Liza's Room - the big REVEAL :)

Well, baby Liza will be here in less than a month.  The nursery is {almost} done and I've been waiting to share it with you until we got a few photos back from our photographer friend who recently did some maternity pictures for us!  

First, let's remember what this room looked like before {back when it was our guest bedroom}:

We started by painting it blue over spring break.  At that point, we still had NO clue if we'd be having a girl or a boy.  And even though we thought 'it' would be a girl, we still opted for blue.  I'll have to find the paint can, but it is from Sherwin Williams.  

Don't worry we didn't leave their names on the wall :)

Then, we got the crib and the dresser set up.  And then the room stayed like that for quite some time...

Until we finally found some time and energy in late spring/early summer.

Here was our list for her room:

• Add closet organization and remove closet doors
• Add shelves to display pictures/"L"/etc.
• Add shelves for diaper 'bins'
• Find rug for the floor (DIY perhaps)
• Find fabric for curtains & crib skirt
• Hang paper lanterns
• Make curtains
• Make crib skirt
• Wash clothes/burp rags/blankets/etc.
• Spray paint "L" yellow
• Hang pictures above crib
• Get chair delivered and in place
• Make a bookshelf

Although the list doesn't seem too bad, it wasn't always easy to accomplish when JW works 10.5 hours every day and I can't do too much lifting/moving by myself!  But, we're happy to say it's done!

The first pic is from our maternity pictures...pardon the rest of them.  I was eager to post and didn't edit my own!

The quilt on the back of the chair is JW's baby blanket :)

Liza's "Anywhere Chair" from PBKids, so she can fit in with her older cousins!

We like to call this the 'Twister' rug.  Maybe we've played a game or two on it :)

Diaper bag packed and ready to go to the hospital

We also like that a lot of the colors and design will be great when she wants a 'big girl' room.  And if not, most of the items in there are easy enough to switch out then!

Here's a cost breakdown:

• Fabric for curtains & crib skirt ($65 from fabric.com w/ coupon)
• Crib (Free, hand-me-down from JW's sister)
• Dresser ($285 from Buy Buy Baby - apparently they take Bed Bath & Beyond coupons...if we'd only known that or if there was one closer than 4 hours away)
• Chair ($1100 - YIKES, we spent on this bad boy because we plan on using it in the living room for years to come and because my parents have the same model chair in their living room and we LOVE it...it's a Smith Brothers in case you're wondering)
• Shelves (FREE, leftover lumber & paint from one of our many other projects)
• Closet Organization (FREE, again leftover paint and lumber and JW used a wire closet insert from a basement closet we never use)
• Bookshelf ($3 - leftover white paint and lumber and trim, and then a $3 sample of the yellow paint from Lowe's or Home Depot)
• Frames & Art (Art = $5 to print at Walgreens [rather than killing our ink cartridge]; Frames - Ryba frames from Ikea - I think they cost $10/each)
• Blue Room Paint ($30 - we had some leftover from a room in our basement and had to buy another gallon from Sherwin Williams to finish it all off)
• Curtain Panel Rings ($8 - SUPER sale at JoAnn Fabrics plus my teacher discount)
• Paper Lanterns (Free - leftover from our wedding decor)
• Rugs (the big one was $40ish from Ikea...it was a great deal and we love the playful colors; the small blue one - FREE - my mom crocheted for us)
• Mirror ($40 from HomeGoods - one of our first purchases too)
• Bins (some free from our registry, some $5/bin on sale at Meijer)
 

Well, what do you think??? :)

Hello lover.

I can’t believe it’s already Wednesday!!  As usual, this week has flown by on me.  I blame it on summer school starting up again.  Anyway, it’s time to link up with Jamie and chit chat about what I’m loving this week.

[1]

Fresh produce from our CSA and how it helped me to make these ‘Farmer’s Market Lasagna Rolls’ last night for dinner.  Recipe on those later today!

[2]

The rain yesterday.  Our yard was looking pretty dry (seeing as we’d rather water our garden than our lawn).  I know our garden loved the rain too.

[3]

Liza’s room is getting closer!  Here’s a few sneak peaks on what we’ve been working on lately!

Bookshelf that JW made for our little one!

Picture that my cousin, Chelsey painted specifically for Liza's room :)

Bassinet for our baby girl.  This came from my Grandma and she had used it for her kids, grandkids and even great grandkids.  And YES I will take the stuffed animals and blankets out before I use it.

[4]

This little girl is kicking and moving like crazy!  Every once in awhile her little jabs here and there are a bit uncomfortable, but I know it means she’s getting bigger and stronger.

[5]

Of course, I’m loving my wonderful husband, JW.

…and the Whit-bug!

 What are you loving this week?

It's a GIRL! :)

Hi friends! :)  We had our much awaited baby appointment on Friday and are happy to report that Baby L is in fact a GIRL :)  We are ecstatic...not that we wouldn't have been if it was a boy, but JW and I are so happy to be welcoming a baby girl into our lives.  Not to mention that my bro has 2 little boys (the cute ones you've seen featured many a time here) and so "Grandma Patty" is very excited for a little girl to join the bunch!

 

We have had names picked out for awhile now and Baby L will actually be Liza, short for Elizabeth.  JW's grandma is Elizabeth and it's my middle name.  As for her middle name, we've chosen Ann, since JW's mom's name was ReAnn and my grandma's name is Ann.  We knew that whatever the names were, they had to have some significance in the family.  

 

As for the rest of the weekend, we had a pretty good time!  We headed to Bellaire on Friday to check out Short's Brewery.  For those of you that live in Michigan and are reading this, our friends (not me, obvi) indulged in some great Short's Beer - like Rye Not, Soft Parade (my personal summer fave), and Local's Light, and Bellaire Brown.  Not to mention the fact that they have great appetizers, pizza, and entertainment.  Overall, it was a fun night and well worth the hour drive to get there!

Yesterday it was finally nice enough (read: not rainy) to do some yardwork outside, so we got the fence up around our garden and dug up the space right outside the windows of the basement bedroom -- now they're ready for some hostas!  JW also took out his fishing boat for the first time this year -- he caught a pike, but it was an inch too short to keep.

As for today, we plan on working around the house some more -- we're trying to have the house done by the time Baby Liza makes her appearance, but we're also hopeful to get most of it done by this summer so weekends and evenings can be spent at the cottage :)  Here's just a sneak peak of a few of our many projects...