Welcome to Parker's Room

"For this child I prayed and the Lord has granted what I asked of Him" ~ 1 Samuel 1:27.

As most of you know, John and I prayed for a child for a long time. It wasn't an easy journey, but one we walked together with the Lord by our side. In His perfect time, he blessed us with a child and taught us a lot along the way. I say this because I was starting to lose hope that we would ever have a child's room to paint, decorate and prepare. But here we are, just a couple of weeks away from meeting our son and his room is ready and waiting for him.

We might make a few changes and add a couple of things here and there, but these will pictures will give you a good idea of Parker's room. We are having a baby shower this Sunday afternoon so there will be a few additions after that.

Let's begin the tour ~ for your safety, please keep hands and feet inside your car and here we go...

This is the hallway that leads to Parker's room. His room used to be the guest room (you can click here if you want to see pictures of what it looked like). We converted my home office into an office/guest room.

I painted the "P" for the door and the little pillow is from Mamaw (my Mom).
This is the view right when you open the door.

The view from the door back out into the other side of the hallway.

The east wall in his room. Please forgive us, we are already horrible parents. We have nothing for our son to play and interact with. How will this sweet boy be entertained? Oh I kid.

We plan to hang a picture or bulletin board on this wall (above the toy box) along with metal baseball and football hooks, but we are still in search of the perfect piece.

The Little Champ Sports Center (basketball goal with baseball and football games) was a centerpiece at the baby shower in Odessa (thank you GramMomKitty). It is electronic with a few fun learning games. The toy box is a gift from Mamaw & Gramps filled with all sorts of toys. Some of them are gifts we have received, but a few are ones we already had and have been saving or used with our nieces and nephews. There are also several unopened toys in the closet that he'll have to grow into and play with a few months down the road.

To the right of the toy box is his bouncer that matches his swing.

Our rocking and reading corner. This chair is very special because it was my Grandmother's and I remember sitting in it many times at her house. I wanted to be the one to get it when she passed and I was lucky enough to get it. I simply wanted to have it in our home, but now I will get to hold, rock and read to Parker in it. His comforter is laying over the back of the chair if we need a warm blanket for snuggling.

Gramps made this side table several years ago for our guest room to go along with the nautical/lighthouse theme. We really wanted to use it in this room, but the table had oars for legs. Carianne had the brilliant idea of making baseball bat legs the same size as the oar legs and doing a simple swap out. She enlisted the help of her Dad and brother Joe to make these legs for us. Thanks a billion to those Lovell men! John stained them and put them on - they look great and fit the room perfectly. We still have the oar legs if we ever need to put them back on.

A close-up of the top of the table. His lamp, piggy bank (that my dear friend Kimberly made) and a scripture I typed up and put on cardstock. This is where we will set the books we are reading too. The bottom shelf has a CD player on it. The south wall with the trash can, Diaper Genie and changing table a.k.a. Diaper Central.

The top is of course the changing pad itself, the second shelf has all of our diapering and changing supplies and the bottom shelf is filled with all sorts of blankets. Some are gifts, some are homemade and a couple of them were mine when I was a child. All so special. You can also see his diaper bag sitting to the right of the table. Is it fully packed and ready as if we already have a child? Why yes it sure is! Remember me, OCD is my middle name. That may change once Parker arrives though, hah.

This was the diaper I made in the "Midnight Messages to John" activity at our baby shower in Odessa. John wanted to keep it propped in the corner for him to see each time he changes Parker's diaper.

The curtains Aunt Carianne made as well has the wooden piece hanging in the corner. The valance was another gift at the Odessa shower. John got all of this hung up and we also have cute red ribbons if we want to tie back the curtain panels on each side.

A shot of the west wall.

After Parker leaves our room, this will be where he lays his head. I painted his name and John got the letters hung a couple of weeks ago. Don't worry, the stuffed Snoopy and Woodstock won't stay in there with him for his safety, they are just for decoration for now. There are a couple of different views...

The south wall...Parker's closet door (with the letters Aunt Carianne made for the baby shower) and his bookcase among other things. More on this to come...

Inside his little bed.

His exersaucer and Bumbo seat down below.

I was fortunate enough to know and develop many wonderful memories with all of my grandparents and I wish the same for Parker. Due to the fact that we live about 5-6 hours in between all of our parents, I know Parker's time with them will be limited to visits to see them or when they come to visit us. In between those times, I hope to stay connected through phone calls, e-mails, pictures and this blog. We will also share stories with Parker about his grandparents.

To help I wanted to put pictures of all of his grandparents in his room so that we could point and call them by name. It will also help him get familar with their faces and be comfortable with them for the times we are together. I made this frame and it hangs on the wall to the left of his closet door.

Again, I sincerely apologize for our lack of good parenting already. Our child will have nothing to wear.

The top left is the stack o' wipes that has begun.

The top right is the stack o' diapers that has begun. Although there are two boxes of bigger sizes of diapers packed up in the garage. These sizes are newborn,1 and 2.

Yes his clothes are divided with cute plastic dividers by size and we (my Mom actually) did label the dresser drawers as to what is in them. The dresser will obviously change it's contents as he grows older, but this is set for now. The top two baskets are holding his socks and shoes.

The sign above his closet door. He's not even here and already has a philosophy on life.

I painted this canvas back in October when we painted his room. The three crosses were gifts and hopefully we can add to this and create a small cross collection for Parker.

His bookcase filled with hours of reading fun...so many wonderful books we can't wait to share with him. We already bought him his first Bible too. There are also several CDs on the second shelf that belonged to his cousins Jacob and Isaac when they were little. They are now 13 and almost 11, oh my.

The top of the bookcase.

One of my favorite things in his room. This was John's baseball glove when he was a little boy and John bought Parker his first baseball, wrote on it and dated it on the back. This will be a treasure for years to come. Precious!

If you are still with me, I applaud you. I know that was a lot to take in with so many details to share. I will tell you that it's much cuter and sweeter in person, so feel free to drop by for a visit. Just call first - haha!

I look his room from time to time and it's hard to imagine him being here. I try to visualize him sleeping in there, changing his diaper in there, reading to him in the chair, playing with him in the floor, getting him dressed..., but it will all happen soon enough believe it or not.

We also have the bathroom closet already to go with his bath, several toys, all sorts of baby bath and body products, medicines, grooming items...you name it.

We are making lots of progress on our list, but still a few more things to do. At least the most important stuff is pretty much done, but I'd like to finish a few more things. I guess it's all up to Mr. Parker and when he's ready to come. We'll just take it one day at a time.

Back to the grandparents for a minute. I wanted to thank Grandma and Grandad again for buying Parker his first car seat and stroller. John's actually working on getting that installed today. Many thanks also to Granny and Grandpa for blessing us with the money to buy a few things for Parker's room. And I failed to mentioned it in my last post, but the pack & play in our room was a gift from Mamaw and Gramps. We greatly appreciate everything you all have done. Parker is a lucky little boy.

Well, this concludes our tour! Please unbuckle your seat belts and exit safely. It's been a pleasure.

Until we meet again...
Riley