My top newborn items

Turner is 7 weeks old and in that short amount of time, I have fallen in love with a few of our baby items and I thought I would share my top items!!!

 

 

1. Bright Starts Spots & Stripes Safari Gym - Turner LOVES this thing! We are on this thing everyday, multiple times a day. If you follow me on Instagram (@lifeasbridget21), you have probably seen many photos and even videos of him on this thing. He loves hitting and kicking the items! I am beyond happy this item was gifted to us!!
 

2. Halo SleepSack Swaddle - These things are AWESOME! We were given 3 newborn size swaddles from the hospital (1 in my room, 2 from the NICU), 1 size small as a gift and 3 other type of swaddles. These are great because our lil' guy is pretty strong and can break out a blanket swaddle no problem and these are made with Velcro so he can't bust out.  These are great in helping babies sleep so that their limbs don't wake them up.
 

3. AngelCare Deluxe Movement and Sound Monitor - This helps parents sleep better at night. I don't have to worry if he's not breathing because this picks up his movement and if there is 20 seconds of no movement, then an alarm goes off. We had a couple false alarms the first week because we had the sensitivity too low, but since we moved it, no false alarms. The sound monitor portion is obviously great also so we as parents can go outside or other parts of the house and still know he's OK in his nursery.
 

4. Graco Pack-n-Play - Turner slept in the bassinet for the first few weeks of his life. Even though he doesn't sleep in this anymore, we love this thing for travel purposes. Since he is still small, we don't pack up the whole thing, we just take out the bassinet portion and bring that with for him to sleep in. We put it between us in the bed. We've traveled so much since he was born and will use it again this weekend for wedding #3 that we will be attending with him. Once he outgrows the bassinet, we will then pack up the whole pack-n-play and bring that with for traveling.

5. Medela Dual Electric Breast Pump - This isn't the exact one I have because mine was purchased from a medical supply store since my insurance covered it, but it is a Medela brand and is a dual electric pump. Having a pump allows mom to have a life outside of feeding baby. I was able to be a bridesmaid in a wedding when Turner was just 2 weeks old. I pumped every time Tate would text me that he was feeding Turner. We continue to feed Turner one bottle a day and I pump during that time. I will also be using the pump all day when I return to work.

 

6. Boppy Pillow - This thing is great for breastfeeding. I used it a lot at the beginning. After a few weeks, I had to try to breastfeed without it because I knew there would be times I would have to feed  him and not have the pillow, so I stopped using it for a bit. Now that I feel like I can breastfeed him with and without it, I use it at home to make feeding easier on me and more comfortable for him.

 

7. SnugaBunny Swing - Turner really likes his swing but is not reliant on it. We use it if he wakes from his nap early and need him to go back to sleep. We just put him in it and back to sleep he goes. We also use it to keep him occupied if we are eating dinner or doing other things that require both hands and can't hold him! 

Do you have any newborn items that you LOVE that I should try?!?!

Linking up again for Baby Talk Tuesday with Kristin.
 

 

 

 

This Weekend I...

 

Was so productive...even if it did involve me repeating something 3 times (more on that later)!

 

Tate was out of town coaching wrestling at a tournament so I was solo on the social scene and solo on the 'get shit done' scene!!!!

 

On Friday I went out to eat @ Crave for a friends birthday and then hit up Toby Keith's bar to celebrate. I only stayed until 10 pm...but I loved seeing all my girls and hanging with Molly again who was home for Christmas from CA.

 

Some of the SCSU girls - Elissa & I...she just announced on Christmas that her and her husband are expecting also...very exciting!!!

 

On Saturday I woke up with major plans to get stuff done. I had a bunch of errands to do so I left the house at 9 to hit up the gym, then ran my errands right after and was home by noon! I'm one of those people that doesn't 'take my time' when it comes to shopping, I usually know what I need or have to look @ and am out of there!

 

I made myself lunch (mac & cheese) and then got to work on painting the nursery. I hate how long it takes to prep for painting...but it took about 1.5 hours to remove outlet covers and tape off the trim. Here is what the painted walls looked like before as our guest bedroom...

 

We decided to paint the nursery a light gray color since gray will be incorporated in the color scheme for a boy or girl. We really liked the gray color we painted the upstairs bathroom when we remodeled so we just decided to used that color.

 

When I was 95% finished painting, I realized I used the WRONG gray paint color...I used the one that we used on the downstairs bathroom remodel and the room looked blue...not gray! I was not happy of course...but instead of getting mad, I just decided that I 'primed' the walls. It had taken me 2.5 hours to paint the wrong primer on. I was hoping to get the 2 coats of the right color on that night and be done with it...but clearly my brain had other plans and I painted the correct color for the next 2.5 hours and was done and in bed by 10:15.

 

I woke up at 6:15 ready to paint...well I did decide to eat first and was painting by 7 and then ran out of paint.  I decided to get ready for church and run to the store before to pick up a quart of paint to finish the job.

 

Since I had already spent 7 hours painting, when I got home I decided to clean the fridge because that was on my to-do list also. It's the best feeling have a clean and organized fridge...I just love it!!!

 

After that, I finished painting the nursery during commercials of the VIKINGS WIN!!!

 

Here is are the nice pretty walls of Baby W's nursery...

I love it!!! I can't wait until it's decorated and then occupied with our little one!!!

 

After that, I made these enchilada's for dinner! As they were cooking, I decided to prep the dresser to be primed that is going to go into the nursery. Tate needs to prime it because our primer is oil based and that is a big no-no for pregnant woman so he gets to do that in one.

 

This is the dresser. My dad made a dresser for all of us kids when we were little and this was mine growing up (well I actually think this is my sister's because of the 'flaw' on the top drawer...but since I will painting it anyway, I won't complain).

 

The bottom three draws are pretty deep and are good for storage in the early years as I don't think we will fill everything up with clothes as we have a good size closet too. I am excited to share what I do with this dresser once I finish it!!!

 

That puts me here right now...typing this post, dishing soaking in the sink for me to wash and Tate and I about to double team the bed sheets so we can sleep in nice fresh sheets tonight!

 

It's these weekends I love...where I am home to get stuff done. I hung out with friend and was very productive. I did miss my husband, but he is here now, sitting next to me watching football and relaxing!

 

I hope you all had a GREAT last weekend of 2012!!! Bring on the New Year...I am ready!!!

 

Out with the old...in with the NEW

I love all the new projects going on in our house...I feel like we are getting a whole new house!

We have recently updated a few things in our upstairs living room.

This papasen chair I bought when I lived alone right after college. Very dated and needed to go! Sold on Craigslist!

We updated this area with this nice recliner chair!

We also sold this entertainment stand on Craigslist on Monday! This was also bought when I lived alone right after college also.

I've wanted to get rid of this stand from the day we moved in. I FINALLY found something I could re-do and put there...

Bought this off Craigslist for $40.

I transformed it into this...

I painted it black and distressed it only in a few places...I didn't want to over due this piece.

 

I took out the top drawer and made a shelf. We also had to drill a hole in the back for the cords to be able to go through.

The drawers are filled with DVD's and VHS tapes...yes we still have VHS tapes. We actually still have a VHS player...but have not used it since living in this house. What does one do with all their old VHS tapes?!?!

We are loving the updated look! Now we need to find things to hang on the wall. I'll be revisiting my pinterest boards for ideas!

Twine/Jute chair backs

I've received many compliments on my chair backs and thought I would do a tutorial on how I did it.

Here was my inspiration:

Source: bhg.com via Bridget on Pinterest

I loved this when I found it but could note find a tutorial on how they did it (I didn't look really hard either). It seemed pretty simple to do.

Supplies used:

The jute twine was purchased from Joann Fabrics (it's in the jewerly making section of the store). I bought 3 and have some left of the 3rd one.

The wood glue was something we already had.

Now, I'm not going to lie...I don't have very many pictures of the process on how I did this, but I am going to try really hard to explain it to you all!

Step 1:

Put glue on the underside of a slate at starting point (on end). Hold jute end to glue and wrap around. Have the jute overlap the starting end to hold into place.

This project can get a little messy has the glue gets all over you :)

Step 2:
Keep wrapping jute around chair slate pressing tightly agaisn't what you have already done and making sure you are tightly wrapping also.

Step 3:

Apply glue in random places as you go along. I would put glue on top about 1 inch in length and then wrap twine around. After I had the twine around and all the glue was covered, I would add about a 1 inch length of glue to the underside and keep repeating until I was finished.

*Need to give big props to my neighbor helper, Mason when starting the jute part of the chair...he was a great help to getting this project started*

Step 4:

At the end, I had noticed in some that I did that it wasn't coming across even. I would then have to adjust by moving the twine a bit (if the glue hadn't dried yet) or at the end if the bottom had a gap yet but the top was done, I would overlap.

As you can see, the very end has an 'overlap' of twine so that I fit it all. You can't tell far away at all.

Step 5:

After it's all done, I then cut the twine in the appropriate spot (to make it end under the slate or on the backside). I then put some glue on the end of the twine and pressed it into where it ended. Sometimes it ended underneath, sometimes it was on the backside. I made sure it never ended on top or in the front. I would hold it in place for a good minute to make sure it would stay.

In the picture above, it actually ends halfway up the backside.

Step 6:

Let it dry for a good 24 hours. Then enjoy!!!

To see the total table/chair transformation, click HERE

To see the upholstered chair tutorial, click HERE

And since I have leftover jute to use, here are some other inspirations I have from pinterest to use the jute on...

Source: teachcraftlove.blogspot.com via Bridget on Pinterest

Source: annabooshouse.blogspot.com via Bridget on Pinterest

Upholstered Chair

When I revamped my new office desk and chairs, I had decided right away that I really wanted to upholstery the chairs. I knew this was going to be a bit of a challenge since they were not previously upholstered. With a little Internet research and Joann fabrics visit...I was able to do them myself and they turned out great!

Chairs before

Upholstered

Supplies I used:

- Chair Foam (I bought it by the yard @ JoAnn's)

- Batting

- Fabric

- Heavy Duty Stapler

Step 1:

Cut foam to about .5 - 1" larger than area needed. Cut batting even

larger to overlap and staple to bottom. You can also cut batting off

if you have too big of a piece after it's all finished.

Step 2:

Staple batting to bottom

Step 3:

Cut your fabric to the side needed and use the heavy duty

stapler to attach to the bottom. I used lots and lots of staples!

I stapled all sides and did the corners last.

 Step 4:

After using lots and lots of staples...I cut off any excess to clean it up a bit.

Finished product:

I then had to put them on, which was a task. These chair bottoms indent into

the back rest so when you add a few inches to the bottom and decide to put

it back into the same space it was before...you may have to get a hammer

and pound it in so it's where you want it to be.

I then had to put in the screws that attached the bottom to the frame of the chair. Not sure if I really had too since it was very tightly in place...but for good measure, I decided to.

Finished...Love!!!

To see the total table/chair transformation, click HERE

To see the twine/jute chair back tutorial, click HERE

Ikea table transformation

My favorite project to date! I still can't believe that I actually produced this!There were a few hiccups along the way (I'll post about those later) but it's done and I couldn't be happier!

Here is the before picture of our previous kitchen table.

I bought this from Ikea when I lived alone right after graduating from college. Tate and I bought a new kitchen table 6+ months ago and I wasn't sure what we would do with the old one. As it sat downstairs in our empty bedroom, I decided to 'update' it and have a new desk that is a good size.

There it is...our new desk and chairs in our office that I am currently in the process of decorating (once that is finished, I will be sure to post about it).

The chair all transformed. I painted it to match the bottom portion of the table, added a cushion and fabric to the seat and put twine around the back rest. I really like how it turned out.

My cute space to blog...and work from home if I ever have to!

The twine was definitely the most time consuming. It took about 45 minutes per row. I think it was well worth it though!

I had posted previously about starting this project and how I had stained the top of the desk. I will post soon on how I transformed the chairs. 

To see the tutorial on how I upholstered the chair, click HERE

To see the tutorial on how I used twine/jute on the chair backside, click HERE

Table to Desk...in process

My next DIY project is turning this old, plain and small kitchen table into a beautiful desk and chairs!

This was my first kitchen table when I lived alone right after college. I lived in a small one bedroom apartment and it was perfect for just me. I got it from Ikea for $99. After Tate and I purchased a new kitchen table last fall...I wasn't sure what we would do with this one. After some thought...I realized our current desk in our office (which I also purchased from Ikea when I lived alone) is really small and that if I 'updated' this small table, it would be perfect for a desk.

My plans for the table is to stain the top part a dark walnut color and paint the bottom portion an off-white color. I sanded the table and chairs first and then started staining first. I stained the top first because I new that would be the messiest part and wouldn't want any stain to get on the bottom portion after I had already painted it white.

These are pictures of the stain 'setting'. I put it on using a foam brush and let it sit for a good 20 minutes. I then wiped it off with an old t-shirt. I repeated this about 3 times because it wasn't as dark as I would have liked it.

I used Minwax in a dark walnut finish. After I wiped off the stain for a third time...it was time to let it dry and see if it was dark enough.

This is the project I have been working on Sunday's during tax season. It has been fun and very time consuming. I can't wait for it to be finished and show you the final product.

More to come...