My little lovebug is sick today, simultaneously breaking my heart and at the same time filling it up with all kinds of snuggles.

While the munchkin sleeps (and before I catch whatever it is she has) I’m catching up on email and also finally getting around to taking some photos of Lucy’s (not-really-new) nursery and putting together a pregnancy update to share with you all.

When Mia turned two (I was 3 months or so pregnant with Lucy), we decided to move Mia out of her crib and into a “big girl” bed in what used to be our guest room.

Moving Mia into a twin bed not only made bedtime WAY easier (seriously if you’re on the fence about making the move – do it!), but it also freed up Mia’s old nursery, which is the smallest room in the house, to be used for baby #2.

Unlike Mia’s nursery, which was painted, decorated and fully stocked by the time I was 6 months pregnant – Lucy’s nursery sat empty for the vast majority of my pregnancy until about a week ago when the nesting instinct kicked in and I went to work on setting it up.

Since the budget for redecorating the room was right around zero dollars, I had to get crafty about how to add character (and style) to the small room. Luckily, we already had all the basics – a crib, glider, changing table, baby blankets, books, and about 10 trillion stuffed animals. I was able to score a second diaper pail for free on a community yard sale site, and picked up some basic white shelves at Ikea for $6 each. Then I turned our entire house upside down searching for pieces of art or decor that I could use to spruce up the neutral gray walls.

I also did two art projects – which as many of you know, is very out of character for me. The first was picking up a couple of canvases at the craft store and asking Mia to paint them. Mia absolutely LOVES painting so she was eager to help. I’ve learned from previous toddler painting projects, though, that if you offer all the colors every painting ends up brown. So in an effort to create an aesthetically pleasing painting without taking away Mia’s creative freedom, I limited her to three colors – yellow, green and blue.

She surprised even me with her creativity and different methods of painting (stippling, bush strokes and layering), and created a beautiful little “gallery piece” that I hung above the nursery glider. I later added Lucy’s name in gold stick-on letters, which I’m not sure enhanced it at all, but I was eager to try out the stickers. Total cost = $7.

The second art project was an attempt to save money on an Etsy design I’d been coveting for months. I saw this beautiful floral wall letter on Pinterest before I even got pregnant with Lucy – and I knew I needed it for a future nursery. At $42 dollars plus shipping, however, it was sufficiently outside of my redecorating budget so I decided to attempt a recreation on my own.

I bought a $4 wooden letter “L” at the craft store, and dug up some old silk flowers I had hidden in a box that were leftover from a project I did for our wedding 4 years ago. While the final product definitely wasn’t as beautiful as the professional version (probably something to do with my limited silk flower selection and poor glue gun skills), it came out nice enough, and looks pretty up on the wall in the nursery.

Other pieces I added to the room were some of my very favorite childhood books, another one of Mia’s paintings (framed this time) and some SollyBaby Wraps (one for me, and a dolly wrap for Mia) that have such beautiful packaging they could literally be decor in addition to amazing baby wraps. Thank you so much to my incredibly generous coworkers who showered me with both these beautiful wraps and so much love and support over the last 9 months!

Now all that’s left is to add a super stinkin’ cute little munchkin – oh and maybe this GORGEOUS BabyJives cloud mobile that I have been fighting with myself for weeks over. “Too expensive. But SO pretty. Not a necessity. But Lucy will love it….etc.”

Who do you think will win…practical Hannah or pregnant Hannah?

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How far along? 37 weeks

Total weight gain: 27 pounds
Maternity clothes? Anything drape-y
Sleep: aside from getting up every few hours to pee, sleep is actually not so bad. Which is kind of cruel because it just reminds me that I won’t be sleeping this well for at least another 2 years.
Best moment this week: celebrating baby Lucy with a bunch of my amazing coworkers – oh and watching Mia chase her friend Mason around our living room demanding a kiss before he left. Girl knows what she wants!
Miss Anything? being able to pick things up off the floor. 
Movement: still lots of rockin’ and rollin’ in there.
Food cravings: not really – I think baby is taking up so much room my stomach doesn’t ever really feel hungry.
Anything making you queasy or sick: my pathological fear of catching the stomach bug.
Labor Signs: 2cm dilated as of 36 weeks. Lots of Braxton Hicks contractions. Dan thinks this means Lucy is READY but I know better this time. I’m sure she’ll come late, just like her sister.
Symptoms: all of them.
Belly Button in or out? way the f%^& out.
Wedding rings on or off? Still on!
Happy or Moody most of the time: pretty happy up until the little munchkin just puked everywhere, and now I’m legit terrified of catching whatever she has…
Looking forward to: A dinner date with Dan at Hugos on Saturday – yum!