Nursery Update!

So if you remember a while back I was asking for opinions about fabric to use in our nursery.  Well, I don't think I ever updated about this, but we made a decision!  

The winning fabric is...Madison Gate in Baby Pink!

The winner and also Art's favorite

We both loved the pink and green and the fact that it was a very pretty, traditional pattern that would go perfectly with the dark wood baby furniture we picked out.

So now that the fabric is picked, it's time for the fun part...picking out paint colors!  I happen to work for a paint company, so I am lucky to have access to a bunch of color tools like a big fan deck that shows every color that we have (so I don't have to stand in front of the color display in the store for an hour).  

So I went through all of the pinks and the greens, trying to see which ones fit best...

I ended up with these options.  I was using the paper clips to mark which colors I liked best.

The pink in the middle was more of a coral color almost, and the one on the right was a true baby pink.  I showed them all to Art and he broke the tie: baby pink it is!

I love that the paint color is called Sacred! 

Originally we were just planning on painting the room all one color, but I saw a picture that I just fell in love with:

Copyright: Mike and Ann Buoy Photography, http://www.mikebuoy.com

I think it would look adorable to do the baby's nursery like this, but with pink on top and pink and green on the bottom.  But...this is all a little more than we want to take on.  So step 2 is hiring someone to come put it all together!  That's what I'm working on at the moment.  I hope I can get it done before the nursery furniture is delivered.  

What do you think?

Fixing Up Baby's Bathroom

Yes, you read that right.  Our baby girl is so spoiled that she already has her own bathroom.  Technically it will be the "Kids bathroom" once we have more kids, but for now it is just hers.  The other bedroom next door is currently my craft room.

I've been waiting to decorate it because I knew I would want to do some cute kid decorating.  The other day when I was in Target I found the most adorable furnishings and they were pink and green so they will match her nursery!  I was in love.

So on Saturday while my husband was at work I got busy decorating:

Pink and green owl soap dispenser

Adorable shower curtain

And then I broke out my pink tool kit:

The beauty of pink tools: they are cute and your husband is guaranteed to never use (or misplace) them!

Now why would I need tools to decorate a bathroom?  Well because I had bought a towel ring long ago for this bathroom and Saturday seemed like the perfect time to go ahead and install it.

The instructions said to use a drill to make the holes in the drywall but I just did the old fashioned pilot hole with a nail trick and it worked great!  I'm not very confident with power tools yet.

The finished product:

Baby's beautiful and girly bathroom!

So Much To Do!

I'm 21 weeks and 3 days, only 130 days to go!  It might seem like a lot of time left but I know it's going to fly by.  I have so many things that I've been wanting to do before the baby comes; both fun things and things that will help us to be more organized when she arrives.  I know once she gets here we will be so busy there is no way we will get to a lot of this stuff. 

Here's my to-do list so far.  I completely realize that I will probably be lucky to get half of this stuff done.  Hopefully posting it here will help me get a handle on it and I can keep chipping away at it in the next 130 days.

Home Stuff
-Finish organizing my closet
-Finish unpacking/decorating the bedroom (since we just moved in December it's still a bit disheveled)
-Unpack/organize/decorate the guest room
-Install IKEA shelves in the office and unpack the rest of the office stuff
-Clean up the formal living/dining room area (currently being used as a storage/furniture building area)
-Organize the craft room
-Finish organizing the baby's bathroom
-Install a utility sink in the laundry room and possibly a counter and shelves

Preparing for the Baby
-Create our baby registry
-Order the crib and dresser
-Get the nursery painted and decorated, with everything set up and organized
-Sew crib bedding and window treatment
-Read 1-2 baby care books (Baby 411 and What to Expect: The First Year)
-Read 1-2 breastfeeding books
-Do 1-2 freezer cooking sessions so that we will have a month's worth of meals on hand and already prepared (I have done this before, so I know I am capable of it, as long as I don't get too tired of being on my feet)

That's all I can think of so far.  What else am I forgetting?

And, here's my weekly update:

How far along?: 21 Weeks

How big is baby?:   Your baby is the size of a butternut squash! Your baby now weighs about 15 ounces and is 11" long.  You may soon feel like she's practicing martial arts as her initial fluttering movements turn into full-fledged kicks and nudges. You may also discover a pattern to her activity as you get to know her better. In other developments, your baby's eyebrows and lids are present now, and her vagina has begun to form as well.

Any appointments or updates this week?:  No

Body changes?: The bump is still growing :)

Maternity clothes?:  Yep, it's pretty much all I wear now.  I love my new Gap maternity jeans!  I can still wear some pre-pregnancy sweaters but everything else isn't quite long enough for my belly. 

Best moment last week?:  Deciding on our crib and bedroom set

Food cravings?:  Ice cream, girl scout cookies and all kinds of chocolate candy!  Oh and fettucini alfredo...yummmm!

Symptoms?: I haven't had any acid reflux this week, thank goodness.  I've been avoiding spicy food and marinara sauce.  My leg cramps are still waking me up at night.  And the numbness in my left leg really bothers me sometimes.  All of a sudden it can feel like water is running down my leg or worse, a burning sensation.  Art googled it and we found out that this is something called meralgia paresthetica.  Apparently it is caused by compression of a nerve that supplies sensation to the skin surface of the thigh.   I have been trying to sleep on my right side to see if it helps shift the baby away from that side, but it's hard to sleep that way.  I've noticed it's been getting harder and harder to get comfortable at night.

Exercise?: I didn't get a chance to go to yoga this week but I did go for a walk.  I'm hoping to go to a yoga class this weekend.

What I miss?:  Sleeping all the way through the night - yep, still this from last time.

What I'm looking forward to?: Getting my fabric swatches in the mail and getting to start working on my craft/sewing projects!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

More Nursery Decor Ideas

So my new ambition I mentioned about making my own crib bedding has turned into a full blown obsession! My Pinterest baby board has 79 pins now, mostly of fabric and nursery decorating ideas.

After my last post asking you all what fabrics you liked best, I tried to step back and get some perspective.  Sometimes I find that in the midst of getting excited about all different adorable ideas I lose sight of what I really want.  Does that ever happen to you?  It's like I get overwhelmed at all the cool things I find, and then I get off track.

So thanks to the help of a dear friend, I was reminded that we picked out a very beautiful crib, but nonetheless one that will probably cover up any cute or intricate ruffly crib skirts.  So that nixed that idea.  I was also reminded that said crib is a dark wood, which got me thinking and wondering about how a bright pattern would look against it.

Our crib: Baby's Dream Renaissance Crib in Espresso

Keeping those things in mind helped me refocus and hone in on what I really wanted in the first place: a beautiful and more traditional pink and green nursery.  Some of my original inspiration is on my Pinterest board:

Pink and green girly nursery with dark wood crib

Another idea with pink walls:

Pretty pink with subtle green

And I found some really pretty bedding ideas that went along the lines of the pink and green feel and still felt appropriate for a nursery.  I love this first one:

Source: modpeapod.com

Incorporating pink and green into one damask print:

You can see these soft colors look beautiful against the dark wood crib.  When Art got home I showed him and he agreed that this type of look would be perfect for our little girl's room.  So I excitedly ordered three yards of fabric:

Madison Gate/Baby Pink - recognize it from above?  Art's favorite

Ozborne Maggie

Paisley Gate / Baby Pink 

I can't wait for them to come in on Friday so that I can see them in person and decide which one is my favorite!

For anyone wondering, none of these were in my original lineup, although Ozborne Maggie is similar to #7 but with a lighter pink.  I guess it just goes to show that it's a pregnant woman's prerogative to change her mind! 

My New Ambition

Now that we have our  crib picked out I figure it's time to work on the rest of the nursery.  I want to get it painted before we have the crib and the rest of the furniture moved in.  But, I wanted to pick out the nursery bedding first so that I can coordinate the paint with it and come up with a cute color scheme.

And then a friend gave me a great idea: why not make my own crib bedding?  She did it and it turned out beautifully.  Plus, I haven't been super impressed with the stuff I've seen in the stores.  If I did get a store bought set it would probably be pretty plain and I really want this little one's nursery to be special.

So I've been combing though pages and pages of digital fabric swatches on joann.com and hawthornethreads.com.  I have found some really pretty designs!  And Hawthorne's website is really cool because users can upload pictures of projects that they have done with the fabric.  Which is how I found this:

 Isn't it gorgeous?  Unfortunately the Etsy seller isn't taking orders, because she is pregnant!  But I wanted to do it myself anyway.  My design will probably be way more simple, but I want it to be preppy and girly and fun.

So back to those fabric swatches!  Here's a few bunch that I love that I found: (you can see all of them and some of my nursery inspiration on my Pinterest page)

#1

#2

#3 

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

#9

#10

#11

I'd love to know which one is your favorite and why? 

Fun Stuff, Part 3!

To continue the fun posts full of pictures, here is the other part of what we did on Sunday!  Besides buying me lots of new maternity clothes and my new diaper bag, we hit up a few other stores in the mall.  Specifically, all the adorable baby clothes stores!

I strategically took Art to the most expensive (and most adorable) store first; Janie and Jack.  He loved it!  They were having a great President's Day sale going on, so we looked through the sale racks to pick out some new duds for our little girl.  

I was really surprised that he didn't even blink at the price tags, he LOVED shopping for her!  Here's what we picked out: 

A couple of cute jackets and pants for cooler weather and in the a/c

A really cute little onesie, perfect for the summer

Our favorite outfit!  Art picked this one out himself.  I can't wait to dress her in it!

He was so excited to spoil our little girl, it was really sweet.  After Janie and Jack I tried to take Art to Gymboree and Baby Gap, but he wasn't having any of it.  He complained saying that the stuff wasn't as nice as Janie and Jack and we should just buy all her clothes there.  Haha, I foresee our bank account shrinking quickly!

Hey Hey, We're Almost Halfway!

Wow, I can't believe it!  Tomorrow will be 20 weeks!  Reality has finally started hitting me and I've completely gone into get-stuff-done mode, so that made for an extremely fun but extremely busy weekend.  Also, Art is about to get slammed at work so I wanted to take advantage of one of his last weekends where he wouldn't be working or completely exhausted.

We started Saturday by taking our first trip together to Babies-R-Us and Buy Buy Baby.  I went in armed with my Baby Bargains book (a lifesaver!) and a list of items that my sister-in-law recommended.  It helped a lot to have that extra information as we walked through all the aisles of gear.  We picked out some things that will be going on our registry, like the Chicco KeyFit 30 car seat and stroller caddy

It was our front runner, and a mom actually stopped is in the store and told us that the stroller caddy was awesome because it's lightweight and easy to fold and unfold, and not to bother with the travel system.  We like the Adventure style because it's gender neutral and we plan on having more kids eventually. 

Other categories were harder to agree on, like the crib and dresser.  And we were both stumped by all the different gliders.  But, we are making progress!

We also went over to my aunt's house on Saturday afternoon to visit and pick up a bunch of baby clothes that she offered to hand down to us.  It was great, she gave us a huge plastic tub full of her kids' clothes including the cutest thing...

Our little gator girl has her first cheerleading outfit!

When we were at my aunt's house, Sweet Pea was kicking me like crazy.  I'm not sure what got her so excited but it might have been the two dogs that my aunt and uncle have.  Anyway, I put Art's hand on my stomach while we were sitting on the couch and all of a sudden I feel a really hard kick, and he felt it too!  It was so cool and special that we could both feel her moving. 

We did more shopping on Sunday, but I'm going to save that for tomorrow.

Anyway, I guess I should get to posting my 19 week update :)

How far along?: 19 Weeks

How big is baby?:   Your baby is the size of a potato or mango!  Your baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces, and measures about 10 1/2 inches long.
Baby girl's early ovaries contain follicles with forming eggs. Soon, half of the genetic material for your potential future grandchildren will be formed. Pictures of babies at this age show them touching the membrane of the amniotic sac, touching their own faces, reaching for the umbilical cord, pedaling their legs, and sucking their thumbs.

Any appointments or updates this week?:  No appointments this week, I'm still on the every 4 weeks schedule so I won't go back until March.

Body changes?: My bump is getting a little bigger every day!  Everything else is going well so far.

Maternity clothes?:  Yes!  I am definitely noticing the need for maternity clothes now, because my bump is getting to the point where some of my shirts aren't long enough any more.  The belly band still works but demi-panel pants are a lot more comfortable.  I have a feeling I will be retiring most of my pre-pregnancy wardrobe pretty soon!

Best moment last week?:  Art getting to feel the baby kick, and receiving his Valentine's Day gifts from our daughter (and the card he gave her back). 

Food cravings?:  Still craving chocolate and anything sweet.

Symptoms?: Extra emotional, leg cramps, thirsty.

Exercise?: Does pulling weeds from our flower beds count?

What I miss?:  Not having to carry a water bottle everwhere

What I'm looking forward to?: Decorating the nursery and registering for everything

What our little girl looks like this week:

 

Update to Valentine's Day + Lots More!

Wow, what a fun weekend!  It really feels like life just keeps moving wayyy too fast for my blog to keep up with it!  I don't know how some people do it with updating right as things are happening, I'm lucky to get caught up once in a while.  Anyway, here we go!  (Warning...this is a very picture-heavy post!)

Valentine's Day reveal!  I decided I wanted to do something really cute and get Art a gift from our daughter to him for Valentine's Day.  So, I went to Gymboree last week and bought these cute little clothes for him.  He loved the card too, it was so sweet getting to watch him read it.

The baby also bought him a couple of parenting books for Dads:

  Be Prepared: A Practical Handbook for New Dads 

 First Time Dad: The Stuff You Really Need to Know  

He really liked the Be Prepared book because he said it looks like the Boy Scout handbook, and he is an Eagle Scout.  

Now this is the really cute part: I was thinking that I was very clever with buying him a card and gift from the baby...and it turned out that he bought our Sweet Pea a card too!  I couldn't believe we both had the same idea.  He also made me a delicious dinner:  Beef Wellington!

The cooking process:

The finished product: 

Soooo good!  

So last Wednesday was Mommy's first shopping trip for Sweet Pea, when I bought the outfits for her to give to her Daddy for Valentine's, and I think I mentioned last week that I went ahead and bought a bunch of things so that I could qualify for the Gymbucks (haha great excuse right?)!  Here's everything I bought our little girl: 

Also, I just have to share this because it almost made me cry.  After announcing that we were having a little girl, a friend from church brought in a little bag for me...it was this adorable outfit:

I just thought that it was so sweet and thoughtful of her.  

Lastly, for my news from last week, I was lucky enough to win an online contest for a free maternity workout top from  me2roo!  I was thrilled to get it in the mail on Friday and decided to wear it around the house on Saturday (I didn't actually do any workout that day, but I did pull some weeds...does that count?)

Bump picture (19 weeks!!!!) with my free me2roo top:

You can see that my belly is really growing now!  Loads more to update on, but that's all for this post :)