29 Weeks ~ 3D Ultrasound

Here are the first pictures of Averi Jaye.

We had the 3D ultrasound yesterday and I was very happy to confirm that she is a girl! My first reaction was that she doesn't look anything like Arielle did in her ultrasound pictures nor did she act anything like Arielle while they were performing the ultrasound. Averi was comparably still the whole time and only yawned once, which we didn't even see. In fact, she spent most of the time snuggled up against the placenta which didn't make for very good viewing. Arielle yawned several times throughout her entire ultrasound and moved her arms and hands over her face a lot at times appearing to be blocking us from her. I already have a hunch that these girls are going to be complete opposites in looks and personality! Averi appears to have a bigger forehead and smaller chin than Arielle. Her nose is also quite different {Zak thinks Averi's nose looks like mine}.




We can't wait to meet our new little princess!

~Momma to Bug~

Nursery Room {on a small budget}

Presenting Averi Jaye's pink and green "Polka Dot" Nursery room!

Budget Breakdown:

Bookshelf Makeover (craigslist.com) -$55

6 Shelf Baskets w/ Liners (Home Goods) - $38

3-hook Wall Art (Hobby Lobby) - $25

Art Frames w/ Hanging Ribbon (Michael's) - $2

Pink Decorative Wall Shelf (Hobby Lobby) - $18

Pottery Barn "Penelope" 5 piece Crib Bedding Set (craigslist.com) - $85

Pottery Barn Chamois Changing Pad Cover (PBK) - $22

White w/ Pink Polka Dots Curtain Panels (JC Penney.com) - $45

Shabby Chic Pewter Curtain Rod w/ Pink Glass Finials (Target) - $15

Pottery Barn Quilt Clips for wall (ebay.com) - $20

Picture Frames & Other Accessories (Marshalls/Hobby Lobby) - $25

Edited to include:

Paint & Supplies - $50

Total Spent so far = $400

Fortunately we were able to save a lot of money on this room by re-using Arielle's baby furniture which I am so happy that I did not decide to sell on craigslist. We are still waiting on a rocking chair and nightstand to complete the room. Originally when I purchased the bedding, I was going to elaborate on the bird theme in the room. However, after searching for bird decor and not finding anything to match, the polka dots in the bedding jumped out at me and I had really good luck finding matching decor.

Both of the wall art projects were handmade. The frames with hanging ribbons were frames that I was able to reuse by painting them a light shade of brown. The only items purchased for this project were the two pieces of scrapbook paper, one of which is a light brown background with pink and green polka dots and the other is a bird pattern. I already had the ribbon as well and there is still plenty leftover that I am thinking about weaving through the big "A" that is on top of the bookshelf and/or decorating the lampshade. I painted that the same color brown as the frames. The only thing left to do with this project is to hang them up in a child-friendly manner since they are placed directly above the crib.

The 3-hook wall art project was designed by Zak and I. We purchased the matching pink and green hooks at Hobby Lobby and decided they were just to plain to hang on the wall. We reused an old poster frame and leftover beadboard from the bookshelf makeover to create a cute background for the hooks to hang on. To hang this heavy piece of art up over the changing table, we had to screw the frame into the wall and cover the holes up with buttons. The only thing left to do with this project is add another coat of paint to the frame to cover up the buttons.

There are one or two more wall art projects that I may decide to tackle in the next couple of months but for now I think the room is cute and simple, just the way I like it! Really the only other thing left for me to do is sew blackout fabric to the back of the curtain panels, something I have never done before so wish me luck!

~Momma to Bug~

Cruising right along!

Wow, I can't believe how much time has gone by since my last post. I feel like such a slacker but really I'm not. Work has been so busy and it's not going to get any less busy for at least another month. Arielle finally agreed to spend some time behind the wheel of her Jeep this past weekend. I wonder if she will ever master the concept of "steering". First she will have to comprehend the meaning of the word but we are working on it!

Taking pictures these days seems to be the last thing on my mind which makes me feel sad. I have had plenty of opportunities for pics but sadly I haven't remembered to take any. Arielle on the other hand has gotten a hold of our camera a few times the past month and has taken plenty of pictures for all of us. Some of them are actually quite good! Here are a couple of my favorites:

The nursery room is coming along quite well, it's nearly complete except for a few more things to hang on the wall. I have found lots of great polka dot accessories at Hobby Lobby. I am trying to reuse some square frames that I painted brown (they were black). Finding prints that match the bedding (or anything that is framable at this point) but it's not so easy. I might have to resort to scrapbook paper but that might just be the best idea. I have saved lots of money on this makeover which I am proud to say! When I post the final room pics I'll break out the costs so you can see how little I actually spent. Here are some sneak peaks before the reveal:

A couple of weeks ago Zak and I went to Red Feather Lakes to attend one of my oldest friends wedding. It was a nice getaway and we enjoyed some quality grown up time together. Do you see how big my baby bump is getting?

~Momma to Bug~

Makeover Project: Storage Chest

Remember this post? I was thinking about using the free wicker chest that I found in the new baby's room for toy storage. After more thought I decided that it was too big for the space so I sold it for $17 at our garage sale last weekend. That money was all profit so I can't really complain. This weekend we purchased an old {antique} cedar chest for $25 from craigslist and got straight to work on making it over. Of course I forgot to take good before pics so this is the best that I have.

First we took off the wheels and the top and bottom trim so that we could add our own updated trim as well as lift the chest up further off the ground. We already have a supply list for Home Depot but as we set out it started to hail so we came back home to wait out the storm. I can't wait for the finished makeover!

Also this weekend we finished painting the nursery room. I went with all Behr colors...Hawaiian Shell (pink) as an accent wall and Palm Breeze (green) for the rest of the walls. Both colors are very soft and soothing which is perfect for a baby's room. I left the ceiling beige which is the color that all of the walls in our house were painted when we moved in. It would have looked better in white but we are not a big fan of painting ceilings and if we did that white we would have had to paint inside the closet white so we just left it. Fortunately I think it compliments the two colors that we chose well and the color of the trim and doors helps break it wall up.

As I type this post I am realizing that the storm isn't letting up any and I am surprised that Arielle is not freightened of the loud {house-shaking} thunder. We have had some big storms in Colorado over the past week, tornados in our area even made front page of CNN. I happened to be out driving to meet Zak and Arielle when I saw one of them and snapped some pictures from my cell phone. It was the first time I had ever seen a twister and it was so close too although looking at the pictures it looks further away. I was so worried about how safe Arielle and Zak would be at the movie theatre but in retrospect I was the most unsafe in my car. It did end up touching ground about 2 miles away from where we were but nobody was hurt.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we don't see any more of those today!

~Momma to Bug~

Please Take My Poll!

I never thought that it would be so difficult to choose a name for our second baby but it has been hard to decide. When we found out that Arielle was a girl I already knew what her name was going to be and how I was going to spell it so there was never any doubt about it. With the new baby I have had to put a whole lot of thought into her name and especially the spelling of it. I decided that I like the name "Avery" but I don't really like that spelling of it. I have done some internet searches and it turns out that the spelling that I was considering "Averey" is defintely a boy's name and it's origin is African and it means "the strong one". Due to the fact that it's a boys name, I have sadly ruled it out as an option. I came up with some alternatives that upon my search I have found can either be used for a boy or a girl or have not been used at all!



Please pick your favorite spelling and help me make a final decision!



~Momma to Bug~

Bird Themed Nursery

This weekend we went to Pottery Barn Kids in the hopes of finding some baby crib bedding ideas. I am so glad we went because I found the cutest bedding. It's the Penelope collection and features patchwork birds on a white, green and pink multi-fabric background. It has polka dots, stripes, solids and the birds are as cute as can be! Of course this collection was not on sale and I am not paying full price so when we got home I immediately searched ebay. It turns out that this collection is somewhat hard to find, so the sellers on ebay claim, and the stuff is selling for loads of money {as much as you would pay at PBK or more}. I was a little dissapointed with the prices being so high but not too worried since we still have plenty of time before we need to buy it. However, my wandering mind led me to craigslist and good thing it did because I found a gently used, complete set for $85!!! This set includes the quilt, bumper, 2 fitted sheets, bed skirt and pillow sham. We are going to pick it up on Tuesday so then I can decide what color paint to put on the walls. It'll probably end up being a shade of light green.


Photos courtesy of www.Pottery Barn Kids.com

~Momma to Bug~

21 Weeks: It's a Girl!

Today we had an ultrasound and found out that we are having another baby girl! They said everything looks good from the ultrasound and that this baby has a rather large abdomen. Our doctor indicated that a large abdomen means a big baby. If you ask me it's too early to tell a whole lot but I'm not an expert. For the last couple of months of my pregnancy with Arielle they told me she was going to be a big baby but she wasn't as big as she was long so maybe they are wrong this time too!

We are in the process of choosing a name and of course I am starting to plan the nursery, bedding, paint color, lighting, accessories....! Here is one of my favorite picks so far {fromPottery Barn Kids}:

As for the paint color, I have a lot of choices with this bedding and I like the simplicity of the polka dots on a white background. I think a soft, pale green or pink would look great!

How cute is this lamp {also from PBK}?

This is going to be so much fun!

~Momma to Bug~

Nursery Room Bookshelf ~ After

The nursery room bookshelf makeover is complete and I couldn't be happier with the results!

Here is the before and this is the after:

Do you notice the new beadboard backing? I decided the original backing was too rough and probably wouldn't look good with paint. We found the last piece of 3" beadboard on clearance at Home Depot for less than $17. I think it gives the bookshelf a custom look and is very fitting for a baby's room.

I chose the color Whisper White by Glidden because we already had some so it didn't cost me anything. Also, it is the same color of the trim and doors in our house so I knew I would like it.

The total cost of this bookshelf makeover was around $55. It's amazing what a quart of paint and four hours can do for an old piece of furniture.

Did I mention that I had helpers? Mommy + Me and our daughters joined in the fun.

I've linked this over at The Shabby Nest's Frugal Friday Linky Party...check out everybody else's frugal makeovers!

~Momma to Bug~

My Favorite Tablescape

A little while ago the Nester posted this blog about Tablescapes and it really caught my attention. I don't have a lot of tablescapes in my house that aren't full of mostly picture frames {my weakness by far} but fortunately there is one in my house that I am proud of. It is the bookshelf that doubles as a nightstand in our beach guest room. I always like to play around with this tablescape and make small changes, it is a nice way to experiment and have fun! Plus it's the one room in the house that my four year old hasn't overtaken with toys so it's kind of like a breath of fresh air to just be in there.

Looking at these pictures just reminds me of how long I have been planning on "beaching" this bookshelf with some creamy white paint and lots of distressing. That is at the top of my to do list {more like my to do after everything else gets done! list}.

~Momma to Bug~

Nursery Room Bookshelf ~ Before

One of the things I was looking the most forward to with becoming pregnant again was decorating another nursery room. This time around there is not a lot of furniture that we need to buy thanks to a tremendous sense of obligation to keep Arielle's crib and dresser as described in this post. But not all of the furniture is set in stone because we do need to replace our old glider and get a new bookshelf.

From the moment I found out that we were having another baby I began searching craigslist for a bookshelf to makeover. It took nearly four months but I finally found one that I really like. It could stand to be a couple inches deeper to accomodate bigger baskets but for $35 I can't complain much considering that it's real wood and not laminate. I plan on priming it this weekend so it is ready for a fresh coat of paint after we find out if we are having a boy or a girl, however, I am torn between color choices for either. While I am really inclined to paint it white that sounds so boring! I guess my ultimate decision will depend on what color I decide to paint the walls so I am getting ahead of myself.

I am looking forward to making all of these decisions and many more so I can get started on all of my nursery room makeovers...stay tuned!

~Momma to Bug~