Finally ... Here is Henry's nursery!

Same green walls and chocolate brown furniture as Alexa's nursery. We just traded the hot pink for navy blue! Click HERE to review what Alexa's nursery looked like! Inspired by Alexander Henry's blue zoo pool fabric, I went with a colorful jungle theme. I ordered the crib skirt and blanket on the chair from Etsy and grandma made the hamper, chair pillow and elephant rattle in the same fabric! Thanks to Aunt Jen for the giant giraffe, my friend Natalie for the H-E-N-R-Y name train and Grandma E for the "Henry" doll on the changing table! Click HERE to see my original thoughts on the nursery.

Click to enlarge

Baby Brother's nursery

I've been slowly collecting stuff for our baby boy's jungle theme nursery... Here is a glimpse of what I have so far so you can get the idea of the look I'm going for. The color scheme is bright lime green (already on the walls) with espresso crib, glider and furniture (same stuff already in the room) and navy blue. Essentially, we're trading the hot pink of Alexa's nursery into navy blue! Easy peasy!

A few notes about where I found these items (clicky): Cloud-b sleep giraffe for crib with 20% off coupon at Buy Buy Baby... Jellicat navy blue plush elephant for glider at kids store in Columbia, S.C.... Silver wooden elephant from U.S. Wood Toys booth at a kids festival in Bethesda... Alexander Henry fabric blanket for glider from Etsy... Navy blue Koala Baby changing pad cover from Babies "R" Us ... Jungle animal prints for walls from same Etsy shop where I got Alexa's nursery prints... Kids Line jungle mobile with 20% off coupon from Babies "R" Us... Giraffe beanie baby from Grandpa Howard... Carter's jungle theme 3-pack receiving blankets, burp cloths and rattles on clearance from Babies "R" Us.

Reading books and being silly in my room

When we got home after Starbucks and the Sunday Fun Day play date with Avery, Alexa took a nice loooooong nap. But when she woke up, she wanted to play! So I grabbed my camera and we had some fun. Alexa loves opening the drawers, taking things out of the drawers and putting them back in. She also loves putting hats on! And, of course, she LOVES reading books! Our little bookworm...

Please... Vote for Alexa's nursery!

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UPDATE: We did NOT win. Boo! But, we came in 2nd place! Unfortunately, there is no runners-up prize. Still, I am pretty happy that out of seven nurseries, we came in SECOND! Yay!

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Alexa's newborn photographer, Amber from Little Moon Photography, is having a contest for best nursery... And Alexa's nursery is in the running for the top prize, which is a free photo shoot in the nursery!

Click HERE to see the nurseries. Don't forget to vote for Alexa's nursery - #7! Voting closes Saturday at 7 p.m.

I was too busy to take new photos of the nursery... I wish I had. Because you all know how much I love taking photos! I sent in some old photos, but they still look good! Anyway, we took some more photos in her nursery this morning. Since I was home from work as part of my phase-in back to full-time. Love it!

Handmade baby mobile up in nursery!

Check out this beautiful baby mobile that my mom made! She sewed the birds and tree and got the hanger so that we could put it up. It matches the nursery colors and bird theme perfectly!

We got the idea from this Etsy seller. So my mom got some green and pink felt and some Amy Butler fabric, and went to town! What a great addition to the room!

Our crib is here! And we have Lima Bean decor!

Our nursery is almost done! Our beautiful Munire crib finally arrived yesterday. It is now all set up with clean sheets, waiting for our baby girl! Thanks to her great grandmother Rose!

We still need to hang the bird prints I got or her name above it... As soon as we decide on a name! And I am waiting on a crib skirt in Amy Butler's pink coriander fabric. So that part of the room looks a little bare right now, but we are working on it!

Notice the hamper next to it... Papa Bean was kind enough to paint the wooden frame chocolate brown for me so it would match the rest of the room! (This is what it looked like before he painted it.)

Here, again, is the rest of the room!

And check out our diapering corner! Thanks to Aunt Irene for the changing pad and Aunt Chimmy for the adorable pink and brown Restoration Hardware stacking blocks!

If you look closely, however, you might recognize the framed Lima Bean labels. They're the ones from my baby shower! My friend Libby gave me the antique labels and I got them framed. Look how amazing they came out!

What a great keepsake for baby Lima Bean! Thanks Aunt Libby!

Papa Bean also works on the nursery

There were several very important things that still needed to be done in the nursery, and Papa Bean was just the man to do them!

First, we had to attach the changing table to the dresser. On the back of the pad are two strips with snaps. You are supposed to drill into the back of the dresser to attach one side of the snap so that you can snap the pad on to secure it. Papa Bean got out his drill and "poof" it was done!

Next, we needed to set up the Diaper Genie II Advanced Disposal System. We decided to put it in the corner, out of sight, and move the pretty pink boxes filled with diapers to the other side. Papa Bean moved the dresser and made it happen! Here is how the changing station now looks!

Finally, we needed to install a dimmer switch so that middle of the night feedings don't require a bright light. We did have some trouble with that one. Turns out our socket only has two wires, not the three that instructions referred to. Luckily, we figured it out!

Now the nursery has a dimmer! Check it out!

Holy Awesome Decals!

I had some fun decorating Lima Bean's nursery this weekend! I wanted something playful and fun to spice up the nursery. I went looking at decals, thinking that I wanted a tree or at least something with birds!

I first started thinking about wall decals after I saw this Land of Nod tree decal (below). It was in the catalog and later we saw it in a baby's nursery at an open house. I love the bright colors!


I then saw this wall decal from Baby Gap (below). But the colors weren't bright enough and I wasn't crazy about the round tree.

There are tons of places where you can get wall decals.... Walltat, Wall Sticker Shop and Modern Nursery. Naturally, I turned to my favorite place for creative nursery items: Etsy! There are a ton of wall decal options on Etsy, and most are customizable, so you choose the colors you want.

After looking at several options, I decided on this one (below). The branch would fit perfectly on the wall behind the chocolate brown rocker glider! I ordered the decal, requesting to have the branch in chocolate brown, the leaves in light pink and the birds in hot pink.

On Saturday, when we got home from all our errands, the shipment arrived! Excited, I opened up the box and watched a YouTube video on how to install the decal. It wasn't as hard as you'd think!


Here is how it came out! I love it! It adds just the fun whimsical touch that I wanted... Lima Bean will love it!

Sneak Peek: Our nursery is coming together!

Are you ready to see how our nursery for Baby Lima Bean is coming along?! First, here is a shot of our nursery the day I got home from my fabulous shower... Look at all this stuff! Where to put it?!

Two weeks ago, we selected these four paint choices... Hmmm.

After seriously considering Pottery Barn's Wales green, I decided to take a chance on Benjamin Moore's bright "Apple Green" paint! This is what our nursery looked like last Thursday -- only one week ago!

THEN our fabulous glider rocker arrived! I love how the Amy Butler quilt and bird in Amy Butler's pink coriander fabric look against the dark brown of the chair and bright green of the walls! All three items on the chair were fabulous Etsy finds!

Finally, here are some shots of how the room is developing thus far! We still are waiting for the valances (also in Amy Butler's pink coriander fabric) and we need to put up some bird art on the walls. Plus the crib and crib skirt and a fabulous bird mobile from my mom are coming too! But in the meantime... Here's a sneak peek!

Here is a close-up of the pink toy bin that we snagged at the Pottery Barn outlet last weekend for $14! And a lime green one for bath stuff! Slowly but surely, we are getting ready for baby!

The painting of the nursery has begun!

After work today, we dashed out to a nearby hardware store to check out paint samples! I already knew that I wanted to use Benjamin Moore's Natura paint in the nursery. This eco-friendly paint releases zero toxins and is odorless! And I wanted a bright lime green color.

But now the hard part -- which lime green?

Below are the paint chips I selected. The ones down the middle are my favorites: new lime, eccentric lime, snow cone green, pear green, grape green, apple green and limelight. Also, a Pottery Barn green that isn't pictured.

We got samples of four of the greens, shown below. Here they are with the pink coriander Amy Butler quilt I have and a piece of dark wood, to give you an idea of the color scheme I am going for.

Finally, after dinner, Papa Bean got to work applying the paint samples onto the walls! (Note that the animal wallpaper strip shown here is left over from the previous owner's nursery and it is coming DOWN!)

Can't wait to see how it all turns out!

A House for Lima Bean!

After months of searching for just the right house... We finally found one! As of this afternoon, we are under contract! Yay!

This beautiful house (our very own White House...) is walking distance to the Bethesda Metro and tons of restaurants and shops. It's also in a good school district, near a popular running path and on a quiet, neighborhood street. We love it!

The house is 3br/2.5ba with new windows, new appliances, a gorgeous light-filled sun room, formal dining room for dinner parties, finished basement with its own full bath for guests, garage and a fenced-in back patio and yard for bbq's and our dog Ruben!

We can now breathe a sigh of relief that we have a home to bring Baby Lima Bean to when she arrives. We move in July and can't wait to transform the current nursery (below) into the one I have in mind for our Bean Princess!

Nursery ideas!

The walls: light lime green, with white trim.

The crib: dark brown wooden crib (Graco Lauren?)

The dresser, changing table: dark brown wooden dresser that we already own with changing pat on top.

The bedding: Green, white and brown colors... Loving the Picci sets! But they aren't sold ala carte and I don't want bumpers...

The rocker: white, khaki or lime green upolstered glider rocker (Little Castle?)

The lamp: Silver lamp. Or the green beaded oneI got me years ago?
The wall art: Dark wooden frames with white mattes and 8x10 photos of PINK flowers?

Here are some inspiration pictures:

Do you see it? Can you visualize it?

The baby crib hunt has started!

And ended. I hope!

Without even stepping foot into Babys "R" Us or any of those insane baby mega-stores, I think I have already found what to get - the Graco Lauren crib, which goes for $150-200! It's safe, stylish, affordable, and recommended by the authors of Baby Bargains. Perfect!

This book, Baby Bargains, is now in its 8th edition, which just came out this year. It is a 600-page long manual that guides new parents through the maze of baby equipment shopping by telling you which things you need (crib, dresser that doubles as a changing table, glider rocker), which things are a waste of money (stand-alone changing table, diaper stacker) and which brands are the best.

According to this book, I really need to get a jump on ordering baby furniture, like the crib, because it could take weeks for these items to be delivered. So I am reading all about baby cribs, which come in all sorts of colors and styles.

In terms of cribs, they give furniture from high-end stores like Pottery Barn (Grade: C), Restoration Hardware (Grade: C) and Baby Gap (Grade: F) horrible marks for selling trendy cribs that are poorly made (particle board) at exorbetant prices.

For quality and value, they recommend cribs made by Munire, Westwood and Creations. But the best budget crib is the Graco Lauren or Graco Sarah, which is actually made by Bonavita. The same cribs are also sold under the brand Babi Italia, Scandi and Europa Baby.

Basically there are static cribs and cribs with drop-side rails or fold-down rails. The authors of Baby Bargains recommend AGAINST fold-down rails because older babies can use the edge of the rail to climb out of the crib. But static cribs are hard to put a sleeping baby into. So I'm going to go with a drop-side rail. (For a static crib, the authors of Baby Bargains actually recommend the Gulliver crib from IKEA, which is only $99!)

Another consideration in crib shopping is whether or not you want a convertible crib. A what? Yes, many cribs now days can be converted from a crib to a toddler bed to a full or queen-size bed. I suppose your kids could even take their crib to college and beyond... Um, yeah.

(If you read this far, I'm impressed! Bet you didn't know crib shopping could be this complicated...)

But, seriously, is a $99 or $200 crib really as good as a $999 or $1,200 crib? Actually, yes. All cribs sold in the U.S. must conform to the same set of safety standards. And when it really comes down to it, isn't safety the most important element in a crib? So as long as you stick to an all-wood crib that is stable and purchased new (buying a crib is NOT a place where you can save money at garage sales), it should be just fine.

Now the only thing left to go see the Graco Lauren crib in person and then decide is WHICH color to get it in?! Espresso, Walnut, Natural or White?