Izzy's Big Girl Room



 

Izzy has been sleeping in her big girl bed for close to 8 months now.  Shortly after we made plans to adopt a baby, we moved Izzy out of her crib and into a twin bed.  Well, actually, we moved her onto a twin mattress on the floor.  Remember this post?  Honestly, she had only escaped her crib one time, and we probably could have stretched the crib life out a little longer if we wanted to, but we knew we would be getting a new baby at some point soon (we just didn't know how soon!), and we wanted Izzy to be settled in her bed long before the baby arrived.  We knew bringing home a brand new baby would be a big enough change for her to swallow, so we were trying to keep everything else consistent.  

 

Luckily, my big girl only had to sleep "on the floor" for a couple weeks because hubs and his dad made a beautiful bed for her.  I painted it to match her dresser, and sadly, I didn't do a great job.  There are still a few spots that I need to touch up.  It's one of those things that bugs me every time I see it, but as soon as it's out of sight, it's out of mind.  Maybe one day I will actually get around to fixing it.  Maybe. 

 

I didn't change much in her room.  We had to move her bookcase around and change the placement of some wall decor, but it's pretty much just the grown up version of her nursery.  It just oozes girlyness, and I love it!  What I don't love is those bed rails.  Bleh.  Wonder how long I need to keep those up.  Anyone? 

 

 

Izzy's big girl room.  Bedding from Target - I got it on clearance a long time ago, but I think they still carry it.  Her monogram is embroidered fabric that I put in frames from Michael's.  The quote above the window is from Uppercase Living.

Hubs and Pop-Pop do fine work, I tell ya. 

Her dresser is the Hemnes 8-drawer dresser from Ikea.  We were using it in our guest room before she was born.  It used to be a light brown color, and I painted it before we brought her home.  I used foam rollers to paint, and just used blue painters tape for the stripes.  It was actually a pretty easy project and it the paint has held up really well, no chips. The picture above the dresser is from Hobby Lobby.  The trunk is full of dress-up clothes - a Christmas present from Papa and Meme last year.  My aunt made the quilt on the rocker.  She made the one in Harper's room too.  I just love them.

Maybe one day I'll get brave enough to show you inside the girls' closets. 

After seeing this photo of her bookshelf, I think I need to give this puppy a makeover.  It needs some paint or fabric on the back to jazz it up, don't ya think?

 

Stole this idea from my friend, Katie.  This Aaron Brother's frame holds all of Izzy's monthly baby pics from her first year.  Harper's already got a frame waiting to be filled in her closet. 

We have had this alarm clock for awhile now.  I can't say that we've had much success with it yet.  I'm not exaggerating when I say Izzy comes to our room at least once a night, every night.  Sometimes 2-3 times.  We've gotten it down to basically walking her back to her room, tucking her in, and going back to sleep, but it still kills a good night's sleep. I'm hoping our little nightly visits from homegirl become less and less frequent. 

Above her bed is this sweet little dress she wore home from the hospital when she was four months old. She was a teeny little baby doll. Shadow box is from Aaron Brothers.

And of course, more bows.

And there ya have it. A sweet little room for a sweet little girl.

Harper's Striped Nursery

As soon as we found out we had been matched with Harper, I started planning her nursery.  I went over the top girly in Izzy's room (pink everywhere, chandelier, damask curtains, etc.), so I wanted Harper's nursery to have a totally different feel.  I knew I wanted stripes on the walls, in neutral colors, and fun pops of color to make the room fun and fitting for a little girl.  Once I found this picture, I was sold. 



Source

 

I love the blue and orange for a little boy, but my girl needs some pink.  Hey now, I can't totally get away from girly.  I saw this from Pottery Barn Kids, and loved the pink and green combo, but with a little more green and a little less pink.  By the way, this bedding set is called Harper.  Coincidence?  I think not.  Luckily this set comes in several colors, so I order the green quilt, skirt, sheet, and window valance. I learned with Izzy that shelling out $$ for a bumper was a waste because we never used it, and my very talented mom and aunt made Harper's curtain panels with some fabric from JoAnn's that is almost an identical match to the Pottery Barn panels. 

Source



Before I share the big reveal, Let's just take a look at what I was working with before, shall we? B.H. (Before Harper), this room was our guest room/junk room. It had never really been shown any love, and it was looking pretty sad. We got rid of the guest bed and all of our junk, and it immediately cheered up a bit, but it still needed some love. We decided to reuse Izzy's crib and an armoire from our bedroom that we were no longer using. Read more about where the armoire used to live here, here, and here.

 

Here she is.  In all her glory.  No?

Let's take a closer look at this crib

Ahh, yes.  It appears a baby goat used to sleep here.  The other side had matching bite marks.

This Thomasville armoire matches our master bedroom furniture. We no longer needed it in our room, but didn't want to get rid of it, so we made it work for the nursery.

I think we can all agree that this was a sad, mismatched situation. 

I can assure you, friends, this room is no longer sad.  I accented the room with pops of hot pink so that there would be no mistaking that a little girl sleeps here. This was such a fun room to plan and decorate, and I'm really happy with the end result. And don't tell Izzy, but I think I like it better than her room.  Okay friends, take a look at Harper's bright and happy nursery.   

 

 

I consider myself a somewhat crafty person, but I know my limits.  Painting precise stripes and furniture is one of them.  We hired a professional painter to paint the walls, the crib, and the armoire.  Worth every penny.



The perfect little spot to read to and rock my Harper girl.  Table from Ikea, lamp from Hobby Lobby, rug from Garden Ridge, quilt made by another one of my talented aunts, chair and ottoman from Amazon or Babies R US?  I forget.



Doesn't that armoire look so much better?  I love white furniture.  So bright and fresh.  The little dress hanging on the door is what we brought her home in.  The plan is to eventually purchase a shadow box for it to display on the wall.  Dresser/changing table is from Ikea.  Mirror is from Marshall's.

Love all the storage room!  Cubes from Target.

I replaced all the furniture knobs with these cute little guys from Hobby Lobby.

I just love this monogram.  It's one of my favorite things in the room.  I ordered these letters unfinished from a cute little Etsy shop called KyGrace Designs and painted them pink.

Got these frames at Aaron Brothers during their penny sale.  I filled them with scrapbook paper from Hobby Lobby, and voila.  Cheap and easy wall art. 

Shelves are from Target.  Hubs just loved hanging them for me.  By loved, I mean hated.  They were a B to hang.  Frames from Aaron Brothers, my owl friend hails from HomeGoods, chevron fabric, gold H, and pink H all from Hobby Lobby. 

A girl's gotta read.  Love these sweet bookends I found at HomeGoods.

And what would a little lady be without her bows?  A lady at a local shop made this bow holder for me.  Honestly, I would prefer not to display all the bows, but the girls have so many, and this just makes it easy to see all the choices when I'm getting the girls dressed. 

Back to School & Preschool Favorites

 I was one of many mommies walking their kids back to preschool with a big grin on my face last week.  I love my girl, but I'm just gonna keep it real.  This summer was looong.  I tried to be a good mom and schedule plenty of play dates and trips to the museum, zoo, etc., but my fun ran out way before summer did.  I was ready for school to start, and so was Izzy.  Luckily, she loves going to school and has a blast there, so I get my little sanity break without the guilt.  Everyone wins.  Hubs ate breakfast with us last Tuesday and went with me and Harper to drop off Izzy.  I made him snap a few pictures before we left. 




not the best photo, but he was working with a moving target



Why does she look so grown up???  Stop it.

This is her "smile."  There were no tears, no latching herself to my leg, no "don't go, mommy!"  Nope.  We got nothing.  Not even a good picture.  She wanted us out of there.  And so it begins. 

We celebrated a successful first day of school with some frozen yogurt. 

I forgot to take pictures for a pinterest idea that morning, so we had another mini photo session that afternoon.  She had a full day of school and a tummy full of yogurt in her by this point, so she was being a little toot. 


Attempt #1



Attempt #2

Finally got a semi-decent one.  Beggars can't be choosers, right?

Harper Update - Months 4-6

It seems I'm a little behind on Harper's monthly updates...only by 3 months.  I'll take my mother of the year award now, please and thank you.  I honestly can't believe how much this sweet girl has grown and changed in the past 3 months.  She is such a gift.  Our joy. 

4 months

5 months

6 months

 

As I'm sure you can imagine, she's been quite the busy bee these past three months.  She is sitting up really well now, eating everything she's offered (you're shocked, I know), watching her sister's every move, entertaining herself with all of her toys, rolling and scooting herself around the room, and she's thisclose to crawling. 

 

 

"What?  She thought that mat could contain ME?"

Doll Baby

She loves to sing and talk

First bite of food.  Hasn't looked back since.

Daddy likes to sneak naps in with Harper whenever he can

Would you just look at this little beauty

Love this girl!

Fancy pants

Someone should really tell this kid to slow down and stop growing up so fast.  It's making her mama kinda sad. 

I'm Back, Baby

Oh, hello there, September.  Looks like June, July, and August just sneaked right past me.  Whoops.  Izzy started back to preschool today, and Harper is sleeping.  Yes, it is just as heavenly as it sounds.  I feel like this is the first chance in months that I've had to actually sit down and write a post.  Sure, there is time in the evenings after the girls go to sleep, but that time is reserved for mindless television.  Duh.  I'm so excited to get back to our scheduled routine.  Without a schedule, I accomplish nothing, as evident by my 3-month blog hiatus.  I'm also excited to have some much-needed one-on-one time with my Harper girl.  She is growing at warp speed, and I want to soak in every second because I know she is going to be driving herself to school before I know it.  Just the thought of that gives me heart palpitations.  I owe you tons of posts that I've been storing in my little pea brain for months, but we'll just take baby steps and start with a few photos of how we spent our summer. 

My Izzy girl loves to laugh

Paw and Harper

Playtime in our jammies - it's what we do best

Swinging with "Bubba"

She's a big girl now. :(

Who needs clothes when you've got princess slippers?

My bathing beauties

Sisters :)

Nanny and the girls

Just hanging out

Double Cuteness



Family shopping trip to Austin and San Marcos.  Those outlet malls didn't stand a chance. 
My girls stayed home with their daddy.