I present baby Stroller’s mobile above his cradle:


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It’s a throw-back to our wedding, where my obsession with paper lanterns all began:


photo by Geneve Hoffman

Baby Stroller’s lanterns are hung by seven hooks, evenly placed in two rows on the ceiling – you know we were up on ladders with the square rulers and tape measures making sure those things were precise within an eighth of an inch!

We centered and spaced the hooks based on the dimensions of a standard crib since baby Stroller won’t be in his cradle for more than the first six to eight months. And because we have plaster ceilings, we made sure to prevent the ceiling from crumbling when we screwed in the hooks by sticking a small piece of masking tape over our mark, and pre-drilling before screwing in each of the hooks. It’s the same trick we use for hanging pictures and it works like a charm.

After each of the hooks was up, we tore off the masking tape around the hook so the white hooks would blend in better with the bluish, grayish, whitish ceiling.

After the hooks were up, and after expressing doubt for my vision, Mr. S disappeared to let his pregnant wife step up and down the three-step step stool a gazillion times, cutting and tying dozens and dozens of pieces of fishing line through, between, over, under and around the twenty-some-odd paper lanterns.

Every step up that ladder made me even more grateful for the hard work Mr. S, his dad, and a couple of his friends put in when hanging the 400+ lanterns for our wedding. But every time I look into the nursery, I’m so glad I put in as much effort as I did; I absolutely love our paper lantern mobile – especially hanging next to our Ikea Knappa pendant that we hardwired last spring (and put on a dimmer switch so we don’t need a nightlight for those late night nursings)! And I’m happy to say that Mr. S apologized for ever doubting me.

I added some blue ribbons, also leftover from our wedding and called our mobile complete. Baby Stroller discovered his “balloons” when he was about 11 weeks old, and he talks to them all the time!

Paper lanterns are all over Pinterest in nurseries and weddings everywhere. What’s your favorite style of baby mobile?