"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse...

... "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."  ~ Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit

This is our theme for Caroline's Nursery.  I love The Velveteen Rabbit.  It is one of my favorite childhood stories and I told BJ that when we had a baby, I wanted that to be the theme of his/her room.  So the day after we found out I was pregnant, I came home and BJ said, "There's a present for you on the table."  And I looked in the Barnes & Noble bag and there is was--a copy of the original text and art work from The Velveteen Rabbit.

"So you can plan the room,"  BJ said.

So we started with the paint--I knew I wanted the predominant color to be green (because we weren't finding out, remember?)...I picked out  a fantastic Kappa Delta green & white and had the room painted 1st:

Then, BJ & I went and picked out the furniture! :)  That was an adventure.  We'd been looking at lots of cribs and different things and then we went to this really expensive baby store off of Jimmy Carter.  We knew when we walked in that we wouldn't be able to afford what they had.  But then...we saw that they were having a floor sale...and we could afford it.  After picking out what we liked, we decided to go to a few more stores.  At the next store we went to, BJ looked at me and said, "I'd feel like a bad parent if I got a crib like this--all wobbly and unstable--and not the solid wood crib."  So we went straight back to the store off Jimmy Carter and got Caroline's furniture.  

BJ had to put the crib together, see:

and it works & everything!!!  After all that crib putting-together, BJ needed a break! :)

Once we found out she was a girl, we started buying "girly clothes" (BJ bought her first dress!) and made a name plate for her room...We were actually pretty excited about how her name art came out--first, it is PEACH (NOT PINK...I am not a huge fan of pink & purple) but most important, we worked on it, making it super cute!!

Then, Mimi & Aunt Leigh brought up the bedding that I ordered (before I knew it was a girl) from Savannah...and I was SUPER excited because I designed it myself and it was PERFECT for our Velveteen Rabbit nursery.

Then, Jordan, one of my students from SFHS, came to pain the mural--and it only took a few hours! :)

see?  Caroline Leigh Waddell -- her initials are carved in the tree!

and the final product looked FANTASTIC!!!! :)

It's so funny, because I catch BJ going into Caroline's room and just staring...and I laugh (and sometimes, make fun of him) but guess what?  I do it, too.  Now that I am home all day, I definitely go into her room and just sit and look at the walls and think about what it will be like when she gets here!!!