The Nursery Reveal

Sometimes I love decorating and sometimes it stresses me out. Luckily, this project fell into the former category. All along, I had been planning a gender neutral nursery since we were most likely not going to know if we were going to have a boy or a girl. Once all of my ideas came together for the room, it definitely looked more boy. All of this was before we found out about Finn. I figured that if we ended up with a girl that I would just add girly touches later. Low and behold, it would become the perfect little space for our little man. When we got the phone call that we were getting a baby boy, the nursery was mostly done, but I did add my finishing touches with a new sense of urgency. I loosely followed the theme of "vintage travel", but it mostly just reflects our style. So.. here is Finn's room : )

Wall color is "soft mint" by Benjamin Moore. The curtains are from Target.

I went with a traditional Jenny Lind crib, because I love the timeless style and the room is on the smaller side so a bigger crib would have taken over the room. All of the printables are from various websites I found by googling "free nursery printables".

 I made a no-sew crib skirt using a super easy tutorial from Young House Love and some printed burlap fabric that I bought online at Hancock Fabric.

I made this mobile using an embroidery hoop, some fishing line, glue stick and paint chips that I cut out using a scrap book cutter. The hardest part was smuggling out all of the paint chips from Home Depot. This is a super easy and cheap way to add a pop of color to any room.

The ottoman was a steal of a deal from Walmart at $30. I made the pillow cover with leftover fabric from the crib skirt.

The changing table is also from the Jenny Lind collection.The little red rocking chair was the husband's when he was little.

These prints are actually pages from an Anthropologie calendar. For $24 (or $12 if you wait until Jan or Feb to buy it), you can get a calendar that will provide 12 prints. Add some cheap spray-painted frames and voila!

Above the changing table are four Shel Silverstein poems that I tore out of Where the Sidewalk Ends in some vintage frames that were leftover from our yard sale.

The dresser belonged to Dustin's grandfather when he was a little boy, so that makes it extra special that it's now in Finn's room.

This vintage camera was leftover from our yard sale and I loved it too much to get rid of it. The record is Bambi that we picked up from a used record store in Nashville. The framed sheet music is "Edelweiss " from The Sound of Music which is the song that my dad used to sing to me when I was little.

I absolutely love this license plate alphabet sign that Dustin's aunt brought us from one of my favorite boutique stores in Waco, TX called Spice.

The Micky Mouse clock used to be a part of my grandfather's clock collection and was always my favorite when I was little.

HOME

We made it! We have been home for less than 48 hours, but it already feels good to be settled and have somewhat of a routine. Finn is loving his new home and especially loves all of his mom's fall decorations. Ok so maybe I made that last part up. But it was nice to come home to a clean, pumpkin-scented home- thanks to my labor day decorating : ) Here is what our life has looked like for the past few days.

Finn did incredibly well on his first flight ever... much better than his germiphobe mom.

And this is how daddy sat through both flights so little man would not catch the flu, whooping cough, scabies, hepatitis... or whatever else was floating around that plane.

Sweet boy slept through both flights and hardly made a sound.

We were so happy to have such a warm welcome! This little guy already feels so loved by so many people!

Our first night home : )

First doctor's appt. He's up to a whopping 6lbs 5oz!

I think he likes us : )

 

"Home" Sweet Hotel

That's right, friends. I apologize for the delay in updates, but it's for good reason. We have had a little less time on our hands, because we were promoted to a family care unit in the hospital on Saturday and spent the night there. This is basically the same unit where we would've stayed with him right after he was born if he wasn't in the NICU. We were discharged yesterday and had our first night with him in the hotel last night. Today, we just received word that we are free to leave the state with our baby boy! We had already reserved our hotel through this Thursday which will be his two week birthday. Some airlines won't let you fly with a baby less than two weeks old and we figured a few extra days wouldn't hurt for us to get used to his schedule before we jump on a plane. If all continues as planned, we will be home on Thursday! Here are some pics from the last couple days...

This was how he felt about his carseat test- which he passed along with his hearing test. Both of these tests are required for him to leave the NICU.

We got in our family care room at the hospital around half time of the Clemson game- go Tigers!

Our first morning with the little man in the hospital.

Here is Finn wearing daddy's outfit he wore when he left the hospital 30 years ago. Daddy was also a preemie and our little guy fits perfectly in it- all 5.15 lbs of him!

Our first car ride "home"- aka the hotel.

Leaving the hospital!

Our view for most of the day

Finally, this might be my favorite pic. This is his face after I told him we were able to leave. I think he is realizing that he is stuck with us : )

One Week Birthday!

We celebrated Finn's one week birthday today! He has also done so well over the past 48 hours! He stayed on cpap most of Monday and all of Tuesday and they took him off Wednesday, because he was progressing so well! Little man has also had quite a few firsts over the last couple days. Last night, his sweet nurse Lori gave him his first bath after she took his IV out. This morning, he took his first bottle and ate most of it! She only had to push the last little bit through his feeding tube. I was able to give him his second, third and fourth bottles and he seems to be getting the hang of it! Most importantly, daddy changed his first diaper ever! It may have taken him 10 minutes and I had to re-tighten the tabs but he's learning : ) We should be moving to the step down unit soon and then hopefully discharged. Once he's discharged, we will still stay in the hotel for a few nights so that we're not jumping right on a plane straight from the hospital. Here are some pictures from the last couple days!

Nonna and Pop came all the way to Kansas to meet Finn!

He is very happy to have that cpap off his sweet little face!

 

Cannot get enough of these sweet little bear feet!

 

Once that IV came out, we were able to see his mohawk : )

 

First bottle from mommy!

 

I think he likes us : )

Vent Free!

Today was a great day for our little dude! He was taken off the vent this morning and put on cpap (similar to a cpap mask that adults with sleep apnea wear). It is basically a way for him to breathe higher pressure air that is easier on him, but he is doing all of the breathing on his own. Pray that his breathing would continue to be steady and strong on his own and we could be on our way to a step-down room soon. After we got to be at the hospital for that transition, we drove about 45 minutes to Butler County where we went before the judge. This is where he signed the official petition for adoption that will be used for finalization on November 22. Luckily, this will allow us to finalize in Georgia. This afternoon, I was able to sit and hold our sweet baby boy for 3 hours while he slept. He's hardly been held since he was born on Thursday, so he LOVED it and so did his mommy : ) Again, all of these pics are from my phone. I don't want to bring my big camera in the NICU so stay tuned for some better pics!

He is happiest when he's dressed and bundled up. Even if it's about 4 sizes too big!

 

I've been taking his temp and changing his diaper when we're there. Little man has managed to pee on me twice and I'm sure there will be many more times to come.

 

Well hello there bright eyes. I think he's still trying to figure us out...