Recent Etsy Purchases

Now that I made my first Etsy purchase, I've been dipping my toes into it a little more. 

I bought a set of this stationary for a friend's birthday and they turned out beautifully:

(SilhouetteBlue)

Then, I ordered two canvas prints for baby girl's room.  I got them over the weekend and they look so cute in her room.

(both are by gingerhorvathART)

I could get into this whole Etsy thing!

Here's the glider

Do you think it's a big deal that the wood stain doesn't match her other furniture??

Mix-Ups All Around: Furniture and Registry

THE FURNITURE!

Yesterday, I anxiously awaited the delivery of baby girl's furniture.  They were supposed to be delivering it between 2-6.  I vaccuumed it (again), dusted it (again) and opened up the drapes to let the sun shine in.  Then, I waited.  I literally sat myself next to the window and waited impatiently for what seemed like forever - but in reality they showed up at 2:30.

They were super nice and were incredibly careful moving the furniture into our house that has extremely narrow doorways and close corners.  Once everything was in place and I shut the door when they left, I sprinted (okay not sprinted because honestly, this belly doesn't allow for that.  It was probably more like a quick waddle) up the steps and into her room with such giddiness.  I looked at the dresser - which is absolutely beautiful and then checked out the box that has the crib in it.  I noticed it said the wrong crib name.  Eek!  So I quick waddled back down the steps and out the door and flagged down the men as they were pulling away. 

He came back in and checked it, and this is where the many apologies started.  They did in fact bring the wrong crib but they were quick to remedy the situation.  They asked when I'm due - if I was due soon, they'd go ahead and have us use this until the new one can make it back up to our house.  Since I'm not due soon, they came back in and took it (which is what I wanted) and confirmed that they do have the correct crib in stock.  Their plan was to come back tonight to try to redeliver it.  Keep in mind that their location is an hour from our house - I was super impressed.  The driver said he'd call me within 2 hours.

2 hours later, I got a call saying they can't get back up to Baltimore tonight.  But they want to redeliver it tomorrow, or the next convenient time for me.  My schedule happens to be crazy the next week so it'll be delivered in less than 2 weeks.

Even though the mix-up happened, they handled it completely professionally and in a very quick fashion.  I am so happy we decided to order our furniture through Buy Buy Baby - clearly their customer service is important, and I really appreciate that in a company.

Even though the only furniture we have in there now is the dresser, I can't help but feel the need to be in that room.  I love it.  I imagine myself changing her diaper on that dresser, and getting her dressed, and imagine her giggling on it, or crying on it.  I put away most of the clothes that have been gifted to us thus far.  Becoming a mom is right around the corner, and I am thrilled.

THE REGISTRY
Last night I got on our registry to add something, and noticed when I pulled it up that a whole lot of stuff we didn't register for is on it.  As I looked further into it, I realized that a lot of stuff that has been added was purchased.  Clearly something was wrong with our registry - no shower has been planned for, and almost all of it was stuff I hadn't registered for.  I got worried though especially because the stuff we did register for is the stuff we NEED pretty much right away when baby is born - what is all this other stuff?The few things that were bought that I had registered for are such common items that wouldn't just relate to our registry.  I called BBB and got it worked out - apparently sometimes if someone goes to buy stuff at the store and the computer register is already in another registry, then those items get punched into the wrong registry as being bought.  So by tonight all of those items should be removed from our registry. 

So yeah - I think those were the two Thursday mix-ups.

This weekend I am locking myself in the office to finish my first draft of a huge paper.  Other than that, I'm sure I'll try to squeeze in some baby stuff.  I just can't help myself :)  Have a great weekend!

The Curtains

Here is a picture of the curtains we put up.  We got the sheers and the black-out curtains from Bed Bath & Beyond.  It was a little pricier than we were hoping - but it was completely necessary and I looked elsewhere before we bought them there, and BBB had the most inexpensive ones I could find.

I realize we totally need to iron them still - but at least this gives you an idea of what they look like.  Also, we aren't loving the way they look.  But, we've checked the room's temperature the past few days and it seems to be pretty much the same as the rest of the house (and we even had a sunny/very warm day outside yesterday which normally would make that room a sauna).  So considering the price and that they seem to be doing what they're supposed to be doing, it far outweighs the fact that we don't love the way they look.

And do you also notice anything in the picture compared to the last pictures of the room I showed you?  Yep, Ian broke down the bed and the room is officially cleared out except for that bike.  I took the picture in the middle of him breaking down the bed.

Weekend Recap and Nursery Pictures

I don't know what the weather is like near you, but we had absolutely amazing weather this weekend.  It was in the mid to upper 60's, sunny, breezy, without a cloud in the sky.  We opened up the windows and doors and let the spring air fill our house.  I now understand why people who live in warmer climates (you lucky CA people) are so active, because we were incredibly active and motivated.  (Today it's rainy and overcast, but I'm not dwelling on that because we were so spoiled with awesome weather over the weekend.)

We kicked off our weekend with a fab dinner with friends at Samos.  Saturday, we got lots of cleaning up and cleaning out done in the house, along with our weekly errands (grocery shopping, dry cleaning, etc.), and finally cooked out on the grill and watched Up in the Air.  And finally yesterday, we went shopping for black-out drapes for the nursery, started clearing out the room, picked up my bridesmaid dress for Leah's wedding (two sets of friends are getting married two months from today!), went bra shopping, and Ian put up the curtains. 

First, I liked that movie but wasn't in love with it.  I felt kind of disappointed when it was over because it just ended kind of awkwardly.  What did you think?

Second, bra shopping was major blah.  I was measured about 8-10 weeks ago and my bra size hadn't changed.  But I'd been noticing that my boobs were just having a life of their own, and not looking great in my bras.  I was measured, and the number hasn't changed, but I've gone up one cup size.  I now have porn star boobs. 

Third, I tried on the bridesmaid dress, which is beautiful by itself, but on me looks quite awful.  It wouldn't look awful if I wasn't pregnant.  It's kind of a slate gray which I think is very pretty.  And I ordered the maternity style - but there's really no way to measure for it because we had no idea how big I'll be when I have to wear it at 32 weeks.  So I put it on before I left the store to make sure that there was some room for growth, and holy crap it looked awful.  It looked like a tent.  I showed Ian and even he was like whoa, you look big.  I think because it's flowy from the belly down, that it just kind of makes me look like a whale.  It needs to be taken up in the chest a lot (my rib cage still is tiny compared to my ginormous hips/butt, and now belly), and then besides that, I'll just have to wait and see how big I get before we decide if the belly is too big.  A friend recommended a great alterations person nearby - so hopefully she can work some magic for me.

Fourth, I'm not in love with the curtains we got.  We got plain white sheers to go underneath the black-out drapes.  The white sheers are perfectly fine, but the drapes are kind of eh.  We got a color to match the paint instead of trying to match it to the colors we'll be using in her room.  They definitely need to be ironed, but they are just kind of blah looking.  On the plus side, they seem to block out a whole lot of light making her room pretty dark during the day.  So they are at least doing what they're supposed to do.  Now, we'll just wait and see over the next few days whether that room gets quite as hot.  Even though I'm not loving the way they look, if they do what they're supposed to do, then we'll keep them.

Finally, here are some pictures of the room before we did anything to start transforming it.  Notice that although it's a guest bedroom, it is also a holding spot for lots of randomness like toilet paper and extra bedding because we have no linen closet, or any other closet in the entire house besides our master bedroom closet. 

Friday Happenings

I have posted a lot this week people!  I hope you're not too overwhelmed with the amount of information I've thrown at you.  Or bored.  Or... Well I just hope you've enjoyed this many posts because the likelihood of it continuing once spring break is over is pretty low.

When we moved to Baltimore, we purchased lots of new items for the house.  Mainly, we got new stuff for the family room (couches, TV, ottoman).  Otherwise, the majority of our furniture are from moving out of our respective parents houses, or what we bought when we lived on our own out of college (not together at that point), or hand-me-downs from our families.

Our kitchen table though - it was Ian's parents from when they lived in France.  Ian moved to the U.S. from France when he was 15.  He's turning 30 this year.  This kitchen table is OLD.  It is at the top of our list to replace when I'm finished school and we have two incomes.  I'm sure it was super stylish when his parents had used it back in the day, but it's time for this baby to go.

Unfortunately, it is still serving its purpose and we just don't feel we can justify spending money on new table/chairs when we have more important things going on in our life (the big one, our sweet little girl and all of the stuff we need to get to prepare for her arrival). 

We were at Tar-get and Ian saw a tablecloth and said - why don't we just keep the table covered?  Hmm, simple solution, inexpensive, and could possibly hide a bit of the table?  Let's go for it!

Well, I'm LOVING it covered.  We bought a busy but dainty tablecloth for about $20.  Actually, this picture makes it look old-ladyish (no offense to old ladies), but I promise it looks much brighter and sunnier in person.  And I can't help but smile when I walk into the room and see it.  While I cannot wait to replace this table, I'm much happier with disguising it for now.

See:

I just took pictures of our guest room to post as before pictures.   I will be posting them next week, along with pictures along the way to transforming the guest room/exercise bike room/storage area into nursery for baby.  And then, next Thursday, her furniture is being delivered.  We measured everything out last night to decide where each piece is going.  It's so exciting to start this process!  And holy crap, we're getting so excited for her to be here (but little one, stay in there and keep growing for at least another 14 weeks).

In the meantime, here is one picture of the sliding glass doors in her room that I am currently researching.  Why?  Because these doors let in SO much heat during the warmer months, and the room is freezing during the cold months.  Also, see how much light they let in?  We need to block out that light for her naps.  Finally, we want the doors covered because I'll be breastfeeding and I want to feel comfortable without worrying about people people able to see in (it would be extremely difficult for anyone to see in anyways - but still).

We're looking into getting black-out drapes. From what I've read, they help no only block out light, but insulate the windows.  Anyone have experience with these?  Where did you get them?  I've found a bunch of places online, but they seem to be expensive and also we have to buy the black-out liner in addition to a curtain on top.  Even more pricey!  Any other recommendations?

Have a fabulous weekend! We have plans with friends, plans to work on the nursery, and I have plans to write this stinking paper.

Our Decision to Not Paint

As the title suggests, we are not painting our little lady's room.  1 - we rent.  2 - we're only planning on being in this house after she arrives for 1 year. And 3 - it's already a lovely color.  It's actually about the same color of the walls in the furniture picture.  If the room still had white walls, we'd totally paint it.  But considering those three factors all together, it seems like it would be a lot of work for the little amount of time we're going to be in this house.

I'll actually be posting some pictures of the room before we change anything to it so we can see the transformation! 

So there you have it :)

Furniture Selection

Picking out furniture that both Ian and I liked for baby girl was pretty easy.  We walked around and pretty much agreed right away whether we liked something.  The hard part was finding furniture we like that also has a good rating for durability, safety, and quality.  We were cautious with cribs made from China as many cribs have been recalled that were made there from lead in the paint used on the crib, or parts used that weren't quite up to standards.

With most other products, I was okay going with something that wasn't top of the line, but rather was somewhere in the middle.  But with the furniture, I wasn't willing to compromise on it.

A few things we wanted:

1. Convertible crib.  This style of crib normally will convert to a toddler or twin bed, and some even go to a full bed eventually.  Our plan is for this furniture we buy to continue and last our daughter through the next 5-10 years. 
2. Dresser instead of a changing table.  While the changing tables tend to be much less expensive, we can't convert it into something else once she's not in diapers.  For us, we wanted a dresser to use as a changing table that can later be just a dresser for her room.
3. Durable.  We wanted something sturdy that didn't look like it would scratch or chip easily.  We are realistic in that kids are messy and things break easily with kids.  Let's face it, for how small they are they can cause some serious destruction.  We looked at all kinds of cribs, but ultimately felt that some of the cribs felt more flimsy than others.  And especially with us wanting this furniture to last the next 5-10 years for her, durability was super important to us.

We looked everywhere for cribs: online on dozens of websites, in person at Target, Buy Buy Baby.  We looked at reviews and recommendations from parents.  We looked at blogs.  I asked friends what kind of furniture they got.

We finally narrowed it down to two collections made by the same company: Westwood Design.  For quality and safety, it gets an "A".  The collections are expensive, but everything we read about the company is that the price is worth it for the quality and safety.  The furniture looks beautiful in person, and feels so freaking sturdy.  The safety standards this company goes by are above and beyond what they are required to do.  They randomly test the furniture to confirm that none of the finishes or any of the parts have toxins, lead, phthalates.  Also, they are JPMA certified.

One of the collections, Lily, is sold through JCPenney.  We were looking at the chocolate mist finish.  On sale, this collection ends up being about $300 less than the the other collection (listed below).  But once we looked into shipping it either to the store or to us, that $300 worth of savings went down the tube.  In fact, shipping charges were $304.  Yowsers.  Also, a downside of buying through JCPenney is that none of the stores have the furniture in store to look at.  What if we got it all here and hated that little design on the crib?  Seems like a lot of hassle.

So if you haven't guessed yet, we opted not to go with the Lily collection.  Instead, we decided to go with the Brookline collection, which we bought through Buy Buy Baby.  BBB already has the crib and dresser in stock, and will ship it to us for $65 and unpack all of it in the room. Also, since we're already registered at BBB, we can add the additional pieces we are interested in onto the registry.  This way, either we'll be so fortunate as to receive one of the pieces as a gift, can use gift cards we might get towards it, or at least get a discount on the items so that we can buy them.  We went ahead and purchased the crib and dresser and they should arrive in the next week!  Here it is:

Ian asked that they do not put together the crib so that he can do it.  So within the next week or so, Ian will be taking down everything in the guest room and we'll begin to transform it into the nursery.  I can't wait!