Purchases for Lil' Missy!

This frugalista mama loves a good bargain! And boy have I gotten a handful today! First up are these two items I bought from Zulily today:

By Best Friend by Little Adventure

Orange & Fuchsia Flower Power Flip Skirt Set - Toddler & Girls

Includes tee, pants and reversible tutu

 

 

Hardcover picture book / 25 pages

Written by Andrea Alban Gosline

Illustrated by Lisa Burnette Bossi

Publisher: Scholastic Press



Next up is a crib set I've had bookmarked since before Libby was born:

Simply Shabby Chic Candy Patchwork Crib Bedding

I know it seems odd to be purchasing a crib set now that she's one year old, but she's only been consistently sleeping in her crib for the past three weeks. Until now, the crib has basically been a safe place for her to play for a few minutes while we used the restroom or got the laundry out of the dryer. She had napped in it maybe a half dozen times or so. We bedshared from the time she was about 10 days old until just shy of one year. It worked beautifully until a few weeks ago when none of us were sleeping well. She'd toss and turn and thrash all night and we each took turns leaving the bed and rocking her for hours on end until she'd fall asleep. Then we'd try to lay her back down into the bed with us and she's awaken immediately. It was quite miserable. Finally, on Monday, January 10 I resolved myself to launch "operation sleep-in-your-crib." We basically resorted to CIO because all of the other more gentler tactics just aggrevated Libby and made her more upset. I've spent months reading all of the sleep books, from Pantley's No Cry Sleep Solution to Tracy Hogg's The Baby Whisperer; Dr. Sears and Dr. Jay Gordon and Ferber and Weissbluth.

I am not going to lie, the first night was hard. On me. Libby screamed and cried for about 30 minutes and then wound down to a fussy wimper. I had told J that we'd let it go one hour and reassess this approach. It was a killer. I cried in our room (we share a wall with hers) as I listened to her cry. We've never really let her cry, other than when we've been in the car and had no opportunity to stop. So to hear her wailing for an hour was rough. Around the one hour mark she had settled down considerably but was still wimpering. We decided to give it 10 more minutes. And wonder of wonders, she fell asleep! She slept in her crib two hours before waking, at which point I brought her into bed with us. I was emotionally exhausted. We got a great night's sleep though. The next day I felt awful and totally second-guessed my decision to transition her to her own bed/room and to do it by using CIO. But when I saw her that afternoon when I came home from lunch she was a smiling, happy, well-rested baby.

The next night we did the same thing and she fussed for 30-minutes before falling asleep. She slept for five hours before waking, at which point I brought her to our bed. The third night was similar. The fourth night she was out in 15 minutes and when she woke in the night I went to her room, nursed her and she went back to sleep in her crib. Same thing again on the fifth night. Night six she was out in five minutes and stayed in her bed all night and it's basically been that way ever since.

I never imagined I'd ever use CIO, but Libby needed it. And so did we. And I feel good about waiting until she was nearly a year old and can understand what we say. We talked about her sleeping in her own bed and she now brings us her favorite blanket and says, "nigh-night" and we nurse and rock and then I put her in her crib drowsy, but awake. Sometimes she fusses for a few minutes and sometimes not. Sometimes she babbles to herself for a few minutes and then goes to sleep.

Anyway, in honor of this transition, I decided it was time to officially outfit her crib with proper bedding. She's old enough now to use the quilt and we put a set of plain bumpers I got as a hand-me-down in there this summer when she was flopping over and bumping her head all the time when she was in there. I have a collection of random, gently-used crib sheets. So I am excited to get this set. It will be there when she's ready for us to convert the bed to a toddler and then youth bed. And it matches the quilt I've got on her daybed.

And finally, I scored this awesome wooden toddler-sized table and chairs for $40.00 off Craigslist:

Kid Kraft Table and Chairs in Natural

There were some random crayon and marker sribbles on the table top and one of the chairs, but some elbow grease and a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser cleaned it right up! Libby was SO excited to see it! She loves it!

Nursery Progress

Since we were snowed in for Christmas we decided it would be the perfect time to finish getting our nursery together.

Remember the inspiration board?

Here's how it's all come together:

View of the nursery from the doorway


Simply Shabby Chic (from Target) Pillow and Banners...to decorate the crib.
When the baby sleeps in there we'll take the pillow out though.


Still need to add more decorative accessories to this shelf.
The dress in the middle and two to the right of it were mine when I was a baby.
The other two were awesome consignment sale finds!


Lamp that was in my room when I was a toddler.
I made a new lampshade for it to coordinate with the colors in the nursery.
The lamp was a vintage shop find by my mom when I was just 2 years old,
so it's got to be at least 45-50 years old by now.


These are shelves from IKEA that we've had for at least 10 years!
The baskets had red and yellow striped liners so I made new ones to match the lamp shade.
The Care Bears are new except for the dark blue one which was mine when I was a child...vintage! You can tell he's different because he has real hair and the others don't.


Swivel/Rocker/Recliner we scored for $50 on Craigslist.
The day bed is 25 years old and real enameled
iron with brass finials, also found on Craigslist.
We still need to get a proper quilt for it
(found one I like from Target's Simply Shabby Chic line)
and add the pop up trundle and a dust ruffle.


Bigger view of the room. Not pictured...J's "study" corner which is to the right of the daybed.


Our cloth diaper stash! 36 unbleached Indian cotton prefolds. The other box has the covers and wipes, etc. We also scored a second-hand wipes warmer for $6...I figured it's worth a shot!


Our multi-functional crib with lots of storage.
Still awaiting the arrival of the properly sized changing pad for the top of the drawers.
Best of all it will convert to a single youth bed with a nightstand
when the baby is ready to transition out of the crib.


Wall letters that I made with supplies from the local craft store.
I decoupaged scrapbook paper onto the balsa wood letters and
then attached them to twine with mini clothes-line clips
(hot glued in the back for extra security).
I still plan to add some bird decals to the clothesline.


All of Joseph's work has paid off! We have a gorgeous, sturdy crib for Libby!
He put it together all by himself, by hand!


Me and my bump at 35 weeks pregnant!

I still need to add some wall decals and artwork to the walls, dress the day bed with pillows and linens, etc. But all in all, it's ready for our little girl!

Nursery Inspiration

Well the nesting mode has kicked in full force. This weekend it continued with finishing up some DIY craft projects (will post pics soon) and getting some more furniture. We scored an awesome antique iron and brass day bed with pop up trundle on Craigslist for a steal. I am so excited! It will go in the nursery and provide a place for mommy or daddy to sleep with baby, if/when the need arises down the road and she's no longer in her Arm's Reach Co-sleeper in our room. We also can use it to free up our room for guests who come to visit (since we no longer have a guest room with my mom living with us).

We've put the nursery together on a budget with lots of consignment finds, Craigslist purchases, and repurposing/refurbishing items we already have. I have created this mood board to get a better idea of how it's all coming together:

The first two colors at the top (white and toasted almond) are the trim and wall colors of the room. We don't plan to paint since we're renting and the space is shared with J's study (or the place he spends nearly 8 hours a day studying as a full-time nursing student) and we like it the way it is.

We have ice blue curtains up already, which led to my decision to incorporate the blue into our little girl's nursery. The pink chair is a swivel/rocker/recliner that we got for $50 and is a dusty rose color. And the apple green we are pulling in to balance the pink and blue we have going on in the room. I am calling this sort a of Shabby Chic meets Woodland Animal themed nursery. The cube shelving we already had, so we're repurposing it for storage (using lined storage baskets that I made new liners for that coordinate with the lampshade that I also DIY'd) and will add a changing pad to the top along with storage bins that have our cloth diapers and supplies in them.

The bird mobile is almost done...I have sewn and stuffed all of the little birdies and just need to figure out how to balance the branches I've attached them to so that they look like a mobile. The pillow with the dingle-ball trim I found at Target as part of their Simply Shabby line. And the wall decals are made of fabric and sold on Etsy. I really think that those decals will transform the space into one that is truly for a little child. We're still awaiting the arrival of our crib, but as soon as all of this is in place I will post pictures of the actual room....hopefully by the New Year.