Getting the nursery ready

There are some different schools of thought about when to get the nursery ready, whether you're Jewish or not. We are somewhat superstitious folks (I have a lucky pair of Illini gameday undies), so holding off on the nursery made sense to us.

However, I am also a crazy-insane planner, so waiting until after the birth of the baby wasn't really an option. Therefore, we waited as long as we could, and last weekend we finally did some moving, shuffling, painting, and decal-ing.

Thanks to the help of our lovely friends Angela, Julie, Jon, Melissa and Michael (despite being only 7 months old the cuteness factor came in handy to raise spirits), we were able to get the amazing decal you see pictured here up on the wall.

In my mind, all we had to do was peel and stick. I swear I looked at the instructions previously, but I will chalk my idiocy up to baby brain because when I looked at the instructions again on Saturday afternoon I realized I had to do some cutting.

Unfortunately, I only cut about 1/10th of the images out because I didn't unroll the whole "canvas." Oopsies. That meant that a lot of time was spent cutting when it could've been spent snacking and watching the Final Four...

Before we got started, there was a lengthy discussion about where all the furniture should go. We have not ordered the crib or glider yet (superstitious I tell you), but we do have a dresser, a bookshelf, a nightstand and masking tape! We organized the room thanks to the help of our new-parent friends, and then we were able to get started.

Many hours and cookies later, the decal is up and we are ready to roll! I must say, I really love it. There was a slight meltdown last week when it came to the color of paint on the wall, because Jeff thought we should go lighter while I was scared that the tree wouldn't show up. The final decision was to paint two walls light blue and two walls dark (the dark is above). By golly it worked! The two-toned room looks great, and I'm in love with that blue and the tree is so perfect.

It's bright and airy, as well as adorable. There were a lot more leaves and some were supposed to fall off the tree, but we decided that this is a spring tree and so all leaves will remain in tact thank you very much. And it's perfect!

Thanks again to our friends who helped make the tree happen! Next stop, maybe we'll order that crib?