one is the travel system stroller we can use when he is older, but it also works with his carseat and then some of my coworkers gave us the Key Fit Caddy which is super light weight and we can easily snap his carseat in and go. I sewed the carseat canopy using material I have had for years and velcro left over from the crib skirt. I used a combo of these two tutorials online:
http://m.blogher.com/easy-peasy-diy-car-seat-canopy-tutorial and http://rachelandnicholas.blogspot.com/2013/03/car-seat-canopy-tutorial-for-sewing.html?m=1. I am by no means an expert sewer. I can sew a straight line...sometimes that is even debatable, but it was good enough to get the job done. Bryan also set up Caleb's Pack N Play a couple nights ago. We are planning on having Caleb sleep in it in our room for the first few weeks when we are getting used to everything.

Little Nurse Thank You/Goody Bags- thank you Heather for the idea!

All packed and ready to go! I used this packing list online: http://workmanfamily.typepad.com/our_life/2010/09/whats-in-a-bag.html

 I can't believe sometime in the next 4 weeks we will actually get to meet our son! We see Dr. Adam again on Sat. to discuss C-section vs. vaginal delivery and scheduling, etc. I am praying he comes 2 weeks early. If he comes 2 weeks early his estimated weight will still be small enough that I think Dr. Adam will allow me to try giving birth vaginally.  If he is much bigger, she won't let me. Having this heart thing has not been fun, but I trust God has placed us with this doctor for a reason, and they are being extra careful for a reason, too. Dr. Adam is going to call my cardiologist and her cardiologist friend to ask about their recommendation as far as labor. I am hoping they give me the green light, but ultimately we are just praying somehow he comes out and we are both healthy.


I don't want to waste any season of life. God has been teaching me many things in this season of preparing, and one of them became clear to me a couple of weeks ago at Bible study. Our small group has been going through Hebrews for the last few months. The whole book can basically be summed up in three words: Jesus is better. Jesus is truly better. I longed for marriage (as many of you know) for so many years. I also longed to be a mother since I can remember. Longings are not bad or wrong they are part of being human, but no matter what God gives us, if He is not ultimate in life, we will quickly find ourselves looking to the next thing- preparing for the next thing-hoping for the next thing- the new car, the bigger house, the promotion, summer, the weekend, vacation, children, for a children to be in the next stage of life, etc. We all need something to look forward to for this is the concept of HOPE. What is life without hope? What are you hoping for? What do we spend our lives looking for? The older I get, and the more things God graciously gives me, the more I realize that truly HE IS THE GIFT. None but Jesus will satisfy. To look for= "to receive or accept the spoilings of one's good with joy". I want to look to Him to be my chief Joy Giver. I know this whole motherhood thing is going to be wonderful (everyone says it is) but I also know it is going to be challenging (everyone says it is). I want to embrace this season with joy as a gift from God.

In chapter 9 of Hebrews, the last verse says "so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who EAGERLY AWAIT Him". Without reference to sin because the first time He came He lived a perfect life, died the death we deserved and conquered sin and death by rising again. He was promised to come for centuries before He came, and He finally came- unexpectedly as a baby to a poor family. He has been promised to come again. Will I be ready? Will you? Am I preparing for His return as much as I am preparing for Caleb's arrival? Honestly, no. I don't think about it nearly enough. I think about what is seen- the here and now instead of the unseen so often. But the unseen is ETERNAL and the seen is temporary. I pray God will help me focus more on the reality of the everlasting unseen. Logically that makes so much more sense- I just have to tell my heart that it is true. It is better to fix our eyes on things above (Col 3, 2 Cor 4)


Heaven is For Real (great book- I don't know about the movie- Jesus can't be left out. Maybe leaving Him out of the movie makes it more "friendly" to others, but it's not really friendly nor is it loving if it's a lie. He alone is the way- John 14:6). But if heaven is for real, so is hell, and so many people in this world do not know Jesus. He alone is our righteousness. I don't know when He is coming (just like I don't know when Caleb is coming) but He is coming back for His own. Will we be prepared?