Goodnight, Sweetheart

I'm linking this post up with Kelly's Korner's SUYL series: Kid's Rooms.

If you've found your way here from that link-up, welcome! I don't usually participate, but I realized that these days with small kids (and tidy bedrooms) are numbered, so I would like to document them here.

First up, we have Jackson's car bedroom. Jackson is 3 1/2 and he has been in this room since his second birthday, when he started climbing out of his crib.

Jackson's bed, bedside table, and window.

 The bedding is from Pottery Barn Kids (Kasey collection) and I love how it looks, love how it feels, hates how it washes. It is so terrible to have in the dryer because it's so big and the first time I washed it, the seams came apart in a few places. It is so soft and Jackson loves it though.

Jackson's monkey chair and bookcase.

This chair was a gift from Jackson's Mimi and the bookshelf was a gift from my parents. This is our little reading corner, and the books are overflowing! Jackson loves books and begs and begs to read them every time we come in his room.

Window, stuffed animals, Cars poster, hamper, dresser.

Jackson's window has one of the most beautiful views in the house - a pond and field behind our property. Unfortunately, it is zoned for commercial development, so the view may be short-lived. However, it is lovely for now. The navy bucket is one of two we picked up to store Jackson's stuffed animals (he has a BUNCH), but the other one is being used downstairs right now. I love the movie poster because if Jackson's interests ever change, we can just swap it out for a new one. The dresser is great, roomy drawers and the mirror will be great as he gets older. The piggy bank is from Steven's co-workers in the Navy. They gave it to us, still in the box, right before Jackson was born. We thought it was precious, but might be easily broken, so we kept it in the box and stored it until a few weeks ago. Jackson has been very interested in coins lately, so I thought he might want a place to store them. I pulled this out and when I looked inside, there was $75 and 2000 yen (about $20) inside! I could not believe we had missed it for so long! We split the money between Jackson and Brenna and deposited it into their bank accounts (well, except the yen, we figured that would be cool for him to hold on to). The turquoise and tan thing to the right of it is a car that Steven and Jackson built together on this father's day. It is so special to Jackson and he often takes it to bed with him and tells me that Daddy made it for him.

"For this child, I have prayed" -1 Samuel 1:27

I bought this cross for Jackson when he was a baby and he has been in 3 bedrooms since then. We first had this cross in the apartment where we lived while we looked for a house, then in the nursery, and finally in his "big boy" room. In all, Jackson has had 4 bedroom since he was born - 5 if you count the few weeks we stayed at my parents' house. Poor kiddo! He has been in this bedroom the longest and as far back as he can remember, so I think he is very secure in it being "his." I love the cross and I love the verse. I know that one day it will be too "babyish" for him, but until then, it will hang over the light switch, just like it has in his two previous rooms.

Bed and classic car picture.

One more view of the bed - I searched and searched for a bed and was so happy to find this one. The bedding was the easy part - I am always on PBK, I am so obsessed with bedding. I bought new bedding each year I was at college (I know, so crazy). I still have it all too - no twin beds in our house, but we have (X-Long) twin bedding - haha!

The view from Jackson's bed

This is what my sweet son sees when he wakes up each morning. The door on the left is the kids' bathroom, and if you were to turn left, that's our upstairs family room. Past the bathroom are the stairs down to the kitchen and living room. The far doorway is our guest bedroom, which is across from Brenna's room, which you can see below. If you were to walk back to Jackson's room from Brenna's room, you would pass the hallway that leads to our master bedroom. His door really is in the center of everything, which is probably just how he likes it.

Brenna's window, reading area, hamper, and crib.

Here is Brenna's room! You can see her changing table in the bottom left corner. I love her nursery so much. We got the bedding from (shocker) Pottery Barn Kids. It's the pink and green version of the Penelope bedding. I was really happy to be able to pick what items I wanted rather than buying a package that included things I never used with Jackson like a diaper stacker and valance. Instead, we got 3 sheets, a quilt (which will go on the bed once it converts to toddler bed), and a pillow. The crib is from Babies R Us and is probably my favorite deal ever. I found a floor model on clearance, brought every coupon I had, and used gift cards and ended up paying less than 25% of the original price. Now if only I could manage that each week with my grocery bill...

Brenna's crib, wall decorations, and closet.

Brenna's hamper is not the cute little thing I was searching for, but it is sturdy and fits about one load. I have thought about having it monogrammed to make it prettier, but so far haven't been motivated enough. I had a hamper for Jackson that matched his bedding and it fell apart pretty quickly. I bought two of these at Target for less than I spent on the one matchy-matchy hamper that didn't work for us. The owl canvas is also from Target and fits in perfectly. You can see Brenna's pacis and pink giraffe lovey in the crib, waiting for her to come have a nap. The mobile is from Fisher-Price and was Jackson's before it was Brenna's. It plays a song, nature sounds, or a heart beat and projects images of smiling animals onto the blue canopy or the ceiling once the canopy is removed. If Brenna is cranky, she calms down as soon as she hears this mobile and she has just learned how to press the buttons herself.

The decorations over Brenna's crib

Here is a close-up of the wall decor to the right of Brenna's crib. Much like the cross in Jackson's room, I got a cross for Brenna too, which says "Child of God." I think Steven got the sign above it that says "Precious in His sight!" We spend every Sunday at our church and we want so badly to raise children who love Christ and feel secure in His love for them. We try to model God's love for us in how we treat our children. We want them to be reminded of how precious they are to Him as well as us. I bought the shadowbox at the bottom at one of the zillions of Christmas craft fairs my mom and I shopped last year. The theme (owls) and colors matched Brenna's room so well and it was a unique present for a tiny one on her first Christmas. Even though I found this at a craft fair, she has an Etsy shop too. The quality and attention to detail are incredible and the artist is super nice.

Brenna's sign and bow holder.

Steven bought this sign when we were in the hospital and it has been on her closet ever since we got home. Recently, I added her name and some details about her birth along the sides (weight, length, dr's name, hospital name, etc). I think it's so sweet, but also probably something Brenna will think is "too babyish" one day. I'm going to love it forever though. The thing hanging on the doorknob is the remote for the mobile above.

Bow holder

My mother-in-law ordered this cute bow holder for Brenna for Christmas from this Etsy shop. It coordinates perfectly with her bedding and is so helpful to be able to see all her bows when deciding which one to put with her outfit.

Birdie night light.

This nightlight was a gift from my mom and I just think it's so special and unique. It can detach and become a stand-alone mini-canvas when she's older. I have it in her reading nook, next to her bookcase and Jackson and Brenna are both so interested in it while we read bedtime stories.

Brenna's dollhouse bookcase.

I found this dollhouse bookcase second-hand on a facebook group for only $40. I am so beyond happy with it. Now Brenna can have her books in her room and some nights Jackson, Brenna and I sit down here together and read "Brenna books" together. He is such a sweet big brother and loves spending time with Brenna and showing her toys and books. We won the Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls at a charity auction for the Samarian Inn, which is the only homeless shelter in our county. My sister and I both had Raggedy Ann dolls when we were little and Emily loved her doll so so much, I will always associate Raggedy Ann with our childhood. I hope Brenna loves them as much as we did.

Pom poms and books.

Here is another picture of the book nook, with pom poms overhead. Jackson's sweet Gymboree friends threw a shower for Brenna and me and these were used at the shower. The hostess (my kind friend, Christine) offered them to me and of course I said yes! I love the way they look in the room and Brenna loves to look at them too. 

Changing table, diaper genie, armoire.

Here is the door to Brenna's room, and through it you can see the top of our stairs, which lead down to the main level. These are two of the pieces of Jackson's nursery that we brought back from Japan and used for Brenna. The changing table has great storage, but I wish it were concealed a little bit better. It easily start to look cluttered. The diaper genie is a must. Ours gave out while our in-laws were watching the kids, so my mother-in-law just had to buy a replacement with pink accents - haha! Very thoughtful and not surprising since she was waiting over 30 years to have a girl in the family. We bought the armoire in Japan because we were living in 890 square feet of space and the closets were FULL. This was before I became the major purger I am today. I fell in love with the sweet baskets (with lots and lots of storage space and the little alcove to hang up clothing). This is probably the tidiest it has looked in awhile. We had a matching crib too, but I have never been able to exactly figure out the manufacturer (I could only find this bedroom set for sale in Spain and England - odd), I figured that if there was a recall, it would be very difficult to learn any info about it. Therefore, we felt it was best to replace the crib. On top of the armoire is a collection of bird items: 2 birdhouses, a bird charm, a nest with (faux) bird eggs, and a birdcage. I am going to add a framed picture of Brenna up there to occupy that blank space, and I just picked up a frame this weekend.

So that's it for my kids' rooms. I have so much fun decorating kids' spaces; it really is a chance to just go a little over-the-top and tap into your creativity. I never took pictures of this room when it belonged to Jackson (picture brown and green walls with a brown curtain and a giant giraffe - totally different from how it looks now!) and I really regret that. I'm so glad to have the chance to share our current rooms with our blog friends as well as look back on them in the future. Thanks for checking them out!