A LOVE FOR ANIMALS...

We have decided to decorate the baby's room in a Zoo/Jungle theme since Mommy has such a love for animals. After all, it runs in the family on my side! My mom loves animals and I grew up hearing stories of how she brought a tortoise home one day and told my Grammy that it followed her home or how she plotted with a boy she was friends with down the street when she was growing up to bring her a kitten from his cats litter to her birthday party as a birthday gift in a basket so my Grammy could not say no. She knew she could not have one but it was a gift and how could my Grammy make her give it back! Or how a chimpanzee escaped it's trainers (who worked for the studios) property when she was little and she found it sitting on the ledge of my grandparents pool splashing water and begged my papa to keep it! The trainer of course came looking for the chimp but that did not stop my mom from begging my papa for a monkey. He told her that if she could save enough money to buy one then she could have one! So my mom went and found a shoe box and wrote "Monkey Money" on it to start her savings! She never did save enough money to get that monkey she always wanted :)! Mom was always bringing home strays claiming they followed her! Funny thing, still to this day, she takes in strays and tries to find their owners. My dad started his first job at the age of 11 training dogs at a kennel. He really cracks me up how he has a million nicknames for he and my moms 4 dogs and is constantly coming up with new ones! What is even more funny is that they are all so smart and know that he has such a soft spot for them so they are constantly begging him for treats and he gives in very easily! I wonder if our child will learn this same trick?! As for my love for animals...it would have been fun to grown up on a farm with many different animals but since I didn't I only grew up with dogs. Mom has always been crazy allergic to cats as an adult so they were never an option when I lived at home. Now that I am married I have a little Zoo of my own...Three dogs (Zoey, Rocky and Paige) and two cats (Zack and Molly). Oh, and a salt water reef tank which is more like hubby's than mine but I still love it! My sister is also a huge animal lover and currently works with Lions and Tigers and Bears...well not bears! She went to EATM to be trained in Exotic Animal Training Management.

So I would like to pass down our love for animals to our baby and teach him how to love animals as much as we all do. I am going to decorate his room with monkey's hanging from the ceiling and Jake and I picked out an adorable bedding set which I will post a picture of. A couple years back I bought this adorable elephant rocker that I will put in his room also. I look forward to the day he can start riding it. I will post a picture below of the rocker. As soon as his room is complete I will be sure to post pictures to share with you all. Decorating his room will be such a wonderful nesting experience :)!