First night in her crib!

We have transitioned Elle in her room. Since we got home from the hospital, she has been sleeping in the bassinet in our room. Elle does not sleep through the night yet so Mommy Jarbs has to wake up to feed her at the middle of the night. Her room is across the hall from ours but we can see and hear her the entire time with the help of our video monitor. 

I've been reading books recommended by our pediatrician on how to help establish a bedtime routine. We've only been following it for a few days but I have to say it works for us. It has helped us establish a routine and helped understand our baby's cues better therefore avoiding crying fits :-). Since we moved Elle in the nursery and started following a routine, the Jarbs family has been sleeping a little bit better. Yay!

The nursery is ready...

We finally put the finishing touches in the nursery! The wall decals, wall prints and wall letters are up! Thanks to Daddy Jarbs :-).

The room is ready. We just need the baby!!

Football, glider, nursery...

We were blessed with another awesome weather today! Daddy Jarbs was asked by his former flag football team to play with them today. Daddy Jarbs did not join this season's flag football team because of Baby Jarbs' impending arrival. Since we did not have anything planned today,  he was able to squeeze in a flag football game in his schedule. His team changed leagues so we had to drive out to Rockville, MD for today's game. Eventhough his team lost, Daddy Jarbs played a great game. He even scored a touch down for his team! Go Daddy Jarbs! His teammates thanked me for letting him come out and play given that Baby Jarbs can come out any minute/day now!

Here are some photos of Daddy Jarbs in action.

Click to enlarge

After the game, we swung by our favorite baby store, Great Beginnings, to pick up the Best Chair ottoman that we ordered and had repaired. The glider came in a couple of weeks ago but the ottoman was damaged to we had to send it back. Now, our Best Chair Mantova glider and ottoman with nursing stool is complete and assembled! Yay!

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I ordered custom hibiscus wall decals from Etsy and I should receive it on Monday. After that, we can finally hang up all the wall prints, wall decals and letters and the nursery decors will be complete!!

Nesting...

Since we got home really late last night, I took the day off from work today to rest and relax. With the nesting instinct kicking in, I ended up cleaning and organizing the nursery :-). 

Daddy Jarbs finished assembling the armoire which we custom-designed ourselves in Ikea. It's now filled with Baby Jarbs' stuff!

Installed the crib mobile and aired out the crib mattress. 

The hula owl prints are still waiting to be hung.

The crib bedding I ordered should arrive in a couple of weeks. I plan to start washing some of the newborn clothes next time I take off work :-).  We're making progress. Yay!

Nursery progress...

We finally made some progress in the nursery! Our colors will be brown and pink :-). We had the walls painted brown and I plan to put cute wall arts in pink which I ordered from Etsy.

This is the before picture of the room. It's a spare bedroom which we rarely use so it looks so blah. Did I tell you I hate white walls? :-P

Now, the walls are painted and crib and changing table/dresser are assembled! The room is still a work in progress but we're slowly getting there.

Some of the loot from the baby shower

More nursery shopping...

Daddy Jarbs and I went back to Great Beginnings to finish our nursery shopping. We finally ordered a chair glider. We got the Best Chair Mantova glider. At first, we were not sure if we would get one. We did not want to splurge but we found a good deal at Great Beginnings so we bit the bullet. My friend (Thanks Malia) hooked me up with a coupon so we were able to use that as well. We like that the glider is not bulky and has a contemporary look. Eventually, when we do not need it in the nursery, we can move it to the living room and have it blend with the rest of our furniture. Daddy Jarbs also likes that the gliding mechanism is not exposed which minimizes the chance of Baby Jarbs' little hand getting stock in there when she starts crawling around and getting curious. We got the glider plus ottoman and nursing stool similar to the photo below but with a different color of fabric. Since it is a special order, it won't arrive until 10-14 weeks.  I doubt that it will take that long. We received the crib that we ordered from them in a month when they originally told us it will take 10-14 weeks! If the glider does not arrive before my due date, Great Beginnings will loan us one to use until our glider is ready.

 Since we were at GB, we also got the crib mattress. We got the Colgate Classica 3. It is highly rated by the Baby Bargains book. The mattress is very lightweight which will hopefully make crib changes in the middle of the night easier. The mattress has a very firm side for newborns and a softer side for toddlers. Studies show that very firm mattress for newborns help prevent SIDS or sudden infant death syndrome.

We have ordered all our nursery room essentials. It's just a matter of putting the room together. It should be ready in a few weeks!

nursery shopping continues...

Daddy Jarbs and I finally picked out a paint color for Baby Jarbs' room. We got the paint from Sherwin Williams Harmony line which is their environmental friendly paint. It is a zero VOC and low odor paint. Since we do not like loud/fancy paint colors, we stuck with a gender neutral, earthy color. We'll have the nursery painted next week! Yay!

Sherwin Williams Nuthatch

We also checked out several furniture stores to look for an armoire and a dresser that will be also be the changing table. We have a preference for espresso stained/contemporary looking furnitures so this limits our choices. We did not want to get anything that is overly expensive since these will only be used in the baby's room and there is a high likelihood that it will be scratched/ damaged (or bitten into) by Baby Jarbs.  So far, we like the dresser and armoire we found at Ikea. 

Baby Jarbs' nursery project begins..

With only ~3.5 months left before Baby Jarbs' arrival, Daddy Jarbs and I are now in full baby planning mode. We got a long to-do list so we're tackling each task one by one.

The nursery project has officially started. The 2nd guest room will now be Baby Jarbs' nursery. Today, we got rid of the queen bed which was in that room. Thanks to our friend Patty who have offered to adopt the queen bed and armoire. The closet in the said room is unfinished so Daddy Jarbs is working on getting that done.

For the nursery design, Daddy Jarbs wanted to incorporate something Hawaiian (surprise, surprise!). I wanted a more contemporary look. After some research and discussion, we've settled with the following color palette for the nursery:

The crib and dresser that we plan to have in the nursery will be in espresso finish so that will give the room a more contemporary look. I'll post pictures as the nursery project progresses :-).