Peter Rabbit's out... Aeroplanes, Bees, Boats, Helicopters & Whales are in!!!

Despite being dead-set on doing a 'Peter Rabbit' themed nursery as per my earlier post, I have done an about-turn and gone in a totally different direction!

The reason being that Peter Rabbit is not all that common out here so it was proving difficult to find anything to build my theme with - i.e. cot bedding, wall decalls, mobiles etc - without having to ship them from overseas and/or them costing MEGA bucks. For example... the Peter Rabbit cot mobile I had once coveted was on sale in Myer for $89.95 which I just can't justify - how ridiculous?!

Our furniture choice also played a major part in us changing direction. We're trying to kit out the nursery within a reasonable budget - seems crazy to spend almost the same amount on a cot etc as we did on our own bedroom furniture - especially given the short time it will be used for and so we had been looking in IKEA at their baby range for some time as it is pretty reasonably priced. The wooden range I previously posted is being discontinued and when we went in to look at what they did have left it was pretty flimsy and didn't look as though it would last very long.

Before we knew we were having a boy I had fallen in love with this PINK cot - would look fab in a little girl's room - although being slightly crazy and not your conventional type of nursery furniture!



I wasn't completely sold on the boy's version in blue to begin with but Adam seemed to really like it and it's such good quality - really sturdy - so in the end we bought the cot, chest of drawers, wardrobe & bookshelf in this bright blue and hoped and prayed that it wouldn't look too comical in our very plain & boring beige & brown nursery....! Here are the pieces we've bought:-

Yes - they're bright - yes - they're a bit mad - but I've grown to love them and I think you will too once you see how fab they actually look in 'real life'! They don't really lend themselves to a Peter Rabbit theme - they're too cartoon-y - so instead I started scouring the internet once more for a theme that we would all love and would match these vibrant colours. At first I thought about an ocean-theme now we're back on the Northern Beaches and found a fab range called 'Bubbles' which featured a whale and an octopus, a crab and a lobster, but unfortunately it is another line that has been discontinued so my search started again.

In the end I landed on a range called 'Casey's ABC' by a company called Living Textiles. I wasn't completely sure at first - the combination of a whale & an aeroplane seemed a bit odd - and I also worried that there might just be TOO much blue going on with our IKEA furniture but it does have touches of green, brown, beige & red to balance it out a bit.

We happened to go into a shop called Babyography at Warringah Mall the weekend we bought the furniture and they very conveniently had the whole range in stock so we bit the bullet & bought the five-piece cot set which includes a flat sheet, fitted sheet, quilt, pillow & wall decals, as follows:-

We also got some of the matching accessories - the nappy stacker, the mobile, the cot blanket & the pram blanket & some lovely wooden wall hangings of the whale & aeroplane:-

The other bits we've bought to finish the whole thing off are a comfy feeding chair & footstool - which I am already enjoying sitting in - and a change table - both from IKEA - bargain!!!

Now I know these last two items don't strictly match but I challenge you to find a change table and chair in shocking blue! I think they break the room up quite nicely actually and the blinds/carpet are very neutral shades of beige and brown so not tooooo much of a clash!

Final bits... light fittings - and how cute is this lampshade & bedside lamp - matches the clouds on the bedding & wall decals...

This may all look like a bit of a crazy mish-mash of colours, textures & styles but trust me - it works - and I CAN'T WAIT to show you pics of the finished room within the next week or so - just waiting for my lovely hubby to build the wardrobe & put up the light fitting then we're good to start snapping some pics to share with you.

I can't wait for Master Read to be at home in his fab nursery (although I will add that we plan to have him in our room in a bassinette for a few months) - only 43 days to go!!!



What a busy August we had!

August has to have been the busiest, most stressful month of our year so far & Master Read had lots of medical appointments to attend too! As it seems such a long time ago now, I thought I'd mix the format of this post up a bit & do it in 'diary' form:

Tuesday 2nd August 2011 - the dreaded return to work - I wasn't looking forward to this after having had 3 lovely weeks off but it wasn't too bad in the end - especially as I had been checking & keeping on top of e-mails whilst I was away

Friday 5th August 2011 - our 7th appointment with Dr Boyce and the 27th week of pregnancy. He gave me a referral for my 3rd Trimester Ultrasound - to check growth etc - and also another for a 'Glucose Challenge Test' to check for Gestational Diabetes. I was a bit worried about the latter as I have had such a craving for sweet stuff throughout this pregnancy - despite the old wive's tale that sweet cravings indicate you're having a girl - and I was devastated at the thought of having to cut down on my sugar intake!!!

Friday 12th August 2011 - the Glucose Challenge Test. This involved going to the Pathology clinic at North Shore Private and drinking - as quickly as possible - a small bottle of what seemed like pure glucose... tasted like sickly sweet lemonade. The bottle I got was clear not orange but a similar size to the pic below. Thankfully it was ice-cold otherwise I think it would have been really horrible! Once down the hatch a stop-watch was started and I was sent to the waiting room to sit it out for an hour... not fun... made Master Read go a bit hyperactive & me feel a bit peculiar - try sitting still for an hour when you're on a sugar high!!! After the hour was up I had to go and have a full set of bloods collected. About 5 vials if I remember right. The purpose of this test is to check for Gestational Diabetes which can be harmful in pregnancy - not to the mum but to the baby as it can make them grow really big and their little lungs & heart won't be able to cope with their size. If Gestational Diabetes is diagnosed it can be controlled with diet in most cases but Insulin is required with some. The results for this test would be available at my next OB appt - unless an unusual range was detected...

Saturday 13th August 2011 - the big move!!! The time had come to say good-bye to the beautiful house we built at Elmstree Road & move back to the Northern Beaches - a much easier commute for Adam to Darlinghurst & a much nicer place for me to be on maternity leave - near friends, near the beach - lovely! As you can imagine I wasn't able to do much to help with the big move - just packing really & driving car loads (pre-loaded  by the gang) to & from the new place. It was a long day & we were so grateful for the help of Rob, Heather & Garry. We were exhausted by the time the last run for the day was over & sank into the haphazardly-arranged sofas for pizzas & beers (for them not me!)

Here's a pic of the new place from the outside... having been here for nearly a month now I can tell you that I LOVE it here - it's a very different - much smaller  house than before but just big enough & the outside space is amazing for Rocky. He doesn't seem to have suffered too much from not having his daily visit from the pet nanny anymore... only a few more weeks til he's got me full-time anyway!!!

Thursday 18th August 2011 - 3rd Trimester Scan (growth scan). This was a much shorter affair than usual - prob took 25 mins tops - and we had an older, more-experienced sonographer who flew through the measurements in a very efficient, no messing around kind of way. We were also in a different room this time and I was absolutely over the moon when she changed the software on the ultrasound machine to the 3D/4D technology. Master Read was very obliging & apart from putting his hand near his face a few times was sooo super cute - opening & closing his little rosebud mouth (blowing kisses I like to think) & we got a couple of amazing photos of his face. It's scary to know so soon what the little man is going to look like - scary but exciting too. Here he is - the little chubba - I don't know where he got that pout from cos neither Adam or I have particularly full lips!!!

Thursday 25th August 2011  - settlement!!! It had been a stressful couple of weeks moving out of Elmstree Road & into Larmer Place & getting Elmstree Road empty, clean and ready for the new owners. The whole house was scrubbed clean from top to bottom by myself, Adam & even the cleaners who did the bathrooms & the oven... I actually think it was cleaner when we moved out than when we moved in after it was first built. We had to get rid of a lot of furniture for our down-sizing - one bedroom suite & all the study furniture went on eBay - and the rest was put out the front of the house for council collection. Funnily enough, however, the locals picked it all up (bar an old Christmas tree & some pallets) before the council could even get there. Thursday dawned - the day of settlement - & the conveyancer advised that it was all due to go through at 2pm and to be ready for her call. 2:45pm arrived & I was feeling distinctly panic-stricken when the phone rang & it was done! We were no longer house owners - sounds odd to be pleased about that but it's the right thing to do for us right now & a bloody good time to sell as the market is getting tougher & tougher out here. We'll think about buying again in a couple of years when we know where we want to be... who knows - could be Sydney, could be Adelaide...!



Friday 26th August 2011 - 8th appt with Dr B. I passed my Glucose Test - wooo hoooo! That's all I can actually remember from that appt - oh & that the results from my growth scan the week or so earlier showed that all was well & that baby was bigger than average for 29 weeks - no kidding!! Dr B also did his own little scan as usual & I was pleased to be advised that Master Read has moved so his head is down towards my cervix... getting ready for his great entrance into this world - I CAN'T WAIT!!!

Next post... the nursery & starting to purchase properly now there's not so much time left to go.

Hope you enjoyed this summary of our hectic August!!!