Mom Time on a Dime

Back a few weeks ago, I bragged over our Pottery Barn rocking chair we scored on Craigslist for $40.

Yes, an $800+ Pottery Barn chair for $40 racks right up there on the miracles list along with Jesus walking on water, so even though it was a bit big for our space and a little lop-sided on the rug, I loved it AND the super deal I got for it.

Fast forward a couple weeks to Chris and I sitting in the nursery, going over baby clothes and how many cloth diapers is really going to be enough (apparently the answer is "all the diapers ever made").  We are taking turns on the rocker, moving it farther and farther away from the wall so it doesnt hit the corners, when we notice we are nearly in the middle of the room.  This is a small room y'all, so having a big piece of furniture like the rocker sticking out a couple feet really makes a big difference when you walk in.  Without saying much to Chris, I make a mental note in the back of my mind that this AWESOME rocker that I love and cashed in all my "karma-credit points" for, may not be the right fit for our house.

As if the Decor Gods were listening to me, I was tempted to stop by a local thrift shop on my way back from a pregnancy check up.  There, right when I walked in, was this beauty.
 Solid wood gliding frame, in excellent condition, and the perfect "look" we had been going for in the nursery (kinda a shabby-chic, vintage vibe) The carved, wooden, scrolly arms put me right over the top... I FREAKIN LOVE IT!  I know you can't tell, but the glide on it was so smooth, it felt almost brand new.

I sent a picture to Chris (since we both have to agree 100% before bringing a piece into the house) and he said it could be my call even though "we already have a rocker".

It was $75 and since Monday's are 10% off furniture days, I skipped out of there like a kid on a sugar high for less than $70 and beamed from ear to ear the entire way home.

Chris will even admit he was a bit skeptical taking it out of my car and replacing our Pottery Barn treasure with something found at a thrift store, but once he got it into place and had a glide, he was hooked.

Looking at this picture now, I hate this pillow... changes a comin'...

 Seeing how its a solid base and the chair just glides back and forth, we don't have to worry about being on/off the rug and the foot print is a LOT smaller.

Its so pretty... and SOOOO stinkin' comfortable!!!  Perfect for rocking our little guy to sleep once he gets here!
As for our Pottery Barn find, I released him back into the wild of Craigslist for another lucky family to find him.
$300 and only two hours later, he was gone.  I took the money as a flip since we had already put in the man hours to give it a good fabric cleaning and put the rest of the $$ towards more items needed for the nursery.  Technically, this means our new glider was a $190 upgrade ($40 taken out for when we bought the original chair and $70 for the glider). Not too shabby!!

Anyone else out there flipping stuff on craigslist or have any awesome luck at thrift stores?!

-Samm

Sorry I've been so MIA over the past couple weeks, but other than work, I promise we havent been doing anything exciting.

I had a trade show all last week and some of the 12+ hour days were pretty brutal for this preggo mama.  Life definitely doesn't slow down (and I don't expect it ever will from the time "he" gets here) but I'm so lucky to have an awesome job that allows me to work from home 90% of the time and a fantastic boss who really gets it.

Not a lot of updates going on in little man's room other than a growing pile of clothes and cloth diapers (I don't know if anyone interested in cloth diapers had tried their luck at their local Super Target, but I highly recommend you do... I plan to write all about my awesome find tomorrow!)

Chris made a little update in the nursery closest which I am WAY more excited about than I should be, but it looks awesome! I can't wait to share!!

Other than that, birthing classes, work, and trying out 1,500 different types of strollers at Buy Buy Baby has really become our norm.  I can't believe we are already in the 3rd trimester!! To say this whole process has been happening quickly would be an understatement but I'm loving every minute of it!

Here's this weeks pictures!

Honestly, if I could live forever in the second trimester of pregnancy, I probably would...

My energy is through the roof, I'm sleeping like a champ, and my hair and skin have finally decided to give off that "glow" I hear about... (this usually consist of me asking Chris to feel how soft my hair is as well as bursting into song every time I wake up without a zit in the middle of my forehead)

To be fair, the past couple months I have probably been eating the most healthy I have ever eaten in my entire life in addition to taking daily mile+ walks with the dogs.  Chris and I have a juicer which we make every morning with the following organic fruits and veggies: kale, spinach, turnip, cucumber, carrots, apple, orange, blueberries, grapefruit, and pineapple.  Would I have EVER eaten all that before we started juicing? Most definitely not (I mean kale and turnips? really? yuck!) but a full 2.5 cups in the morning and I am good to go!

I maybe singing a different tune come month 8, but for now I am all taking it in stride.  I actually have my first baby shower this weekend in AZ with family and friends (we had to do it a little early to avoid flying in my third trimester) but I am psyched!!   All the research on the best/safest/non-million-dollar strollers? I little tougher, but they are all pretty fun to play with! (Chris even gets in on the action.  He's favorite must have feature? Foldablity... if it can't collapse quickly with one hand, dont bother)

Anyway, here's week 26!  I can't believe the next update I'll be 7 months along! Where does the time go?!

Do any of you mama's out there have any items that you just CAN'T live without?  Pregnancy or for baby? I would love to hear!!


Thanks!
-Samm

Sometimes, is the little things that you love the most.

Take this little antique store find for example.

 Chris and I were down in Denver for Memorial Day weekend, celebrating our 1 year anniversary (....7 months late... but its cool since Chris actually gave me tickets to see Les Mis in Denver back on our REAL anniversary in October) but it was a good get away for us just to spend time together, especially with a little one on the way.

Loving Denver and being in downtown with no car, I suggested we take a little taxi cab ride over to "Antiques Row" a mere 4 miles away.  To my surprise, Chris was totally game... In fact, I think he had a lot more fun than even he thought.  Especially when he got to play with little items like this:

...I had to tell him 3x  that we couldn't get it...

As always, looking around was interesting and fun, but since most of the big ticket items we liked wouldnt fit on an airplane (ie. table and chairs, or a gorgeous dresser), we settled on this little nugget which was 30% off $15, making it only $10.50.
I honestly love everything about it.

1. The fact that its a mounted horse shoe (I grew up with my grandparents having a ranch in central California and miss riding horses everyday!)
2. The wood grain stripe down the middle, but off center, is fantastic
3.  Chris and I have never really seen anything like it before and the matter of it facing down instead of up gives it more of a truly unique feel (not like some good-luck charm).
4.  Its a small something to bring back to future-little-man's room as a "oh hey, remember when we got that?"

During our day of decorating, we decided it would look best right above the door frame.
 Just the perfect little accent piece!
As of right now, here's how it looks when you are walking out of the room.
 Oh and that little thing behind the door?  An awesome Hobby Lobby doorstop find.
I got this sucker for $6.49 since they were having a 50% off sale on all men's decor.  Compare that to the $49.99 one I lusted over for weeks via Ballard Design, I think I will take it for the win.

We still have plans to accessorize some more, but decorating with little trinkets here and there is really what is making this room so special.

More updates to come soon!  Chris and I are actually going to look at a fantastic crib we found via Craigslist tonight and fingers-crossed its as perfect as we think it is! I can't wait to get a crib in here and finally start making it feel real!! AHHHH September is getting so close!

-Samm

Whoo hoo... who's ready for a fun ol' nursery update!  Look at some of the fun stuff we scored!!

But before we get to all that, last we left it, we had just gotten our awesome craigslist find all in place and tucked away.
 However, noticing that the walls are a bit bare, Chris and I have started to decorate with a little bit of this and that, which we have been silently hoarding for the past several weeks.

Opposite of the "changing table" wall, is where is crib is going to sit.  As of a couple days ago, this has been whats hanging up.
Don't get me wrong, I LOVE THIS MAP after finding it at a garage sale for $20 and it looked great as decor in our "guest room", but as a nursery, the colors just didnt really go with what we had envisioned for the space (picture me, sitting on the rug, starring at it, crying to Chris "...but I love it.  This room can be orange and green. We can make that work."... No, Samm, it can't.)

So you can imagine my enthusement (enthusiasm + excitement = enthusement) when I saw THIS GUY at a garage sale over the weekend.
 Yea, thats a 6 FOOT by 4 FOOT awesome vintage-looking map.  $10?... would you take $8? SOLD... (yes, I haggled over $2... times are tight)

(I wish I would have taken a picture of me trying to get it home, alone, with a quarter of it sticking out of my open back of my SUV.  The g-sale was only about a mile or two away from my house, and I drove slow with my cautions on the whole way taking back streets, but I still felt pretty stupid with one hand driving and one arm holding on to it through the backseat.)

Anyway, this "little" map was the catalyst to the "Lets-start-decorating" movement.  Chris was really into the map (yay!) and so we took down the roll-up map and moved the nails over for a bit to make sure the map was centered on the wall.

Sorry internet, the hot Italian with a six-pack, ripped arms, and gorgeous hair is mine all mine

 I did feel a little bad for replacing a map with another map, kinda like dumping one guy only to date his hotter brother, but I'm totally loving the choice we made!
While Chris was busy putting the map up, I decided to hang some stuff as well... like these two awesome car signs I found at a flea market for $25/pair.
 They have been sitting in our nursery room for a couple weeks now, but once I dusted and cleaned them off a bit, I totally remember why I like them so much.
Oh, did I mention that I totally bought these before we knew if we were having a boy or a girl?  I had a "feeling" it was a boy ever since March but when I bought these in April (before our ultrasound) and Chris thought I was jinxing it.  Nope, just good ol' mother intuition... (thank goodness I was right! These would look kind of awkward in a little girl's room) 

I knew I wanted to pair these bad boys together, but I couldn't really decided on where to put them... until I saw the little space behind the door.
 Perfect!

And now... Ta-daaa!!
 Here's a closer up look...
The top one is actually my favorite.  The car on there is actual a 3-dimensional mold and sticks out just a bit to give the piece some depth.

You can see how the car cast just a little bit of a shadow

 And this old Chrysler one is just plain cool.  I love the frame.
The next order of business, was to deal with yet another map.

This AWESOME vintage Texas Military map Chris and I scored at the Canton Flea Market for $10.
We had talked about replacing, or even possibly building a new frame for this guy, but once we started to hang things up, we were surprised how well it went with everything we were already hanging up.  So, for now, the frame stays... Just where to put it?

Oh, on this perfect spot? ... ok...
 And after...

Sorry these pictures are so awful... they were all with my iphone.  I promise to break out my nice camera for some good pictures soon!

Here's a nice close up pic of the masculine map all up and looking pretty handsome.

As I carried her away into the sunset