They Call Me:

Imelda. Imelda Waggoner. For baby clothes that is. I must go now to a 12-step program to deal with my addiction. (Well… you could say as much for shoes too… I have 19 pairs of flip flops… the shoes? I’m not going there.) My obsession started early; back in late March before we had even confirmed the gender; I couldn’t pass up the “My First Chucks” onesie and pink Chuck Taylor Converse! (Which are still too big!) at a yard sale. I tried not to go too crazy with the purchases but this Mommy had good taste….and like I said- I just had that Mommy’s intuition that the baby was definitely a girl! But seriously, my lovely little daughter has a crazy wardrobe! I can’t help myself from buying clothes for her- even today- knowing full well that she probably really doesn’t need another sleep and play, but there are panda bears on the feet and it was on clearance. Mommy loves picking out her outfits (even matching socks!) and takes time selecting the perfect one. There’s such indecision knowing that the outfit should be presentable for daily photo ops!

Last week after spending far too much time trying to find something that fits, I actually organized the wardrobe by size and packed away anything that was 6 months or larger. That cuts down the selection time to only 15 minutes (as for me- I just grab something clean and somewhat presentable out of my closet!) and then trying to find ‘today’s favorite.’ I love so many of them and this is the problem….  

 I was further organizing the nursery (don’t look under the crib!) in preparation for my return to work in 17 days (but who’s counting) and trying to avoid becoming a character on an episode of Hoarders, that weeding out any Preemie and NB sizes would be a good idea. I’ve managed to sort the small clothes into two stacks- definitely going, and my favorites that I’ve yet to decide what to do with- take pictures/ make a quilt/ put them on the 126 stuffed animals? I’m open for suggestions! Aaaagh- I didn’t think that letting go of onesies would be so hard! (Um, you cried when you did the first load of baby laundry when you were pregnant- what do you expect!?!) I have to figure something out as this pile is going to grow as quickly as she does. (My absolute favorite onesies? I bought another set in the larger size… yeah- we’ll discuss this again when she outgrows those too!) You know how it is: there’s the outfit that she wore home from the hospital; or the one that she wore meeting the grandparents and event the outfit that she wore when she ate three whole ounces at a sitting- I’m sentimental what can I say? I’m sure as she gets older, I won’t have such a strong attachment to cute little pieces of fabric…. I shudder to think of what it will be like when it’s actually Kiera that will be moving along in about 6,570 days. Or maybe it’s just too much for this Rookie Mommy to process in one day…. Organizing AND trying to move her into the crib for naps (Day 2 and so far, so good!) That’s not saying too much though- she can sleep almost anywhere; anytime; with any amount of noise. They say babies are pretty resilient to change; of course- it’s the parents that have the hard time!

BabyW.... Your Nursery is Waiting for You!

Finally! It's finished! After months and months of preparation... in (baby) steps.... of course- the Nursery is done. I guess that you can say that it's on schedule as BabyW isn't here (yet- I'm hoping soon!)... but we did have a bit of a 'episode' during the final evening of work.

This room was the 4th bedroom in our house which happened to be the 'catch-all' room and my pseudo-walk-in closet. Needless to say, just to get it cleaned out and ready took massive motivation and work. Thank goodness that there was 36+ weeks to do it in- LOL- I wish that I would've taken 'before' pictures.

First, the inspiration: finding a crib set that wasn't completely 'cutesy' or smothered in pink- I have a strong aversion to pink when it comes to decor (not the clothes tho.. such cute baby clothes!) and finding something that I liked and wasn't really expensive was difficult. And it started even before we 'officially' found out BabyW was a girl. The one that I wanted was completely discontinued so we ended up with one called: LuLu by Sweet Potato.... and now I am fascinated by the green and purple combo! ( :

Speaking of discontinued.... that seems to be a recurring theme with baby things that I like: the car seat; and the crib and changing table. And for some reason, there weren't many other (reasonably priced) options in a natural wood finish.... but we found something finally!

I think the best thing about the nursery is that it was a labor of love (literally)! GrandmaK bought the furniture: crib and changing table from Penney's, bookshelf from Ikea, and dresser from Craigslist; and GrandpaJ was the skillful carpenter in putting it all together (we're mostly all thumbs with that stuff!). GrandpaD spent a week painstakingly painting the walls and installing the ceiling fan; and then Jason and I spent the last few days hand painting the flowers and decorating.

I think that in addition to it being a family project, the other part of the fun of putting this room together for the baby was the thrill of the deal! Between Craigslist, yard sales and Ikea- the room was completed with a very reasonable budget in mind! The glider we scored for $30 off of Craigslist- despite having to drive to Vacaville for it, the price couldn't be beat! (GrandmaH gave us $175 for one, so she also bought BabyW an activity jumper too!) The glider is in great shape- I just cleaned and sanitized it; washed the cushions and now we're (AuntyNanette- cuz I don't know how to sew!) just recovering them to match the room with fabric (also!) purchased on sale.


And the dresser- well, the dresser. It's called a tower combo and has an optional hutch that goes with it. From BabiesRUs, it was $349- ouch! So we bought one for $260 from JCP- and it was a piece of junk- very disappointing especially with the quality of the changing table and crib from there! So, knowing that they had 'natural finish' wood, I was just going to settle and get a dresser from Ikea, but still had my heart set on the combo. Well, lucky me- another craigslist search found the one in the picture for sale at a nearby yard sale so I went over there first thing and grabbed it for $100! (Have I said how much I HEART craigslist???) (Might I add: the dresser is already pretty much filled with the cutest baby clothes ever!

The Winnie the Pooh pictures (except the solo Eeyore one) were from yard sales and the polka-dots decals were found on clearance at Ross. One of the flower lights was also a yard sale find and the other from Ikea (I also HEART Ikea!) and the Eeyore lamp was from GrandmaK that we painted to match the scheme. Now, the Eeyore picture? That was a Christmas present from Jason years ago- when I opened it he said it was for our future baby's room... how cute!

Everything was painted to match the colors and... viola...... maybe!

Remember the little mishap that I mentioned earlier in the blog post???

Weeeelll... last Tuesday after our National Night Out Block Party we were going to finish the room- put together the bookcase, and maybe another hours' worth of work. Jason skillfully Ikea'd the bookcase- in record time no less- while watching Shark Week and then my big preggers belly goes and bumped the dresser. That knocked over the glass with the dirty paint water from soaking the paintbrushes.... into the dresser and on the carpet. So, I tossed the already washed baby clothes into the washer; and while cleaning up the little puddles, a quart of nice green paint slipped out of my hand and half of it spilled on the carpet, the closet door, the wall and the side of the dresser. It was already getting late, and I did the only thing an overly hormonal nearly-9 month pregnant lady does: CRY! and cry.... ugh.

It took almost 2-hours of Hoover Steam Cleaner (bless this machine) action to see white carpet again. (And now we can't tell if it's still a bit stained, or it's just super duper clean and the rest of the carpet is dirty!) It was not fun. And to make matters worse, I had my first episode of Cabbage Patch Doll feet and had to sit in a cold bath at 1 a.m. to alleviate the swelling.... not really the way I wanted to end the evening, but, alas... an end... and our little princess' room is (im)patiently awaiting her arrival.

The cat came optional with the changing table....

Tackling the Home Projects

Wow- we’re almost down to the double-digit countdown! 14 weeks may sound like a lot of time before BabyW arrives, but there is so much to do still….. and I, of course, think that it all has to be done yesterday.... breathe, Carol, breathe! (Maybe Lamaze would come in handy now??) And to reference the time necessary: it’s taken over two weeks just to get the baby’s room cleaned out to a point where we can walk through it. Hey- it was a spare room with a closed door- a perfect hiding place for seasonal clothes, craft supplies, luggage…etc. and there was a futon and some random furniture in there too under the piles. My hubby said he's never seen the floor in there- ha ha! Well, like I said: closed door= out of sight, out of mind! But with the baby’s rapidly approching arrival it was finally the time to tackle it (read: before I get too puffy and uncomfy).




Mind you that this project wasn't just cleaning, it also spilled into other rooms as well- we had to organize the garage (Thank goodness that Mom (and her friend Shirley) was here when we first cleaned the garage- it was a project in itself that required several people who worked for beer and pizza!) to make room for some of the stuff, as well as find a way to turn the downstairs office into the “office/craft room.” But beyond the nursery door loomed a monster that was going to be hard to tame… it started back in March with preparing for the annual yard sale… and it’s time to finish. So instead of using every single waking weekend hour, Jason and I instituted a “45-minutes a day” rule to try to tackle the projects. Most days we are really good about checking this off the to-do list and it’s helping!




The office required another solution on its own- the closet was a boring closet that lacked adequate storage space for everything that I couldn’t quite part with. With a trip (er, several- you know that a DIY project never requires just one trip to the HD) to Home Depot for a modular system and a full weeks’ worth of work, we now have a very efficient room that we are proud of! And I’m totally excited because I can actually do my crafts again (beading, stamping and scrap booking- well, card making. I’m soon to have THE best reason to start scrap booking though!) and play with my Cricut Expression! YAY! BFF Leah came over yesterday to inspect the project and gave it her seal of approval- especially impressed that things were even labeled! Um, if I don’t write things down now, the baby brain automatically deletes them! Besides I figure the more organized I am before BabyW joins us, the better off I will be.

(I just had to share the "after" picture!

I'm too embarrassed to show you the before

picture though, so just use your imagination!)











Now, we are finally on to stage five (out of 6? 10? Huh?) we just have to finish the master closet to get the rest of the miscellany (shoes & purses!) out of the baby’s room- see, told you it was overwhelming! I’m hoping that this weekend we will get to paint the future nursery- and that most likely also means the hallway and guest bathroom! The last major project then will be to paint and rearrange our bedroom… and… and… it’s never-ending, but I have that “nesting” urge and want to get it all done. Well, see. Hey, it's not just me--- there are some of my virtual peeps that are also due in September that have their nurseries completely done and even the cute little clothes hung in the closet. I’m behind the curve on that one- we haven’t even picked out the furniture yet. Oh but just wait until we have to put together the baby furniture- that should be interesting- perhaps our next blog video. LOL! Happy Friday!

Do You Know How Hard It Is To Find Non-Pink Nursery Stuff????

Okay you're going to say that until the baby arrives, there's always a chance of it being opposite of what *they* say. I know, but I have to say that this 'mother's intuition' here is positive that it's a girl- and the last ultrasound, the NP said that there was a likely chance that BabyW is a girl. The needle/ thread test worked four times that it's a girl, and bordering on TMI, so does my ovulation chart! LOL

There are those that say, "I just want a healthy baby," but I know that's a load of baby poo- if most women are like me, they are leaning towards wanting one gender over the other. Though, biologically I know it's a hard fact to change once you're little egglet is fertilized. I want a girl. Will I be disappointed if BabyW bucks mommy's intution and comes out with franks and beans, maybe for a brief fleeting moment. (My DH is just making sure that I don't get too disappointed if that is the case...) BUT, I can just feel it..... not to mention I've heard a random comment from multiple people: oh, you had bad morning sickness- it's a girl; your nose isn't flattening out (WTH!)- it's a girl; your it's a girl! Thanks for the encouraging words! We should be able to confirm next week after the required genetic testing that us 'old' freaky moms-to-be have to go through if we are going to be 35 when we deliver! (WTH- again!) So, getting to the point of my rant? I have an idea of what I want for the nursery- and it does not involve pink in any way, shape or form. Do you know how hard it is to find a crib set (not that I am going to get it now anyways!) that doesn't include pink? There are the very vague neutrals that obviously don't, but I want polka dots and those, my friends, have a shade of pink in them somewhere. I did find a set that I did gravitate to- YAY!- but guess what- it's freakin' discontinued! Probably a good thing since it's also around the neighborhood of $300 for a bumper, quilt, sheet and ruffly thingy..... probably has some gold in it somewhere too. This is one way to make a preggers woman cry! I might be even be able to be talked out of the polka dots if there is something else that catches my attention, but it has to not be all frou-frouy- and definately NO PINK!

Here's the colors that I want:

Lavender, sage, and tan....

Here's what I found that I kind of think is cute: (and is discontinued!)

BWAH! I probably wouldn't go with all of the matching stuff though.... and so the hunt is on for something not in PINK.....