January

January obviously started out with the fantabulous wedding and then suddenly life went back to normal - in a way it hadn't been since end of September. At first, I didn't even know what to do with myself, but I quickly clicked into "baby gear" and started nesting.
In the first week after the wedding, I had gone through every drawer, closet, cabinet, and bin in our whole house and organized and de-junked it all. It felt so good. I've never been able to let go of so much in my closet and it was so freeing! I also made a point to make more space for baby stuff throughout the house. I also made categorized and subcategorized to-do lists to complete before the baby comes.
We also spent a Saturday pretty early in the month picking out our stroller/car seat and crib. They were shipped to us and the day they came, we (Brad) went to town putting everything together :)

putting together our Britax Travel System - we love it already!

putting together the crib :)

I also (call me crazy) made the goal to get the nursery finished by January 31st. Give or take a frame or two I did it! I am so thrilled with how it turned out and cannot wait to have a little one to occupy it. The room was kind of tricky because it is also our guest room. It's a really big room with a nook. We turned the nook into the nursery, so it's kind of a "nursery nook". Since it is my parent's basement - there is only so much we can do without completely changing the room. However, my mom is always up for DIY home improvement projects. We captured the vision (via Pinterest) of a plank wall together and I called my trusty "Uncle Marc". We worked together to plan, pick the right wood and the right stain and he did all the hard work. Once they were stained and ready to go, we worked together to put up the wall and I even got to use the nail gun the WHOLE time! I felt so powerful - I want to do more of these kinds of projects!
Unfortunately I didn't take a "before" picture of the wall, but you can kind of see it behind Brad, setting up the crib (above).

progress

me, working the powerful, power tool :)

Also, I had looked high and low, forever for the perfect end table to tie together the straight furniture with the spooled rocking chair. I couldn't find ANYTHING that didn't cost a fortune. So I talked to "Uncle Marc" about it and we began to plan on making my own - with his help, of course. Welp, Marc is the sweetest thing in the world and showed up with the table already made and ready for me to paint. He did an amazingly perfect job and just whipped it up that morning. He truly is amazing and was sweet enough to give it to me as a baby gift. It makes me so happy when I see it and I'm so grateful I have it, for me to have forever :)

The Finished Product:

 

 

 

 

...now all it needs is a darling baby boy to fill up the frames and crib :)