When I was pregnant with my son I decided not to do a baby blue nursery. I’m just not a fan of the traditional baby colors for either sex. We opted for a soothing pale green and complimented it with an animal crib bedding set.

Our dear friend Kevin came over to help my husband paint the vertical stripes on the wall — alternating shades of green in a 5 inch and 8 inch pattern around the room. They even painted the ceiling the palest of the green palette. Kevin died just over a year ago and I can’t look at this room without thinking about him. Several months ago we began planning the birth of a baby girl and had to start thinking about the nursery and how to decorate it. Painting over it was not an option.

Three years later, I still love the room. We decided to keep the green for a girl. I chose crib bedding that continued the same shade of green and complimented it with a wonderful deep magenta and soothing ivory shades: flowers and butterflies complete the picture.

Here’s what we did:

BEFORE (above)

On the left is the tie back I made for my son’s room. I kept the curtains and made a new tie back with a butterfly on it (right) for my daughter’s room.

I simply swapped out bedding for something more feminine, keeping in mind the green color in which it needed to coordinate.

I purchased huge butterflies and used a staple gun to attach them to the walls instead of hanging them from the ceiling. I love the affect they have and how they bring more color on the walls.

All in all, I am really pleased with the transformation of the room. I even think that if I hadn’t had the walls already painted, I would want to do the room just like this anyway.

I’ve been experimenting with some photography lately (barely any time for it, but I’ve managed two ten-minute shoots in the past three days so that’s progress). Here’s a bougainvillea plant that’s in my front yard. All of the blooms were killed in a freeze we had a few months ago. We thought the plant had died, but it has resurrected itself and these are some of the fresh blooms. I used parts of this photo for the header this month.

We made it. My newborn daughter is 8 weeks old. As many of you know, this is the pivotal point when your child is able to go out and about with less worry. If she gets a fever it’s 104, not 100.4 that you look for. Big difference.

If she gets a fever it no longer means an automatic trip to the emergency room for a full workup (including spinal tap.) Whew!

*sigh*

My shoulders are relaxing as I think about this milestone. This means I can worry a tad less.

About four weeks ago, when my baby was only 4 weeks old, she had a temperature of 99.3. This started to scare me. What did she have? Why did she feel hot? Would her temperature turn into a fever?

We called the pediatrician’s triage after hours number to find out what to do? We were reminded that if the temperature spikes to 100.4 to take her to the emergency room. My body tensed as we took her temperature and continued to monitor her throughout the weekend, hoping and praying that her temperature wouldn’t get any higher. I didn’t want to end up in the ER having to stand by while the doctors poked and prodded my precious little angel. Luckily, her temperature never got higher than 99.3.

So, now that she’s had her shots and made it to the comfort zone of “regular baby” vs. “newborn, can’t go anywhere, baby” I can relax … now I just need to keep the swine flu away from my family!