Nursery Rhymes

I have been crafting. I have been crafting like a woman gone mad.

Before I became pregnant, I told myself that I would spend 9 months joyfully knitting sweaters and crocheting layettes for my first-born child. So when we conceived our little miracle I set to work right away on some booties, etc. I got through my first baby sweater (which is really cute and I will post a picture of eventually) and I realized that knitting a sweater, even if its for a small person, takes a long time! Not only that, but my child will only be able to wear it for 2-4 months at best! Thats a short shelf life for something that takes so damn long to make. And what do I do with the sweater once he no longer fits into it? Doll clothes? Nice try. More likely than not, my husband wont be letting his only son play dress up with dolls! Hand me downs? Sure. But then we run into the same problem a few years down the road.

Obviously my plan was foolish. It is far more practical to purchase already made knit items for babies. Although, the irony is I still like making yarn-craft GIFTS for other people's children. Something about how I wont actually be a witness to the impracticality of it all makes the gifted knit item easier to come to terms with. At this point, its not just sweaters - its hats and booties and everything. I simply can not bring myself to fashion any more things out of yarn for this baby.

Picture of the nursery as it looks today. Notice the blue towel that Mr A hung up, which incidentally has flowers on it.

That being said, I have been crafting all over the place. I just found a new medium. Enter, my birthday present from Granny. A brand-spankin' new Viking sewing machine. (cue choir music) I have made a valance, pillow covers, a bumper, a curtain, a diaper bag, shirts, shorts, hats, blankets, etc. When I sit in front of the machine and listen to its gentle hum, squint into its tiny light bulb, I feel a calm wash over me. The kind of calm only a state of complete euphoria (or insanity) can bring about. I fall into a sort of creation-induced trance and fully surrender myself to whatever project is in front of me. I am completely absorbed and 100% resistant to all distraction. Its creepy. Mr A thinks Im scary when Im in THE ZONE.

My favorite projects are taking Mr As old shirts and resizing them to baby size. All his shirts are in some way, whether directly or indirectly, related to Hawaii.* I guarantee you that all Hawaiian shirts made specifically for small children are cheesy. So this is fun for me because it provides me with an opportunity to make cute yet cool Ts for my little guy. And I think in some sick way Mr A really relishes in the idea that he and his son could potentially wear "matching" outfits.
Puke. I know.

*momentarily you will come to the part of the story where this is important, but please note that almost all of my husband dress shirts have flowers in the design

As a result of my craft rampage (and my choice of fabric), my husband and I got into a disagreement about where the priority lies for decorating a babys room. In my opinion, the room should be something I want to look at. From what I understand a baby cant see further than about 8 inches in front of his adorable little face. Why would I be decorating to suit his needs? Or, more likely, what Babys R Us is telling me his needs are? Furthermore, babies have no predisposition for one theme over another, so in theory I could cover the walls with pictures of garbage cans as long as they are interesting to look at. Frankly, I would rather wait until the kid is older (say, able to sleep in a twin bed age) and then find out what his opinion is about room themes, if any.

Mr A, however, feels that his son should be basking in the glory of all things blue and sports related, despite the fact that (I feel) it comes off as "cutesy". I get the sports thing - but why blue? I dont fully understand why that particular color won the boy lottery. Isnt olive green close enough?

Anyhow, I decided to go with something "Hawaiian", naively believing that this would appease my impossible to please spouse. No luck. We endlessly battled about how many flowers was too many flowers and whether the absence of sports paraphernalia would make our little boy shy away from the field of competition 8+ years down the road. Finally, with paint and canvas, I struck a compromise. Here it is:

Note to those out there who would like to go for a Hawaiian themed nursery and are also encountering The Great Flowers-In-My-Boys-Room Debate: Petroglyphs and tattooesque patterns have been much more warmly received in this household. Sure, it will take hours upon hours of mind numbing stenciling, but the end result would probably be pretty cool and still ultra masculine. There are other manly Hawaiian trinkets like kukui nuts, hokulei'a boats, ikaika helmets, etc. I personally think most of these things are either a) too drab or b) too scary for small children - but I am certain they would cause absolutely no friction between you and your super-MAN of a spouse!