Today Peanut and I are celebrating 4 months! We are happy, healthy, and feeling great.
Peanut is the outward picturing of a life-long dream. And similarly, his nursery has been in evolution for nearly 10 years. When I first moved into the house, a room was designated as the future nursery. I put some stuffed toys and my large collection of children’s books into that room. My mom was a school secretary for over 25 years and each year she handled all of the funds and paperwork for school book fairs. Oftentimes, the book representative would give her a discount or free books. So, my mom would give me several new children’s books each year. Some of these I used in my work with children and others were saved for her future grandchildren.
About 7 years ago, I put a daybed in the room for use when my family came to visit. I went into Bed, Bath, and Beyond for a twin size comforter. And high up on a shelf I spotted a bedding set with safari animals – a lion, a giraffe, leopards, and palm trees. I fell in love at once – it was so cute! At this point, my mother began shopping for safari stuffed animals. And she appeared for every visit with something new – elephants, giraffes, zebras, lions and more. So, like very room in my house, my mother has been an integral part of decorating the nursery. Her love and presence is felt in the books and the stuffed safari animals.
When I started looking for safari crib bedding, I was overwhelmed at all of the choices! However, I was able to finally narrow down the option to something called “Safari Dream” – an appropriate name I think. This is a picture from the website:
Last year, when I discovered my love of painting, I painted zebra and giraffe pictures for the nursery.
And today, I created my own original safari painting to match a curtain.
Over the last couple of years, I have brought home from Arkansas other gifts for Peanut from my mom. We have lots of blankets, as well as stuffed animals, baby books, rattles, toys, clothes, and silverware. I am grateful for every item which had been purchased by Grandma April and will be used with her grandson. I know she is here with us in every precious moment.