We've been pondering the nursery theme for a few weeks as Lee finished up the closet and we finished painting the room (pale yellow). Because of my penchant of creating costumes of actual characters (Tali, Harley Quinn) rather than concepts (disco vampire, zombie banana) I wanted a theme that included actual characters. It has the added benefit of style consistency in case anyone else in our family wanted to help with the theme. Stitch from Lilo and Stitch still looks recognizably like Stitch regardless of which store it's bought from; safari animals may run the gamut of styles from cartoonish to realistic.
At first, I was drawn to a some sort of Disney theme, just not the princess ones. As much as I loved watching Little Mermaid, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, etc., I disagree with the over-princessalization being taught to girls and I don't want to start a baby on that stuff. And I'm not all that fond of too much pink. Then I was drawn to a Winnie the Pooh theme - this idea is so popular that Babies R Us has it as its own nursery theme category. Lee was mostly fine with it except that he felt that the Disney treatment of a classic book made it seem too commercial.
I noodled around the internet for some more ideas but ultimately, it was still Disney that provided the payoff. Studio Ghibli is a Japanese animation studio headed by director Hayao Miyazaki. Disney licensed the rights to distribute their films in the US. My Neighbor Totoro, one of their earlier films, tells the story of two young girls befriending the wood spirits near their country home. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. Here's the trailer:
Since Disney is one of the strongest merchandising companies in existence, there are Totoro themed items that can be bought in the US. However, most of these items are plushes and toys, not quite all the paraphernalia needed to outfit/decorate a nursery. Wall decals are all the rage for their ease of application. We'll probably make our own Totoro decals from acrylic paint and contact paper. I've found a seller in Japan with some Totoro-related fabric type things (rugs, Japan-sized bedding, towels) but they're expensive to ship here so I'll probably only get a few key items, perhaps a rug and a door hanging that can count as curtains. Other fabric-based items can be Totoro'd via printed iron-ons. I'll probably leave the bedding as something that's just generically forest-themed or colored because I'm not sure I feel like sewing bedsheets even if I did find Totoro cotton fabric.
Besides the charm of the characters and the story, the aspect that appeals to me about a Totoro nursery is that we get to craft our own decorations. There are a few other Totoro-themed nurseries in internet-space where I'm sure we'll get some great ideas. I can't wait to get started!
Friday, February 11, 2011
Totoro Nursery Theme
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Birthday 2011
I celebrated my birthday on Monday, but it's not my birthday that occupies my mind nowadays, but rather the upcoming one in June heralded by the above picture.
We sent a copy of that picture in a frame to the soon-to-be-first-time grandparents for Christmas and received delighted, excited, even emotional reactions across the board. It was fun to finally be able to share our little secret and get that reception both in person and over the phone.
Thankfully, I have had an uneventful first trimester. No morning sickness - yay for me! Even so, the routine medical appointments are annoyingly frequent. I understand it gets even worse in the third trimester. Blessedly, the prenatal tests are all coming out normal and quite average. I'm not showing yet, I can still wear my regular pants and so far no one has been guessing that I'm pregnant. Perhaps they're just assuming that I simply ate heartily over the holidays. I certainly feel full - full of baby. It's starting to be a little extra effort to pull my socks on. I noticed that my balance isn't quite what it used to be at karate practice. Sensei has banned me from sparring but I hope to keep going to practice up until I have to go to the hospital. We'll see.
We felt the baby kicking two nights ago. My doctor described it to me as feeling like gas bubbles. Once I recognized the sensation, it felt more like someone was poking me from the inside. Lee got to feel it too. That moment, every time I get an ultrasound or I hear/feel the baby's heartbeat makes all this seem real. Without that, I just feel like I'm getting extra round in the middle.
Not that I don't have moments that come up short of wonder and joy. Mourning for my rapidly fading figure - and to think I only recently started to like my figure in the past year (I had a waist! My body will never be the same again!). Pre-mourning for having the time to sleep, go out to movies, dinner, outings, video games, having the time to make elaborate Halloween costumes. I've been reading a bunch of books on pregnancy and preparing for the whole labor and delivery process. Scary! My dad is OB/GYN - I grew up listening to painful sounding experiences of delivery. There were many dinners growing up where I vowed to myself that I'd rather adopt than put myself through that. Guess I lied. And let's not even get into the worries of complications and issues with the baby or the extent of psychological damage I would inflict on another human being throughout its life. Deep breath.
Meanwhile, there's birth classes and hospital tours to schedule, names to ponder, decisions like disposables vs. cloth and what would make a good family car to replace the Saturn (thanks Consumer Reports), what color to paint the nursery. Every time I find a new website or talk to someone new about my delicate condition, there are more considerations to take into account and decide on. I suppose I don't have to figure it all out now. Suffice to say that this June birthday (or May) takes a whole lot more energy than all my January ones combined.