Connor's Jungle Themed Nursery

After months of planning, Connor's nursery is finally finished. Since we're only going to be in this house for a couple of years we didn't want to spend a lot of money on his nursery. I think we did a pretty good job for only a couple hundred dollars (minus the furniture which will be used for all future children as well!).

Here's his crib! We didn't want to spend a lot on a crib bedding set since they come with so much stuff you can't actually use (babies can't have crib bumpers or quilts in their beds), so my mom and I picked out some fabric we liked and my mom made a crib skirt and we're just using plain white sheets.

Here's the crib skirt (it's a little hard to see through the slats of the crib)

My friend Christy made this amazing quilt that matches the nursery perfectly. You can see above that the piping she used is the same fabric as the crib skirt (and she had no idea what our fabrics were). Such a special touch that I think really helps pull the nursery together.

My mom and I put up this monkey decal. It took a couple of days, but I think really makes the theme.

My cousin Holly gave us our changing table (and a lot of other great baby stuff!). It's hard to tell, but the shelf has a lot of little animals to help tie in the jungle theme.

Here's our sitting area. We bought the chair in green so it can be used in a girl's nursery should the need arise in the future. My mom bought us the "Once Upon a Time" book box. You can also see the window valence that we made in the top right corner (Thanks to Holly for the instructions!).

We made these wall letters and light switch plate

Growth chart

My mom made a cross stitch for his wall. It's almost done - just waiting for his birth date and a mat to complete the look, but you get the idea here.

Last, but not least, Oxford got his own bed for the nursery. So far, he loves coming in the nursery with me when I sit in the chair. We figured having his own bed would help us keep the white carpet white!

Our new home

Danny and I moved into our new place on February 1. Even though we are renting, we painted the entire place because the previous paint job left something to be desired. Downstairs was at least 4 different colors and the colors upstairs were just ugly. We are very happy with how the colors turned out!

We pretty much spent the entire month of February decorating. We didn't have to buy any furniture, but we needed a lot of stuff for the walls since our place in Chicago was MUCH smaller.

Our new place is a 2-bedroom townhome in the Victorian Village neighborhood of Columbus. We have a backyard that Oxford loves and a two car garage. We also have a half-finished basement which will be a playroom for Connor, with storage on the other half. We live about 3 blocks from an area with a bunch of bars and restaurants, 4 blocks from a huge park and also a dog park. Danny works about a mile away, so he walks to/from work which is great because we only need one car.

Here are some pictures (they don't do the place justice, especially since the lighting isn't great and I'm not a fabulous photographer, but it gives you the general idea):

The backyard - once it stops snowing for good, the landlord will do some landscaping. I'll try to remember to post pictures when it's done. Regardless, Oxford loves just having a place where he can go and sit outside. 

Downstairs bathroom

The kitchen isn't fancy, but there is a ton of counter space which is great for cooking and entertaining!

Living room

Our bedroom

Upstairs bathroom

There are definitely some updates we'd make to this place if we bought it, but we're very happy with it for a 2-year-rental. Hopefully that gives an idea of what the place looks like before it is taken over by baby stuff in a few weeks! Nursery pictures to come this week or weekend! I just have a few finishing touches to put on it and then we will be all set.

37 weeks

37 weeks down - three weeks (give or take) to go! One of April's friends had a lovely shower for us yesterday. We received many lovely gifts and it was nice to see everyone before Connor arrives. Just a few loose ends to wrap up and he's allowed to be born.

Oxford wanted to get in on the picture taking action too.

First Shower

We had our first shower on February 19th. My best friend her mom threw it for us. It was so much fun and we received a lot of great stuff. My aunt and cousins came in from Denver, so we had a lot of fun that weekend showing them around Columbus too.

My friend Christy made a blanket for Connor that matches his nursery (pictures to come soon) perfectly!

34 weeks!