Inspiration: R's "Big Girl Room"

  

Bed/ Nightstand Dresser - Bookcase - Comforter/ Sheets/ Pillows - Chevron Pillow

At R's one year doctor's appointment our pediatrician told us to keep her in her crib as long as possible. Unless we were going to need the crib for a new baby there was no real need to transition her in a hurry. Well, we took our doctor's words very literally and now at two months from being three years old she's still in her crib. I don't mind at all. She's a sneaky little thing and I know for sure that she'd get into lots of trouble if she wasn't confined at night. Heck, she gets into all kinds of trouble in there already! I've always said that I'd take the crib down as soon as she could either climb out of it or potty trained and so far neither have happened (though we're getting close with potty training!) At my mom's house R has her own room with a crib and a full size bed (my old bed from high school!) in it, and the past few times my mom has watched R she's only wanted to sleep in the big bed- and she's done wonderfully! With her birthday coming up now is finally time to say goodbye to the crib (and changing table!!!) so I've been thinking about how to transform her nursery into a "big girl" room.

When I asked R what she wanted her room to look like and she told me "a room." She may be a very highly opinionated almost three year old, but she doesn't quite grasp the concept of decorating. Thus I knew it was up to me to design something that she liked, and that I liked as well. My first thought when it came to a "theme" was My Little Pony but I didn't want a bunch of branded stuff everywhere. So I decided to take a cue from how I'm decorating for her party, and go in a very colorful direction.

The first thing we'll do (after removing the aftermath of the tree decals from her room *sigh* is paint her entire room a very, very light grey (almost white.) Then, on the wall where the trees used to be we'll paint a rainbow chevron pattern similar to the one in the picture. I have no idea how this is going to work out and we'll probably spend way more money than we should on paint but dammit I have a VISION OK?! N is going to be thrilled. ;) For the plain wall next to her window I'm going to hang framed (or kept in hoops) cross stitches of a rainbow and a unicorn.

For her bed my mom said she'd get that gorgeous iron bed from Pottery Barn Kids (she had said she'd get R a bed for her birthday, and then said she wouldn't, but is back to saying she will again fingers crossed) and I'd also like to get the white comforter and pillows (and grey sheets) from The Land of Nod. White might be easy to dirty but it's also easy to bleach! For some pops of color on the bed I've already ordered both that rainbow chevron pillow from Etsy, and bought that vintage rainbow chevron throw from eBay.

I also think we'll do either one or two of those bookcases from IKEA to keep all the collectible stuff she has in her room. Right now it's all on two sagging shelves and it's a hot mess. There's a lot of really special stuff there and I'd like to have it displayed properly- but hopefully out of R's  destructive reach. I think I might keep some of her books in there as well, but I'd rather not have any toys in there as transiting to a regular bed is going to be tough enough without a bunch of distractions in the room. If all the stuff fits on one bookshelf I think we'll move her stuffed animal "zoo" in there as well.

I'm excited and now completely impaitent to get this done although we have a month before we should do it so it's a real birthday treat. Not that we don't have a ton of other stuff to worry about. ;)

F#!% It Friday

Since I keep missing linkups I figured I might make this a regular feature. It's how I've been feeling about most of these weeks anyway. ;) There's no theme to this despite it's clever name, just some tidbits from my life.

- Something totally crazy happened Wednesday at R's dance class! One of the moms was talking to a newer mom and newer mom mentioned that she hadn't been to class in a few weeks because she and her family had gone home to Canada during the olympics. The mom asked the newer mom what her husband did, and newer mom goes, "He plays for the Colorado Avalanche." HOLD THE PHONE. I almost blacked out in excitement and said, "NOT TO BE CREEPY BUT WE ARE HUGE AVALANCHE FANS" thus being totally creepy. Avalanche mom (as I'll call her not to out her name and be even creepier) seemed really nice and their daughter is ADORABLE. Oh my god I am so creepy.

- Speaking of the Avalanche just had to shout out Nathan MacKinnon for breaking a Wayne Gretzky record! He's the first 18 year old in NHL history to score points in 13 consecutive games. If he keeps this up he could surpass fellow Avalanche player Paul Stastny for rookie point streaks. Stastny holds the record by a lot at 20 games though so Mack has a ways to go. If that boy doesn't have a lock on the Calder (rookie of the year) trophy I do not know what the world is coming to. Same with Patrick Roy and the Jack Adams (coach of the year.) #whynotus

- I've been corresponding via e-mail with a woman I "met" on Jezebel when I posted a comment in an open thread about having Gastroparesis. She said she did too and it's been really nice chatting with someone who really understands this illness. Anyway, she's been vomiting constantly (one of the ways GP can present in a person) and she just e-mailed me to say that she's being admitted to the hospital for malnutrition and dehydration. My heart is broken for her. This is such an awful condition.

- I'm really thankful that I haven't been vomiting but the nausea has just been more than I can handle. I continued in not eating much this week, and tonight when I couldn't take the hunger anymore I drove to Taco Bell, ordered half the menu, and drove around eating it any crying like someone who has a really healthy relationship with food. Of course I feel especially awful now and I have no stomach emptying meds left. I don't know why I do this to myself!

- My mom watched R yesterday because my little sister was flying in for spring break (she goes to college in Boston) and when she and my sister dropped R off, R freaked out SO BAD. She kept screaming "I WANT AUNTIE KK! I NEED AUNTIE KK HUGS!" And she wouldn't even look at me. Sometimes I wish I was R's aunt instead. Maybe then she would love me!

- Right now I can't get enough of this song!

Hope y'all had a good week!

Tuesday Troubles

Stolen (with permission!) from Jen at Ramblings of a Suburban Mom!

  

- I had big plans for yesterday and didn't follow through with any of them because N was gone more than half the day dropping off Camaro parts at his grandpa's house over an hour and a half away. By the time he got home (he also blew a hose on his car on the way home) he was tried, I didn't feel good, and R was grumpy. Weekends need an extra day because the only time stuff gets done is when N is home- and there's just not enough time in 2 days for him to do it all. Poor N.

- N's tax guy hasn't e-mailed him back in a week which is really making me mad because I want to get our taxes filed so we can get our refund! I want to know if it's feasible to do our kitchen cabinets this year and if it is then we have to get on that ASAP because IKEA is having a cabinet sale RIGHT NOW and even though the sale doesn't end for a month that still feels like no time to me.

- Or instead of getting a tax return we could sell one of the godforsaken Jeeps that were supposed to be easy fix and flips. The Commander has actually been a blessing as my car is broken and I can use it in the meantime, but the Wrangler has done nothing but completely piss me off. Not only are we likely going to lose money on it, but N has wasted countless hours working on it. We are NEVER, EVER, EVER buying someones car again in order to help them out. I don't care how mean N thinks I am for being pissed off about all of this, but this has been a disaster and I am ANGRY.

- I just got the phone call reminder that my surgery consult is next week and I'm really nervous about it. On one hand I desperately want the surgery in the hopes it will help me because I absolutely cannot live this miserably anymore. On the other hand I'm really nervous at how much it's going to cost, and the thought of years and years of payments on it makes me want to throw up (although maybe the surgery would help that feeling, haha.) It would also greatly affect our ability to qualify for a new house.

- R has been tearing down the birch tree decals in her bedroom and then stuffing them into her fishtank. WTF? Not only am I bummed because I loved those decals, but to shove them in her fish tank too?! I'm not sure what we're going to do when we get her big girl furniture and re-paint.

- I haven't really eaten anything in three days and I am struggling. The cycle is: annoying hunger - painful hunger - nauseous hunger - hunger so bad I don't even feel it anymore - feeling like I have no strength left in my body - eating - SEVERE nausea - burping up the taste of my food for the next six hours - slowing getting hungry again - repeat. Obviously this is severely unhealthy (don't worry though, I haven't lost a pound) and that's why I'm anxious to see my doctor next week. I am OVER this!

Sunday Social

1. Biggest Middle school fashion mistake?

That is an easy one (aside from everything I was doing with my bangs in 7th grade): Abercrombie (Kids) windbreaker sweats. I had them in about 5 different colors and I thought they were so cool. They unzipped at the bottom like the ones in the picture (pretty sure I had that exact pair) and I'd wear them around unzipped like that, feeling like I was wearing bellbottoms (also very popular in the early 00s) and feeling the breeze on my ankles.

In high school I went a little overboard on the low-rise jeans. It didn't help I always wore little kid's shirts that were way too short for me. And the padlock necklace (with a padlock and chain bought from Home Depot because I was PUNK ROCK) and the red aviators? Lord help me.

This wasn't really the best look either... (I have some really embarrassing Myspace selfies saved on my photobucket.)

2. Who were your best friends in HS? Pics?

I don't have many pre-college pictures on my computer (and I deleted most of them , but I had a really neat group of friends I cycled in and out of in high school while dealing with my own issues and natural anti-social tendencies. When I was in high school being "emo" or "scene" was starting to be a big thing, and while we sort of bordered on that we were mostly just "alternative" geeks/ smart kids. We were hipsters before hipsters were even a thing, which I think makes us more hipster than ever.

Just found this picture that I was tagged in on FB. I'm on the right, somehow wearing 3 different shirts?

3. What was a typical weekend like for you in HS?

There were lots of typicals depending on what I was going through at the time. Freshman and sophomore year my girlfriends and I would cruise the new AMC 24 and "see a movie" i.e. scope cute guys. We'd also hit up local "shows" and oogle the cute band boys. And occasionally we'd frequent the local skate park too since there was nothing I loved more than some cute skater boys. ;) (I ended up marrying a BMXer- my high school self would have been appalled!) Junior year I got my first "serious" (LOL) boyfriend and I spent just about all my time with him. Senior year I'd get home from school on a Friday afternoon and immediately go up to my room and sleep until the following Monday morning- occasionally getting up to go to the bathroom. That was a really difficult year for me.

ETA: Senior year when I wasn't sleeping it was a big thing for my friends and I to go to a coffee house downtown and drink black coffee (yeah I was getting banana milkshakes and sandwiches) and chain smoke cigarettes while talking about "philosophy." All my friends were uber intelligent and I always felt like what they said went way over my head. But I tried to fit in. And lord knows I chain smoked enough during that short period of time to probably doom me forever. Thank god that awful habit didn't last long!

4. Did you have any boyfriends/girlfriends? Tell us about that.

Oh god can I not? As soon as I hit high school I was completely boy crazy, and the most obnoxious flirt ever. I met my first boyfriend ever when his band (he was the lead singer) preformed at my school and we exchanged numbers: i.e. I gave him my number and never contacted him because I was too embarrassed. Turns out I had given him the wrong number like an idiot, but we met again at a Battle of the Bands at some church. That ended when I told him I'd date this other guy if the other guy was interested in me, I was such a brat!

I had another boyfriend after that (a friend's super cute older brother who had come to stay with him in the Summer) but that ended when he left in the fall. My next boyfriend (I think?) was my first serious one and the less I say about all that the better. I was head over heels but struggling severely with untreated Bipolar disorder (I was prescribed medication but refused to take it), and I was just not a nice person to him. Eventually he got into drugs and we mutually broke it off. I was utterly heartbroken, and to make things worse had completely ignored all my friends while spending almost a year with this guy. I tried to get back together with him a few times but nothing ever came of it- thank god. I dated a few other random guys towards the end of high school but that was it until I met N. (Now hooking up with guys is a different story. Oh college!)

5. Did you have any secret codes with your friends? Spill your secrets!

Oh. My. God. Ok, so my freshman year one of my friends (who I recently re-connected with and adore!) and I used to sneak off to "smoke pot." Lord knows what the guys at school were selling us because we were NOT getting high. I got actually high for my first time in college so I can affirm that. Anyway, for some reason we called it "burning CDs" and thought we were so sneaky. I laugh so hard thinking about those days!

6. If you could relive one day/moment/experience from middle school or high school, what would it be?

My parents were super anti-sleepover after my freshman year (for good reason obviously) but somehow I got to ok to sleepover at a friends house, and my entire group of friends ended up spending the night at one of the guy's houses since his parents were out of town. Of course there was a good deal of debauchery going on, but we were all just having such a good time. I struggled so much in high school and remember so little of it (yay medication!) that it's hard for me to pick something out. I have a lot of regrets, but I don't think I'd do it over. Unless I could do it over and meet N earlier. ;)

Technical Difficulties ;)

Accidentally published instead of scheduling this weeks Sunday Social. If you saw it please pretend to be surprised tomorrow night! ;)