You know how sometimes things have to look worse before they look better? That seems to be the case with our nursery progress as of this weekend.

(Sorry pictures are a little blurry today, it’s rainy out and I took them this morning before putting my contacts in. Whoops.)

We set out to conquer a bunch of things on our to-do list. Mostly, we were all set to make the closet pretty. We originally talked about our plans for the baby’s closet here. I know I’ve mentioned that I plan to stencil the closet, but I don’t think I’ve exactly explained the plan. It will be white polka dots.

So the majority of the mess in the nursery? Pieces of the closet system.

We started to put pieces together only to discover that we’re missing a screw… literally. Mike called Allen + Roth and they will be sending us a new piece, but it can take anywhere from 1-7 days. Whaaamp whaaamp. Slight setback, but that’s okay because the closet has to be stenciled first! Which brings us to clutter cause #2…

I got all ready to stencil on Sunday with the supplies that Cutting Edge Stencils so kindly sent me way back in December. The problem was that it took me so long to actually stencil and I left the stencil rolled in the shipping tube it came in. So it was way too curly to use and I had to let it sit for a few days.

Holding down the stencil are some books and a fan we picked up for the room this weekend. It seems to be working and is pretty flat at this point. Hopefully I can tackle that in the next day or so. Until then, the ottoman is home to directions for both the stencil and the closet system.

The crib has become a catch all for the storage bins that will eventually find a home in the closet.

But the good news is that we did get a lot done overall. Those two little outfits are all washed for the hospital. The dark gray one is my first choice (complete with gender specific hat and blanky) and the chevron one is a larger size incase I have a big baby. I decided to go with a gender neutral outfit because the baby is usually all blanket and hat in the beginning anyway and the gray looks so nice with both baby pink and blue 🙂

We also assembled most of our gear this weekend and it has found a home in the corner of the nursery.

We tucked this stuff in here because the last time we left something in the family room this happened…

Don’t worry, the bassinet pad hadn’t been washed yet. The stroller will be in the garage so Macky won’t get used to free rides… not that I pushed him around the family room in there or anything. Okay I did. I considered it quality control.

Finally, you may have noticed the giant elephant frame in the room. We made a trip to Ikea this weekend and picked up a frame for our alphabet print over the dresser.

I started my maternity leave today, so I’m hoping to wrap most of this stuff up this week. I probably won’t stick to my usual posting times, since well, I can post whenever I want now!! Though I’ll probably stick to weekdays since that’s when Mike works. I decided to take last night off after work so I could celebrate by sitting on the couch with a giant bowl of ice cream. It was fabulous 🙂

On Saturday, our families threw us a baby shower. It took place at the same local bed & breakfast where we got married almost 2.5 years ago.

It was sort of rainbow themed, though my mom, mother-in-law and sister-in-law Jen kept the decorations to a minimum to not take away from the classic house.

My sister-in-law ordered these adorable invites and thank you cards and set them up on the entryway table with favors and candle holders made out of tissue paper.

Yes I blurred out my last name. Not that I necessarily care if you know it, but it just seemed wrong to blantantly post it you know?

On the other side of the entryway were some adorable centerpieces my mother-in-law made with crayons and baby pictures of Mike and I.

I forgot how big the house was. There was no formal seating during the shower and just seating throughout the many rooms of the house (probably about 5 large rooms downstairs?). I opened gifts in this large living room area.

And that seriously ends where Mike took pictures. We were so busy making the rounds that we didn’t get pictures of a lot of things, including the rainbow cupcakes, food, a shot of me actually standing and a shot of us together. Thankfully I did ask a friend to take some pictures while I opened gifts. We received so many amazing things, which was even more apparent when I went through these pictures and realized I am smiling ridiculously huge in most of them.

That’s a puppy cat hat. I’m not sure if it’s a puppy or a cat. I think I decided it’s a chihuahua.

My sister in law painted this wipe case with my favorite, Puss in Boots. It has our last name on the right side so of course I blurred it out, but I couldn’t resist posting my Puss in Boots impression (learned from Darwin)…

We also got loads of baskets full of goodies, which I love (and are generally my gift giving choice when I go to baby showers :)) I wish I had before pictures of how adorable they all looked.

Of course, no baby shower is complete without a poop reference.

The blog wasn’t forgotten at the shower either. My mother-in-law gave me this bib…

I caught Macky wearing it already….

I always love reading about baby gear on blogs and I got a lot of ideas for what to register for by reading blogs. I like seeing what sort of baby stuff people with a similar style to mine find, so I figured I’d share some of our choices that we received on Saturday. Maybe it will help a fellow pregnant lady out? 🙂

1. bumGenius Elemental Cloth Diapers– Mike and are planning to use cloth diapers most of the time. It seems to be one of those topics that fascinate people like how we don’t eat meat…we’re crazy, what can I say? The truth is we try to do the best we can with what we have. We’re not trying to fit into any label or group, but we do what we feel is best for us. We went with the all-in-ones because we think it would be easiest for us. We are thinking of picking up some bumGenius 4.0s also to try while we figure out what we like best. We know it will be a learning process (I mean, what won’t be!?) but we’re confident in our decision.

2. Chicco KeyFit 30 Infant Car Seat in Romantic– I did the usual research, determined this one was safe, easy to carry and a nice classy fabric. SOLD!

3. babyGap Convertible Printed Bundler– Not only does this have an adorable gender neutral star pattern, but it’s super soft and converts from a bundler to a one piece with pants!

4. JJ Cole Diaper & Wipes Pod in Mixed Leaf– I love all things JJ Cole. They’ve managed to make baby gear look super chic. The pattern on this won me over and I thought it would add a nice pop of fun to my solid gray diaper bag (I also got the matching pacifier and bottle holders)

5. Fisher Price Space Saver High Chair– This pattern is sold exclusively at Target and for some reason I love the childish numbers on it. We went with this as opposed to a traditional stand alone high chair because we don’t have a lot of room in our eat in kitchen and we didn’t want an extra giant thing hanging around. Plus we like the idea of taking this anywhere with us, but it still functions exactly like a regular high chair. It even turns into a booster for older kids!

6. Lifefactory Glass Baby Bottle 4 pack (in gender neutral colors)– Mike and I stopped using plastics for our hot food probably over a year ago. Something about the thought of leeching creeps me out. We traded in all of our ziploc plastic containers for glass, so it only seemed right to use glass bottles for the baby as well. We went with these because not only is the colorful sleeve adorable, but it helps protect the bottle from breaking. They also come with solid caps to hold snacks or sippy cup lids so that the bottles grow with the baby.

7. giggle Better Basics Striped Cap– Because it’s adorable, organic, striped and a bright color. We also received the matching bibs, mittens and booties!

8. UppaBaby Vista Stroller in Silver/Mica– Some of you spotted this in the box in one of our nursery posts. I could write a whole lengthy post on our stroller decision, but the UppaBaby won out at the last minute. I was set on a Baby Jogger City Select for months, then suddenly changed my mind. I love that the UppaBaby comes standard with a bassinet and we went with a 2011 model (which were cheaper than the newly released 2012 ones). So I was pretty convinced.

One item I meant to include but forgot is the Ergo Baby Organic carrier. I am totally going to be one of those people that walks around with my baby strapped to my chest (how else will I blog?) and I love this carrier. I’m debating whether to get the infant insert for the Ergo we received at the shower, or go with a different carrier for the newborn stage (like a Moby). Any thoughts?

Sorry I went mommy blogger for a few there, but you can open your eyes now 🙂

Anyway, we are very lucky to have super generous family and friends who not only threw a beautiful shower for us, but made sure our baby was set with a bunch of wonderful goodies. I cannot wait to have the room all ready so I can begin to put some of this stuff away!

ps- The plan all week was to paint the nursery on Sunday, but I was drained after all of the excitement so Mike worked on it solo. Maybe it will be done by the end of the week for a reveal 🙂