Planning for that special event—the birth of your baby! It’s such an exciting time filled with hopes and dreams. You spend hours on Pinterest, looking at magazines or googling nursery trends. Planning your baby’s nursery can be an overwhelming task. I mean you are at a time in your life when deciding what to wear can make you cry.. and now you are designing an entire room. There are so many themes to choose from –southwest, woodland, elephants and giraffes, little man caves, princesses and unicorns. There’s the crib, the sheets, the changing table and a rocker. You need to plan for storage and room to grow.
But remember, it’s all about you and your baby. You will spend hours in this space--- changing diapers, changing clothes, rocking baby to sleep… and sometimes if you take a moment ---you will find yourself simply in a state of wonder at this tiny little creature who is the center of your world.
In the last year, I started Teepees by Lindsay’s Loft to help you in the process. I’ve created some beautiful teepees for nurseries and kids rooms and some adorable wall banners to go with them. It is such a joy to meet parents-to-be, new parents and grandparents.
I had my Mother to help me with my first nursery and believe me, grandmothers will do anything for their grandbabies. (Great customers--wink, wink!)
When I was expecting my first child, my husband and I decided not to find out what we were having, so I needed a neutral nursery. I went with teddy bears and balloons. Of course my Mother made the crib accessories with matching bedding and blankets and I cross-stitched matching pillows.
I took on the challenge of painting a mural on the walls and more bears on the cedar chest. Everything had to match, don’t you see! I mean, really, I was raised in the South and that’s what we do!
This was several years ago—haha-- and painting is not my strong suit. So I borrowed an overhead projector (some of you may have to google that) from a local community college and every afternoon after work I donned my red snap up moo-moo and I painted for weeks.
Girl, there is nothing like a snap up moo moo when you are eight months pregnant!
I placed a sweet little teddy bear in the crib—it was in a praying position—and day after day I prayed for the health and safety of my unborn child.
Twenty-four years later—I still have that bear in Lindsay’s closet. I look at it and smile… and I thank God for the miracle that she is—the pure joy and unconditional love she brings to our lives every day. You see, my girl has special needs.
I want to share one more thing with you….
Welcome to Holland by Emily Perl Kingsley
“I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very, very significant loss.
But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enjoy this special time in your life and celebrate that little one each and every day…and may God bless you and your child on whatever journey He has planned!
Brenda