A few pictures of the baby’s room — it was my idea to choose the decor before the 20-week ultrasound, so that we could make a truly gender-neutral decision. (Little did I know that we wouldn’t be finding out the baby’s sex until later anyway!)

This is a room created with love by our family and friends. The walls were painted by Dan and his dad Steve and our friend Carrie. The bookshelf was made especially for the baby by Papa Staley (who swore he would never make Lissa nother bookshelf for fear our house will collapse from the weight of our books!) , and it is already filled with many books from our favorite children’s librarian, Grandma Mary! Our two and a half year old nephew Colin had just about outgrown his changing table/dresser and mirror that Papa Staley made for him. The crib from Ikea was so highly rated here that is was almost impossible to find one in stock, so we were excited to eventually get one. Nana sewed the yellow curtains and the blue and purple basket liners (along with several matching pillows and crib sheets.)

Our family and friends contributed squares to the baby quilt at our baby showers in Topeka and Collinsville, then Nana sewed it all together. The quilt is reversible because we had so many squares to include! We think it looks great, and each square is precious because of the people and relationships it represents.