Creating a Comfortable Sleep Environment with Aden + Anais Crib Sheets

Since my children were young we've used Aden + Anais muslin blankets for just about every thing you could think of; swaddling, shade, nursing cover, blanket, changing mat, burp cloth, play mat,etc. The lightweight and soft, smooth fabric is something that my children fell in love with. They took to their Aden + Anais blankets as one would a lovey (which Aden + Anais carries now!).
So when we started to look for bedding for my daughter's new toddler bed, I was excited to see that Aden + Anais also had a line of crib sheets as well, including an organic option. And they fit our criteria of breathable, cotton, and cute!

Not only are the Aden + Anais line of crib sheets comfortable, they are cute to! With patterns and styles to match their other products, there is sure to be a crib sheet that matches your nursery or toddler room.

We enjoy showing off my daughter's love of pink and nature and went with a cute owl pattern with the For the Birds crib sheet.

Since it's been so hot lately we've simply stripped her bed down to the sheet and a muslin blanket for nap and night time. Makes for a much more comfortable night when she's not going to bed with a heavy mattress and thick cotton sheets.

She loves snuggling up with her "burrs" and stuffed animals. And they go perfectly with our Forest Friends wall decals.

By creating a comfortable sleep environment, we've had much better luck in keeping our daughter in her bed as opposed to waking up multiple times a night. She's so comfy that we hardly hear a peep! And with the heat we've had, it's amazing that she isn't waking up more often. Our daughter is quite the little heater and sweats a LOT when she sleeps!

And since she chose the pattern on her sheets, she loves sleeping on them even more! 

If you are looking for the perfect shower gift other than the perfect crib sheet, I highly suggest checking out the amazing selection of products Aden + Anais offers. Some of our favorites include:

• muslin swaddles (the #1 shower gift I recommend)
  
• towel and washcloth set
• bibs and burp cloths
  
• dream blankets
• security blankets
• sleeping bags

You cannot go wrong gifting an Aden + Anais product to your favorite mum- or dad-to-be!

There are many places to purchase Aden + Anais products, including on their website. You can also find a local store that carries their products by using the website's store locator.

Your little one is sure to fall in love with Aden + Anais just as mine have!

The Noise Girls have yet again put together an amazing giveaway event just for your family! The For the Family giveaway event starts on September 1st so please remember to hurry back and enter for your chance to win.

And Aden + Anais has joined in on the fun to offer one lucky reader a crib sheet of their own in this giveaway. Head on over and like them on facebook or follow them on twitter to stay up to date on new products and promotions!

Disclaimer: I received an Aden+Anais crib sheet for review purposes only. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. 

Nursery Ideas {Alice in Wonderland}

One of my favorite stories is Alice in Wonderland. The imagination, the journey, and the creativity behind the story has always intrigued me and I've always loved the Disney interpretation as well. So when I found out I was having a girl I knew I wanted to create a simple and classic Alice in Wonderland nursery.

The nursery is NOT finished but here's what we have so far:

Simple Decor
Our theme is Alice in Wonderland so there are 3 silhouettes of the rabbit, a tea cup and Alice herself. We wanted to keep the colors simple so most of the room is red, black and white with bits of blue and pink thrown in.

This wall is complete but we'll have the changing pad and a lamp on the dresser and the bow holder will be hung behind the door (bow holder tutorial to come!). 

Repurposing Furniture
My husband stained the crib we had for my son in a darker color (black/brown) to match the dresser we got at Ikea. I think he did an AWESOME job and I'm glad I went with the darker colors as opposed to my original idea of white furniture.

Now re-painting furniture can be a tedious task but when done correctly can turn out beautifully! We used a paint sprayer to spray the crib since there were so many nooks and crannies. And even though it used up a lot more paint than the traditional route, we ended up having a cleaner finish. 

Change It Up With Paint
My husband also painstakingly measured out the dimensions and taped off the diamonds so my son and I could paint them light blue (like Alice's dress). We made sure to use a great painters tape and used a credit card to smooth the edges down to assure that we got clean lines when we removed the paint.

I found a red curtain panel w/ black embroidery at Home Goods on clearance for $5! It fits the window perfectly when open. I'm going to buy a tie back for it soon. We got the curtain rod at Big Lots for $10. Simple and black is hard to find when you want to buy a curtain rod!

Personalized Touches
I received these adorable stuffed animals at my baby shower this weekend (sorry... I forgot my camera so no photos). The Alice doll is from my mother-in-law and is actually a story doll. The cheshire cat and rabbit are attached with velcro. You can also flip Alice's dress over her head and another character appears.

Since this room was originally our office and we have no place to put our computer, the nursery will also house our desk. I love this simple desk (only $50 at the Salvation Army) because compared to the huge desk/bed structure we had below it's so small and makes the room so much more open.

Although I have to say if we had the room for it we would have kept the bed/desk combo we used to have since he and his father built it together and he's had it forever. Luckily the desk will stay in the family as my brother-in-law has taken it in for our nephew to use.

I am going to be putting up some candle sconces above the desk as well as a print from Disneyland that we'll pick up on Friday when we go up for the last time as a family of 3.

What do you think? What did you use for nursery inspiration?

Starting The Nursery: Paint

Joseph asked me as we were moving out the large desk/bunk bed what I wanted to do with the wall... how I wanted to paint it. I said I just wanted to paint it blue like I told him before. He than asked if there was any certain design or style I wanted to do like in E's nursery (he has yellow and green stripes on one wall). Than he suggested diamonds.

He quickly realized how much work it would be to paint on diamonds and decided he was going to look for wallpaper instead. We really didn't have time to special order anything so we took a trip to Lowes, Ikea & Home Depot to see if they had anything in stock. Lowes had about 5-6 styles in stock but nothing that screamed our theme so we moved on to Home Depot. Home Depot carries no wallpaper whatsoever. I even called Ace Hardware and they don't carry any either. But we did find a dresser at Ikea for the nursery so it wasn't a complete failure of an outing.

So...

I told Joseph that I just wanted something done this weekend and I really, really liked the diamond idea. So we bought some blue masking tape (weren't sure how old ours was and didn't know how much we'd use) and were out of Home Depot. And I have to tell you... diamonds were definitely the best choice! I LOVE how the wall turned out. And even though nothing is going on this wall (our computer desk will be facing the window) I love how it will complete the room.

Here are a few photos from our taping and painting adventure (E provided popcorn and water for Daddy but quickly decided he wanted it more than Daddy did):

Nursery is Complete!

Ethan has a finished room! But it's not like he's sleeping in it any time soon :) I quite like him right by me when we sleep. At least for these first few months... maybe longer. Let me know what you think.