Alethea’s Room New Idea

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I know I’ve been blogging a lot about Alethea’s big girl room lately, but I feel like I’m in this semi-frantic, must get the room done mode, because I’m terrified I’m going to end up on bed rest and not be able to get it done.   I’m not sure why I’m so convinced I’m going to end up on bed rest, we certainly had no issues with Alethea (a.k.a. Little Miss 2.5 Weeks Late) getting to full term!  Maybe it just seems like the hardest possible scenario given my piano teaching schedule and being home alone during the day with a toddler.  After all, I’ve never been accused of being an eternal optimist!

In any case, over these past few weeks I’ve been pretty much continually working on some part of Alethea’s room and so now it’s time for a little check up on what I’ve been doing.  Besides getting the room painted and picking out quilt fabrics, I’ve also made a directional change in what I want to do with the focal wall.  My original plan was to paint some large scale flowers on the east wall (opposite the closet).  Here is my computer rendering:

However, after further consideration I decided two things:

1) Given my artistic skills there was too great a chance it would look like a 6 year old did it

2) Even with best case scenario, the flowers would probably look more country-crafty than exotic-elegant

So new plan – I bought a stencil and supplies to create this pattern on the wall:

I’m going to do the pattern gray on gray and I think it will look better, be cheaper and maybe even not take quite as much time as the original flower idea, although I’m a bit sad to lose the flowers since it is one of Alethea’s favorite words.  I guess now I’ll have to teach her to say “lattice pattern”.

Next step: I need to get my sample paints out again to mix up a new shade of gray!

A Mom Guilt Day

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Today Alethea and I went to Target to buy a birthday present for her cousin Roman.  Despite the rain, we were having a good time as we found our way back to the toy section.  Alethea was enjoying going up and down the aisles and was especially fond of the baby doll section.

Then the fateful moment…  As we approached the display for walking/talking Big Foot, it lit up and Big Foot started moving.  Alethea was interested, so we went closer.  There was a button.  A big orange button.  My gut instinct said “Don’t push the button, this is not a friendly looking toy.”  But Alethea was clearly intrigued, so I did it anyway, I pushed the button.

Big Foot roared… Alethea’s eyes narrowed, but she was still interested…  Big Foot did a flip… still interested…  Big Foot started yelling and banging his fists on his Plexiglas cage…

With a shriek of terror, Alethea burst into tears.

As I hurried away with the cart, mom guilt washing over me, I looked around for a distraction and there was the bin of giant swirly colored balls.  I got Alethea a purple one.  A two dollar and forty-eight cent distraction from the terrible monster Mommy had activated against her better judgment.  And then I felt more guilty, for bribing my child with a toy.  I tried telling myself that we sort of owed her one anyway since her last giant ball died when Peter threw it up on the roof and it came down in a pine tree.  POP!  But really, I wasn’t planning on buying it when I walked into the store and it’s not like she really needs another toy.

Poor parenting though it was, it did work; she was distracted and I learned my lesson.  I did NOT press the button on the giant Lego Darth Vader display and I deftly navigated around the motion activated skeleton in the Halloween decorations.  But I still feel guilty… two bad mom moments in one trip to Target… not good for the parenting self-esteem.  I just hope Alethea doesn’t have nightmares tonight.  (Oh, and in case you were wondering, Roman won’t be getting a walking/talking Big Foot toy for his birthday, or at least, not from Alethea.)

A Trip to the Fabric Store

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This morning Alethea and I jumped in the car after breakfast and went to meet Peter’s mom (Alethea’s Grandma Denny) at the fabric/craft store.

Our Mission: Pick out fabrics for Alethea’s big girl room quilt

Our Inspiration: This comforter from J.C. Penney

Our Finds: Six fabulous fabrics (three patterns, three solids), two of which are bit shiny (how luxurious!)

Our Bonus: Half a yard of embroidered clearance fabric, perfect to cover a pillow or two

Alethea’s Favorite Parts: Running up and down the aisles of special occasion fabrics (let’s face it, there aren’t many girls who can resist a rainbow of shiny, glittery, gorgeous satins!) and the Halloween toy puppy in the seasonal section who flapped his ears and sang Ghostbusters (she was mesmerized).

So Loved, So Gross

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This is Dee:

Alethea loves Dee.  Alethea also chews on Dee’s nose all the time.  That is why Dee is gross and also why Dee’s nose is a bit flat.  But Alethea doesn’t care, Alethea loves Dee.

Mommy cares.  Mommy doesn’t think the wet washcloth sound of Alethea sucking on Dee’s nose is pleasant.  Mommy also thinks Dee smells bad, even after going through the wash.

But Alethea loves Dee, so Dee stays.  And Mommy prays Alethea doesn’t get some terrible infection from constantly sucking on a damp stuffed puppy’s nose.

Alethea’s Big Girl Room Idea Board

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Here’s the current state of my continually evolving idea board for Alethea’s big girl room:


I was originally calling the room style ‘Moroccan Princess’, but then I realized that any true Moroccan Princess would have hand-carved teak furniture or some such thing and since my budget is way more Craigslist than hand-carved teak, I’ve shifted a bit and now I’m calling it ‘Shabby Moroccan Princess’.  I’d like to use jewel tones and slightly exotic patterns in the fabrics, but we’re definitely going to end up with some distressed painted pieces as well as some floral elements, which goes more toward the Shabby Chic look (but without the white painted furniture).

The find I’m most excited about is the lamp, with its chunky acrylic jewels, which I know I would have LOVED as a young girl.  As my sister put it, “Yeah, when I was about six I probably would only have stopped short at murder to own that lamp.”

I also adore the chair, but since the actual retail price of that particular chair is $899, I’ll be looking for something similar with a smaller price tag and may end up with something that looks nothing like it when all is said and done.  But hey, a girl can dream, right?

How to Pick a Name

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When we were trying to pick a name for Alethea, I devised a method of ruling out names so that Peter and I didn’t have to go around in circles.  I would propose a category and he would deem it “In” or “Out”.

“Out” categories when we were working on picking Alethea’s name included:

Cities/States/Countries – so no London, Georgia, Jordan

French Names – Isabella, Gabriella (which I love, by the way)

Gem Stones – Ruby, Jade, Topaz

Fruits/Vegetables – Apple, Pear, Peach

Flowers other than ‘Rose’ – Lily, Peony, Aster

And anything Peter felt falls under the “Stage Names of Adult Entertainers” category, which he seems to think is rather broader than I do, but I had to agree that we didn’t want our daughter’s name to sound like a stripper.

Now that we are expecting another girl, I went back and checked with Peter and the same categories are still “out”.  So now I need some new categories to work with.  Luckily though, I overheard a conversation yesterday that may help me greatly.  I was at the doctor’s office for my check-up and a woman was in the waiting room with a little girl about Alethea’s age.  One of the nurses came out and saw them and said “Oh hi [insert name], is this your baby?” To which the woman responded, “Yes, this is Indigo.”

COLORS!  There have got to be about a gazillion options there.  Obviously there are your basic ROYGBIV colors, but thinking beyond that we get to such amazing names as Cerulean, Periwinkle and my personal favorite Burnt Umber.  I would of course also suggest Aquamarine, but as that probably falls under both the Gem Stones and Adult Entertainment categories, I think it’s already out.

Just for fun, leave me a comment letting me know what color you would pick if you had to name a kid after a Crayola Crayon.  I need options!

Enjoying a Freshly Painted Room

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Two coats of the perfect shade of gray paint went up on the walls of Alethea’s big girl room this weekend.  I absolutely love the color!  I think it looks so fresh now, but don’t take my word for it.  Here’s the before, just as a reminder:

And here is the room as of this morning:

Alethea really likes the storage cubes I got at Target (my first furniture purchase for the room).  They make a good bench:

Did you notice what she’s playing with?  Her favorite things – ‘Dee’ the puppy and random items from the kitchen cupboard.  She hardly notices her toys anymore.

Who knew a Nesquik container could look so cute…

Growth Spurt

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I think Alethea might be going through a growth spurt.  The recent symptoms:

1) Increased appetite – last night’s penne with meat sauce went into the mouth by handfuls

2) Increased need for sleep – 3 hour naps are the new standard

3) Increased irritability levels – despite the extra food and sleep we’ve got one cranky kid!

Although I suddenly need to adjust portion sizes at meal times and have a big job keeping her entertained during the day, I’m hoping these symptoms are indeed a growth spurt in progress since she is still wearing all of her 12 month pants – pants she’s been able to fit into for almost a year now!  I think she’s about due for a good spurt.

On the down side though, lots of food + crankiness = multiple poopy diaper changes on an uncooperative child every day.

Measure Twice… Buy a Dresser Once

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Today I went back and checked my measurements on the wall where Alethea’s dresser is supposed to go, hoping maybe I had an inch or two more than I thought.  Turns out I did measure wrong… I don’t have 27 inches, I have 25.  Sigh…

So rather than try to find a dresser that would work with such tiny space, I decided to move our 24 inch dresser out of the nursery into Alethea’s big girl room.  I hate to do it, it’s so cute in the nursery, but I figured it would be easier to find a new dresser for that more flexible space than another dresser smaller than 25 inches.

And sure enough, just a few hours after I made that decision, this dresser turned up on Craigslist:

We picked it up tonight and it’s way cuter in person.  The older gentleman who sold it to us was super nice and seemed happy that his wife’s childhood dresser was going to a ‘good home’.  And bonus, it’s actually more teal than green, so I think I may be able to stick it straight into the nursery with only a change of knobs.  Woo hoo!