Baby Bump - Week 23

Good news! The doctor upped my due date to November 29th! Even though it's only 5 days earlier, it makes me that much closer to having a November baby!



♥ Michelle

If I wasn't pregnant....

I would have a field day shopping at Ruche!
This store is so whimsical! The clothes are feminine, sweet and beautiful!
Here are some of my favorites, although they are all pretty much my favorite. I wish they would fit over my gigantic growing belly. Oh well... Here is some pretty eye candy for you.

found here.

found here.

found here.

found here.

and the one I am particularly drooling over (which happens to also be on sale):

found here.

♥ Michelle

Baby Chloe

I forgot to post my favorite picture from my 5 month ultrasound. It is her profile. Isn't it precious?

Baby Bump Friday - Week 22

I am finally posting it on the correct day again. ha. You can tell from the picture that baby girl is moving up toward my lungs. I can sure feel it.



And... if you had seen my post about the diaper bag situation, we decided I get two purses and James would get a man bag. Then we would just use the travel changing pad and bottle insulator. These bags have so many pockets, it is just perfect. I even found mine on clearance at Target. woot.



♥ Michelle

Fun New Projects!

Since we have gotten our new sofa, we now cannot fit our fun, punchy, turquoise coffee table in a very small living room. I am so sad, but I am hoping our sister or friend takes the table so I will be able to see it often. This means that James and I get to go furniture shopping! I can't wait to see what we come home with. We have to get a smaller coffee/side table for the living room and a side table for the nursery.

We also have to make our living room walls a little lighter now that we have such a dark piece of furniture. It really makes the room look smaller with the dark gray walls. We have decided to paint the walls a lighter gray, one that will match with the walls in Chloe's room. With the wall behind the couch, we have 2 options: picking pretty wall paper with a big pattern to cover the wall or purchasing vinyl stickers in the shapes of trees. We are leaning toward option 2. It will be easier putting up stickers vs. a whole wall of wallpapering. And we will only be at our house for less than a year, so the investment of the cheaper vinyl stickers is more appealing to us.

I do love wallpaper, but I have some fun other crafts around the house that I can use wallpaper for. I guess we will have to see. What do you all think? I should post a picture of our living room and leave it up for you all to make suggestions.
♥ Michelle

We &hearts Craigslist!

So remember when I posted about the new Ikea couch we really wanted? Well, we got it! And we made $5 purchasing it too!

We have been eying the Manstad Ikea Sleeper sofa for a couple weeks now. We decided that if we were for sure going to get it we would have to sell our current couch first so we would have room to bring in the new sofa and use the money we make from selling our couch to go toward the new sofa. I was searching Craigslist for the going rate of Ikea couches (since the one we were selling had also been from Ikea). We put ours on Craigslist for $125 and have had a couple offers already and a buyer will be picking it up on Sunday.

While I was searching Craigslist for the going rate of Ikea furniture, low and behold someone was selling the very sofa we wanted! The seller said it was only 6 months old and rarely used. They are moving and need to sell it fast. And the best part? The going rate was only $150! I called the seller immediately and he promised to hold it for us until the next day. When James and our friend went to pick it up, they realized that apartment smelled like smoke and they were afraid that it would be embedded into the sofa. Because of the concern, they only ended up paying $120 for the couch. Score! They brought it home and James and I vacuumed and Shampoo the Sofa and even used Arm and Hammer for extra protection. Our couch now smells fresh and clean!

Quick math: $125(current couch)-$120 (new sofa)= $5 surplus!

If that isn't a bargain, I don't know what is.

P.S. I am not a swindler. This just happen to work out that we got money back from the deal, it was not something we planned on purpose. In no way did we try to "dupe" anyone.


♥ Michelle

The Sketchbook Project

I just read about this and I really want James and I to get a sketchbook. Although, you would definitely be able to tell who drew what it still would be super fun. I LOVE the idea and for only $25 it's not a bad idea. I mean, how awesome would it be if I could say "ya, our sketchbook is traveling across country right now for everyone to enjoy." Then for it to be a permanent resident at the Brooklyn Art Library? RAD. That is all I can say. Check it out and doodle a sketchbook yourself! You may find a new art calling!






♥ Michelle

Origami Cranes part 1

James, Felicia, Loretta and I spent a couple hours learning how to create origami paper cranes. It was fun once we got the hang of it. We made over 36 of the 100 I am planning to make for Silver Strands. I am so excited to invite my sisters over to do these with me!

♥ Michelle

Baby Bump - Week 21

Friday we had our "big" ultrasound. To me, it wasn't much different than our sonograms we receive at our monthly appointments. I guess maybe it was a little bit more detailed. We know she has all 10 fingers and toes, she has all 4 heart ventricles and from the looks of it she seems to be doing just fine. Her legs are quite long and her feet seem big (or maybe that is just me being paranoid she is going to end up a big foot like her momma). The technician gave us TONS of photos to take home and you can even see her sweet little side profile in them! (looks like I will be making a cameo project for her nursery!) August 3rd is the next Dr Apt. They should be able to tell me how the baby is progressing and if the due date has changed or not. We can't wait!




♥ Michelle

Around the house

We are changing things up a bit around the house for all the guest we are planning to have when the baby comes. We are having my MIL for about a month around Dec and my father (and hopefully brother) come in January. We know we needed a place for guest to sleep now that our guest room will be taken over by the baby nursery.
We decided a sofa bed for the living room would be a good idea. Then today, I get this email from Ikea stating they have their Manstad sofa bed with chaise storage lounge on sale for $200 cheaper than its normal price, making it only $699 (super cheap!). It is compact, perfect for our very small living room and creates a good sized bed. It has a chaise on one side with HUGE storage underneath. I have read multiple website today that seem to have great reviews. If you are interested, Ikea fan seems to like it, and Apartment Therapy wrote a review here. Apartment Therapy also voted it one of the Best Sleeper Sofas & Sofa Beds 2010.



So it is safe to say that we will be heading to Ikea this weekend to check this baby out and possibly purchase. The only downsize is the lack of color options, but I know Joy and I can come up with something to make it pretty.

ohhhh and..... I GOT THE CRICUT! It was on 40% sale at Micheals Craft Store yesterday for only $98! I have been eying the Cricut for over a year now, especially because I like to hand make all my cards I give and I am a huge scrapbooker. I am so excited to get my craft on!

♥ Michelle