Fabulous News Friday

As a follow up to my Bad News Bears post from Wednesday, I wanted to end the week with some GREAT news: the furniture dilemma is no longer a dilemma!  BBB called Dan this morning to tell him that...wait for it...they found a dresser for us!  One of their IL stores ended up having our dresser in stock in the right color.  YAY!  It made my whole day.  They said we could expect the dresser to be delivered (free of charge, of course) in 2-4 weeks.  Know what that means?  We've got some work to do.  Starting with agreeing on nursery fabric.  Oh, what, you thought we'd made some decisions?  Turns out I was wrong.  Anyway let's not let that daunting process hamper our good mood.  Yay furniture!

In other exciting news, we picked out and purchased our Christmas tree this afternoon (and a new stand) with minimal drama...only one slight snafu.  I was standing right in front of the tree we'd picked out waiting for Dan to bring the Christmas tree helper man back to cut it for us.  Around that time, a woman came up and said it was her tree.  Um, pretty sure I am standing here and you were not, lady.  There was a short but heated discussion between the woman and the Christmas tree helper person (He was on our side: "Well lady, you weren't standing here and she was."), but in the end we gave up because we are Christmas cheer spreaders, not grinches.  Who steals a Christmas tree from a pregnant woman?!  Anyway, we picked a different, even more awesome tree, and because the people at the Christmas tree farm felt bad that the Christmas tree nazi lady was so rude, they gave it to us for $40 instead of $55 as marked!  Double score.  $40 for  a 10 foot tree?  We'll take it.

Dan posing with the perfect Christmas tree!

Now all we need is for the branches to fall...

I know what you're thinking: yes, Dan won and we moved furniture so the tree could fit in the wall recess.  I have to admit that for the first time ever, I was wrong: it does look pretty good there with the furniture out of the way.

With the weather being a little cooler this week, it's gotten me really excited about decorating, so we're going to do that tomorrow.  Since we're in the new house now, I've gotten permission to get a few additional Christmas staples that we never needed before now: a Christmas card holder, some stocking holders, some wreaths to put on our front windows, and some garland for the fireplace.  Wahoo!  Earlier in the day I was exhausted by the thought of decorating because I knew it meant cleaning, too...until Dan came home with the surprise that the cleaning people are coming next week.  It has been an all around good day, friends.

So, on this weekend's agenda?  Christmas decorating, my work Christmas party tomorrow night, and church on Sunday followed by "uninterrupted football watching" (Dan's words). Oh, and discussing the nursery and making some decisions.  Pray for us.  Hope your weekend is great, too!

Sarah

Bad News Bears and Other Miscellaneous Items

I need to start this post off by saying THANK YOU SO MUCH for all of the input you've given me on our nursery dilemma!  I had so many comments, e-mail, Facebook and phone calls with advice, and all of it was so helpful and we are so appreciative.  While both sides had their pros and cons, the general consensus was not to invest in the dresser at this time.  The following points were the main reasons behind this suggestion:

• Baby clothes are smaller than you think, and don't take up as much room as you are anticipating.
• Babies grow so quickly and will grow out of things so fast, that between swapping clothes that fit for clothes that don't, etc. we'll have plenty of room.
• Hanging the clothes up in the closet is a better idea, because you can see everything.  This makes it easier to organize.  Additionally, baby is more likely to wear all of her clothes because it is easier to see them when they are spread out and hanging up than folded on top of one another.
• While the dresser is not a bad idea, the book shelf may be better, because it can grow with baby - you can always update it to match any room in the house where you may need it.  Additionally, as she grows her needs will change, and it will be a good place to get her started early on storing her books and toys.

So, there you have it!  I think what we've decided is to hold off on the dresser purchase, at least for now.  Once we get all of the furniture set up and in its proper place, we'll evaluate how much space we have.  I don't want the room to look too over-stuffed or over-furnished, so if we think we have room for a bookshelf, then we'll go from there.  You were all even kind enough to suggest where to get organizing baskets for pretty inexpensively!  Dan likes this plan, as it involves spending less money.  We won't tell him that the other general consensus was that she absolutely HAS to have a chandelier, especially since she can't have pink walls.  :-)

On that same note, regretfully I have come to the "bad news bears" portion of this post.  Brace yourselves.  Dan got a call from BBB yesterday telling us that there had been a mix-up.  The white dresser that was delivered was, in fact, our dresser.  It was entered into the system incorrectly.  The worse news is that apparently all of the furniture is made in China (wish that weren't the case, sigh!), and due to some kind of Chinese Holiday which is happening right now, the factories are closed for a month.  Which means that our estimated delivery date for the new dresser would be March 26.  SIGH.  Now, to be fair, that is worst case - when we ordered the furniture originally, they told us 16-18 weeks and it came in 4, but we weren't dealing with any factory closings then.  The woman who called was extremely apologetic, and Dan felt really bad for her - said he really thought she was going to cry.  They are currently calling all U.S. BBB stores to see if there is one in stock anywhere to send to us, but doubt this will be the case as the espresso finish is custom for whatever reason.  Dan has asked her to call back with a report on Friday, so that we can make a decision about what to do.  I am torn for several reasons.  I have absolutely fallen in love with this furniture.  That, coupled with the fact that there is not a chance in h*ll we will be able to agree on furniture twice in the same year, makes me not want to choose anything else and just wait it out.  We could just switch to white furniture, but I don't really want to do that either.  There is a good possibility that this furniture will be used for all future Baum babies, or at least the next one, and I just feel like the dark wood is more versatile.  SO, I guess our only choice is to order it and hope it comes in early.  But what if it doesn't?  What am I going to do with all of her stuff?  Not to mention, what do I do about a changing table, since I'm also planning to use the dresser as a changing table?  Someone at work today suggested that we ask if we can use the white one until ours comes in.  Not a bad suggestion, I don't think.  What a nightmare!  Hopefully we will get something good out of it....like a refund and getting to keep the furniture for free perhaps?  Let's hope someone from BBB follows my blog and obliges.  :-)

In order to not end the post on that sour note, I just wanted to take a minute to discuss a random current obsession: Zulily.  If you are a Mom or a Mom-to-be and have not heard of this site, you have GOT to sign up for it.  They have all sorts of amazing items for Moms and kids, and new deals come out every day.  Much like OKL, which I referred you to in a previous post, there are tons of great sales on this site - the difference is that it's geared towards Moms and kids (not just babies!).  They also often have excellent gift ideas.  Enough obsessing/gushing, but please do yourself a favor if you have not already signed up and do so!  I will leave you with a few of the things I've ordered recently (from Zulily of course) and am in love with.

I purchased the following today and can't wait for them to arrive:

Agoo leg warmers.  See Dan?  I didn't even get pink.  You're welcome.



Sweet little Trumpette sock set

 I did not purchase the following Trumpette socks, but I am pretty sad about it because they're pretty darn cute:

Finally, I will leave you with the cutest purchase of all.  These little guys arrived yesterday and I was so excited that I squealed: 

Ruffle Butts bloomers

Honestly, I don't think it gets any cuter than that.  Also, I can't figure out why that picture won't post correctly...it shows up the right way on my computer but won't upload to the blog that way.  Never had that problem before.

Hope that leaves you on a happy note on this hump day!  :-)

Sarah

The Great Debate: Nursery Furniture

Nursery furniture has been a pretty big decision (much like all of the others) in the Baum house.  The problem that we're having is that Dan is cheap "likes to get value for his money" (his words, not mine), where as I will find the only $100 item in a store filled with all $1 items and have to have that one like pretty things and probably don't pay as much attention to price as I should.  One thing is for sure: nursery furniture is a LOT more expensive than either of us anticipated it being. 

We weren't really sure where to start, so we began by just looking at things we liked online to get an idea of style.  We did this mostly on furniture websites.  Luckily, we agreed on style (which I never thought would happen), but when it came time to price things we liked, we were shocked at some of what we saw.  Just birthing a child is so expensive, even with deductibles and maximum out of pockets, so the problem we were having is that it was going to be really hard to justify spending $2,000 on furniture.  The nursery is a special place, one in which we will be spending a LOT of time with Baby Geronimina, so you can see why I want it to be beautiful.  However, while furniture truly is an investment, the furniture itself is just the beginning of the nursery - $2,000 just seemed ridiculous when we still hadn't considered bedding, a rug, decorations - anything else. 

SO, back to square one.  Let's start with the nursery wish list.  In the nursery of my dreams, here is what I would have wanted:

• Crib
• Dresser/Changing Table Combo
• Hutch for Dresser/Changing Table Combo
• Armoire
• Glider

Obviously, a baby does not need all of these furniture pieces - those are just on the wish list for the nursery of my dreams slash when the money tree starts producing $100s.  Realistically, I knew that the crib and changing table were most important, with glider in a very close 2nd (3rd?) - I am planning to breast feed and every Mom I've talked to said that a glider/rocker of some sort is as must. 

Once we decided furniture stores were probably more than we wanted to spend, I started looking online for furniture at both BuyBuy Baby and Babies R Us.  Babies R Us has a lot more to choose from online, but they do not carry the stroller we're registering for (yes, we finally decided on a stroller!).  We set aside some time yesterday to go to both - BuyBuy Baby (from here on out known as BBB) to look at strollers for the 18th time and Babies R Us (from here on out known as BRU) to take a look at furniture.  We swung by BBB first and were pleasantly surprised at the amount of furniture in store.  After looking at all of it several times and picking out our top three, we were finally able to come to an agreement.  Yes, an agreement!  Behold, our nursery furniture:

Crib



All Available Pieces

When I saw this crib, I fell in love - isn't it so pretty?!  Part of it was the legs.  I don't know why, but I love how they are rounded at the front.  Anyway, we ordered it in dark wood.  I like the idea of white, but in our current house, when we have more than one child they will probably share a room, and I just for whatever reason felt like dark wood would be better.  Espresso was the exact color we chose.
We debated a lot about convertible cribs.  We didn't have too much of a choice - 99% of what's out there these days is convertible (but you can choose not to purchase conversion kits).  Our dilemma was this: they tell you to go ahead and get all conversion kits up front, because a lot of times furniture will be discontinued, the company will stop making the conversion kits, or they will change their wood and then conversion kits won't match your furniture.  In addition, we found ourselves wondering if it was realistic to expect furniture to last for 18+ years.  I have heard from several Mom friends that babies/toddlers can be pretty rough on their beds, so did we really think we could go 18+ years with the same furniture?  Additionally, there is the dilemma of when baby #2 eventually comes: do we then spend the extra money and get the convertible bed for that baby as well, or do we just use it as a crib and get different furniture as we need it?  It's a lot to think about.  In the end, we decided that we are going to register for the toddler bed conversion kit.  Here is how it looks as a toddler bed:

Converts to Toddler Bed

This way, Baby Geronimina will stick with her same bed until she's a toddler, and then we'll cross other bridges as we get to them.  The sales associate did tell us that if we didn't get the kit that converts to a full bed but decided later on to go that route, all we'd have to do is get a full bed frame and drill it directly into the headboard.  Excellent to know - it's always nice to have options!

The pieces we ended up with were only two off of my original wish list: the crib and the convertible dresser/changing table (in the picture, it's the shorter dresser with the hutch).  I really, really, R E A L L Y wanted that hutch (cannot express to you how much I want the hutch), but couldn't get Dan to budge.  All we could agree on is that we will put it on the registry.  It is definitely not a necessity - I just think it looks nice.  We briefly considered getting the second, taller dresser, but decided we would see how it goes and if we need it we can always order later.  My dreams of an armoire were crushed because they are stupid expensive, but maybe when our money tree sprouts in the back yard I'll go back for it.

The only other thing we should still need for the nursery, furniture-wise, is a glider.  I am currently trying to convince Dan that I am not, in fact, being high maintenance, and this is something that is a necessity, not a want.  I sold the furniture that's currently in that room this week, so I'm hoping I can talk him into putting our proceeds towards a glider.  We're going back to register next weekend, so fingers crossed that I can talk him into it before we go back!

All in all, we had a very productive weekend and as a result I am feeling a lot less stressed about where we stand.  We got a great deal on this furniture and were able to use 20% off coupons in addition, so we spent a lot less than we originally anticipated, and we're really happy with that.  The only downside is that we had to special order the furniture, so they told us it would be 16-18 weeks before it arrives.  Newsflash: baby girl is due in 16 weeks.  They assured us that 16-18 weeks is the worst case scenario, and that most of the time the furniture arrives earlier.  Fingers crossed!  I'm sure we will have a bassinet that she can sleep in if the furniture doesn't come in, but y'all know how I like for things to just be done.

Next weekend, we're planning to register, so that will be one more thing to mark off the list - lots of research to do this week!  Then, it's back to nursery decorating: we need to make a final decision on bedding, and I need to get Dan on board with my vision.  So far, he has put his foot down that wall paper is not allowed (even though I only want one wall!).  Not to worry, I'll keep trying!

Happy football watching!

Sarah