Sally's Nursery

Sally's nursery has been a long project. When I was decorating/designing Suzy's nursery I knew exactly what I wanted immediately and had big plans that were executed far before my due date. Sally's has been a bit of a challenge. It took me a while to decide on fabrics that I wanted to use, find a dresser that would fit in the space that I needed to fill, and wall coverings... gracious alive that was just finished over the weekend. There are still a few little things that need to be added, but I will just have to find them as I go.
After I picked my fabrics out and handed them off to SheShe all I had were little swatches to go by when picking out paint colors and accessories. I still carry those swatches around with me. I always have them handy in case I run across something that catches my eye. While SheShe was working on the bedding, I had the nursery painted (two different times, remember). I also started hunting for furniture to use. I wanted Sally's dresser/changing station to be in the closet in order for me to have a twin bed. I was adament about having a twin bed for myself in there. I am a big time "don't let the baby sleep in mama and daddy's bedroom" kind of girl. Suzy slept in her nursery from day one and I really hope the same goes for Sally! I finally found a dresser in the window of a resale store in town. It was a whopping $75. I sanded it down, painted it, and added new knobs. The finished product turned out perfectly. I already had a changing pad holder from Suzy that Papa made for me. He secured it for me, and tada..... brand spanking new changing station!

before

during 

after, minus the changing pad

I made the rookie mistake of buying a white chenile rocker for Suzy, so needless to say I had to have it recovered. Gigi also had a black nightstand that needed some TLC. I repainted it the color of Sally's closet and found some new glass knobs to replace the brass ones that were originally on it.

Lauren had the blanket made for Sally. She did the same for Suzy. They are called Flubbs and they are to die for. That minky dot material is heavenly. Gigi gave me the Peter's Pottery pig for my birthday, but I thought he belonged in Sally's room. I found the lamp at Tuesday Mornings for like thirty bucks. It matches the glass knobs to a T. Kalon's mom, CinCin had an old ottoman that she wasn't using. She recovered it for me using some of the extra fabric I bought for the chair. 

All of the fabrics for the curtains, twin bedskirt, and baby bedding are made by Joel Dewberry. It is from his Bontanique Fabric Collection. The colors are just amazing. They are bright and upbeat without being too overwhelming for a nursery in my opinion.

Sally even has her very own SheShe made quilt to match her bedding! 

The monogram above the crib is what Piper Yount made. This was the gift the hostesses from the shower gave me, remember! 

The closet was the biggest challenge of the nursery project. There was no light in the closet originally. Papa and Scott spent a great portion of a Saturday installing one. The attic space above the closet was extremely tight, so they ran into a few hiccups.... but, our Papa can do anything. The light was installed that day! There was originally two doors to the closet which we removed and the painters patched the trim work. We saved the doors and will add them back when Sally outgrows this set up. I repainted the shelves that were originally in the closet the coral color to match the walls. I found baskets at Marshall's to hide all her little knick knacks and blankets in. Everyone seemed very concerned as to where I would hang her clothes, but don't worry.... We cut the bar that was all the way across the closet into small sections to hang in the opposite corner of the shelves. She will need more hanging space eventually, but for right now it is perfect.

I scored this "honeycomb" light fixture at The Tin Roof Market before they went out of business. It was on sale for 75% off. I almost posted it on Facebook to sell when I couldn't find a use for it when we moved in our new house. I am so glad I hung on to it. It looks perfect in the closet. 

Scott picked up the mirror from Lowes. It is a bathroom vanity mirror, but works perfectly in the space.

I still haven't sanitized bottles and put up all the stuff that will eventually live in the kitchen (bottle brushes, detergent, etc). I am trying to keep a clutter free kitchen as long as possible. All the stuff in the floor beside the dresser will eventually take over my kitchen counters! 

Poor Sally doesn't have quite the wardrobe that Suzy did, but I have tried very hard to be more practical this time. Suzy didn't wear a 1/3 of what I bought for her. Hoping I don't make that same mistake again.... Oh at the money wasted! 

Dresser with changing pad added. 

Kalon and I met Lauren in Batesville over the weekend to cash in the gift certificate that Kimmie gave me for Sally some pottery. I went in just looking for a massive circle piece to hang over the twin bed. I wandered around the store several times, but I couldn't' find anything that I thought would work. I did keep seeing these little paintings that caught my eye because they were the colors of the nursery.... I grabbed a few and started playing around with an arrangement using them and a piece of pottery. I ended up taking them home! I am in love with how it turned out. The paintings are called Gospel Art and the pottery is Peter's, of course.

My coworkers had a diapers, wipes, and gift card shower for me at school. While I was putting all those goodies away, Suzy was practicing on her Baby Alive.

She also decided that she still loves the Nap Nanny and that they should make them in her size! 

All those baby clothes and such were Suzy's.... She is loving having all the wee little things handy again. Her baby dolls are pretty well dressed these days! 

The long project is complete and waiting on Sally Scott to come enjoy it. I love just going in there to sit and look. I am very happy with how everything turned out. I hope Sally loves it as much as I do!

Sally's Day of Showering

My sweet, sweet little group of girlfriends had an adorable shower for me March 13 at Mary and Richie's house. Lauren, Kalon, Mary, and Renee planned and executed everything perfectly. The plan was to keep it simple since Sally is my second girl. Of course, they went above and beyond what I had expected (they always do), but it was absolutely wonderful. I was 35.5 weeks pregnant when they held the shower for me. We did everything a little early this go round due to thinking Sally may surprise us like Suzy did and come earlier than anticipated. My goal was to have everything out of the way at the end of Spring Break. Mission accomplished... the shower was the Sunday before we returned to school from our break.

One of my very favorite things in life are Sara Embrey's petit fours... I may or may not have had a dozen of them for myself. All those little monograms just melted my heart. 

Mary can make a pretty table setting, can't she? 

After eating and socializing for a while we headed into the sunroom for presents! My, oh my, little Miss Sally Scott is set! We got everything from baby toiletries to fine smocked dresses. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful group of friends and family that spoil us rotten.

SheShe (my aunt, Sheila Hartsfield) and I communicate via Facebook Messenger on a very regular basis. We send links back and forth of stuff that we have come across that we love. Lacey slipped up at her baby shower and let SheShe know that we had wish lists full of stuff that we wanted her to attempt when her schedule cleared up. I caved and told her one of the things on my wish list was a baby bonnet. Little did I know that she already had a pattern for one and had already made some bonnets in the past. You see, SheShe is swamped right now due to all my other cousins having babies too. She makes all our baby bedding (yes... she makes every single set for everyone in our family as a gift. I tell ya, she is one impressive lady). When I opened that sweet little blue bag and saw that she had squeezed in some time to make Sally her very own bonnet my heart just filled with joy. Everything that she makes for us is so special to me. She has always been a super special aunt to me. I cry nearly every time I get something from her. They are happy tears, I promise. That sweet little pink bonnet with Sally's monogram..... Gosh, I just love it.

Shocked!

Let the waterworks begin...

As if she had to do anything more than baby bedding, she shocked me with a bonnet AND more little monogrammed goodies. She's too good, I tell ya. 

Kalon's sister Jonna Cain made Sally's door hanger for me.... Sally is sure to have the cutest hospital door at BMH Oxford. 

Teresa carried on the tradition of getting a fancy smocked dress for Sally. She did the same for Suzy. These dresses are to die for. Definitely a picture outfit ;) 

Now this little smocked number is from Linda Till. I like to refer to her as Tillie... She taught me 5th grade math when I was at Senatobia Middle School. She then taught Casey, I believe. Throughout the years we have always kept in touch because her and her hubby followed Casey's racing career and share common interests with our family. I ended up having the privilege of working with her when I transferred to Senatobia Middle. She retired a few years back and broke all our hearts. We still talk and see each other all the time, even if it is at Shell while getting Diet Cokes. Tillie is one of my favorite people on the face of the planet. I love her dearly and respect her to the fullest. She has truly been an inspiration to me. I still have the little dress that she got Suzy, too. I guess you could say, Tillie likes to follow the smocked tradition too! 

This is a gift card from Lauren's mama, Kimmie. It was to purchase Sally's very first piece of pottery! Us Smith girls love Peter's Pottery! 

Becker and the girls got us this wonderful bathtub. Things have changed so much since Suzy was a wee little baby! 

Mrs. Pam Ayers spoiled us big time with a brand new swing!! I see Sally spending lots of time in that bad boy! 

Isn't her monogram just so pretty and fancy looking?! I ordered this from Piper to hang above Sally's crib, but they girls went behind my back and intercepted it :) This was the gift all the hostesses gave me! Piper grabbed the paint that they used in Sally's closet so it would match perfectly. 

Mary, Renee, Lauren, and Kalon.... The greatest hostesses ever! Thank you girls! 

One of my favorite people ever, Molly Flynn! I could listen to this girl talk all day everyday. 

Memaw, Gigi, and Mimi... Memaw was excited about something, wasn't she?! 

My oldest friendship.... Mandy Morgan (Amanda Elizondo, now)... We may not see each other often or talk daily, but my love for her has never stopped. 

Laurie and KK! 

When you see one of us..... You usually see all of us! If it weren't for these girls when Sue was a baby I would have never made it. They were my saving grace when Scott was working out of town! I can't wait to add Sally to our crazy mix! 

I wish I would have done a better job at taking more pictures of all the sweet gifts and friends that were able to come. I am truly so grateful for everything everyone has done for us. We are so blessed. We are ready for Sally to make her appearance so everyone can meet the girl they have already spoiled so badly! Thanks again for everything!

"Ain't No Ham Like Birmingham"

A week or so before Spring Break arrived I talked to Rebecca about taking the kiddos to the lake house for a few days. I figured I probably needed to get Suzy out to do something fun since it would be her last little school break as the only child. I have really tried to do as much with her as possible. Rebecca's kiddos, Samuel and Evie, are some of Suzy's favorite people. They would be the perfect travel company. Of course, we cannot go anywhere without our Laurie. Everyone needs a Laurie in their life. She makes our life so much easier. I promise without her and KK I would be lost! We finally ironed all our plans out after I spoke with a friend of my mine (Lindsey) that lives in Birmingham. She gave me a list of fun things to do with the kiddos. Birmingham is only an hour or so from the lake house, so a quick little day trip is what was on our agenda for that Tuesday.

We got to the lake Monday afternoon. We unloaded the car and the kids headed to the dock immediately. Laurie, Rebecca, and I sat on the bank and just watched them play. The weather was beautiful and the stress of the trip had totally subsided (I had a slight hormonal and exhaustion induced meltdown the previous Sunday). A tremendous weight had been lifted off of me and I was so grateful that we went through with our journey. Tuesday morning we packed the kiddos back up and headed to Birmingham. Samuel kept repeating the quote, "Ain't No Ham Like Birmingham" the whole journey there. I have no clue where that came from, but it has stuck in my head.... I don't know what we would have done without iPads on that trip. They kids were entertained by them and only asked if we were there yet 100 times instead of a 1,000.

Our first stop was The Science Center.....

Evie on the bed of nails.... She looks pretty comfy, doesn't she? 

The bubble station was my favorite thing they had there! The kiddos loved them too!

Suzy has always been a lover of bubbles, so this was right up her alley.

Evie had her heart set on seeing some dinosaurs while we were at the center. I had no idea if there were/were not any there, but we luckily ran across some! Her day was made!! 

Sweet kiddos even got to dig for dinosaur bones! 

After The Science Center, we headed to a popsicle place that Lindsey recommended to us. They make fresh popsicles. The best part of the little place was that if you didn't like the flavor you ordered you got to swap it for another flavor (free of charge)! Suzy ended up with a raspberry. I have no clue what Evie and Samuel ended up with. Suzy's was yummy! I had to finish it for her ;)

The sunshine was too bright for Eves.

She was loving her Steel City Pop!

We ended our day with a quick trip to an awesome park we found. The kids were exhausted on the way home, so we opted for a Chick Fil A dinner before heading back to the lake house. They played the rest of the afternoon while the grown ups recuperated. We headed back home Wednesday morning AFTER having some of Chef Troy's famous pancakes! I swear I have to have pancakes from Talk of the Town every single trip I make to the lake. It wouldn't be a complete trip without them.