22 weeks

A lot of my maternity clothes are annoying and they bug me, but I do love this leopard shirt!

I realized I needed some non-selfie photos for the baby book, so I made Hubby take one on Saturday.


Morning sickness was MUCH better this week compared to the last few, so that was a nice perk.  I got a cold at the end of the week, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought.

Still loving my cheese fries and I like to get my weekly (or bi-weekly) fix!

After way too much debate, we finally settled on baby girl bedding.  It took many hours of arguing and trying to compromise and both of us just ended up getting sick of it and were willing to give in.  Finally, Hubby just said to go with my paisley and I made him promise he wouldn't hold it against me for the next 4 years.  We picked up a paint sample at Home Depot this morning and I think he got pretty excited when he suggested wainscotting for the walls.  He's secretly getting excited to decorate for baby girl :)

Planning for Valentine's Day

One Hundred Hearts Valentine's Card

Put your photos on your Christmas cards this holiday.

View the entire collection of cards.

A card for Daddy is on the way!

Any day now?

Officially 37 weeks today!

I was just on the phone with my doctor going over the ultrasound results when she reminded me that it could technically be any day now!

I walk around with August 24th in my head, but hardly anyone actually gives birth on their due date. It hasn't sunk in yet that it could be ANY minute of ANY day now!

Am I really ready? I guess I'm getting there...

-finish house to-do list (new outlets & switches in the hall, finish adding trim to doors)
-most of the laundry for the baby was finished yesterday
-bed is protected with a plastic sheet
-hospital bag is halfway packed and there's a list for the rest of it
-training at work has made some progress, but that's never going to be finished
-nursing bras purchased
-stocked up on extra like toilet paper, paper towels, etc.
-read 3 books on caring for newborns
-pedi scheduled for tomorrow

Still need to do:
-put away ridiculous amounts of laundry
-go over labor & delivery notes with Hubby since he missed the first 8 hours of class
-get the sheets & mattress cover on the crib even though we won't need it right away
-get shower thank you notes done
-keep up on bills so I don't forget to do them later
-get a brazilian wax...if I have time

So crazy! I can't believe this is really happening!

Special deliveries!

I've been anxiously waiting to get some fun packages delivered this week. I was checking the doorstep every few hours over the weekend to see if anything was dropped off.

Yesterday I came home to 2 boxes!

We've been waiting impatiently for this one...the glider & ottoman! After many hours of testing and debating chairs in the store, I wasn't willing to spend $500 for one that matched the room and was actually comfortable. The cheaper one I liked didn't come in a color that matched and so I didn't want it. After some research, my last resort was the Danielle Glider & Ottoman set from Target. It got awesome reviews so I figured I'd give it a try. The color made me a little nervous because people have differing opinions of it and it's really hard to tell from a tiny picture on the web. We were shocked when we opened that box to see that the yellow cushions were almost exactly the same as the wall color!Ok, so it's not as smushy as I would like, but I think it will work. I'm making some extra pillow to make it more comfy. I'm happy to be spending 1/3 of the price we would have paid for a fancy one.

In the second box that arrived was our mobile! Again, another internet purchase that had me a little worried. The mobile that went with our bedding set was not what I wanted. I'm not really into the buoys and life preserver because it kinda makes me think of someone drowning. Does that seem like a happy thing to have in a baby's room? I don't think so.I LOVE this teddy bear one that I found at Target and it matches great. Turns out, the song it plays is the same song my mobile played when I was a baby!I love getting the room ready and seeing how it gets cuter week by week : )

Nursery Paint Colors

After we picked out the bedding, I went over to Home Depot to look for paint to match. I liked light blue for the walls, but I thought that seemed too obvious, so I wanted something a little different.After trying a couple samples, we decided on these:

Behr Pale Honey for the walls
Behr French Court for a border stripe
Kitty wanted to help paint the walls!

The furniture saga continues...

So here's where the saga begins...

I'll start by saying we have not had good luck with furniture purchases. Our last purchase of the buffet for the family room was an 8 month nightmare! But I was past that and looking forward to this new purchase. I ordered the two dressers and the crib was on back order. I couldn't technically order it until it was back in stock, so I started freaking out that it would get discontinued or something.

The next week, we got a call that our 2 dressers were in. When we went to pick them up, I was able to order the crib! Yay! So then we go to load the dressers in the car and they don't fit. The boxes were WAY bigger than the actual pieces so we weren't expecting that. It was 7 pm on Saturday and we were exhausted. So we drove all the way back home to drop one piece off and then went back for the second piece. After going to both BRU & Home Depot twice that day, we went to bed. The next morning, we decided to move the dressers from the garage into the living room so they wouldn't get ruined. The first dresser looked great and we got it moved into the house. The second one was a disaster. The whole thing was falling apart! It looked like it got dropped and it was all cracked. So...back to the store we went with the broken dresser!

After a very interesting run-in with a drunk man at the store, we were able to return our dresser and they had a new one in back! We were so excited to see that it was all in one piece when we got it home!

And now the chair part of the saga...

I can't make a decision and I'm too cheap. I've been to the baby stores a bunch of times and I just cannot give in to paying their insane prices for a comfy chair. The cheaper ones are not comfortable and smushy. The expensive ones feel like heaven, but who wants to pay that much for a chair? I finally found one that wasn't too bad and ordered it...only to find out it only comes in green upholstery that doesn't match at all.

My other idea was to look at a more traditional chair or la-z-boy. I went to a few stores to try them out and then decided I didn't like that you can't rock with your feet up. Maybe that's stupid, but it's important to me.

So I'm still searching...I might try to hit up a few garage sales in the neighborhood. If I could find a cheaper, comfy set, I'd be willing to paint it or recover the pillows.

If I don't find anything cheap...sigh...I guess we'll have to go with an expensive one. No point in buying a cheap one if it's not enjoyable to sit in...

The furniture saga begins...

I've always wanted to buy white baby furniture. I think it looks fun, fresh, and I love how it looks when paired with bright colors. While the dark wood is really popular right now, it's not my thing. I also hate that it's harder to match things and matching everything is *key* in my life. If you know me, you know this is true!

So the white limited things, but we found a set that I liked and Hubby approved of the construction and structure of it. I waited almost a month to order it and hoped it would go on sale. Nope. So I went in and ordered it anyway. (Turns out, one week later, everything did go on sale so they did a price adjustment for me. Thanks, BRU.)

The crib comes in 3 different styles, but we like the curved back best. The mattress height cam be adjusted as the baby grows, so that's a nice feature.

We also ordered the toddler rail below so we can use the bed a little longer. Not sure why it takes 16 weeks to come in, but at least we have plenty of time for that!

Instead of a traditional changing table, I decided to go with this dresser and we'll use a changing pad on the top. All the diaper stuff can be hidden in the top drawers. I also like that it will have extra room on the top to use as a mini-nightstand next to the glider (TBD).We went back and forth about the second dresser, but decided to go with it for one special reason. I am obsessed with watching tv. Hubby knows me well enough to know that I'll get bored out of my mind while rocking the baby for hours. He knows I need my tv! So we decided to splurge on a small tv for the baby's room at least temporarily. I don't plan on leaving it in there when he knows what it is and can use it on his own, so it's more for us. This dresser is a little taller and it will go on the wall were the cable hook-up is.

With all this extra storage, we'll have a ton of room in the closet for toys, books, etc. The Elfa closet system is going to come in really handy and I'm so glad they were already in the closet when we moved in!

Nursery Bedding

This was a huge decision! You know me...everything home decor-related must be the right decision and must match perfectly. I don't want to make the wrong choice or get sick of the design so this has been hours and hours of research, thinking, and coming up with ideas. (Yes, I'm crazy.)

After much contemplation, we narrowed it down to our favorite two designs that were complete opposites.

Okie Dokie Animal Circles
I love that this one is fun, colorful and modern. It's so unique! I had a great idea to do some wall decals or painting with the animals on the bedding.

Bacati Stripes & Plaids
I'm really into the preppy boy stuff. I love the colors, the simple patterns, and it's boyish without being too sporty. This is also a great alternative to the Land of Nod plaid collection which is almost double the price, but very similar in color.We ordered both sets to see how they looked in person. Even after a week of them sitting in the kitchen, I was still torn! I spent hours up at night trying to picture how each one would look and how I would accessorize.

Drum roll, please...

In the end, the Bacati stripes set was much softer than the Okie Dokie set. It's SO cute, but I don't think it would be good to have a newborn on scratchy linens.

Here's a close-up of the blanket...
And the bumper...
Now that this *major* decision is made, I picked out paint samples and we tried them out last night. I think we made our decision, so we'll see how it looks once we start painting soon!

Nursery Updates

This room definitely needs some help before it's ready for a baby. I want it to be bright and modern and right now it's dark and dreary.

This started out as a very simple project. The closet currently has mirrored doors and I thought they looked a little outdated. Plus, I don't think they're very safe for young children. So we decided to go look at some 6-panel doors to replace them.

But if we're buying new 6-panel closet doors, shouldn't they match the bedroom doors? They already need to be painted white, so why not just replace them completely? And if we're going to replace one door, why not do all of them? So this one simple project turned into ordering 18 new doors! Plus, we'll have to paint all of them in our semi-gloss white paint, add new trim around the edges, and buy new door knobs to match the ones we added downstairs. This just became a huge ordeal.
And then we might as well get some new lighting in the baby's room also. This light fixture...I don't even know what it's for, but it's not right for this room. I found a pretty white fan that we'll install to replace it.
So here's the new doors we ordered...
I'm sure it will look amazing when it's done, but I'm stressed about not having that much time to finish!

Beginning of Nursery Planning

Why do they call it a nursery anyway? It's a baby room to me, but whatever...

I've had some of this planned for years! Definitely white with lots of colors. I'm not into the dark wood that's popular now, plus I'm way too matchy-matchy to ever buy things in dark wood because I'll never find things to match perfectly. Anyway, I see lots of light and color for the room.

The first things we want to tackle are the window and closet doors. Just for fun, we looked around Home Depot to see what we both liked. Surprise! The blinds we wanted (same as our bathroom) were on sale so we went ahead and ordered them. I love the look of white wood blinds and the fancy valance on top. I think this will work better than curtains that get hairy and dirty.

We also started brainstorming for closet doors. Right now, there are full length mirror doors that are looking a little 80's. We decided on 6-panel doors, but then I was quickly reminded that they must match the doors we put in the entire house! So now we may decide to purchase all 14 new doors at the same time.

I'm also looking for some new lighting for the room. I'm still debating on either a fan or light, but definitely something bright and good for a child's room. So far, nothing is really popping out that we like, so we may go visit a few specialty lighting stores for more ideas.

Hopefully, this weekend we can get working on plans!

Books

I decided that I'd rather be well-informed with the truth about pregnancy and childbirth rather than shocked when something happens that I'm not expecting. That's why I decided to start reading books to get more information and feel more prepared.

I collected a few over the summer from garage sales and then I also went to the library to pick up my first round of books from there. I'm starting to see the difference between the styles and information in these books and now I'm a little more picky about what I want to read.

First of all, I like the funny & casual books that really tell you the truth like your BFF would. These are easy reads and they tell it how it is. The more clinical books tend to get a little boring after awhile and they all start to sound the same. How many times do I need to read about tender boobs? I also started to see authors' opinions, their styles of parenting and how they differ from each other. I had no idea that these authors would be pushing their parenting style on you! Let's just say that book is never going to be touched again.

So for my first two raves, I wanted to recommend these favorites:
The Girlfriends' Guide to Pregnancy by Vicki Iovine. This is the first pregnancy book I ever read and I loved it! I bought it over the summer and then started reading it again now to refresh my memory. It's hilarious and it tells you all the scary things your doctor never would. I also bought her next edition called The Girlfriends' Guide to Surviving the First Year of Motherhood so I know this will be good too!

I also heard great things about Jenny McCarthy's Belly Laughs and it lived up to it's raves. I read this whole book in about an hour while I was being lazy in bed. It's very similar to the book above, but a little less detailed. I love that a celebrity is honest enough to tell us all about her scary pregnancy symptoms!