Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Nursery and Baby Updates

Since school starts back this week for my mom and me, we had to get all this bedding stuff done. I owe a HUGE thanks to my mom for all the sewing that she did for me. She worked a lot on this bedding for about a week solid. She even stayed up past midnight several nights sewing. I did help but I could not have done this without her! Thanks mom!!!
These are the bumper pads that my mom wrapped. We bought the NuFoam for bumpers but I wanted them to have a little more fluff to them than just flat across so my mom wrapped batting around them. This is a picture of all 12 pieces for both cribs. After she did this, she then enclosed each of them in a pillowcase so they can be pulled out when the bedding needs to be washed.
I was in charge of stuffing the pillow forms into the finished bedding. As you can see, the front side is a polka dot fabric with greens and blues and the inside is a soft ribbed blue chenille fabric. Here are the finished bumper pads...all 8 of them. I love the finished product!Here is the bed skirt. It is a brown and blue polka dot box-pleat skirt with a blue border that matches the inside of the bumper pad. After helping mom with all of this, we both see why some people spend over $500 on bedding! That could have something to do with the fact that we were making two at the same time! I also owe a HUGE thanks to my dad. He has been remodeling our downstairs for about a month now. (That will be a post later on!) I decided that he needed a break from hanging drywall so I recruited him to do some painting! Dad used to paint for a side job when we were little and he is who taught me how to trim without taping! Dad painted all of the trim and doors in the nursery. Ryan and I put the base coat on one night and the next night, Ryan was going to paint the ceiling and the walls. My dad and I decided to surprise him and do it while he was at work. The ceiling was not so bad but the walls were a nightmare!! I had bought paint and when we put it on one wall, I thought it was way too light. So dad and I picked out another color, bought it, tried it and I hated it! I ended up mixing a gallon of paint with some colors that I had at home and I love the finished color. It is just a light blue that matches with the inside of the bumper pads. Thanks dad!!!
Now to the more important stuff...Reed and Braden. We had our 26 week appointment last week and things look great. Reed's heart is still the same but everything else looks great for both boys. We are still praying that God will heal his heart before he is born!! Reed is weighing in at 1 lb. 15 oz. and Braden is 1 lb. 12 oz. I have gained 13 pounds so far but I know that these next few months, I will be packing on the pounds:-)
Here is the 4D ultrasound of Reed. Braden was being difficult and would not look up so he did not get his picture taken in 4D. We are so thankful that both boys are growing and developing like they should. We are praying that they will not make their appearance into the world until 38 weeks or maybe longer! The bigger that they both are, the better especially for Reed's surgery.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Cribs Times Two..the cheap way

Well, as most of you know I LOVE craigslist! I was wanting to buy antique white (cream) distressed Jenny Lind cribs for the nursery. When I started researching these on the internet, the cheapest that I could find was $350 which would not be bad if I was only buying one crib! When you start thinking about everything in 2's then it quickly adds up. I refused to pay over $700 for beds that they will not use forever.
I found 2 oak stained cribs on craigslist from this really nice couple and they were selling them for $70 each. They were quickly SOLD when I saw the ad! The first thing that I had to do was to sand each of the cribs. I got kind of lazy on this step but had to do it so that the paint would adhere.
If any of you have ever painted spindles with a paint brush before then you know what a terrible job that is. I decided to buy a spray gun for $40 at Home Depot and this made all the difference.
The first thing that I did was to paint a base coat of white on them then I paint the final cream coat. (Yes, I am allowed to paint with latex paint according to my doctor)
Here I am with my mask on my head and covered in paint. The bad thing about spray guns is the major overspray so I suggest doing this type project outside.The last step was to lightly distress these cribs. If you are like my dad then you will probably question the sanity behind 'roughing up' a newly painted piece of furniture. I guess some people don't get the shabby chic look! Here is an up-close look of the finished product. I will post again once the cribs are completely assembled with the bedding. It is hard to tell what they will look like by these pictures but hopefully everyhting will turn out great!

Friday, August 08, 2008

Daytona Beach

This past week, I went to Florida with my two grannies, sister-in-law, and my mom. We had a great, relaxing week. It did not rain a drop while we were there which is not very typical of Daytona. It was actually cooler there, just by a little, than in Nashville.
One afternoon, we went to see "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2." It was a cute, chick-flick!
FYI: I think this shirt makes my belly look huge! I guess those boys are growing. I can definitely feel them moving all of the time but the funniest part is being able to see my belly move like there are little aliens in there.

This is my nanny and granny! They have been coming with us to Florida for about 25 years now!
Me and mom! I think we were on our way to do some shopping. All that we did each day just about was walk on the beach, lie out, eat a late lunch, get ready, go shopping, eat dinner then play games!
Tina and I spent most of our time in the pool because it was too hot to not be in the water. We are not big ocean people either. Just a oouple of miles down the road is New Smyrna Beach and they have had about 12 shark bites this summer...no thanks!
I look forward to going back again next year but with two new additions to the family! I think my days of just chillin' in the pool are about over. Good thing the grannies will be around to watch them:-)