Where the Wild Things Are Jungle Vinyl & Nesting

Well, I think the nesting has finally kicked in. I have had a ton of energy and wanting to get things done. I really just think it's because we have a certain day and my mom is coming so I want the house cleaned and things ready. The extra energy is helping, but my body can't keep up with my energy level. My feet start hurting and I just can't go for as long as I want.

This is a picture David snapped because I was a cleaning freak and he thought it was funny. Apparently, this is my "David, you better start helping and stop taking photos of me look". I love how my shirt doesn't cover my stomach and I didn't notice. I am not looking so hot in the photo so disregard my overall appearance. I've also decided that I don't wear jeans unless it's to work. I deserve to wear lounge wear, even in public this last week.
Into the Jungle- We have finished Max's nursery for real. The Where the Wild Things Are Jungle has fully come to life in the nursery. I really didn't know what to expect and who knows what is inside David's head, but it exceeded my expectations.

We had over 120 individual medium leaves, more than 50 tiny leaves, 15 fern leaves and some palm leaves.

I love how it turned out.

David put some on the door to make it look like the jungle was coming out the door.

We enjoyed our last weekend of freedom before Max will be here and are getting more and more excited each day!

Weekend Update- Nursery Addition

Quick update from the Doctors on Friday. Baby is still frank breech, his body is in more of a V shape. The midwife we met with said that his position did get a little better and my fluid levels went from a 9 last time to a 13 this time (I'll take some credit for this as I was drinking a ton of water this week). She recommended we try the external cephalic version. We are waiting for the scheduling coordinator to call us back, but we're going to try for that Friday/monday. It needs to be done around 37 weeks so you are full term, but the baby isn't that big. I am a bit nervous about how the pain will be and I haven't yet watched a youtube on it (I'm sure David has) but we have watched c-sections so I am willing to try it for a chance that he will flip on over.

 David also came up with a contraption to make it more comfortable to sit with my hips above my head. He accidentally broke the office chair this weekend so he modified it so I could use it.

 It is quite funny, but does make it easier to get high enough. You can get on low and then press the lever and you get raised up.

We took our infant CPR class friday and learned a lot. We also got to take our maternity photos on Saturday! After all the rain, there was finally a clearing and the weather couldn't have been better. It wasn't overly sunny so we didn't have squinty eye syndrome. I can't wait to get them back, I hope they turn out.

We (David) also started a project for Max's nursery. We decided we wanted to create a little forest scene from the book Where the Wild Things Are. We had someone on etsy try to do this for us, but the end drawing wasn't what we were expecting and the price kept rising. We decided to order our own wall vinyl and do it our selves. Darrin and Stacey do have a cricut that will cut 1ft x 2ft, but he did the trees without the machine. We first made a puzzle with a scene from the book by tiling it together and getting the tree shapes. The trees were too skinny so we just eye balled it and made them thicker.

We put them up last night and are very pleased with how they look in there.

He will now make the files for the leaves (we hope to get a nice big canopy look) and print that this weekend.

I made a freezer meal (I'll post recipes soon), started the nurse goody bags and got hospital PJ's. Our to do list is going well and I am almost finished getting ready.

I'm ready to go to the hospital (nursing cami, pj pants and robe from mix and match Target)

Max's Nursery Glider

I am loving the glider that I got through walmart.com. It is a Little Castle Enchanted- Embassy glider and I went with the plush taupe color. It's hard to get a good picture of it because it's one of those if you rub it one way the fabric gets lighter and another way and it's darker.

It's a very soft fabric that is easily cleanable (says the reviewers). I am still waiting for the skirt parts to settle down, they had padding all around it and they just won't lay down yet.

It fits the space nicely, although the glider does go in the middle of the room a bit, but there is plenty of space and I wouldn't trade out the ottoman, that is a must have for efficient gliding.

We are working on getting some vinyl for the walls, I'll keep ya posted, but we are looking very bare on that wall.

Here is a close up of the material. I really like the little balls that go all the way around the edges. It's a nice touch. I sit in the chair daily already and it's so comfy. David fits very nicely as well. I can see us spending a lot of time here.

I also purchased Max's coming home outfit. Since he may or may not come early now with the c-section he will need a valentines day outfit so I thought this one was cute and it has the mitten sleeves that pull over. It says Mommy's Heart Breaker. I got it at Kohls and it's super cute.

Max's Custom Lime Green Nursery Closet

There was a few things I knew I wanted in a nursery. A few of those was the colors (lime green and aqua) and another was a customized closet to hold everything. I went to pinterest and picked my favorite.

 This is the plan that David designed for me to envision what he was thinking of doing. Once family got in town, we put it into action!

James and Chris puttied the holes from the old clothes rack and then painted. As we all know, David is not a painter and didn't want me to do it so we were very thankful they could help out. What a fine job they did!

Unfortunately I did not capture any shots of how this came to be, I probably don't really want to know. David and the boys worked on it while the gals were out shopping. Like I said yesterday the middle shelving is the expedit series from IKEA (they have a bunch of sizes). We purchased 2 of them and David cut the 2nd one up to be the shelves that you see right above the clothing rods. At $59 each you really couldn't beat the price since plywood costs $25 a sheet (we would have needed about 4) and all that work cutting and painting and all that.

I love how it ties in with the crib bedding that you can see in the corner. 

The closet goes pretty far back creating a ton of extra storage and space we are going to use for diapers, toys and all the other baby items we accumulate. The little drawers have socks and bibs.

Filling up pretty quick. I was amazed that most everything from the baby shower fit in the closet and the drawers (with the exception of some bigger items that are stored in the attic until he's bigger).

Baby Max's Nursery Reveal!

Our nursery is almost ready. There are a few things we are adding, but I am ready to show you! A lot of hard work and planning was put in by me and David. It was executed by the help of my family (shout outs to Michelle, Mom, Marla, Chris and James).   

Here is the view as you walk into the room. The room color is painted Iced slate byBenjamin Moore (we used the Natura paint with zero VOC). The Crib is BabiItalia Eastside Lifestyle Classic in White, sold at Babies R Us. Mom created grommet curtains with the same fabric that was used in the crib bedding. I like it since we’ll have to take out the bumper (safety issues) so we’ll still have that pretty fabric in the room. The grommets and curtain rod are from Joann Fabrics. I purchased the fabric via amazon.

The crib bedding was customized and made by a talented Etsy shop owner, Cottage Belles.  The fabric choices were chosen by me (and shell) going through all the fabric swatches on her etsy store and making mock-up drawings. She was super helpful in suggesting a fabric when I knew what I wanted, but couldn’t find it. I am very satisfied with how it came out. My favorite part is the piping on the crib bumper. The Max letters were created by my sister and James and use scenes from Where the Wild Things Are books in the background. David and Mom used some extra fabric to hang them with.

The giraffe and elephant were purchased from Amazon (thanks Dad and Gma). The lime green circles were purchased at IKEA. The book holders are actually picture frame ledges that we bought at IKEA. The Max name books were thought of by my talented sister and purchased via Amazon (I think).

This is the unfinished side of the room. I ordered this Little Castle Glider and Ottoman from walmart.com (it should be in by the weekend). David made that pillow cover with 2 of the coordinating fabrics to go in the chair. Cross your fingers it will all fit nice in that corner! The dresser/changing table is a coordinating piece in the Babi Italia Eastside Lifestyle Collection. David made an elastic changing pad cover in the polka dot fabric to go on the changing table. We want to put some vinyl on that wall. I was thinking something like this  above the changing table or this by the chair area to tie the jungle theme in. 

Here are some close ups of the crib bedding.

Finally, we have the closet! This is one of my favorite parts of the room. I love the lime green and how it looks next to the blue wall and bedding.  David devised a plan and had the help of James and Chris (separate post on this) to put the plan in motion. I love how it came out. I really want to take the doors off for a while, but Molly tries to get on the shelves for the lovies and toys so maybe it's not a good idea. The shelves, drawers and baskets came from IKEA. The paint is Valspar’s Can’t Miss Lime from Lowes. The clothes hanging rods came from Lowes. We have a majority of the onesies and pj’s in the dresser drawers, but kept nicer outfits and supplies in the closet for now. I hope you enjoyed the tour of the nursery. I will be adding things and hopefully will be completely finished soon!

Crib Update and Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

This weekend I did a lot of cooking while David was studying so nothing too exciting, but I did get the baby crib!

We went with crib #1. I had my 20% off coupon and we headed to babies r us on Saturday night. We thought we were going to have to order it, but she came back out and said they had a few in stock! Their customer service is horrible though, I'd go right when they open or closer to close time because it was hard to find anyone who would help us order the crib and bring it up from the back. I think it was about an hour from when we decided on the crib to actually getting it to our truck.

We didn't have time to set it up this weekend so I just had David take it out so I could look at it and inspect it. There are a few imperfections (I am super picky about quality) that I am going to try to email the manufacture about (they put a form in there so you can send it with pictures) so we'll see. Okay on to a recipe.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins from Good (cheap) Eats.
Ingredients-

• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 bag Mix and Match Muffin Mix (the dry team)
• Dry team:
  3 cups unbleached flour
  1/2 cup whole wheat flour (I just used regular flour since I didn't have any)
  4 teaspoons baking powder
  1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  1/2 teaspoon salt
  1 cup sugar, brown sugar, or sucanat (I used regular sugar)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
• extra chocolate chips for sprinkling

1. Preheat the oven to 350°.
2. In a large mixing bowl combine the oil, buttermilk, eggs, and pumpkin. Whisk until well blended.

3. Line 2 12-cup muffin cups with muffin papers.

4. Add the muffin mix and the spices. Stir gently to combine.

5.Fold in the chocolate chips.

6. Divide the batter amongst all 24 cups.

7. Sprinkle additional chocolate chips over the tops of the muffins.

8. Bake the muffins for 25 to 30 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.

9. Cool the baked muffins on a wire rack.

Vote for Your Favorite Crib

I've been doing a lot of research on cribs (reading my up-to-date baby bargains book) and taking notes. I have learned SO much about cribs. I have educated my family about them and will share some tidbits of info for you here. Keep in mind, these are my opinions based on what the book said and me looking at the actual cribs in-store. All cribs whether I/the book recommend them or not have to pass safety standards and they all do if they are on the market. The book groups cribs into 3 levels: Entry Level (Good value for the money, but may not last as long as you'd like), Mid Range and High Level. Some examples of entry level include some $100 IKEA cribs and Graco Lauren at Target/BRU (babies-r-us).

It's best to find cribs made mostly of solid wood. The lower priced cribs most likely use pine, but its a soft wood and could scratch more easily. Be on the look out for MDF in the cribs, you want to avoid this if at all possible. The glue that binds the MDF together contains formaldehyde, which can cause sinus/allergies and worse off is a known probable human carcinogen. Make sure you visit these cribs in-store even if you order online because you won't notice how well it's built. Make sure you lift up the crib mattress to see how it holds the mattress. You want metal springs or wooden slats, but a lot of crib makers try to use MDF to get the price point lower.

My grandma has generously offered to purchase a crib for BW and I have decided to go with a mid range option. I went in-store and these are my choices for you to vote on. We are also going with white.
#1- Babi  Italia Eastside Lifestyle Crib

  I like the classic look that it has and the little details.

Room View

#2- Babi Italia Classic Crib

This one has higher sides with lower front and middle with similar details.

#3- Baby Cache Heritage Crib

This one has a lot of ornate details (look at the columns). I am just not sure if its too much, in-store they looked a bit over the top. The matching dresser was also quite large. Reminds me of more of a Victorian style. This is the top recommended mid-range crib from the book.

Room view

So, which one is your favorite?

Also, FYI- Crib brands they don't recommend- 
Delta (sold at target, BRU)
Dorel (sold as Jardine @ BRU)
DaVinci (made by Million Dollar Baby)
Baby Letto- They rated B's, but have soft pine and Graco is better compared to Davinci and baby letto
Simmons
Sorelle
Storkcraft (sold as Dwell Studio at Target) They love mdf.

BW's Crib Bedding is Ordered!

Over the past week or so I started looking at crib bedding since finding out that BW is a boy. I just wasn't in love with the animal themes or characters that babies r us and pottery barn type places were offering. I talked with a few people on customized bedding and didn't want to spend a ton of money, so I went to the wonderful world of etsy. I found customized crib bedding for a fraction of the in-store customized bedding pricing that was just a little more than the babies r us type places. 

Let's start with BW's room color. I'm sure you recall that David had our room painted the iced slate color from Benjamin Moore while I was away at work. Well, he also had the baby's room painted the same color since we were thinking it was a neutral/gray type color. Since it turned out to be a bit more blue we decided to wait and see if BW was a boy or girl and assess if we wanted to change it. Since we love the blue color and BW is a boy, it is staying. See yesterdays post for room color, I haven't taken an updated photo of BW's nursery.  I am going with an aqua and lime green theme in the room similar to some of my pinterest inspiration. Here is the crib bedding!

 

I am very excited about it. I took a few days to assemble my favorite mock-ups and had my mom and sister vote and then Cottage Belles found some other fabulous fabrics and this is how we decided on it. Here are some closer looks at the fabrics. 

 This will be the crib bumper and I think we might get extra fabric to make curtains and such.

This will be the crib sheet with polka dots, sorry I don't have a better quality image for this one. 

This is the striped crib skirt that will come down past the crib. I am going with aqua piping on the bumper with aqua ties. I am very excited to have this ordered and can hardly wait the 10 weeks to get it in!