When it comes to most creative endeavors, I find that I am far more interested in the planning stages--especially if there is some sort of mock-up involved. Whether it be a laid-out quilt or a half-finished painting or a first draft of writing, a bunch of paint chips or carpet samples or homemade “blueprints,” I love all the hanging threads and rough edges, so to speak, before they are smoothed out into the finished product. My theory is that the rough draft, the concept drawing, has so much potential, and the unfinished bits are easily transformed in the mind into the ideal version. Although a finished project holds its own satisfaction, it somehow makes me a little sad when the (almost endless) possibilities have all been determined and fixed and all the loose ends have been tied up. (No fair pointing out mixed metaphors here.)

All that to say, I’m excited about where we are in the whole nursery planning process. My mom came down yesterday and helped turn our ideas for the Totoros and Catbus on the walls into paper mock-ups.

And we also bought fabric to make the bedding and stuffed it in the crib to get an idea of how it will look.

Soon my dad will come down and paint the walls, Jason’s parents will turn our paper mock-ups into wooden wall hangings, and the fabric will be transformed into crib bumpers and curtains, but for today I am loving the possibilities, the fact that we’ve finally gotten started, and the promise of how cool it might all turn out to be.