Somewhere for Baby to Sleep

When Christian was a baby we slept him in our room in the pram that attaches to our stroller.  It was right next to our bed and was the perfect height.  This time that is not going to work because I'm going to need the stroller for Christian and New Baby, since I will not be able to manage them both out alone.

I'm on the look out for something that will work.  My engineer wants to borrow this little seat from our friends and rig up some sort of chair table for it (its very low to the ground and I don't like the idea of the baby being so low I have to get on the ground to see him).  I really won't sleep a wink, I'll be thinking the baby is going to fall off the table thing (or get pulled down by a toddler...)

My other problem with this is that I'm afraid if we sleep the baby in this 24/7 for the first three months that when it comes time to move him to his crib he will not want to sleep flat since this is at such an angle.  That is not a battle I want to fight:)

If they were giving them away (and I"m pretty sure they do not :) I would get this bassinet from Pottery Barn Kids.  Isn't it beautiful?  I just love it.  Its ridiculous though, like $300! That's robbery for something you are not going to use that long and then you have to find some place to store it....Not going to happen, but a fun thought. 

 

Then there is the stand that holds our pram thing from our stroller.  It would be nice to get this because I already have the sheets and everything for it, and then it would free up the wheels so I could use the stroller in my day to day life.  Only bummer is its $100.  That seems like a lot for legs....hum....

So I'm still on the search...let me know if you see anything that might work.
Love, Nicole

How Its Coming Along

The decorating that is...

We spent the weekend in Orlando and got some great stuff for the babies room, for Christian, and for the house.  Yeah! My rooms are coming along.  Here are a few shots of what they look like so far. 

 This is a new area in the living room.  I got this vase at Home Goods for $14! We got two ledge shelves and a bunch of white frames in different sizes from Ikea.  I'm hoping that this can be a place to put our family picture (when we get one!).  Once the baby is born I want to get one of the four of us printed on a canvas.   

 These are the new pillows.  I'm still missing one green one, but I've got to figure out what I want.  I wanted to bring in this new lighter blue color and these pillows were perfect.  Both the white and blue ones are super soft velvety cotton.

 Here's one up close shot of the bookcase.  I got this blue plate at Home Goods and it really helped me match the blue in the room.  Before most everything in the bookcase was gold, white and green.  I thought bringing in another color would really make it pop. 

Here is the full bookcase shot.  I wanted to really hide all the kid toys and take back my living room!  All the black cubbies at the bottom are full of Christians toys.  I love this new look and we feel like we have our grownup living room back.  I was also able to organize the toys more in these bins, and we also brought a lot of them upstairs now that Christian has a play area in his new big boy room. 

A few close up bookcase details.  I am going to get some pictures printed for the bookcase this week.  I added a few new frames, and blue accent pieces.  I also got rid of a lot of the clutter that was in the bookcase.  Yeah for throwing stuff in the trash! Everytime I hit this nesting stage I toss out some serious trash.  I am so excited the living room is almost done.  Thank you to everyone that made it possible with such amazing birthday presents! All I really have left to do is the picture ledge area and clean out the front closet.

Here are a few shots of the dining room redo.  Now that all of our mail and bags are in the pantry (photos coming soon) I can have this little area set up in the dining room all the time.  I love it.  Something about coming into the kitchen and not seeing mail, bills, bags and magazines all over the table just makes me feel calm!  I also moved our wedding china to a new safe spot and instead did some non-breakable decorating on the corner shelf.  Now I don't have to always shudder as Christian goes running by this.  I made the little "Cocina" sign and the red frame is a chalk board.  I just need to find my chalk...

 Here is the first peeks of Christians Big Boy Room!  I can't believe my little guy is so big.  Moving his baby furniture out of this room was so sad and so exciting at the same time.  I still can't believe we are going to have a little boy and a baby boy.  We decided to pull Christians twin bed out all the way (it grows with him) so that we would have room if we needed to lay in here with him. 

 Here is the new dresser from Ikea.  This took Chris some serious time to put together and had about 500 pieces.  Gotta love Ikea.

 Here is the new play area in his room.  I thought that with the new baby we might be upstairs more often and it would be nice for Christian to have a place to play.  We got him a mini bookcase of our one downstairs and put all his books and stuffed animals in it.  He was very excited to see it when he got up from his nap. 

 This is the new bedding I found at Target.  I got an amazing deal on this set.  It came with the comforter, the sham, the pillow case, a flat sheet and a fitted sheet.  Originally it was seventy-five dollars...I got it for $14.95!!!  I mean you can't beat that deal.  Aren't the sheets adorable?

 Here's a close up of the comforter.  The colors were perfect for the room.  I really lucked out on finding them. 

Once I clean the room up a bit I'll take some more pictures.  The one angle I didnt' get is pretty much a giant heap of junk I haven't gone through yet.  That and the insane closet of his.  Full of junk. 

Love, coley

Labor Day Weekend

Chris and I have taken Labor Day weekend literally and put in some serious work over the last three days.  We have completely emptied our garage and thrown away a truck full of trash.  We also got a truck full to donate, and the rest went back in.  Chris came up with some great ways to hang things, and has gotten so much of it off the floor.  I would have taken before pictures, but when I went to do so it was so horrifying the camera battery immediatley died.  Seriously.  It was that bad.

We decided that this time we were taking a different approach on the whole garage clean out day.  Mostly because we have lived here almost four years and this is probably our third serious garage cleaning.  We figured out our major problem is we just love to keep stuff (not to the Hoarders extent so please don't sign us up...but still it was getting ridiculous). 

Deep down I know we both have this feeling that one day, ONE DAY (even if that day is in ten years) we will want that weird plate/old mirror/piece of metal and we'll be so glad we kept it.  Oh we will rave about how we just knew we should keep that, and look at all the money we saved by not having to buy another one! (insert slapping each other on the back and high fives)

People- this has never happened.  We do not use this junk.  To make matters worse we are also sentimental junkies.  Chris had almost every notebook from college.  (For the memories!) I had boxes of cards and letters.  Boxes.  Now it lives in the city dump.  Sorry Chris' freshman year professor of Macroeconomics and my eighth grade boyfriend.  It had to be done.  You will live on in our memories. 

Next up was the pantry/mudroom.  This room was a work in progress.  There were about five unfinished projects going on in there.  I've always wanted to add a bench so we can sit down, take off our shoes, put our bags on it, ect.  I just couldn't find one.  Anywhere.  Well I found a few for over $200 but that wasn't happening.  Not when there was more tupperware boxes to hold memories to be purchased! In comes the idea that Chris make one.  Hummmm....

But he did people.  He really did.  And it looks awesome.  I'm going to cover it and add a few pillows (recycled from the living room) and paint the legs and its done.  I spray painted some cubbies to hold our stuff, added a mail center, got a few dry erase calendars, hung hooks for our coats and bags and threw an insane amount of junk in the trash.  It looks so awesome! I'll post pictures as soon as the bench is done. 

I will now be able to drive my car into the garage, get the kid(s) out, sit them on the bench, take shoes and coats off, have an actual place to store them, hang my keys and bag, drop the mail off AND (the best part) shut that door behind me.  I may pass out the first time I walk in the front door and don't trip over eight pairs of shoes and three bags. 

Next up on Take Back This House From the Clutter....

Kitchen cabinet reorganize/donate (we have WAY more stuff than we use in there) & Living room re-purpose (I've got to find room for a swing, a pack-n-play & a baby bouncer chair--?ugh)

Love, Nicole

Decorating Extravaganza

----On My Wish List----

Master Bed & Bath-

From oaxacaborn.wordpress.com

• Tie backs for curtains: We have needed these forever.  Its just one of those things you put off doing and then two years later you are still laying the curtains over the side of the chairs to keep them open.  
• Two pillows for our side chairs: I like these bright ones in a damask print. 
• Update yellow flower arrangement
• Wall decal for over tub: I want something fun to put over the space where our master tub is. 

Office-

• Material for curtains- The color of the walls in the office is a sunshine yellowish color.  Its darker than the yellow above so I'm hoping to find some material that matches.  The office is getting a daybed and we are removing one of the two desks to make it more of a half guest bedroom/ half office.  It is one of the brightest rooms in the house so it needs curtains before anyone sleeps in there.  

Living Room-

• New throw pillows- I like the one I posted yesterday and I'm still on the lookout for a couple of white ones. The one above is from amazon.  I want something that will add some texture but still be machine washable.  
• Blue accents for bookcase- Not sure what yet, but maybe a few vases or picture frames.   
• Bins for toys in bookcase- White bins from Ikea to hold and HIDE Christians toys.

Kitchen- 

• New red & white print coffee mugs
• New centerpiece for table
• New tablecloth  

Front Porch-

• Door mat
• Some sort of decoration for front porch

Most of this has been on the to-do list since we moved in. :)
Nicole

Boys*Boys*Boys

Here is the boy stuff I have been so slow putting up.  My mother in law is here visiting and we are having such a good time with her that I haven't had time to post these ideas.  But...since we find out TOMORROW at 10:15am I figured I better put some stuff online now...just so it will be fair! :)

Here are some of my ideas:

From Etsy user CutItOut Design

I really like this wall decal.  So cute! I most likely will not use these colors because they are very close to Christians room, but I do love the decal.  We aren't using Nathan either (It has forever been tarnished by a boy from 5th grade) but we are still up in the air on boy names.  Gibson...something.  Or maybe something Gibson.  I don't know.

I've been looking for an excuse to get one of those, "Keep Calm and Carry On" prints, and then I saw this:

From Etsy user PosterPop

I'd love to have this one in the room, maybe over the changing table.

How sweet are these images from a nursery I found online? I really like the colors they used:

Doesn't that smoky blue look great with the red and white?

I'd love to know where they got this plane

This toy plane would be a serious splurge but I'd love one if we do an airplane nursery

(all photos from On To Baby)

If we do the airplane theme I'm thinking of keeping the colors to Navy, Bright Red and White.  I'd love to do a red and white striped rug, something like this:

 But I get stumped on the walls.  I want a color, but I think all navy would be too much.  Maybe half navy and half white? Chris may kill me if I ask him to do a split colored wall again.  He did such an amazing job last time though...I could maybe do a white chair rail in between? Hummmm...

What do you think of this bedding?

PBKids bedding

I'd probably do the bumper and other sheets or blanket though.

Okay so that was a mess of pictures and ideas, but I think you get the gist of it.

Love, Nicole

I'd Love to Take This Family Pic

It says: After 8 Years of Marriage...4 Times More Love

Isn't that the sweetest thing? I'd love to have this hanging in my entryway so I could see it when I come home.

image from Chic & Cheap Nursery

How crazy is this?

Okay maybe I should start a crib design blog or something.  Look what I came across on a website, Chic & Cheap Nursery tonight.  Down to the curtains its pretty close to what I came up with yesterday for little Juliet. 

Possible Girl Themes

Penelope quilt from Pottery Barn Kids

This is a sweet quilt from Pottery Barn.  It fits my color scheme of pinks and browns (to tie in the furniture).  What do you think? I figure I could get a big wall decal of a tree with birds on it...maybe something like this:

From Etsy user WallArtDesign

I could do a darker brown tree, and have the walls painted a pale pink.  We could make a mobile out of bird Christmas tree ornaments (I so want to try this) and work in some cute bird details in picture frames and maybe a little bird cage on a shelf.

Another option...

Pink Elephant quilt from BabySuperMall

 This is pretty cute huh? I hadn't thought of an elephant theme, but it could be pretty cute and I like that its something different. 

From Etsy user WhimsyWallArt

Brooke Bedding by Bananafish from Target

I like this bedding from Bananafish, but it doesn't really help me with a theme.  Not that I have to have a theme, but it does make it a little more child-like and Christians room has the animals and I really like the way it turned out. 

We'll see...maybe a more solid bedding and just decorate with the fairy theme.  Uh who knows!

I've got some cute boy ideas, I'll be sure to post them by this weekend.  I like to have a nursery idea nailed down for a boy and a girl that way when I find out the sex I can get started right away.  My goal is to be done with the nursery and my projects around the house before Thanksgiving. 

Love, Nicole

Baby # 2 Who?

It seems that with all the traveling and cleaning and packing and unpacking I've been doing the last few weeks I really haven't had much time to think or prepare for baby #2.  Seriously, besides the window-computer shopping I got to do on Saturday (because we turned off our phones, closed our blinds and laid on the couch all day long...it was amazing) that's really all I've done.  Poor second child.  Hopefully I will get it together by the time he/she arrives. 

I'm really hoping that I can get two ideas together for the room, one girly, one all boy, so that as soon as we find out the sex (6 weeks!) we can get right into GO mode and get it done.  Did I mention I'm freaking out about getting it all done?  You know me, I have a serious list going already.  We had Christians room finished pretty early and I felt so much better once it was ready for him, so I'm going to try and do that again. 

So far the plan is to move all of Christians furniture into the babies room, and then Christian will get new dressers and a bookcase.  He already has his new bed!

How cute is this bed? It starts out small, about the size of a crib mattress and then grows to a twin when your kiddo gets bigger.  The mattress grows too.  Christian loves it.  Thank you so much Mimi & Papa!

I want to get a big bookcase for Christians room so that I can move some of his toys up there...its getting a bit out of control downstairs, plus with a C section I'm probably going to be stuck upstairs for a bit.  Here's the one I'm thinking:

I'm going to lay it length ways and put toys on the bottom row, books on the top row and put all his stuffed animals sitting on top. Then next to it, I'll put a bean bag and a few floor pillows and make it a cozy reading corner.  A few dressers and his room will be done! Since I have all the baby furniture already, all I need to do is decide on bedding, curtains and decorations for the new baby.  The fun part!  My only constraint is the dark furniture (which I love) and the brown chair...which I think I can work around if its a girl, and will work fine for a boy. 

I'm working on a few ideas so when I get some idea boards done I'll post them right away.

Love, Nicole

Insane Couches for Kids

These are my top (crazy) kids couches.  You really can find anything on the internet.  

1. This one cracks me up, its like a lounge area for a baby nightclub or something.  Weird.

2. This is too cute.  Not sure where you'd put this....guess if you had leather in your living room maybe...

3. Love the ottoman...so funny

4. This cracks me up. Imagine this in a little girls room.

5. And the best one ever.  This one is just crazy.  I guess if you are doing your kids room in a 50's theme then you need this couch.  Its from Sams Club too? So weird. 

Random Picture Update

Here are the canvas' I painted for Christians bathroom. Now I just have to touch them up, add the blue or orange and attach the ribbon. And done!




We are finally getting things hung up. Here's the numbers canvas and the hanging toy bin. More to come on that later. I still need to fix it up a bit and we have to get to Home Depot and get a decorative hook to hang it from.




These current pictures are just place holders until we get something with better resolution. Hard to tell the blurriness in this picture, but at least they are up! The clock is up! We are getting there people.


And last but not least, here is my buddy that I get to hang out with all the time now that I'm home. This was like 1 of 20 shots, because he would not stop licking me in the face and moving around. Check my uniform. I am seriously wearing some variation of this outfit, black leggings, boots, tank and black sweater, until I give birth. Well and probably for some time after that. I can't stand to put anything else on but yoga pants and I'm not so far gone that I can just wear sweats every day. Well not yet....haha. Anyways, I'm giant, but what are you going to do? haha. Like the boots? I'm obsessed.

Love, coley