Day 250: Cook Ahead of Time

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

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.

Day 5: Crib bedding

There is a lot of stuff you can put in your baby's crib, and I was a little overwhelmed by trying to make everything match in the crib until I started reading that crib bumpers are no longer recommended because of safety concerns.  Perfect! One less thing to shop for . . .

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

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:

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 also liked the aging process done on this crib and wanted to incorporate it: