Baby Bed Diaster

A few weeks ago my DH was home from work over the weekend so I thought it'd be a good opportunity to set the crib up. (Notice that thought is in italics!) DS was 18 months when we switched him from crib to toddler bed... we will wait till 2 years with this new baby! DS developed a bad habit of crawling out of bed and into ours when the rail came down and we still struggle with this on almost a nightly basis.

The crib is very functional for a small room which is great because that is what we have. The changing table is built on the end of the bed with a set of 3 drawers underneath and on the backside of the drawers are 3 shelves. There is also a rolling "floor drawer" that fits under the bed... lots of storage.

In order to keep things simple, we left the changing table assembled so that all we would need to do is piece the crib back together and reattach it to the changing table. It'd been almost two years since we had messed with the crib but since we'd assembled and disassembled it so many times (because of moving into our home when DS was 3 months), we thought it'd be a breeze... WRONG!

My DH, like most men, has it in his head that instructions manuals are really unnecessary. I pushed the envelope when it came to reassembly simply because I wanted it done right the first time. And since I was getting the impression that he'd rather be watching a football game than putting the crib up, I took it upon myself to read the manual out loud to him!

We work really well together, normally! We have great chemistry and often know what the other is thinking before he/she even thinks it. This project, however, was a little different! What should have taken maybe 20 minutes, took over an hour! And, it's still not entirely put together! The front rail is still sitting on the floor next to the bed because the screws are missing. What a disaster!

With 9 weeks left before Baby arrives we have plenty of time to get the crib up and ready but it's a good thing we started when we did or DH would probably be in some pretty hot water!

Twins' nursery: the big reveal!

I'm feeling pretty excited today because the twins' nursery is officially finished! We kinda left it down to the wire, so it's a relief to have it done before they arrive.

Here's what the room looked like before:

There was nothing wrong with it per se, but it was a bit...boring. Here's what the room looks like now:

What do you think? It's not fancy by any means, but it's cheerful and happy and Mr Bibliosaur is especially proud of the gigantic pirate ship decal, which was...interesting...to put up (I wish both it and the paint color photographed better with my little camera, because they look quite cool in person). A few details:

• Paint - the color is Secret Blue by British Paints (an Australian brand) - the blue is lighter and brighter than it looks here, and can also have a green tint depending on the lighting.
• Cribs - 'Harbour' by Childcare (also an Australian brand)
• Changing table - DaVinci Jenny Lind in white, bought secondhand
• Bedding - Citrus by Babylicious. I love that you can buy their bedding sets without the useless bumper, plus they're very reasonably priced. You can buy them online through Target, or from Baby's In Style like I did (I highly recommend this store - the owner is very helpful and patiently answered my million questions).
• Wall decal - Huge Pirate Ship w/ Monogram (we got it without the monogram initial) from etsy seller Humsandtiddlypoms.
• Artwork - all prints are DIY and were created in Photoshop. The orange initials are temporary and will be replaced with something similar but different after the babies are born (I need to know their birthdates and weights before I can finish it). The L-O-V-E poster is a shameless rip-off loving tribute to this poster (I loved the idea, but at $45 + international shipping for an unframed print, there was no way I was buying the real deal - my version only cost $20 for the frame).
• Rocking chair - a freebie that I got from a generous friend, and we gave it a little facelift with some paint and new fabric:

What do you think?

Five things

Although I have a few things to write about today, none are really long enough to justify their own post, so I'll just sum up here...

• I had another measuring ultrasound last week - they're getting more frequent as my doctors need to make sure the boys are growing at the same rate, which is always a concern with twins who are sharing a placenta. And OMG - I have big kids! My doctor was confident that it's nothing to do with the gestational diabetes - they're not really fat, just big. One of them weighed 2.45kg (5.4lbs) and the other was 2.428kg (5.3lbs). This means they're already nearly at the average birthweight for twins who are delivered at 36 weeks (5.5lbs), and they're also both over 1lb larger than the average singleton is at this stage. I know that ultrasounds can be off with weight estimates, but yikes! Their heads are still measuring ahead too - both are measuring a bit over 36 weeks.

• My doctor also told me that at this stage he's now confident that if something happened and I were to go into labor tomorrow, the boys are big and strong and would likely be just fine - perhaps they'd need to be on oxygen for a few days, but otherwise he feels good about their progress. This has made me feel more confident and relaxed; I'm now at the very end of week 33 (week 34 begins tomorrow), so while of course it would be ideal to hang in there until 36+ weeks, I feel better knowing that my little ones are now far enough along and well developed enough that if I suddenly went into labor they would be OK.

• My PUPPP rash is now covering most of my torso (belly, chest, arms and sides) and parts of my legs - after discussing it with another of my doctors, he prescribed some hydrocortisone cream for me to use. And oh my...it is wonderful! There's still some discomfort and a mild itchiness, but NOTHING like what it was before. I know that a lot of women who have PUPPP try to avoid the steroid creams, and I did try the natural remedies I've found online, but none of them helped and I'm just so happy to get some relief from the crazy itchiness! 

• I've spent the last week cooking extra meals, and Mr Bibliosaur and I now have enough dinners in the freezer to feed us both for a week and a half after the babies arrive. I don't think we could fit any more in there, so I might call it quits now!

• The nursery is soooo close to being complete! We just need to get the bedding sets (which should arrive tomorrow) and reupholster the cushions of the rocking chair, which my lovely mother-in-law is going to help me with this week. In the meantime, here are a few teaser shots:

Ben's Nursery: The Pictures

I spent a good part of the day working on the nursery, and it's basically finished now! We still have a few odds and ends to get, and we'll probably hang some more pictures on the wall at some point, but for the most part, it's done! Here are the pictures...

The wall across from the door...here you can see the crib, the color block painting we did, the letters I painted and hung over the crib, the glider/ottoman, and the hanging stuffed animal display to the right.

Close up of the crib. Only thing missing here is the crib skirt, which my mom is making out of some old curtains she originally made for my dorm room in college. Turns out M&Ms fabric is now considered "vintage" (I'm guessing there was a big clamp-down on unlicensed M&M stuff) and is verrry expensive now. Lucky we already had some!


A close-up of the stuffed animal storage. I got this years ago from IKEA, but this is the first time it's been used. I put a few Easter goodies in there for now (Snoopy and a couple of Easter M's)...then we have a stuffed Sneetch, and finally, in the bottom two slots, Ben's first stuffed toys of his own that we've been given as gifts.

Close-up of the glider corner. The blanket behind Clifford is a Peanuts blanket I used as a kid. The colors matched, so I decided to put it out. On the shelf, we have some plush M&Ms, a really cute handmade lunchbox I got from a friend at our shower, some posable M&Ms, a little train toy, and the stuffed Moose from If You Give a Moose a Muffin. Clifford, Sneetches, the Moose...can you tell we're a literary bunch? My mom's a librarian, and when I was growing up she was a children's librarian - so she instilled in me a love for good children's literature.

The blank corner where our changing table/dresser will go. It's currently being handmade by Ben's GranPoppy (Mr. Citysaur's dad). They'll bring it up next month.

The wall opposite the crib - just to the right of the main door. We have an M&Ms cuckoo clock, some dispensers, a shelf of children's books, and on the bottom, some socks and bibs that are waiting for the dresser, the bumbo, and the hamper. And if you look very closely, in the middle on the top shelf, you'll see a clay sculpture. It's a star-bellied sneetch dancing with a plain-bellied sneetch, and my late father sculpted it for me. I figured it would be nice for Ben to have something of his grandfather in the room.

The wall we didn't paint - because it's taken up by this huge door, which leads to bathroom/closet/utility room.

Close-up of the crib.

And finally, the floor covering - a patchwork of four different rugs I found online.

So there you have it - a tour of our nursery!

Rave: Spa Baby/Tummy Tub

At the beginning of my third trimester I posted about the Spa Baby/Tummy Tub. It was a splurge for us at $50. Surely there are less expensive options and for a budgetzilla like me I was going on faith that somehow, this infant tub was different.

Well, lo and behold...it is! Here's Daddy Divasaur giving Libby her first bath today at two weeks old. She's fussing a bit in the first clip because we had just removed a dirty diaper (she doesn't like dirty diapers), but you'll notice how quickly she settles down. And afterwards, she was calm and relaxed and took a nice, long nap. Yay for this "funny bucket" that looks like we're making "baby soup." I definitely recommend this product...especially now that I have used it myself. Seems so much nicer than a wet baby flailing about in one of those reclined, shallow baby bath tubs that you have to use a wet washcloth on baby's tummy to try to keep him or her warm!

Baby Ben's Nursery: The Concept

Central Theme: M&Ms

Reason: Bright, bold colors, good for baby boy or girl (I've had the concept since before the pregnancy even began). Also, I collected M&Ms memorabilia in college and used it to decorate my dorm room...so I already had a ton of stuff we could use for decor. Though I knew it would be a bit difficult to find officially licensed M&Ms stuff for certain items (crib sheets, hamper, etc.), the good news is, most anything in a solid primary color will work.

What we have so far: A white crib (DaVinci Emily 4-in-1 from Target)A white glider/ottoman combo with blue fabric - got it second-hand off of Craigslist.

Two white bookshelves for storage.

We decided to go with white furniture because the room is on the small side, and closed-in as well (no windows) - so we didn't want to put a bunch of black furniture in there along with all the bright colors, feeling like that might overwhelm the small (10' x 12') space.

Floor covering: The flooring in the room is hardwood (original hardwood flooring from 1929, when the building was opened as a department store). My mom wanted something a little softer for the baby's room. We searched high and low for affordable carpet tile that would fit the room, but never could find anything we were both happy with. A couple of weeks ago, I started looking at rugs, and I found a set of oh-so-adorable M&Ms/sport-themed rugs. They had one each for baseball, football, soccer, and basketball.

Since the rugs are already a mosaic, I thought it might be cute to get one of each and make a giant mosaic rug out of them. They're slightly larger than 3' x 4' each, so altogether the big rug should be about 6 1/2' x 9 2/3 ' - not too bad, and should cover most of the open space in the center of the room.

Paint: As I previously mentioned, the nursery is an interior room, with no windows of its own. This isn't too bad, because the door is a huge loft-style door, and it opens out to our living room, which is very narrow, and lined with windows. So there's plenty of natural light only a few feet away from the nursery. But I still wanted to take this into account when choosing how to paint the room. Add to that the fact that we're renting, and I really didn't want to paint a whole bunch just to have to leave it behind some day.


I decided on a color-block pattern...sort of similar to what you see above...but not nearly as extensive. We're only doing one row of 9-inch blocks around the top of the walls - and only three walls at that, because the fourth wall, the one that leads from the nursery to the bathroom/closet area, is taken up by another of those huge loft doors that I mentioned earlier.

Our color blocks will alternate: red - blue - yellow - green. I left out orange, even though there is, technically, an orange M&M character. Why? Because I just don't like the color orange. That's why!

Misc.: As I mentioned, I have plenty of M&Ms stuff for decor. I also bought the traditional wooden letters to spell out "Benjamin" over the crib. Those will be painted in the same color pattern as the blocks.

I have two wonderful girlfriends coming over on Sunday to help me paint. I'm so lucky to have such good friends! Mr. Citysaur could do the painting, but he's plenty busy with classwork for his graduate school classes, so I'm trying to keep his load as light as possible. He will be helping me prepare the area by moving furniture and taping off our design on Saturday, though!

Unfortunately, the room won't be finished for a while, because our dresser/changing table combo is currently being handcrafted by my father-in-law, who lives 300 miles away. Likely, we won't get it until they come up for the family shower next month.

But I promise to get some results pictures up as soon as it starts looking like something!

The Little Frog Prince

First of all, Congratulations to Divasaur and her new little one! Thanks for taking the time to give everyone the insightful information too :)

This week has been very productive! I found crib bedding! If you can't tell I'm absolutely ecstatic about it because it means the beginning of decorating etc. I needed to find a central idea to base everything around and it took much longer than I thought, but eventually I found it! I really wanted to find something less "blue" and more green/yellow... So, I finally found a lady selling a designer crib set that looks brand-spanking new for an incredible price online, and it's green/ yellow more than traditional baby boy blue. It has a little frog princes on the blanket, and originally I wanted to do something with dragonflies, so this might even work with those if I plan it right. I am thinking a sage green for the room itself with maybe a border of dragonflies, but we'll see- I have a scary feeling my husband will want hockey stuff in there, and as much as I LOVE hockey I just don't want the room to be covered in paraphernalia.

Also, I don't know if everyone has seen this, but there is this cat food commercial in Canada that has this man sitting on a porch loving his cat with baby talk ( I mean really embarrassing himself loving that cat), and his guy friend walks up unnoticed and is completely weirded out and says something about them going to play golf. Anyway... there is this part where the guy calls his cute cat a "handsome little prince" and I can't stop picturing my husband talking to our cat similarly to this guy! And now he does it just to make me laugh, and it really makes me laugh every. single. time. Sooooo... the point of the story is that now with the combination of that commercial and the crib bedding I keep thinking of the baby as the "handsome little prince" and thinking about my husband talking to him in that voice! Something about big, strong men and little tiny babies is just too precious for words.


Also, I have started to feel body parts coming out of my tummy! I have no idea what body part it is, but when I touch it, sometimes.... it pushes back! Based on the excrutiating rib pain I'm experiencing I still think the baby is breech and it's his head lodged under my ribs, but there is alot of time for him to turn around so besides being uncomfortable I'm not worried. It feels ten times more like a baby in there- now that we can interact a little more! I can't wait for my husband to feel it, but it seems like the baby picks and chooses when he wants to make an appearance and evenings just aren't very active for him. It's so amazing to feel the sliding movement across my tummy and thinking about him changing positions in there :)

I think the baby is getting much bigger and fast... I have developed a monster tummy where there was a small pooch before, and stretch marks like it's going out of style. My poor husband took a look at my tummy yesterday and all he could say with sad eyes was "oh babe...." Yeah I'm going to guess and say that's not a good sign... I have always had issues with my weight and although I've never been huge I can't help but panic at the rising number on the scale.... especially considering how rapidly it came on... my midwife said that it's a bit alarming as well, and although I have no problem gaining the necessary weight to have a healthy baby etc. I do have a problem with seeing it creep on all over my body and more importantly thinking I am actually eating fairly healthily! No matter how big or small someone is I'm sure the rapid weight gain (which doesn't help the stretch mark situation) of pregnancy is still alarming, and knowing that makes me feel a bit better, but I would like it to just slow down a little so that my mind can catch up with the changes my body is making!

So between school and work (and life) I am trying to fit in more exercise, but I won't lie most of the time I just don't have it in me to venture far from the couch once I have time to actually sit on it. I still feel the effects of the accident on my pelvis and the increasing pressure of a baby sitting on it is not helping, nor is it motivating to get my butt in gear and go exercise. But the point is I am trying! The sad thing is I know it would probably even make me feel better and less stressed, but it's just so hard to get at it!

I hope everyone has a great week, and sorry this post was so long!

Two months away...

I know I've been a bad 'Saur and haven't posted in a while. Truth be told, it's been difficult thinking of things to post about when everything's been going so well!

So what has been going on? How about a quick wrap-up of baby-related events...

Friday, my sister-in-law (who is 20 weeks pregnant) had her big ultrasound, and we found out she's having another baby girl!

We're so excited for them, and can't wait to meet our new niece, Macy, in June! And I know our 4-year-old niece, Haley, is going to be a wonderful Big Sister.

Yesterday was our first baby shower, hosted by three of my awesome girlfriends. I had such a great time, laughing, visiting, and opening presents. Mr. Citysaur got to come along, and he enjoyed it as well. We got a lot of great stuff, including tons of oh-so-adorable baby boy clothes. I don't have any pictures to share because one of the hostesses was going to town with her super-fancy Nikon camera, so I didn't even bother getting my camera out. I'll just wait for her pictures!

Today is January 24...which means we're exactly two months away from our due date of March 24! Because things don't exactly line up months-to-weeks, I won't be 32 weeks/8 months pregnant until Wednesday...but the reality of being only two months away from the due date is definitely hitting me today!

We still have lots of baby stuff to get done - like painting the nursery (hoping to get that done next weekend), deciding whose insurance he's going to go on, installing the carseat, and packing a bag for the birth center. We still have two Bradley birth classes left. And likely, two more showers to go. I know my mom and aunt are throwing us one in March (I'll be 38 weeks at that shower...hope the baby stays put until after then!)...and there's a good chance I'll get one at work too.

I have a feeling things are going to go fast from now until this baby comes...so I'm just buckling down and getting ready for the ride!

Also, I'm sending out lots of luck and good labor vibes to Divasaur for her induction tomorrow! I know it's not the birth experience you were hoping for, D, but I'm so excited that you'll be meeting Libby in about a day!

Money, money, money - part 2

Quite a few of you asked on my last post if it would be cheaper to buy items online in the USA and get someone to ship them over for me. The short answer is…sometimes. The longer answer is that it depends on what it is. Some smaller things, like books and some clothes, would cost less. However, larger, bulkier items will not because getting things mailed to Australia is pretty expensive.

For example, the stroller we want that costs $399 in the USA but $777 here – I did look at getting this sent to my mom, and paying to have it sent to me. However, the cheapest option USPS offered for a package of that size was over $300, so we still would have ended up paying nearly the same price as if we bought it locally. And shipping an even bulkier, heavier item like a crib? Forget about it!

Other things like cloth diapers are trickier. The biggest price difference is in the all-in-one designs, like the BumGenius 3.0. They’re not heavy by themselves, but once you get a pile of them, they are relatively bulky for their weight – so even though the box would be fairly light, the dimensions may mean they'd still have a shipping price that negates any savings we’d get from not buying locally. I’m still not sure about this, and am trying to figure out how to calculate it before I commit by buying in one country or the other.

The good news is that we are finding SOME deals. For example, we just bought two cribs at Target’s annual baby sale:

Hardly the fanciest model out there, but they were marked down $100 from their original price, which meant that each cost only $229AUD – that’s $10 less than the rock bottom cheapest crib I’d been able to find up until this point, which was $239AUD for Ikea’s Gulliver. Plus, since there isn’t an Ikea where we live, this saved us a drive to a larger city.

And that stroller we wanted? We bought it, too. Amazon had a short lived sale on just one color (amazingly, the one we liked the best!), marking it down from $399 to $277 – a whopping 31% off! There was still the problem of shipping, so before I bought it, I asked my mom if she would be willing to bring it over with her on the plane when she visits in May. The excess baggage fee is around $100, but even so it’s still coming out dramatically cheaper than it would have if we’d gotten it shipped or bought locally. It will mean we'll probably have to go without a stroller for a month or so, but that's OK - we'll just use slings in the interim.

So at least we’re saving in some areas, even if it’s still costing us a good bit more than it would if we lived in the States...you'll probably still hear me whine about budgeting, but hopefully I'll also have plenty of posts about what an amazing deal I got on something for the nursery!

Money, money, money!

I've mentioned once or twice in the past that the cost of living in Australia is generally much higher than it is in the USA - my dad and stepmom, who live in a not-so-cheap area of Southern California, were stunned at the high price of food, gas and general goods (furniture, clothes, cosmetics, etc.) when they flew out for a visit a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, baby stuff is much the same, and trying to set up a twin nursery on a budget has been frustrating, even though I'm shopping around extensively for the best deal and buying secondhand items when I can.

I thought it might be interesting to illustrate my problem with some direct, brand for brand comparisons of common nursery items in the USA and Australia (I'm somewhat restricted to particular manufacturers since not everyone sells in both countries, and I'm trying to focus on budget friendly items, which is why this is a bit Ikea-centric). Because the conversion rate is relatively close at the moment - $0.91AUD to $1.00USD - I'm only going to give prices in American dollars, since most of our readers are from the States.

Ready? Let's go.


DIAPERS
One of the big attractions of cloth diapers is that, over time, they're cheaper than disposables. BumGenius's 3.0 range is fast becoming one of the most popular cloth diapers out there. A single baby requires about 24 cloth diapers, if you want to wash them every other day.

Break it down:
- USA - the 3.0 runs about $18 per diaper (so for 24 diapers, it will cost you $432 to outfit your baby's bum)
-  Australia - your baby gets to go in a $34 poo catcher (that's a total of $816 - and of course, you have to double that for twins)



CHANGING TABLE
You need somewhere to put your baby while you're strapping on the diapers, right? The second cheapest changing table I could find in Australia was Ikea's Gulliver (the absolute cheapest was the somewhat rickety looking Sniglar, also from Ikea).

Break it down:
- USA: this bad boy will set you back $79
-  Australia: it's more than double the cost at $169

NURSERY CHAIR
Want somewhere budget friendly to nurse or rock your baby to sleep? How about Ikea's Poang rocker.

Break it down:
- USA - you can pick up the Poang for just $179
- Australia - that same rocking chair will cost you $493



CRIBS
Because we have to buy two of everything, we're looking for the most inexpensive - yet well rated - cribs we can find. While Ikea's "baby cage" Gulliver won't win any beauty prizes, it is one of the two cheapest cribs I've been able to find in Australia (the other is Ikea's Sniglar, which is even less attractive), and is highly rated in Baby Bargains.

Break it down:
- USA - the Gulliver retails for a thrifty $99
- Australia - you have to plonk down $218 for the exact same crib (and don't forget, you need two of these)

STROLLER
We wanted a side-by-side stroller (tandems are no good for twin newborns as both seats don't fully recline) that is narrow enough to fit through a standard doorway, durable and lightweight - after reading about a million reviews, we finally settled on the Baby Jogger City Mini Double.  It's not the cheapest option, but I think it's the one we'll be the most satisfied with.

Break it down: 
-  USA - the City Mini Double costs $399
-  Australia - get prepared to pony up $777 of your hard earned dollars

I'll stop here...I'm sure you're seeing the pattern! If you bought all of these things for your nursery in the USA, it would run you $1,719. In Australia, you're looking at $1,632 just for the diapers alone. Add in everything else, and you've hit $3,507 - and expensive stroller aside, all of these things are among the most budget friendly options around!

I don't know why there's such a huge discrepancy in prices. I think it's probably due to more than one factor. For example, the Australian dollar didn't used to be so close to the American one - I think it was around 20 years ago that it was only worth something like $0.50 to the US dollar - so there may simply be some residual, "Well, this is how it's always been" happening. There are also importation costs to take into account, but ultimately I think that prices are high simply because - well, where else are you going to go? We're on a lightly populated island, thousands of miles from anywhere. It's a captive audience, and if you need something, you have to pay what is being demanded.

The obnoxious thing is that the wages here don't really balance out the cost of living, at least in my experience - although some professions, like waitressing and teaching often pay higher, most others generally pay roughly the same or often less than they do in the States. So it's not as though we're all consistently making double the salaries to pay double (or triple) the prices. It's also deeply frustrating that, as I've mentioned previously, there really isn't much of a secondhand market outside of capital cities - and even in those it's comparatively scanty.

I guess I've written all of this to say...I'm sorry if it seems like I whine about money a lot (at least,  I feel like I do sometimes!), but this really has been a lot more challenging than I expected. And if there's anyone out there from Australia reading, please tell me - if you live in an area where there's isn't much in the way of secondhand shopping, how do you do this without going into the poorhouse???

Thirty-Five Weeks

and thirty-five days to go! Wow. And of course, I am thirty-five years old.

I am feeling ready to have this baby. I swear I have gotten bigger in just one week! I have my first internal exam today with the OB/GYN (honestly I'd like to decline it as I really don't see the point. Most midwives don't do internal exams until 40 weeks or more). I will also have my Group B Strep test. It's just my luck that I'll have it. I'll know soon enough.

Update: Just got back from the OB...baby is measuring exactly 6 lbs and has flipped over to a head down anterior position. YAY! I hope she stays that way until it's time for her debut. Oh, and I am 1 centimeter dialted. I'll tell you the internal exam is not fun...it hurt. My OB said, "now's the time to try out your Bradley Method breathing." Nice. I sure hope that giving birth doesn't hurt in the same way that the internal did. She said "some pressure" and I felt "immense pinching." I mean, I know giving birth will hurt, but it seems that letting something out is far less traumatic than having something shoved in....yikes!

I have been sleeping better this last week, thank goodness. I am not sure why that is, but I am so grateful. I was having horrible hip pains (especially from sleeping on my side) and have done a little research on how to stretch so that the pain can be minimized. So a few times a day and especially before bed, I stretch my hips, hamstrings and groin muscles. It has helped a lot.

I met with my endocrinologist last week for my four week follow-up appointment since being put on insulin. She said I am doing very well and that typically, in the last month of pregnancy, the insulin dosage will need to be increased as the placenta continues to pump out hormones that override the pancreas. So I am increasing my evening dosage of insulin by two units to see if that will help my fasting numbers (which have always been the issue from the start). Also, if my after dinner numbers continue to rise (I had a few high ones last week, but I chalk it up to the holidays) then we might need to add a fast acting insulin injection before that meal. I hope to avoid that though but eating really cleanly now that Christmas has passed. I did really well, in all honesty, but I did sample some sweets at work that I probably should have just avoided all together.

Speaking of Christmas, we had a freak blizzard here (second one in history) and were literally snowed in on Christmas Eve. We had to cancel our Christmas Day plans with my in-laws. So it was just me and my hubby and our furbabies camped out at home. We watched Julie and Julia and The Hangover. My husband also finally finished assembling the crib and we got the nursery into some semblance of order.

Remember my inspiration board?

Here are some photos of our progress:

View of the nursery from the doorway.

Simply Shabby Chic (from Target) Pillow and Banners...to decorate the crib.
When the baby sleeps in there we'll take the pillow out though.

I still need to add more accessories to this shelf. The dress in the middle and two to the right of it were mine when I was a baby. The other two were awesome consignment sale finds!

This lamp was in my room when I was a toddler. I made a new lampshade for it to coordinate with the colors in the nursery. The lamp was a vintage shop find by my mom when I was just 2 years old, so it's got to be at least 45-50 years old by now.

These are shelves from IKEA that we've had for at least 10 years! The baskets had red and yellow striped liners so I made new ones to match the lamp shade. The Care Bears are new except for the dark blue one which was mine when I was a child...vintage! You can tell he's different because he has real hair and the others don't.

Swivel/Rocker/Recliner we scored for $50 on Craigslist. The day bed is 25 years old and real enameled iron with brass finials, also found on Craigslist. We still need to get a proper quilt for it (I like this one from Target's Simply Shabby Chic line) and add the pop up trundle and a dust ruffle.

Bigger view of the room. Not pictured...Mr. Divasaur's "study" corner which is to the right of the daybed.

Diaper stash and supplies and a second-hand Lionsheart Wipes Warmer I got for $6.

Our multi-functional crib with lots of storage.
Still awaiting the arrival of the properly sized changing pad for the top of the drawers.
Best of all it will convert to a single youth bed with a nightstand when the baby is ready to transition out of the crib.

I still need to add the wall decals (tree, birds and woodland animals) as well as hang the bird mobile.
So it's still a work in progress...


Wall letters that I made with supplies from the local craft store.
I decoupaged scrapbook paper onto the balsa wood letters and then attached them to twine
with mini clothes-line clips (hot glued in the back for extra security).
I still plan to add some bird decals to the clothesline.

Mr. Divasaur proud of the hard work he did putting our crib together by hand.

I hope to have all of the final touches done soon and that way we're totally set for Libby's arrival. Speaking of which, I have this weird feeling she's coming early. I cannot really say why though. The date of January 19th keeps popping up in my dreams, etc. We shall see. I know she's getting bigger, I can feel it.

According to BabyCenter, here's what's going on in there this week:

Your baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that he's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (pick up a honeydew melon). Because it's so snug in your womb, he isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times he kicks should remain about the same. His kidneys are fully developed now, and his liver can process some waste products. Most of his basic physical development is now complete — he'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.