Nursery Update

Here I took some pics on my fancy iPad 2 and uploaded them for you guys to see. Our nursery is completely done now. 

No, we actually can't fit anything else on that changing table.

Crib is all decked out.

The bench seat lifts up, the bench is hollow and perfect for storage.

Gliding rocker, nursing pillow all ready to go.

We have 500 diapers and lots and lots of wipes. The crib will be emptied of all the stuffed animals and blankies when the baby comes. I was even told by a few people they thought I should remove the bumpers as well because the baby might get stuck in them... so what is the point of bedding? Might as well swaddle the baby up and lay them on the floor with all of the warnings and what not.

The only thing we don't have right now is a night light. That's next on my list. Of course we also don't have a play yard but I am not worried about that... I don't think we need one just yet. We also don't have any baby monitors either... uhm.. because we live in an apartment. And the crib is up against the wall that we share with our bedroom. So I thought, again, that was unnecessary. (Plus, you all secretly know that when I start freaking out about the baby being in a different room, Brian will end up moving the crib into the bedroom anyway.)

Brian's mom was upset we weren't painting the walls/decorating. We are moving in 4 months. I don't want to have to paint the walls back when we are trying to move, with a 3 month old in tow. That sounds like WAY too much effort. Plus, as Brian pointed out, the baby isn't going to remember his room was white. Meh. I'm worn out from decorating. I was going to do Winnie the Pooh style borders on the walls and such, but we decided to wait.

I'm so glad that it's done with and we can start focusing on packing for the hospital. I have the cutest! going home outfit and receiving blanket for the baby already to go. I will make that an entirely different post, because I could gush about it for hours want to do a hospital bag post.

I'm so glad it's Monday. The last day I worked was last Tuesday, so it's nice being back to work and getting on with the week. I'm completely worn out from this holiday weekend and happy to start normal life again. Or, what is my new normal. Hard to believe in just 3-5 weeks my normal will change once again!

November Goals

It's November 1st. So for the first time in a long time, I think I will set some goals for the month.

I plan on finishing that popcorn scarf for Brian Thursday.
I'm going to do a crochet-along with Lion Brand Yarn to make a purse.

I'm also going to get in the decorating spirit a little early. As my pregnancy progresses, it's getting harder and harder to do things. I want to rearrange the nursery, do a little decorating in there, and also set up for Christmas. I want everything to be done by Thanksgiving. So, yeah, I'll have my Christmas tree and lights up before Thanksgiving. Last year I waited until mid-December to do that.

I also want to start on Christmas gifts too. I have no idea what to get the majority of the people on my list, so I'm thinking... food. Hahaha! I'm going to be doing gift baskets I think this year. I don't know. I'll have to think about it some more.


I also plan on finishing the online child birth class I am taking.

There are financial goals as well- to pay off another debt this month. We have two that we could knock off the list if we really wanted to. So I am going to go for one and see if I can't find the motivation to get the other one as well.

Goals:

1. Finish the scarf by 11/3
2. Crochet and finish purse by 11/30
3. Rearrange the nursery by 11/10
4. Decorate the nursery by 11/30
5. Decorate for Christmas by 11/24

I really wanted to set some tangible goals this month because I feel like I am sort of just drifting along really... and it's making me feel a little anxious. It will feel good to be accomplishing tasks. Projects always put me in a good mood when I can finish them, so this will be about pushing my creativity as much as getting my ass into gear.

Hope everyone had a great October!

Jam Packed

I decided that I was going to be ambitious and put away all of the baby's clothes in the dresser yesterday. We have a lot of baby clothes.

This grey tub is so stuffed full of baby clothes that I have no idea how it all fits in there. We got a great deal on all of the clothes and they range from 0-24 months. The tub came with the car seat (seen peeking on the right), a baby bath tub, a belly wedge pillow, and a postpartum belly band for $10. Yeah, I know. It wasn't so much a deal as a steal. The plastic bags and the party bag are filled with baby clothes too. 

I had started sorting when we were cleaning up the nursery a bit- putting all of the baby's bibs, hats, shoes, and socks in a white plastic drawer- but I was finally ready to tackle this mountain of clothing. And what a mountain it was. 

I have successfully stuffed all of the drawers full of baby clothes... except I only managed to get 0-6 months in and a handful of 9 months. I still have a tub full of clothes. I was debating on getting another dresser (probably plastic) or bins or something for it, but Brian brought up a good point. We will just keep those clothes where they are and in 6-9 months or so, swap them out for the bigger sizes.

No one knows that this thing could explode at any moment....

I also taped the paint swatch to the wall today so I could see the color Brian picked out. It's called Wonder Blue.

Brian made fun of me for taping it to the wall lol I wonder why? ;)

We aren't painting all of the walls, just a wide band near the top for a pop of color and we are getting some shelves and painting them the same color of blue. We aren't sure if we will still be in this apartment come March when our lease is up, but we might stay. It really depends on a number of factors. So we didn't want to commit to painting just because we might have to turn around again in 6 months and paint it all back white. I hate painting. Glad I get to sit this one out.

With the rocking chair coming in and our recliner going out today, all we have left to do is paint and decorate. I do need a new lamp though, or one of those 3 way bulbs for the one we have currently.

Here's the rocking chair! It's one of those nice gliders.

Rock a bye baby... on the tree top...

Time flies when one is having fun! Poor Brian though, he's going to have to do all of the painting. Maybe I can bribe ask his brother to help out. Food and beer- always a winner, right?

Now I also need to just rearrange the furniture, and we will be done... but we will do that after painting!

Baby Shower! & Ramblings

I had so much fun at our baby shower Saturday! We got lots and lots and lots of great gifts! Our nursery is very stuffed full of delightful gifts and I haven't had any motivation to start sorting it out. We also got some money, which we needed! I finished buying everything else we didn't get from our registry, so now we have everything! Hurray!!

The rest of the money (there was plenty left over) went straight into savings and now we have over half of our starter emergency fund, rent is paid, and we are starting on next month's expenses! A whole week early, but it is so much better than we have been doing.

This baby is a blessing in so many ways. We are finally getting our act together- paying bills on time/early, saving, and keeping up the house are just a few of the perks we didn't really think about before.

After a quick power nap (who knew showers could be so exhausting?) I got a bug up my butt about doing laundry. I've done 4 loads today and am slowly working my way through our mess of a walk in closet.

Pretty much this week is going to be about cleaning our room up so we can get the nursery sorted out and put everything together. I am very excited about how much wonderful stuff we have! I feel so blessed. I know it sounds cheesy (oh she's so hormonal, she's blessed about everything) but it really shows how much friends and family care. It's a scary transition to suddenly be expecting a child and not have any clue on how to do anything at all.

Enjoy the pictures! There aren't any of family/people in them, because I didn't take any. I'll have to wait until I get some from other family members.

The cake! the booties have a place to put a name and date on them hehe

The candy I made! Ducks for Drake!

The cute table

The present area- it filled up overflowing after I took the pic, hehe

Welcome baby!

Nursery is packed!

My goodies, my goodies!
A diaper genie (pail), diapers, blankets, stroller
clothes, ... you get the idea!

Car seat.

The bags/tub is full of baby clothes I have yet to sort

This high chair is super nice- it reclines in 3 different positions to accommodate baby in various stages

This 'bouncy' chair vibrates to simulate car rides! the screw drivers
are a nice touch as well. :P

Diaper bag stuffed full of goodies!
Pacifiers, wipes, wash cloths, diaper cream, etc

This mobile is so cute, and such a steal! :)
And yes, that is a Borderlands video game poster on the wall. 

Nesting

Oh yes dear friends,

I either have been afflicted with the nesting instinct, or some sort of bug that requires me to do all the cleaning ever.

I am hoping it is the former and not the latter. The former is curable... the latter feels like a disease. Ha!

First up on the nesting chopping block? We got a whole bunch of stuff from my mom yesterday that she had bought at a garage sale (more on everything later) and one of the items was Winnie the Pooh bedding (at a steal for $5)

I have piled everything in the nursery thinking "I'll get to this tomorrow" however I can't stop thinking about it. I have started to clean. 


I need to move the recliner out of the nursery so I can bring in a dresser and a rocking chair. The recliner will be going in our bedroom, for now. Which means I need to clean the bedroom and get all the laundry done so I can have a place to put the recliner.

The washing machine is already running and I have officially flipped my lid, cleaning out the closet, the bedroom and piling all the clothes by the door, sorting through them. Nothing crazy! Just towels, bedding, jeans, tops, underwear/sock piles. I am not even sorting by colors/whites. Just making things a little easier.

Then I have a list of things for Brian to do!

• Pick up all the trash in both rooms
• Vacuum
• Clean the bathrooms up (empty the trash, clean the mirror/sink)

 And this can be handled while I am putting away all the clothes! We have a lot of clothes.

I have a clear plastic dresser thing with 3 drawers that is going into the baby's room. This is going to be filled with baby things like burp cloths and changing pad cloth things... simply because those items are so essential, I'd love to see where they are!


There was one thing I could do immediately to help satisfy part of my nesting twitch, and here it is. I put the bedding on the crib.

See? I even took pictures. This should indicate the seriousness of my condition.

This crib looks too empty and lonely...

There, I fixed it.

Brian even took notice of me cleaning .

"You are going to be a great mother."
"Why?" *as I fumble with a dust ruffle* "Do dust ruffles go under the mattress?"
"What's a dust ruffle?"
"I think it's this thing."
"Huh, no idea."
"So what were you saying about me being a great mother?"
"Just that it's really cute how you're getting all into this."

More shenanigans as they unfold, I promise! PS what color do you think we should paint the nursery? We are kind of going Winnie the Pooh themed.