Nella's Nursery

I know there have been a post or two with pictures of Nella's nursery but I've never gone to extreme detail about it, or shown it completely done in all it's glory. I may have gone into detail about how much I absolutely I adore it and it's true. It's so relaxing but yet fun at the same time. I love to sit in there with her, weather she's playing or we're rocking together or having a midnight feeding. I look forward to all the bed time stories being read in there and all the imagination and creativity that will take place in there. I look forward to it being her nursery and becoming her room.

We're going on three months here of Nella really living in her nursery and it has lived up to all my expectations. It's totally functional for what it needs to be not only for her but for me as well. It will allow for her to grow in there by just making a few small changes, and it also allows for another sibling of the opposite gender to stake their claim in the room as well. (And no I am not pregnant, do I look like I'm crazy!) That's why I went with a neutral color. I am a planner and if by some chance we are still here when we have another child (which we won't even be thinking about until Nella is at least potty trained) I wanted them to be able to share the room and not have it be too girly if the next one is a boy. So I went with the color gray. It's perfect, it's calming, soothing and I absolutely love it. We added a little color with accents of yellow, pink and a little blue.

Her room is pretty small so I had to be really smart about how I arranged her furniture and what actually made it into the room. I didn't want to look cluttered. I hate clutter, I like everything to have a place. I like clean lines, I like everything to have a sort of flow to it. You know, same color, same shapes, things like that. Also there are only two sets of plugs in her room so I had to be careful of what went where so that I could actually turn her lamp on, have her monitor on, etc.

I started with her changing table. I found it on the side of the road and told my husband to go pick it up for me. So I took it, sanded it down and painted it white. I already knew I wanted all her furniture to be white. It was the perfect changing table, it had plenty of storage and wasn't to bulky. I bought some baskets for the shelves which is perfect for all her stuff. (Diapers, bibs, burp cloths, lotion, butt cream, yeah baby's have a lot of stuff)

The transformation of her changing table (sorry it's so small)

All done and holding all of her things.

There was a lot of wall space above her changing table and I wanted to fill it without it becoming too overwhelming. I went with two simple white floating shelves that I got from Target for just ten bucks a piece. I definitely wanted some art work in her room so I went on the Internet and found pieces that I liked and printed them out and framed them. Most of them are quotes that I like that and I hope will inspire her some day. All my frames were under five bucks. It's nice to start a room with more than enough time to finish, that way you can wait for some good bargains. You can really search for the best price. Like that gem of a mirror, it was on sale at Target for just twenty bucks! The yellow color was perfect, I just couldn't pass it up!

 This is all her artwork above her changing table. The owl painting was painted by my cousin Kylie for Miss Nella. It goes perfect in her room and we love it!

For her dresser I re-did Scottie's dresser. I simply sanded it down and painted it white. For a pop of color I spray painted the knobs yellow. It turned out lovely! Plenty of storage for all of her clothes, and big enough on top to hold a lamp, a jar of her pacifiers, a small clock and a few pictures. Above that I put a simple canvas picture of melted crayons (got that idea from Pinterest). I made it myself and it came out pretty cool. (Looking at this dresser makes me think it's a little cluttered on top, but we'll work on that!)

Next we'll move onto her closet. We were fortunate enough to already have quite a bit of shelving in her closet. That gave me space to put baskets to hold more of her stuff. On the top shelf there are baskets holding extra diapers, her blankets, and my breast pump. The side shelves hold her changing table covers, her boppy covers, her fitted sheets for her crib, baby carriers and wipes. I also put a set of cubes in there to hold all of her bigger clothes that aren't quite ready to be moved into her dresser yet. And of course we hung all her "fancy clothes" and coats/snowsuits.

 Her closet and all of her storage.

 The top shelf with her baskets.

 Side shelf with more baskets.

Next we'll move onto her crib. Nothing exciting here just your standard crib, white of course. Clean, simple lines, nothing to fancy. I like simple. To maximize storage I put a shelf under her crib to put all her really big clothes in (12 months and up). I got a skirt for her crib so once you put the shelf back in place under her crib you can't see it anymore.

 A shot of her crib.

 Under the bed storage.

 Hidden neatly away.

For her toys I wanted a lot of storage because I know over time she's going to accumulate a lot of toys. (She has lots of family who like to spoil her!) I got the cubes again only a little bigger than what was in her closet. I got fabric storage bins to hold her smaller toys and the empty cubes are for her books and puzzles. I wanted an easy system for her so that when she gets bigger and starts to pick up her own messes it's easy for her to put them away. She also got an adorable toy box from her baby shower which is nice enough on top so she can sit on it if she wants to when she gets bigger.

Her cubes for all her toys and books. 

Her adorable little toy box.

I tried to maximize every inch of her room. So even in the corners we have storage. The corner next to her crib holds a big basket for her stuffed animals, and the corner next to her changing table I put her hamper.

 Stuffed animal bin.

 Hamper.

Some easy things I did to save some money was for her curtain I used a shower curtain. I really wanted chevron and the only curtains I could find were really expensive and weren't really what I was looking for. I finally found this gem of a shower curtain at JC Penny. The trick with shower curtains is of course it has to be fabric, then you just fold the top over and sew a straight line and boom. Slide it onto your curtain rod and you have an awesome curtain that costs you at least half the price of a normal curtain. Also with a shower curtain they are usually twice the size (width wise) of a normal curtain so you only have to buy one. Another way to save some money was instead of getting a glider or a rocking chair we took Scotties old recliner (that rocks too) got a slip cover and boom! It's like a new chair! (You can see it in the pictures above.) I also took an old lamp (that's pictured on top of her dresser) and painted over with special paint made to go over glass or ceramic (it's Martha Stewart paint, you can find it at Micheal's). As you can see I picked yellow, and loved the way it turned out!

I chose simple but nice artwork for her room, a lot of them are quotes and there are some special pieces in there as well. Like her owl painting from Kylie, her "guest book" from her baby shower, some words of wisdom from her god-mother, and a special quote from one of my favorite kids books.

 My favorite quote. "I'll love you forever, I'll love you for always, as long as I'm living my baby you'll be." Love, love, love, and it hangs right above her crib!

All the guests from her baby shower! Love this! Thank you Florie!

"Wishes for Baby" from her God-Momma :)

So all in all that is her nursery. I love it and I think she does too. With a little hard work and lots of patience it all came together. With lots of diy projects, re-using and amazing gifts from our amazing family and friends her room is everything I wanted it to be. 

Nella playing in her room that she loves!

Here's a quick overview of her nursery. I just love it so much and I hope she loves it just as much and will play and create as she gets bigger.

Oh and here's the newest addition to her nursery. One of the sweetest Christmas gifts from Aunt Amanda. I hung it on her door, and it just too cute!

I guess my main goals for her nursery were to have it be a calm, relaxing place for her to go to but still fun at the same time. I also wanted to maximize storage as much as I could because she has a pretty small room.

I am a bargain junkie (if you can't tell). I hate when people have to spend a bunch of money on me and being pregnant I was no different. I know most people get a baby shower which means tons of stuff but I didn't want people to have to spend a fortune on us so I went to work. We got the changing table for free (Curb find!), re-purposed Scottie's dresser, and got some hand me downs from my sister, Michelle and the Mountains. We got an awesome swing, a couple of bouncy seats and an awesome high chair from craigslist. With a little love everything was as good as new. The high chair was one of my favorites, it's wooden so it will last for awhile. I got this for just fifty bucks (they can be up $129 brand new!) I just made some new covers for it and it was like brand new!

 The original cover- a little grubby

 The new one!

 And I made a couple more to have when the others are getting washed, because I'm sure they'll be getting dirty!

So all that was left on the registry was all the little things, there were some pricey toys, and the diaper bag I wanted was a tad on the high side but it wasn't as bad now that we got a lot of this stuff for free! I also got a lot of things neutral so I could use them again if and when we have our second child. I got her stroller and car seat in green, and her crib is white so those can be used again. All in all if you take the time you can make an awesome nursery without having to spend a fortune.

Two Months In!

Wow I can't believe my bean is two months old already! It's crazy how time flies. It's true what they say, you have a kid and time literally goes by so fast!

I love watching her grow and do new things, we are definitely blessed. She is a really good baby. She doesn't get really fussy, she's just a good baby. Although she does have her moments, don't get me wrong. We like to call 10 o'clock her "bewitching" hour, she's pretty much just a hot mess for a half an hour to an hour. There's nothing you can do for her except just love her and let her cry it out. I mean she's so good all day, sometimes I think she just needs to cry, to make some noise.

Right now she's constantly kicking her feet, always moving her hands/arms. She's starting to find her hands, and just look at them for a little while. She's getting better with her head, holds it more steady now. We try to do tummy time (when mom remembers) but she's kind of a bum. I'll put her on her tummy and she just lays there. Makes no attempts at all to raise her head, she just finds her hands and tries to eat that instead. Exhibit A:

We're trying to get on some what of a schedule, which so far is going pretty well. (And by so far, I mean the past three days.) Still a little unpredictable, but hey she's only two months old. She loves her baths and loves to attempt to eat her hands. I love that she's more awake more, she's very observant and loves to just watch. She likes to be in the kitchen with me, I'm not sure if she just likes to watch me move or likes to listen to the water when I do the dishes, but whenever I look over and talk to her she's always smiling. She absolutely loves the ceiling fan, we like to say it's her best friend. She's constantly looking at it and gets instant smiles when dad spins it for her. One of my favorite things is that she's smiling for real now. When we talk to her, she smiles and I love it!

Daddy gets the biggest smiles!

She sleeps in our room still, she hasn't slept through the night yet but really she only wakes up once to eat, so that's good for me. I'm planning on transitioning her to her room when she's three months old, hopefully I can figure out how to get her to last through the night by then. Also trying to work on getting a routine for bedtime. She takes her bath in the morning so we won't be doing that, currently she pretty much goes to bed around 10:30, which isn't good. I'd like her to "go to bed" at around 8:30. I just can't figure out how with her feeding and what now. It seems to me like she still takes a evening nap around 6, and I can't really keep her up or else she's fussy so we just go with it. Bed time will come and along with that I'm sure we will develop our routines and bed time rituals.

I have a mom confession to make. It's kind of been weighing on me and I'm actually nervous about posting this because it's been bore into my head (and everyone else's head) that it's a huge no-no. I let her sleep on her stomach. I know before I got pregnant and before I started breastfeeding I always slept on my stomach so I think she gets that from me. And like everyone else my age I was put on my stomach to sleep as a baby. She only does this during the day because she's still sleeping in the rock n play at night and she can't sleep on her stomach in that, but she does sleep on her side. She was having a tough time sleeping her in her crib ( she never stayed asleep very long at all when she was on her back) and because I was so nervous about her sleeping on her stomach I would put her on her side. One day she fell over onto her stomach, I discovered this when I went to check on her. Her face was out and she could breathe so I left her like that and she slept for a little over two and half hours! I was sold, and I did check on her probably every 20 minutes to make sure she was still alive. She's been sleeping on her stomach ever since, and I do still check on her but I am confident that she will be ok. She moves her head from side to side so I know she's going to be ok. And please if you disagree with how I put her to sleep, please refrain from being harsh or judging. Every parent is different, everyone does things differently so please just remember if you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all. You can think what you want, you can think I'm a horrible mother, but I'm sticking with it. It's what works for our bean.

Her two months stats: 11 lbs. 14 oz. and 24 inches long! Growing like a weed! Ugh and she had to get shots at that appointment as well. Worst experience ever, I've never heard her scream like that! I felt horrible! But the nurse was fast so it only lasted for about a minute.

 Love her peach fuzz in this picture!

 Still loves to have her hands by her face.

 Love that smile!

 She loves to be naked!

 Loves her cousin Adora!

 All dressed up for cousin Liz's wedding!

 Love my little family!

The last couple of weeks some days it's gotten up to 40 degrees! Which lately feels like Spring! So we took advantage of it and took some winter walks! It was lovely, and now it's back in the negatives! Wah! Well it was nice to get out of the house while we could and hopefully the nice weather be back soon!

Some pictures my sister took of her, I think she was maybe a month old in these. I still can't get over how tiny she looks, how skinny she looks! I am in love with her chubby cheeks she's getting and her chunky thighs! I could just eat her up!

Our little bean in growing and I am so beyond excited to able to watch it all happen. I never knew I could love someone so little, someone who spits up on me, someone who poops on me, someone who burps and farts so lour so very, very much!

Our Christmas Budget

I was determined this year to not spend a lot this Christmas. I have a tendicy to go over board, I also worry that people won't like their gifts or that it's not enough. I was pleasantly surprised this year. Plus this year we only had one income coming in so I was forced to not go crazy and spend smart.

We didn't have an exact price in mind, all I knew was I didn't want to spend a lot. Normally I go crazy with my niece and nephew spending upwards to $100 if not more, which is crazy! Half the time Kody loves the simplest thing the most. For example one year my dad got him a race car from CVS for just ten bucks and that was his favorite toy!

So this year our grand total was right around $265! Which is pretty good considering we had to buy for 16 people! Not too shabby if you ask me.

The trick with keeping it low cost was keeping an eye out for deals. I got some great deals online, one was an awesome black Friday deal and others I just had coupons. I probably bought at least half, if not more of our gifts online. It's good for us, I always get coupons in my e-mail and now having a new born meant not having to go out into the cold. Also along with shopping online I always look at the competition. For example Snapfish and Shutterfly have great gift ideas, like calendars and mugs that you can personalize with your own pictures but I checked out Wal-Mart and their mugs were cheaper, but just as pretty so I went with them. (They also offered free shipping for the holidays!) Another tip for online shopping, always always always google promo codes for whatever website you may be on. You will be surprised you can usually find some kind of coupon to help take a little more off the price.

I also start buying stuff in November, that way it's more spread out and isn't a shock to our wallet. I probably buy a gift or two every two weeks until Christmas. I still had to go out Christmas eve to get last minute things, like candy and a couple of gift cards.

Another way we saved was that on my side we decided to just buy for the kids. So that meant I didn't have to buy for my two sisters or my brother-in-law, which really saved us. I of course still bought something for my parents because they deserve it.

I was pleasantly surprised at the reactions my gifts got. I always try hard to pay special attention to people as the holidays get close, trying to pick up clues as to things they may need or want. Also having Nella here made giving gifts a million times easier. Slap a picture of her on there and boom instant smiles! My nephews on Scottie's side I was a little nervous about, we usually give them $50 (they are so hard to buy for so money is the easiest!) This year we only gave them $25 (times are hard people!) but we did it in a kind of unique way. We put $25 in a box of chocolates. I split the money up into smaller bills, I think there was a $10, two $5's, three $1's and two dollars in quarters. They really liked it, which made me happy to!

Another big saver was we didn't go crazy on Nella. Call me a bad parent but whatever, she was a little over a month by Christmas so she's not going to remember it anyways. I'm saving ourselves for when she can actually open presents and get excited about it! 

Well that's what helped me save this Christmas. I am very proud of myself, as always I worried that people wouldn't like there gifts, or would be disappointed in the "amount" we gave them but everyone seemed to be really happy with what they got. I mean for all know they could be faking it but they did good and I didn't notice, so I'm happy!

2014

Taking a minute to reflect on the year 2013. Let's see I got pregnant in March so I was pretty much pregnant for most of 2013 giving birth in November. But I must say it was still an awesome year.

Even though I wasn't the biggest fan of being pregnant I would absolutely do it all over again. The reward you get in the end is so beyond amazing, it makes all your suffering so worth it. (And I may be just a little dramatic by saying suffering but whatever.)

I also celebrated 1 year of marriage in May. I honestly don't know what I would do without my husband. He completes me, he is my best friend. Like every other couple we may bicker, but I can't see going on this crazy journey with anyone but him. Having Penelope here has made me see him in a whole new light. He is so in love with her and that makes me even more in love with him.

This past year I got to see my cousin Dale get married to his beautiful wife, I even got to be a part of the wedding. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful event. My other cousin Serena also got married, along with our friends Chris & Laura, and Caitlyn & Dan, all beautiful weddings!

I also lost some people too and although they are gone, I know they're watching over us.

I've met many new people and reconnected with some old friends. I am super happy that I have some new mommy friends. I am looking forward to many play dates!

There's been so much that has happened in 2013 and even though I may not have loved every minute of it, like always it has helped me grow and shaped me into the person I am today. I am always learning and trying to grow, so I am excited to see what 2014 will bring my family and I. 

This year I get to see my cousins Liz, Lauren, Susan and Brent get married. I also get to see my best friend get married, and I get to stand up there by her side while she does so. I am so excited for 2014. In 2014 we will watch Penelope grow, and do so many new things. I am beyond excited to watch her journey, I can't wait to see the type of person she will become.

My year in review:

Kody turned 7!

I was a nanny for these amazing little girls!

Easter, I was 7 weeks along and had just found out I was pregnant!

 Attending our friends wedding in May.

 Ellie's baby shower!

 Mr. Copeland came in June! Love him to pieces!

 Summer as a pregnant lady, is a little rough!

 We made it to Fenway!

At Serena's wedding in June.

 Mauranda and Dale's wedding in July!

Hanging up at camp!

 Love our maternity pictures!

 My baby shower in September

 Surrounded by so many people, I felt very loved!

So many presents!

My cousin Florie hosted the shower and all the little details were amazing! Loved everything!

 More maternity pictures

 My Halloween costume this year.

At another friend's wedding!

 Finally November 16th, our bean decided to make her appearance!

 7 lbs. 13 oz. and 19 in. long!

 Best friends already!

 Nella's first Christmas!

2013 was pretty incredible, bring it on 2014!