In case you will not be surrounded by family and friends after the birth and don't want to memorize Domino's number, try these sites for freezer meals. Cook them in a couple of batches and you'll have a meal so easy even a caveman could cook it.
These sites have recipes that the reviewers actually tried so I trust them on how they tasted after they were defrosted:
http://www.tammysrecipes.com/node/3848
http://bethany.preciousinfants.com/2008/02/22/once-a-month-cooking.aspx
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Friday, January 4, 2013
Day 6: Ledge Shelve Details
Take a break from more decisions and keep browsing pinterest and other sites as you decide on decorative details. For example, I loved the idea of adding details with ledge shelves since they are portable and thus perfect for my as yet to be located nursery.
My inspiration pictures:
I had planned to go with dark brown wood ledges until I happened to be browsing the sale section of pottery barn kids and fell in love with these shelves:
At first I decided I would go with white, but the blue ones were $8 less ($22 vs $30), so I decided to go with the blue. Blue you ask? I thought you were going with aqua and yellow. I am, but since my crib sheets are baby blue with aqua, I decided to take my chances and go with the more affordable shade of blue. If it doesn't match, I'll simply paint them white.
My mom had suggested I go somewhere like hobby lobby and find inexpensive shelves, but the combination of the scroll detail and the clearance price made these impossible to resist. Before buying them I quickly googled the plain shelves you can buy at Lowe's or Target and these were very comparable if not cheaper to the boring ones so readily available.
My inspiration pictures:
I had planned to go with dark brown wood ledges until I happened to be browsing the sale section of pottery barn kids and fell in love with these shelves:
At first I decided I would go with white, but the blue ones were $8 less ($22 vs $30), so I decided to go with the blue. Blue you ask? I thought you were going with aqua and yellow. I am, but since my crib sheets are baby blue with aqua, I decided to take my chances and go with the more affordable shade of blue. If it doesn't match, I'll simply paint them white.
My mom had suggested I go somewhere like hobby lobby and find inexpensive shelves, but the combination of the scroll detail and the clearance price made these impossible to resist. Before buying them I quickly googled the plain shelves you can buy at Lowe's or Target and these were very comparable if not cheaper to the boring ones so readily available.
Day 5: Crib bedding
If you have money to spend and like custom-looking bedding, I highly recommend http://www.babybedding.com/. They have a preview option that lets you select coordinated fabrics to put together to make the perfect matching set.
I just used the site to play around with options and get acquainted with what goes on a crib in the first place. Then I just googled crib sheets in my preferred colors. Since I have decided on a Noah's Ark theme, I couldn't resist these crib sheets from Target. They have a little bit of aqua but are mostly baby boy blue. I waited until they arrived to help me pick my aqua wall paint to ensure a better color match.
If you can't find what you want, you can always DIY your crib sheet in whatever fabric you like: http://prudentbaby.com/2009/09/baby-kid/diy-cute-crib-sheet/
Day 4: Easy DIY nursery door muffler
Take a break from big questions like finding the perfect crib to make or buy something cute and practical: a door muffler that cuts down on noise from a shutting door.
If you don't sew, go someplace like etsy and buy one like this: http://www.etsy.com/listing/93606628/latchy-catchy-red-lotus-flower-patents?ref=v1_other_1
If you do sew, head over to your favorite fabric store and raid the fat quarter section.
I was inspired by the following image complete with instructions: http://keepingmycents.blogspot.com/2012/01/diy-door-muffto-keep-babies-sleeping.html
If you don't sew, go someplace like etsy and buy one like this: http://www.etsy.com/listing/93606628/latchy-catchy-red-lotus-flower-patents?ref=v1_other_1
If you do sew, head over to your favorite fabric store and raid the fat quarter section.
I was inspired by the following image complete with instructions: http://keepingmycents.blogspot.com/2012/01/diy-door-muffto-keep-babies-sleeping.html
My pregnancy brain/barely know how to sew self couldn't follow the directions very well so I kind of made u my own not very good method of doing it, but it still looks cute on the door.
After demonstrating it to my SO, he informed me that I should make one for the master bedroom bathroom so I doesn't sound like a herd of elephants is traipsing into the bathroom at regular intervals every night.
Day 3: Decide if you want a rug
Most nurseries have carpet, at least the ones in suburbia. But I think carpet is boring and don't know where I'll be living when the baby is born, so I decided to go with an accent rug.
One of my goals is to be as frugal as possible so I nabbed my rug with a 60% coupon. (My favorite site for coupons is www.retailmenot.com, but I am just getting into using www.ebates.com as well.)
My inspiration rugs:
1) Obviously too girly for a gender neutral room but the colors are similar to what I am going for:
I am waiting for the rug to arrive to decide on the shade of yellow I will be using to paint the crib since colors on the internet don't always match reality.
One of my goals is to be as frugal as possible so I nabbed my rug with a 60% coupon. (My favorite site for coupons is www.retailmenot.com, but I am just getting into using www.ebates.com as well.)
My inspiration rugs:
1) Obviously too girly for a gender neutral room but the colors are similar to what I am going for:
2) I love blue, so I was tempted to go with something blue but I felt that it would be hard to match the aqua of the paint and that a pop of yellow in the rug would better compliment the yellow crib
3) I have always loved floral patterns, but I try to stay away from them when possible for the fact that most men don't love them.
4) The winner: The pattern wasn't my favorite, but the reviews were positive, it was gender neutral, the price was right, and it added the yellow cheeriness I want.
I am waiting for the rug to arrive to decide on the shade of yellow I will be using to paint the crib since colors on the internet don't always match reality.
Day 2: Pick Your Crib
Now that you've settled on your paint colors, it is time to select the most important piece of furniture--the crib.
I lucked into not having to buy one, but this means that it isn't exactly the latest and greatest in crib fashion. In fact the crib bars kind of remind me of the dark wood you see in "authentic" Mexican restaurants. (The one caveat to "inheriting" a crib--tons of cribs have been recalled and safety standards have changed (surprise, surprise), so make sure your crib is okay to use.)
I decided a coat of paint was needed to brighten it up. Yellow paint.This decision was assisted by one of my inspiration pictures featuring a bright yellow crib.
I lucked into not having to buy one, but this means that it isn't exactly the latest and greatest in crib fashion. In fact the crib bars kind of remind me of the dark wood you see in "authentic" Mexican restaurants. (The one caveat to "inheriting" a crib--tons of cribs have been recalled and safety standards have changed (surprise, surprise), so make sure your crib is okay to use.)
I decided a coat of paint was needed to brighten it up. Yellow paint.This decision was assisted by one of my inspiration pictures featuring a bright yellow crib.
I also liked the aging process done on this crib and wanted to incorporate it:
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Day 1: Pick Your Colors
Welcome to my "OMG, how do I create a nursery for my first child" blog. If you have already had a child, you don't need this blog. You'll just throw something together a week before your second child is born, or maybe a week after your second child comes home from the hospital.
But we first time moms are perfectionists and professional worriers. That's why I didn't even bother to pick up a copy of What to Expect When You're Expecting after male reviewers on amazon.com decried how much it made their SOs worry. I'm doing enough of that as it is. I don't need a book to help me do it more.
Let me just spell out my philosophy to nurserizing (yes, I just made up that word):
1) First things first: pick a color scheme. If you aren't at twenty weeks, this step could pose some problems because you probably don't know the gender of the baby. In this case you could:
2) How to pick a color scheme? Browse some of the following sites to find an idea of what you like, especially http://www.houzz.com/photos/kids/nursery- and http://projectnursery.com/ and http://www.decorpad.com/search.htm?currentPage=0&spaceId=&cx=partner-pub-1782629609376017%3A81q09atgxa0&cof=FORID%3A10&ie=ISO-8859-1&searchType=photos&q=nursery
Other sites:
3) Repin a bunch of cute nursery pictures to a nursery pinterest board until, voila, you know that color combination is "the one."
4) Since I don't like pink (not to say there aren't other cute girl options like lavender), I am going with option c of a gender neutral nursery and creating an aqua and yellow nursery with some green thrown in as an accent color.
My inspiration pictures:
4) Go to your local home improvement store and grab some of the paint chips in your selected colors. Depending on the extent to which you are a Type A or B personality, you can then either fly by the cuff of your pants and get a few samples to put on the wall or you can ruminate on them for days and days, asking all your friends and your neighbors which shade of the fifty million shades (not fifty mind you--that might be what got you on this site in the first place ;) ) of gray offered is the perfect gray.
In fact, there is no need to commit to the exact shade just yet. Wait until you select some of your first components such as a crib, a rug, etc. You can fine tune the perfect shade as you go.
Carry them around in your purse with you so you can match them with any impossible to resist nursery decor you might find while out and about.
But we first time moms are perfectionists and professional worriers. That's why I didn't even bother to pick up a copy of What to Expect When You're Expecting after male reviewers on amazon.com decried how much it made their SOs worry. I'm doing enough of that as it is. I don't need a book to help me do it more.
Let me just spell out my philosophy to nurserizing (yes, I just made up that word):
- I am on a budget. That makes it more of a challenge and yet more fun to try to do more with less.
- I don't want to waltz into Baby R Us and pick up a "crib in a bag" set. I want to personalize my nursery with lots of homemade touches.
- I don't want the nursery to be too cutesy, because I'm going to be spending a bunch of time in there too!
I have broken up my humble approach to nurserizing into 280 days out of the belief that everything is easier if you do it step by step (the coming up with the order is the tricky part!).
1) First things first: pick a color scheme. If you aren't at twenty weeks, this step could pose some problems because you probably don't know the gender of the baby. In this case you could:
- a) pick two different color schemes
- b) you could go with a gender neutral color (gray is all the rage this year) and add a gender specific one later
- c) create a gender neutral nursery with the basics and add details later that are more masculine and feminine.
2) How to pick a color scheme? Browse some of the following sites to find an idea of what you like, especially http://www.houzz.com/photos/kids/nursery- and http://projectnursery.com/ and http://www.decorpad.com/search.htm?currentPage=0&spaceId=&cx=partner-pub-1782629609376017%3A81q09atgxa0&cof=FORID%3A10&ie=ISO-8859-1&searchType=photos&q=nursery
Other sites:
- http://www.bhg.com/rooms/nursery/dreamy-nurseries-for-babies/
- This site has real nurseries put together by real moms, not decorators: http://www.thebump.com/contests/our-real-nursery/all-entries
- http://www.hgtv.com/topics/nursery/index.html#nursery/baby/1
3) Repin a bunch of cute nursery pictures to a nursery pinterest board until, voila, you know that color combination is "the one."
4) Since I don't like pink (not to say there aren't other cute girl options like lavender), I am going with option c of a gender neutral nursery and creating an aqua and yellow nursery with some green thrown in as an accent color.
My inspiration pictures:
4) Go to your local home improvement store and grab some of the paint chips in your selected colors. Depending on the extent to which you are a Type A or B personality, you can then either fly by the cuff of your pants and get a few samples to put on the wall or you can ruminate on them for days and days, asking all your friends and your neighbors which shade of the fifty million shades (not fifty mind you--that might be what got you on this site in the first place ;) ) of gray offered is the perfect gray.
In fact, there is no need to commit to the exact shade just yet. Wait until you select some of your first components such as a crib, a rug, etc. You can fine tune the perfect shade as you go.
Carry them around in your purse with you so you can match them with any impossible to resist nursery decor you might find while out and about.
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