Nursery Updates

Well, hello from the couch...  I'm officially on "house arrest" for at least the next couple of weeks (a.k.a. modified bedrest) due to having placenta previa.  I figured I'd have to slow down at some point with twins on the way, but not this early.  I'll be 17 weeks tomorrow.  But, hey... what can you do?  I've been working from home the last couple of weeks and will continue to as long as this condition persists.  It's still very early on though and my doctors suspect this one pesky placenta will migrate.

Anyway, in other fun news... we're expecting two more BOYS!  Guess I set myself up when I made the comment that I'd be happy as can be with three boys... ha! We're really excited - boys are so fun.  Sure, if I could've picked, I would have chosen a boy/girl combo.  But I was not at all disappointed to find out we're having two more boys.  Our house is going to be nuts!  But also full of love and lots of fun...

We don't have too much that we need before the boys arrive, besides basics like an extra crib and a double stroller... but I thought it'd be fun to give the nursery a small update.  A few of the items in there now are personalized for Sam, so we'll be swapping some things out.  But other than some fabric updates and adding a second crib, nothing much will change.  I'm definitely glad we went with neutral tones on the walls, etc and with the more "permanent" fabric pieces so that we could easily mix and match different prints for an easy update.  You can see all of Sam's nursery pics here, but below are a couple to show you what it looks like currently...

And these are the main fabrics we used (custom bedding and fabric from Carousel Designs - cannot recommend them enough!!!)

 

 

I was so pleased with the service and products at Carousel... plus they are local (to Atlanta) and all products are made to order right here in the US and they ship super fast.  And you're not buying bedding sets... you just order what pieces you want.  I didn't do bumpers since they're apparently not safe or whatever... so I just ordered a custom-designed skirt, blanket, and some sheets.  This next time around, I'll skip the blanket and sheets.  Nothing wrong with the sheets, but I ended up using Carter's jersey cotton sheets much, much more and they're a lot cheaper.  And I enjoyed the blanket I designed, but it's just not necessary.

So even though we're having more boys, I still want to give the nursery a little bit of a different look.  Like I said, we'll mostly be swapping out some fabric pieces (the window dressing and crib skirts).  And we'll be moving the changing table out and replacing it with a second crib.  We plan to remove one of the shelves on the built-in shelving to create a changing area there.  The pad will fit fine and we can use the shelves above for storing supplies.  I plan to move the baskets currently on the changing table to the built-in shelves.

As soon as we knew for sure we had two boys coming, I started browsing fabrics that would work with what we already have and fell in love with this...

I always have loved orange... if you remember, the inside of Sam's closet is orange!  And this shade is soft enough that it will fit right in with the shades of blue, beige, and bronze we already have going on in there.  I think we will probably replace the cornice board fabric with the orange chevron.  And with twins, I doubt I'll personalize it this time... I'll save that for some pillows or something.

For the skirts, I wanted to do a mix of coordinating fabrics but not have them exactly the same.  I was playing around with the designer tool on Carousel's site and put these two below together.  Note that I already have the swatches on hand and the colors aren't quite the same on screen...they all work well together much better in person.  For one thing, the blue is much softer than it appears here.  So if you ever are looking to order from Carousel - always, always order swatches first!

SO fun!  What I also love about their designer tool is that you can change the crib finish, the flooring, and walls to resemble what you have in your room so you can really get a feel for how the bedding will look.

Haven't ordered these yet, but I'm pretty happy with these designs and we'll most likely go with these.  I think I'll hold out till they have a sale... on occasion Carousel will offer a % off, but I've only seen notice on Facebook for sales, so be sure to "like" their FB page if interested.

We did actually make our first purchase for the twins this week... a couple of Podsters!

I discovered these a while back and "bookmarked" the idea for later... several of the reviews said they were a lifesaver for twins.  So I started looking at them again earlier this week and it seemed the non-pink ones were scarce!  I tried to order one from Walmart (the only one left) and later got denied because they were out of stock.  Amazon only had pink (for a decent price anyway).  So I found a blue one on one site (again, the LAST one - they are now completely out), and found a green one on Barnes & Noble's site, of all places.  I think they'll be great for the boys... the reviews are outstanding.  And I found some bloggers that sang their praises for them as well.  Any of you use these?  Boppy also makes a similar version, but after a fair amount of research, the LeachCo brand seems to be far superior.  And hello, LeachCo makes the pregnancy pillow that I'm so obsessed with (the Snoogle), so I have no doubt I'll love these too.

The other big item I've been researching a lot (OK a bit bigger than a podster, ha) is the perfect double stroller for the boys.  I love all my stroller choices for Sam... my research paid off.  So I'm hoping I score again here.  Only this time I want to find something more all-purpose that will last a few years.  Something that will hold two infant carseats in the beginning and later two toddlers.  After a lot of digging and reading reviews, I think our best bet is the Baby Jogger City Select...

It's pricey for sure... but has lots of versatility.  There are a million different ways to configure the seats.  And you can remove them completely to add the carseat adapters.  It's basically a frame you customize.  They also have bassinets you can add, but that's hardly necessary.  I'll skip that.  Twins or not, this is a pretty popular stroller.  Any experience with it?   I'd love to hear what you guys think.

Alright... I hear someone waking up from his nap so it's time to put the 'puter down.  Hope you all are having a great weekend.  It is rainy and gross here... so not a bad day to have to take it easy.  Still in my jammies here!