Cole's Room: Tour

Cole's room is finally in a place where I can call it "done-for-now" so I suppose it is time for a tour.

This is the view from the door. Our glider came in last week and after just a night I decided an ottoman was must. I found a golden-yellow one at the Worlds Away Outlet that matches her crib skirt perfectly. Erin gave me the pom-poms she made for my shower and I made a few more to cluster in the corner. Cole likes to look at the pom-pom bunch while on the changing tray so I call them decorative and practical. 

Over Cole's crib I put together a small gallery wall with her initials, small paintings, ceramic pieces and photographs. (Yes, her crib is pulled a few inches away from the wall to prevent injury in the event something were to fall.) She was given a darling elephant mobile by our kind friends, the Days, which Peter hung from the ceiling. The window treatment was a generous, hand-made gift from a skilled decorator in Baltimore. She added black-out lining to the back of the panels which has been very helpful during nap time. I had the crib-skirt made by a local seamstress with fabric I already had on hand. Originally I was going to use the fabric in our room but after changing my mind, it sat purposeless in the closet. Turns out I love the classic stripe in the nursery!

On the wall across from the dresser and to the left of the crib is the shelf we painted. Slowly but surely the shelf is filling up with books and other treasures for Cole. We picked up a beverage tub and two plastic bins from Target to hold her toys.

Overall I'm so pleased with the way Cole's room turned out. While I planned a gender neutral room, after Cole's arrival we added a few feminine touches that made the room decidedly girly. I used lots of items we already had which helped me stay within budget. It's been so fun to see how well everything, old and new, goes together. Cole officially moved out of our room into her own last week and, so far, our little Birdie has registered no complaints! 

Oh, So Fond

In the last few weeks I have found myself increasingly fond of a few things, both new and old. Like showers. I have never liked a shower as much as I do right now, probably because prior to February 18, I could shower anytime I pleased. I'm also loving the Koala Sheet Saver. Yes, I'm doing laundry everyday. And yes, it only saves me from having to wash the crib sheet. But the fact that I don't have to fuss with dressing and undressing the crib mattress daily has made me a fan. More than anything else though, I am so, so fond of my new Kindle. Allow me to explain:

After a month of breastfeeding I found myself desperate for an activity that could be done while nursing that wasn't watching excessive amounts of television. Don't misunderstand, I like TV. It's just that between bed rest and nursing I'm confident I've seen nearly everything I care to. While I am grateful that I can nurse Cole and perhaps have that moment where I feel connected to women throughout history (I'm still waiting), hours upon hours spent providing milk left me feeling more bovine than feminine.

After considerable research,  I finally bit the bullet and bought the e-reader — clearly I am not an early adopter. I'm smitten with my new Kindle! It is easy to use one-handed which is perfect. With any luck, reading while nursing will help me stop feeling like a cow. And grant me a very full 2012 Reading List.

Picture from Amazon.com

The Name Game

It was just a short while after we found out I was expecting that we picked out baby names. We wanted to use a family name and we wanted the name our child would go by to be his/her first name. In honor of my paternal grandfather we picked Walter as our boy name. For our girl name, we decided to use my maternal grandfather's middle name, Colegate. Knowing full well that if we had a girl and named her Colegate we'd call her Cole, we opted to shorten the name so she wouldn't have to spend the first day of school every year correcting her teachers.

With first names pick out,  it was time to come up with middle names. For our boy name, we considered the names of the Slaton men ultimately deciding on Peter's father's name, Phillip. It was relatively quickly decided that our boy name would be Walter Phillip.  Sidenote: I can't say whether or not we'll use Walter Phillip down the road. We won't keep the unused boy name in reserve since Walter and Phillip are both family names. The names should be available for any child-bearing family member to use.

Our girl middle name took a bit more time. We considered names from both sides of our family but failed to find a name that flowed well with Cole. It didn't take long to realize we wanted an über-feminine middle name to balance Cole. Peter and I started to generate lists of names we found to be "very girly." While we considered a few names pretty seriously, we ultimately decided to use the name Annabel. Unlike our other names, Annabel can be spelled several different ways. Conveniently, one of my dearest friend's middle name is Annabel, spelled A-n-n-a-b-e-l-l-e, so we chose to use her spelling of Annabelle for the girl middle name. Thus, the name Cole Annabelle was born.

Since Cole's arrival there has been a tiny bit of confusion as to what we are calling her. I should say for the record, we are calling her Cole. She doesn't have a double name and we're not calling her Annabelle, just Cole. She's already received an inspired nickname from one of her grandfathers, Colibelle, but to us she's Cole... or Miss Cole... or Baby Girl... or Birdie... or Little Miss... Well admittedly she has a few nicknames. We'll have to see if any stick.