This has been our crazy nursery/baby weekend. It started on Thursday afternoon when we had our 3D ultrasound. (Check out Lammle Lounge for a few pictures and 7 seconds of Harper pushing against my stomach. Amazing technology...) Then that night when we headed to Wal-Mart to pick up our crib that we ordered online. We were surprised that Wal-Mart, even online, would have affordable and modern furniture. While Rob was waiting for the crib to be brought out of the back, I headed over to electronics to see what was new in the land of Wii. To my surprise they had 2 Nintendo Wiis sitting on the shelf. My boss had mentioned earlier that week that she was looking for 2 of them for Christmas presents. Calls were made, Wiis were purchased and reimbursement checks were written. It was a good night.
Friday evening was spent assembling the crib and making an impromptu trip back to Wal-Mart to price crib mattresses. Found a Sealy mattress for $60 bucks that looked nice and purchased it. Headed back home to put bedding on and get a better feel for how everything was going to look and plan for additional details.
On Saturday we stayed in bed way too long before getting up to get back to the nursery. Rob painted the windowsill that was still pink from the previous owners. (We didn't paint it because we didn't want to deal with taking down the blinds.) We were going to replace the blinds with something much nicer anyhow, so we took the opportunity to take them down and do the painting.
While the paint was drying, we decided to head to La-Z-Boy to price recliners for Rob. The one he has is almost as old as I am. Recently, he mentioned wanting to find an inexpensive replacement recliner. Me, being the wise woman I am, suggested he screw inexpensive and get himself a nice quality one at La-Z-Boy. The one we currently have lasted 25 years (and through numerous moves and families) so why not pay good money for one that will last another 25. He agreed and we decided to start looking.
Once there, we asked about the Todd Oldham line and were sad to discover that La-Z-Boy was no longer going to carry it. (From looking at their site, though... I have my own theory. I don't believe that the entire La-Z-Boy corporation is going to get rid of the line. I think it wasn't selling well in the St. Louis market, or possibly just St. Charles County. This doesn't shock me, and actually worked to my advantage.)
While there, I looked at some of the closeout pieces and found a Todd Oldham wing chair in the nursery colors for only $200. (The chair is similar to this one. The fabric type, if it doesn't come up in my link, is Central Park. I will post pictures as soon as I have more done in the nursery.) My mother was ready to purchase a glider for me at that price, so I sat my butt in said chair and made a phone call. She said it was up to me, and the chair is mine. (I'm actually sitting in it currently to write this.) Not far from the chair was a coffee table that caught our eye for only $50. The amazing thing about both purchases is that the chair originally retailed for $800 (which means it was 75% off!) and the coffee table was originally $700. Now, anyone that purchases a coffee table for $700 or more that doesn't have the name Nouguchi (or something equally recognizable) is nuts, but we'd have to be crazy to pass it up at $50. Some quick thinking also lead us to purchase a yard of the fabric used to upholster our beloved chair to use on a thrift-store ottoman to have a matching set. Viva la Creativity!
After a quick stop at Lowe's, we returned home to do some major rearranging and hang our new roman shades in the nursery. A long discussion was had and we finally came to the conclusion that the days of the futon were over. A new stage in our life was starting, and it's a futon-less stage. I have had major apprehensions about ridding ourselves of the futon, simply because I wasn't sure if I would still be able to lift myself from our platform bed once my stomach got larger. I have yet to have any issues getting out of bed, and I'm 7 months along, so I figure I'll manage. Everyone who's ever slept on the futon loves it, so it's sad to see it go.
Saturday night was spent with me having one long drawn out major asthma attack and us breathing new, modern life into a toybox my grandfather built for me for my 3rd birthday. The toy box is nothing special to the average person, but I've always loved it. It was covered inside and out with contact paper showing yellow bears at play. I can remember from a young age, the bear at an easel was my favorite. I've decided to leave the bears on the inside of the box for Harper to enjoy, but I've removed the paper from the outside (more on that in the future) and replaced it with a faux wood grain contact paper. We'll also be adding white trim to the box to have it match the other elements in the room. I'm happy thus far with the result and can't wait to complete it and post pictures.
This brings us to today. Rob headed to the Fire Department this morning to get some work done, and I started laundry, did dishes, and headed to the grocery store. My father arrived at 1pm so he and Rob could load things into the truck to take to Goodwill. Along with the futon, we're saying goodbye to a cheap-o coffee table, a 27" TV, clothes and other miscellany. Once they return, we'll be loading up my great-grandmother's dresser to take to my mother's. I love this dresser, but it's just not right for our style currently and I don't want anything to happen to it.
(Okay. I'm back. I actually just left the computer to hibernate while I ran to Mom's house with Rob and my dad with the dresser and etc. I hope this will explain if my post is all over the place. This was not one continuous train of thought.)
With everything gone, we're now in a simpler place. It's a strange feeling to get rid of things that have sat around for so long, but us being in this place in our life, I feel that it's necessary. It is symbolic of moving from one stage in life to the other.
The rest of the weekend (okay, really the evening) holds laundry, dinner (oven baked chicken, cornbread and mashed potatoes... probably some applesauce to substitute for some sort of veggie), knitting, and studying. It will be a nice, well earned rest and dinner, as we've worked our butts off this weekend to get things ready for our little one.
I will post pictures as they come and try to post thoughts more often as we near Harper's appearance. I don't know if anyone has noticed (probably not as I haven't really blogged) but I have a counter on the side of the page that shows how far along I am.
I do have a question for all of you: Do you prefer Flickr or Picasa Web Albums for your online picture storage/display? Currently, we use Picasa Web Albums because we have picasa for our photo organization on the computers, but I'm going to be looking to Flickr more often (hopefully) so that I can post photos to my ravelry site. (After months of waiting, I finally got my invite to beta test.)
Please let me know your answers via comments.
