Mural Finished!

So, I finished the mural today and really think it turned out pretty good! The leaves are a bit on the light side but I think they might be ok. If I am not satisfied over the next few days I might go and get a darker green to go over them with. We will keep you posted on that. Anyways, without further a due here is the finished product!

I'm very proud of how this turned out. It has been so long since I have attempted anything so creative.. So, for all you out there that might want to try this in the future let me give you a play by play on how we accomplished it.

1. Find/draw something that you want to use as your mural on a piece paper. You can find something on the internet and print it out, free hand something on paper (if you are that good you might be beyond what I am explaining here), or use a computer program like Adobe Illustrator.
2. Take that piece of paper and draw grid lines both horizontally and vertically to give you manageable areas on the wall that you can draw out. I did mine in 1 inch x 1 inch sections which corresponded to 1 foot x 1 foot sections on the wall.
3. Next draw out you grid lines on the wall that correspond to the sheet with your sample picture/drawing from step 1. I used a 4 foot level to help me draw the grid on the wall.
4. Get what you need to draw/paint/etc.. I purchased 4 different paints, 2 from the art store in the acrylic paint section and 2 from Home Depot (play with the sheen a little if you want to provide more depth, I used a shinier paint for the leaves). I also got some pencils and small paint containers so it would be easier to manage on a ladder. I also purchase flat tip brushes to help with the precision I need to achieve in order to stay in the lines of my mural.
5. Draw out you mural with a pencil. Do one squarer at a time to keep the job manageable.
6. Paint! Advice: Use the right brush for the job! if you need to paint something small use a small brush and if you need to paint something big (like the trunk of a tree) use a bigger brush!
7. Touch up. You might need to go back and touch up from erasing grid lines or going outside the lines of your mural. This will make the whole mural look that much better.
8. Your Done! Enjoy!

The Mural part 2

So we have started to paint the mural in the Nursery. So far so good! I picked up a few supplies like a 4 foot level, pencil, paint (acrylic from the art store and interior paint from Home Depot). The I started by drawing a grid on the wall, 1' by 1', to help with drawing out the picture. After I was finished drawing out the picture I started to paint the monkey:

The monkey turned out really good as you can see! Next we started working on the tree, which due to the intricacies associated with all the tips of the branches and the fact that due to the paint on the wall we had to do at least two coats, this took a considerable amount of time. In the end though I think it turned out really good!

We have the leaves and some touch up wall paint to get rid of the grid lines but then we will be done! I will keep you posted!

Update to Nursery Mural

So I think I have decided to attempt a mural on my own with out a stencil. Here is a picture of what I am going to do. I put it on a back ground color that is similar to that of the nursery. Let me know what you think:

I found this website that explains how to successfully accomplish this task. So, here goes nothing! I will post a pic when it's done. We hope to do it this weekend! By the way, we have another OB appointment tomorrow, so we will let you all know how it goes!

Diaper Genie: Check!

We went to the Baby Superstore (aka Babys-R-Us) and got a few things to spruce up the nursery on Sunday. We went with the thought that we would get the dresser ordered and maybe the Diaper Genie and a few other misc items. Well, that didn't happen! We ended up getting just about everything we needed to decorate the room and a few other random items. We left with a new crib set and matching clock, light switch plate, hamper, mobile, valence, changing pad cover, and something else that I am forgetting I am sure. We also got a bath, changing pad, and some other misc things. Here is a quick picture of the nursery so far.

As you can see by the letters on the shelf above the crib we have settled on a name, Ethan Vincent Lake!  We have also decided to do a mural on the wall to the right of the crib of a tree with a boy hanging from a branch. Here is an example of what we want to do! As you can see I think the Monkey theme is working nicely! Let us know what you think or if there is anything you think might look nice as well!

Pediatric Care for Our Baby Class

So, we went to our first baby class at the Hospital we plan on delivering at. When we arrived we were given a pamphlet with info on the Pediatric practice of the doctor that was running the class that night. We also got a book, Baby 411, which turned out to worth the $15 fee for the class. In all the class only took up about 1 hour of the 1 and a half allocated, but was over all fairly informative. There is something nice about having some face to face time with a Physician so that you can ask all the questions that might be looming in the back of your mind. The doctor talked a little about what to expect from your Pediatrician and time lines for when things will be happening like shots and when the umbilical cord falls off. She also discussed what shots we should be getting for the baby and the ones the recommend and she also went into depth on the differences between vaccinations now and ones many years ago and how they are much safer now due to the fact that there are a lot less live viruses now then before in the vaccine. We think over all it was a good question/answer session but hope that they have a little more structure in the next few classes to come.

Here are some other things that we thought was good to know:
1. Check our insurance to see what the cover for the baby's first year (shots, etc)
2. The peak of the baby's crying should come at 6-8 weeks of life.
3. If the baby is crying inconsolably then check his temperature and if it is at or above 100.4 degrees call the Doctor.
4. Recommend house Temperature is 69-72 degrees.
5. Nothing should be in the basinet with the baby (to help prevent SIDS). If we feel the baby is cold layer clothes or use a velcro swaddling blanket.
6. Start doing "Tummy Time" right away.
7. We got the IL poison control number (1-800-222-1222)
8. Don't use a walker because they aren't safe. Try and give the baby as much time on the floor as possible which will help with development.
9. The baby can be sick up to 1 month combined in his first year of life (He is building his immune system)
10. Get Saline and one of those blue bulb suction things to help with baby's congestion.
11. bare minimum 1 urine every 8 hours (less then that there might be a problem)
12. Use a rectal thermometer for the first 4 months of live because ear thermometer doesn't get a good seal until 4-6 months.
13. Safe to travel after 2 months (recommended)

Update on the naming front: We are pretty close to deciding on this and think that it might end up being the first name we considered, Ethan. It just sounds so right! Anyway, I was thinking about using my Fathers middle name for our baby's middle name, Vincent. What does everyone think of Ethan Vincent Lake?

Another Doctors Appointment

Ok, I guess we are in full gear here with the doctors appointments and are now going every 2 weeks. This last one on Monday was with another of the 4 doctors that comprise the practice our primary OB works at. It is nice that they have that arrangement and that we can meet all the doctors that possibly will be delivering our baby. Everything went well with the visit, the doctor answered some questions we had like when should we feel the baby's kicks and jabs from the outside (this month) and what the next steps are going to be with the pregnancy. We also found out that our OB, Dr. King is only working part time with the practice now because her husband got and moved to a job in St. Louis.. Who intentionally moves to St. Louis? Anyway, so now our Doctor of choice will most likely not be the one to deliver our baby (very upsetting). On another note we have another appointment in 2 weeks where Fatima will have to do the 1-hour glucose challenge where she will have her glucose levels check to see if she has Gestational Diabetes. I guess that it is not uncommon for a pregnant women to get this during pregnancy. We will see what the results tell us, hopefully we are in the clear on this front.

Yesterday we received a package from soon to be Grandparents Wesley. They sent us a bunch of bedding and baby boy cloths, they also sent us the bedding set complete with a mobile for the crib. Thanks a lot grandma! We took some pictures and I will post them in the next few days. Fatima also got a nice onuses with teddy bears on it from her boss at work, thanks Diane!

On the name front, here are a few more that I was looking at: Conlon, Aden, Jude, and Mason.

Names!?...

We know that we are having a boy, so now comes the part of this adventure when we get to pick out a name. I was looking at some lists on a few websites and who knew there were so many names out there to choose from! When I was looking I kinda narrowed it don't to a few that I thought were somewhat unique and one specifically that I thought had a nice ring, Ethan. Then, I was looking some more a few minutes ago and found this site which is cool, but I thought Ethan was a fiarly unique name (not common or that popular). Guess I was wrong.. I find this list amuzing because I know a few people that had babies recently that named their kids names on this list. Going a little further I found that putting in the year I was born put my name (Robert) as 8th most popular name in 1978. I feel like I owe it to my kid to give him a name that is a little more unique than 3rd most popular in 2008 but not so out there that he has to pronounce his name for every teacher on the first day of class or face mockery every day on the playground for his entire life. So, I continue to look and run them by Fatima until something sticks out as the one. Other people have told me that I should make a list of 10 or so and then wait to birth and that something would kinda stick out to me once I get to see my son and hold him in my arms. I guess that makes sense and if I can hold off my internal instinct to constantly prepare I might give that a go! As the next few months go by I am sure Fatima and I will compile a list and post them on the site to get some feedback from all of you out there. In the mean time, any ideas for names would be apprecitaed and who knows they may make it onto our short list! How about this, if we pick the name someone posted on this blog we will send that person a $25 gift card to the resturant/retail outlet of their choice! Hows that for incentive? Ethan is already officially on the list so that doesn't count!