Baby Blessings

 It's been a long time since we've had a baby in the house.  I miss the chubby cheeks, the cooing, the bright eyes, beautiful smiles, sleepless nights, and dirty diapers, no wait.... back up...Good thoughts, good thoughts.

Haha..the baby days are great memories for us though, REALLY.  I loved them and now that they're gone, I miss them.  We have three children and each one of them are a miracle to us.

When I was a teenager I went through a medical crisis and was told the likelihood of having children when older would be slim. God works in a great and mighty way though, and His miracles are ever present.  Five years after we were married, we had no children and began talking about adoption.  Adoption, what a great word, but as it turns out, in perfect timing, we found out we were expecting!  Just imagine winning the lottery and multiply that reaction by 100- that's how we rejoiced!   We did have a little scare though.  Our first born was 10 weeks early and weighed only 2lbs 14oz at birth.  At 14inches, she looked like a live baby doll.  She needed help breathing, eating, everything.

Just a few days old and she has him wrapped
around her little fingers.



 For first time parents it was a difficult time (and I'm sure 2nd time, 3rd time, and 10th time parents would have found it just as difficult).  We were so blessed by the help and support of our family and church family, not to mention the wonderful staff of doctors and nurses in the NICU.  Friends put together baby showers and flooded us with all the essentials a little princess needs. Others made us meals every day for six weeks so that we could spend our time at the hospital.  Six weeks! It still amazes me.



Special Delivery- January/2000

 

At last she came home, and she's been filling Lewisville with love and joy ever since.  Baby sister came less than two years later (miracle 2) and baby brother came two years after that (miracle 3).  So for a girl who wasn't supposed to have babies, our home became joyfully noisy in just four years. 





Special Delivery -  December/2001



I can't believe how much these babies have grown.  They've graduated from cooing to joke telling, making it a regular comedy club around here!



Special Delivery - September/2003

But I digress.  I can talk about my kids all day. Back to the reason for this post.  BABIES and the blessings they bring! We each have Baby Blessing stories.  They are all unique and miraculous in their own way. 

Our friends, Randy and Monique, have also seen God's faithfulness in this area of Baby Blessing.  Monique was our home school consultant in California and Randy worked with my husband.  They're a great couple, the kind of people you like hanging out with, talking with, and laughing with.   Their desire to start a family came a few years after they were married, and we all knew they would be great parents.  When Monique became pregnant, we were all very excited for them, but it was the beginning of  heartache and loss.

Randy and Monique walked through a valley of difficulty.  They would never meet their baby, or the sibling she carried for a few weeks many months later.  In their first and second pregnancies, their babies would go directly to heaven before being born.  Mom and dad mourned and cried, but they also prayed and hoped. As friends, we did the same for them.  We don't always understand our circumstances or why trials have to hurt so deeply, but I've come to realize that while we must sometimes walk in the "valley", God walks with us and leads us through it.  We don't stay in the valley;  we walk.. with HiM ...and without fear. 

Late in 2010, it was a guarded secret that Randy and Monique were expecting.  We knew and prayed.  I never had the experience of carrying a baby to term, but oh, LORD, please let this be Your will for them.  It turns out, it sure was His will.  They welcomed Jadon into their hearts and home in July of 2011.  We've been waiting for you little guy!

Of course, there were baby showers galore! Monique picked the nursery theme and colors and Ohhh, don't you just love baby stuff- miniature clothes, tiny shoes, little furniture.  They sure have come up with some good stuff since the days of my babies.

This was her invitation with the colors and theme for
the nursery.  CuhYute!

So, I wanted to "make" her something special, something unique like their story.  I don't always make my baby shower gifts, but after this, I may make a go of it.  Fair warning, friends!

This is what I came up with...

..and I did it all with Spray paint!  I love spray paint!

I started with this garage sale rocking chair a friend picked up for me when the kids were little.  They weren't using it anymore and it was just what I needed for a unique gift.

I lightly sanded by hand then used a spray primer.

Monique chose a great "Monkey" theme for Jadon's nursery. The colors were a chocolate brown, light tan, and mint-like green all mixed in.  These are perfect colors for a perfect baby boy, and they're colors he can keep when he transitions into a big boy room..  So off I go to my favorite store.  I'm not talking about Nordstrom or Macy's here, girls.  Home Depot holds my heart above the rest.  Well, I should say it holds it next to Ace hardware and Lowes.   Anyhoo, I need spray paint, baby!  For a baby! 

I bought Rust-Oleum's Espresso (chocolate brown color), Fossil (tan color), and Eden (green color) all in a satin finish.  The caps on the spray paint cans are pretty true to the color paint that comes out, but for whatever reason, the Eden green color was all wrong for my color combination.  I had to go down to Michael's (favorite store also) and look through their spray paint colors.  I took home Krylon's Avacado in Satin.  It was the color I wanted. Yeah!

So how do you spray paint a chair with so many color details? Spray your base color first as shown above.  I chose the tan as you can see.  Then I used newspapers and plastic bags and started taping off.

Spray paint dries in about 20 minutes, so once the base color was dry, I moved on to the Espresso.  Deciding where each color goes is all part of your own creativity, but I like the idea of painting the bottom and arm rests the darkest colors for the very practical reason of hiding what dirty little hands might have touched.  I decided to add some Espresso to the top to add "balance" to the color combination.  Ooh la la, I'm using design terms.

I used regular masking tape to add some stripes, then accented rails with the Avacado green.

Even though I covered and taped and covered  and taped the chair, when I sprayed a certain color, there were some areas that bled through and needed a touch up.  I just sprayed a little paint into a paper bowl and used an artist brush for my touch-ups.  My "aha" moment came later when I realized I could have just sprayed directly into the cap. Doh!

Adding the baby's name is a great personal touch, but after using stencils here, the name didn't come out crisp enough.

So I spray painted over that and decided to just add the stencils to the back of the chair.  He may want to pull them off when he's about two, but that's what wood glue is for. (By the way, Monique, you may want to put some wood glue on these.)

JK! When I thought I was all finished, this is what I had.   I liked it, but I didn't love it.  Something was missing.

I left it alone for a day or two, hoping that inspiration would come to me.  I thought about adding more green, but I liked the color amounts as they were.  That seat just called for something, but what?  I thought about adding a big J in the middle, but that seemed redundant. Big green stripes down the middle?.... maybe, but that seemed redundant too.  Then on one of my trips to Michael's I found this Monkey sticker in their clearance bin for $1.  Don't you just love clearance items?  My mother taught me well; because of her, I always look through clearance items.  Thanks, Mom!

I cut the sticker to fit the slats on the seat and used Mod Podge glue to adhere it. This sticker will not peel off for little fingers... ever.  A monkey face...that's what it needed.  It took about 3 days total, 4 cans of spray paint, and 1 monkey face sticker.    And now for our favorite time- before and after pictures!

Before




After- and now I love it!



Blessings,
Lisa





Linking up to these fine blogs:
Miss Mustardseed
At the Picket Fence 
Finding Fabulous 
Embracing Change 
Funky Junk Interiors 
The Shabby Creek Cottage
House of Hepworth
Beyond the Picket Fence
Somewhat Simple
Flamingo Toes