Only Sweet, Nice, Cute, Well-Mannered and Polite Pirates Allowed Here!

No pink. No lace. No flowers. All BOY stuff. I was so sure I was having a girl. that from the time we knew we were having a baby until the very day of my ultrasound, I called my baby Ella. I went looking for her furniture with Jonie at Children's Fair in Chattanooga, and I loved the set that had subtle flowers along the edges. I also found the most beautiful light pink and white and lace (and impractical and expensive) bedding called "Ella" in one of the beds. It just never really occurred to me that I could REALLY have a boy.

It didn't take long to get excited about a little boy that I was sure would look just like Cody (I'm not a very perceptive mother-to-be, since although some people say that my not Ella child looks just like his daddy, he does have my blonde hair and blue eyes). But this BOY room was hard to get excited about. Even though I love baseball, sports, trucks, and tractors can really only be so cute, right? I knew I wanted his room to be blue, and I love animals, so I decided I would decorate with Safari animals, specifically lions. Unfortunately, no one else important, and by important I mean the makers of baby bedding, thought a blue themed lion bedding was such a great idea. I could find safari bedding in green and yellow, or featuring elephants, but not what I had in mind. I am no decorator, no party planner, but I had my heart set on this non existent bedding.

Now totally focusing on boyness, Cody and I went shopping for bedroom furniture, and I had not even mentioned the beautiful convertible crib, armoire, and changing table with the flowers. We found some that we liked and we looked at different bedding. We hadn't decided on anything when we went to Children's Fair and looked. Cody (who cares little about furniture) stops in front of the most beautiful armoire with subtly engraved flowers, and says, "It looks like this could take you to Narnia. This is my favorite." It was the furniture I had LOVED for Ella, and I was so excited that I could also LOVE it for Ryder! After many attempts to convince ourselves to be practical and buy a nursery set that was on sale and that was still really, very pretty ( but one we could never love after the Narnia flowers),we gave in and bought the Narnia flowers (not the official name of the furniture, by the way :) Cody also saw the Pirate bedding that I had told him about, and he really liked it. It was not lions, but it was pieced with beautiful blues and reds, polka dots, and swirls, and sweet little child pirates with birds and a boat, and I soon fell in love with it.

Camden (and now Carter) had a beautiful nursery, with sophisticated blues and browns, and whimsical little monkeys, and Jonie made the comment one day, "How funny that we used monkeys and Camden is a little monkey that just climbs everywhere." Sweet and funny for her, but what about my son and his room full of pirates! Was I predicting Ryder-the-pirate's future to pillage and plunder and to exhibit all manners of not sweet and niceness because of my son's nursery theme? I am mostly reasonable, so I think not, but just in case, I have a disclaimer for my beautiful boy's room that says, "Only sweet, nice, well mannered and polite pirates allowed in here." I spend time waitingforryder as we play with trucks, and balls, and trakTORs in this boy pirate room, and I think it may be just as cute and whimsical as unicorns and pink flowers.
(It also turns out the lion theme was not all lost as I found this noble lion to befriend my cute, sweet, well-mannered and polite pirates! :)

Pictures: (1) Ryder's room in Columbia. Papa Bear painted a palm tree and got a parrot for the wall, and Gigi made his curtains. (2) Ryder reading "That's not my Pirate" given to him by his friends Wesley and Denise. (3) Taylor Gobble holding Ryder at the filming of American Idol tryouts for the teen spring formal. (4) Ryder and Camden searching under his bed for no telling what kind of hidden treasures. (5) Camden with "Pengy" and Ryder with Lion sitting still momentarily for a picture.