31 Weeks

The nursery looks like...well a nursery!

We have made a tremendous amount of progress in the past week on our baby girl's room! I got the rug, then the crib and crib mattress within a 3 day period. Plus Zach and Janet painted the room, so finally it was ready to start adding everything in. The crib was super easy to put together. Zach and I accomplished it in like an hour. I recovered the glider's cushions on Sunday with the help of my mom. Sadly I did not get a before picture. Just know they were hideous. We wrapped the cushions with some 1/2" foam as well to make them more comfortable. We finally hung the curtain and I spent today stenciling the closet wall. I am super happy with how everything is turning out! The room is super small only 8' x 8' 6" so it is really hard to get photos. The only furniture we are missing is the changing table which Janet is repainting this weekend. The hardest thing is going to be arranging everything to fit.


First up here is a peak at the quilt my mom has been working on for the baby.

This is the backing fabric and the trim. She has all the squares sewn together now.

My wall stenciling wasn't too hard, just time consuming. It went faster as I went. This is my nice little plan measuring how far apart I needed to do the stencils to keep them even. 

There was 2 1/2 " between each stencil horizontally and 3" between the small and large stencils vertically. I used a little level to make sure each one was taped on the wall straight. I also used a little canvas board I had tested a stencil on to mark my 2 1/2" and 3" marks to make it a little easier than using a ruler. A little ghetto but it worked fabulous for me! 

 I didn't have any painters tape so i just used some white artist tape I had. I also marked the center of the stencil on each of the tape pieces so that it was easier to line the stencil's up when I was moving them.

Any one who knows me knows that I love glitter. When I found this at Lowe's I knew I had to use it.

I was using the lids to the paint as my paint tray. I just added some of the glitter each time I needed more paint.

I just continued these steps one at a time until I got to the bottom of the wall. I didn't do the top where the shelves go. Also that eyesore of an electrical box will be covered with this piece of wood painted the wall color. We just haven't rigged it up yet.

Here is a close up of the stencil. It was really hard to try and get a picture of the glitter. Also my stencils are not perfect. The textured wall does not make the process easy.

Here is the finished wall:

Here is the rest of the room!

For the ties we used some left over quilt fabric.

This close up is more accurate with the curtain's actual color.

Here is the dresser Janet found on craigslist and refinished.

Before:

After:

The chandelier:

The rug is perfect!

Still have to get the changing table in here, finish the mobile, and put all the artwork I have collected up on the walls.  Most of the hard stuff is done! I finally feel like I am getting closer to being ready for this little nugget to arrive.

Nursery Rug

The hunt for a rug for the nursery was 10 times more difficult than I thought it would be. Of course I found plenty of rugs that I loved but they were way out of my budget. I looked at every store I could think of that sells rugs in the area and had no luck. There were a few that were okay but ultimately I wasn't really that happy with their quality and/or their price.

I don't think I am exaggerating when I say I went to almost any rug store in the area I thought may have a rug I could afford. I went to TJ Maxx/ Homegoods... (more than once), Ross, Marshalls, Home Emporium, Sears, Kohl's, Target, Ollie's, Burlington Coat Factory, Mark Gonsenhouser's where they had some nice rugs but , an Oriental rug store off of Birdneck Road by the Ocean Front, Pier 1, Bed Bath and Beyond, and Exotic Home ( I just went in there because I have been dying to look in there, they have unbelievably cool stuff but it is a bit pricey. If I had a dream budget I would throw out most everything in my house and go on a shopping spree there). I also looked online at Target, Ikea, West Elm, Walmart and countless other sites. With still no luck! I was really losing hope. Either the rug's colors just weren't right, or it was too expensive. I really didn't want spend more than $150 and even that was more than I wanted to spend. I guess I didn't realize how expensive 5 x 7 and 5 x 8 rugs tend to be. If I wanted to spend $400 or $500 bucks it would have been easy but even Target, Walmart and TJ Maxx the rugs were like $150-$200 and none were really standing out as what I was looking for.

With all my bad luck rug hunting I was starting to think I would never find a rug before my baby girl gets here. I was wondering if I was being too picky and had unrealistic expectations. Thanks to Pinterest I have several of the rugs I looked at, considered, or simply swooned over but could never afford.

Amy Butler has awesome rugs though her 5 x 8 rugs tend to be in the $800 range. The colors aren't really right but I loved this rug.

Here are some other pricey but cute rugs

This one was $400

This one is almost $1000....seriously!?

I love this rug. From a site called Serena & Lily which has super cute nursery ideas.

Too bad it is just under $900.

At $230 this next rug is pretty cute but still more than I was willing to spend.

This Ikea rug was $150 and i just wasn't sure about the color or the quality. Plus I really wanted something with some sort of pattern.

The style of this Ikea rug was more of what I wanted but quality was just not there. Not plush or soft at all. However it is only $20. This would be better in a high traffic area in your house somewhere I think.

This target one was $117 but still the colors weren't really what I wanted. It was really the only one on their website I even considered.

This one was from Walmart  but still priced at $168 and I just don't think it looks that nice.

This one is also Walmart and priced at $168 I have the same issue with it. Plus if the color was even a bit off it would be a problem.

Then my mom suggested I look at Overstock. Which has a pretty huge selection.

This one is $164 but just a little too dark for a nursery,

This one is super cute but at $211 it was more than I was willing to spend.

After hours and hours of hunting I found a rug that was what I had been looking for. The price tag $136 discounted 15% from $160.99.

 The reviews are all really good its supposedly soft and plush. It is a hand tufted wool rug, so it should be really nice. The only thing in the reviews that I won't know for myself until it arrives is the color. The rug says it is grey however some of the reviews say it is true to the color shown, others say it is a blue grey, and others more of a sea foam or blue-green. Either way it will work in the room since there will be accents of grey, blue and sea foam. I looked for online coupon codes and managed to get an additional 10% off. It was definitely meant to be! Overstock also has shipping for only $2.95 no matter what you are getting which is awesome. My grand total including shipping was $126.11. I feel pretty good about that considering the original $160.99 price tag. I can't wait to get it! 

Zach thinks I am making the room too sophisticated. I think he doesn't have the vision I do. This nursery is going to be cute, fabulous, romantic, girly, vintage, and just plain awesome. The main things will be more toned down and neutral but the artwork will be bright and colorful! Plus my little colorful bird mobile. I can't wait until it is finished! Janet ordered my crib today and her and Zach also painted the room today. The one sunlit coral wall on the back side of the closet still needs to be painted but the rest of the room is done. We can finally hang the curtain and tie back! Hopefully I can get Zach to do that tomorrow. Finally I feel like some things are getting checked off the endless to do list and we are progressing towards having something done. I will post updated pictures of the room soon, although there isn't really any furniture in there...

29 Weeks

Doctor Visit

I went to my baby check up today. My measurements are on target and everything is good! Sadly I have surpassed the 150 lb mark. I knew I was going to gain weight, but ugh, that is almost 20 lbs and there is still 3 months to go! I get my glucose test tomorrow morning and I am going early because I know not eating is going to be torture for me. I will also get my thyroid checked again and some more blood work. The baby is apparently in the 95th percentile for size. Big baby girl!

Zach is positive it is from his gigantor genes. These tests tomorrow should rule out any other possible factors. I just can't believe my munchkin genes have no say! The doctor said she will just have to monitor the babies size as we get further along. She said she will probably do another ultrasound at her office to check her size as we get closer to my due date. She mentioned the baby may come early and if she gets too big she may have to consider inducing me. Although she doesn't like to induce patients if their cervix hasn't started opening up yet because it can cause problems and lead to C section. I really hope I do not have to be cut open! Who knows what will happen. I go back in 3 weeks, then after that I start going every two weeks.

On a lighter note my nail polish arrived today. It even came in a little fancy box. I can't wait to test out my fancy polish. How to decide which color to use first! Lurina is even interested!

Alyssa and Jessica are coming over tonight to discuss my baby shower. We are also making breakfast for dinner, which is probably my favorite meal of the day morning or night!

The baby moves around all the time. I really hope I can get a video of my stomach moving crazy. Zach finally saw it yesterday. Since she is moving around a lot more he has got to feel her kicking up a storm. Finally his lack of patience doesn't matter as much and his inferno temperature hands don't lure her to sleep. I swear he has the hottest hands on the planet, like an electric blanket.

I am off the next two days. Not sure what I will do, but I do need to go buy paint for the nursery, work on the Kathy painting that is going in the babies room, and finish up her mobile birds. 

Nursery Update

Well the chandelier is up! Thanks to Dennis for fixing it and the houses weird lighting for us.

Next step is paint, which I think will be happening next weekend. I decided on Benjamin Moore's Abalone.

Then once the paint is done I can actually hang the curtain and it will start looking like a room! I am planning on painting just the back wall of the closet Benjamin Moore's Sunlit Coral which is a close match to the color of the curtains.

 Then I am going to do some stencils on the wall. I am going to reuse the ones I used to do the curtains in my living room with.

I think it would be cool to do the stencils in glossy paint. I was considering using Benjamin Moore's Soft mint, and the next shade darker from Abalone which is Silver Fox.

Not sure the best way to get these colors. I won't need much paint at all. I know Benjamin Moore sells little tiny paint pots but I think chances are slim to none that they have the colors I want and that they will be glossy.

One other thing I have started working on is the baby's mobile. I found this idea on Pinterest.

You can find a free pattern to make the little birds on Spool Sewing's webpage.

I got some sticks from my parent's backyard and I have already cut out my little birds. Now I just have to sew them.

My mom is working on a quilt for the baby too. We got all the fabric for it yesterday. I found this idea on Pinterest as well.

You can purchase her patterns here. However we just figured out a pattern on our own, Ours is only going to be 42" wide by 58" long. We will only have 4 squares across and 6 squares down, each 8". I think it is going to turn out super cute. 

I did get this for christmas from Kaelyn...

So cute I love it. 

I have also picked out my crib. It is super simple but I like it. I think it is just a little silly to spending $300+ on a crib then you still need a mattress and everything, This one has really good reviews and I think it will be perfect.

I am getting more anxious because we are only around 3 months away from her arrival and I feel like so much needs to still be done. Once this nursery is further along I think I will feel a little less stressed but right now there is still so much to do. I think it is going to be extremely cute though!