Blue

I should have listened to my husband more carefully when he warned that my self-imposed 30-day blog challenge would only cause me more stress.  I missed Sunday's post because I got caught up in finishing our taxes, heading to bed much later than I should have, but in a great mood at my accomplishment.  Yesterday, after a full-day of work, making dinner, hosting our Lenten discussion group, and catching up on the latest episode of our favorite show (Once Upon a Time), I was exhausted and ready for bed, but suddenly feeling very blue that I "hadn't accomplished anything for the day."  In retrospect, clearly that wasn't true, but you should all be warned that my brain malfunctions after 10 pm.  Wanting to give in to my own goals of writing everyday, as well as the "cough, cough" comments on facebook about my delinquency, I decided that we should quickly take a baby bump update picture and stick it up on the blog.

Naturally, it took me 10 minutes to find the camera that had been right next to me the entire time, and my bad mood was declining as the clock ticked further past bedtime.  We have two pictures (neither of which will be posted on the internet) - the first of me crying (due to exhaustion, at the time I thought it was because I had to write on the blog), and the second laughing at Justin's joke.  The second one might have made it to the blog, had seeing the less-than-flattering angle not sent me back into tears.  I gave up at that point, as you have probably deduced from the ongoing blog silence.

Revisited the bump photo shoot this evening - had bad luck getting all of me to look good in one shot, so Justin suggested the belly-only approach.  Don't worry, Mom, my dress isn't actually that tight - just holding it in for effect!

Like usual, I woke up happy, all nighttime stress magically erased.  After a productive day at work (and a delicious seafood salad sub, as per the baby's nagging request), I'm feeling much better about things in general. Seriously, the number one predictor of my happiness (aside from, perhaps, time of day) is my sense of accomplishment for the day.  I think this has some very good points and some very bad points...but I figure that at least recognizing this is an important for now.

All of that was clearly more than I needed to write - but daily posts mean the blog turns a bit more journal-esque.  And, since it's before 10 pm, I can laugh at myself and my many imperfections - and thank God for His wisdom in giving me a patient husband!

On to something much happier - but still related to being "blue!"  I naturally have been thinking about lots of ideas for decorating the baby's nursery.  I'll be moving my sewing table into a corner in our bedroom, and the sewing room will become the nursery.  Since the walls are already pink, that's the natural launching point for girl decor (and, according to Justin, a guarantee based on Murphy's law that it will be a boy).  I have some ideas for female decor, but my ideas aren't quite as developed as my baby boy ideas (very ironic, of course, since I'm nearly convinced - through a strange, unexplained "sense" - that I'm carrying a girl).

This weekend, I had the chance to visit the fabulous Hobby Lobby, and this fabric jumped off the shelf at me:

Even though I'm holding off on baby purchases until we know the gender (in just 13 days, yay!!), I had to buy several yards of this fabric.  It is such a perfect match for my vision of the potential boy nursery that I didn't want to pass it up and later have to go searching.  

I envision the walls painted a nice tan, with accent colors matching all the dots in this fabric - chocolate brown, honey yellow, pumpkin orange, deep red, cornflower blue, and celery green.  I'm not a fan of nurseries that have extensive themes or are elaborately baby-like.  True to my general decor taste, I like simplicity - coordination, certainly - but not too much matching or cutesy things.  Rest assured, I definitely want the nursery to be warm and welcoming for an infant - I don't like modern nurseries that look like adult rooms, either - but you won't be seeing any Pooh Bear wall decals.

One of my latest and greatest ideas (at least in my opinion) is to make an appliqued alphabet wall-hanging/quilt.  I am planning to make one, regardless of gender, but am waiting to find out if it will be in my pink-mint green color scheme or in the aforementioned polka dot colors.  On Sunday, I got so excited for the idea that I made a practice design - of course coordinating with the new fabric - but I'm waiting until after the 16th to start working on the real deal.

Here's the sneak peak:

I may be coming back with requests for help - I have yet to think of anything that I can draw that starts with the letter "Z"!  Please share ideas!  (Both for alphabet quilts and for late night mood-management ;) )  Oh, and baby-gender guesses are welcome, too (either here as comments or on facebook in my poll!)