32 Weeks Already!?

Where has the time gone?! I can't believe Baby P. is already at 32 weeks! The countdown begins! :) I also can not believe I have neglected to post about all of my recent rehabs! My apologies. :)

 

Today we had our 32 week ultra-sound and unfortunately, Baby P. was determined to NOT show his/her face, so we didn't really get very many pictures.   :( Mommy was very sad! However, they did tell us quite a few things about our little baby by looking at the ultra-sound and taking measurements!

 

Baby P. is about 4 lbs 10 ounces in weight (62%... average), he/she has hair (not like a mass of hair up there, but enough to be seen in the pictures), Baby P. showed us the entire time that he/she already knows how to stick its tongue in and out (ALOT), and Baby P. has a pretty big head (not average).... yikes!

 

I say he/she gets the large head from it's father's side, so maybe he/she will be some competition at the annual head-measuring contests during Thanksgiving. I guess that's something to look forward to...? Baby P. also gets the tongue thing from it's father. All of my husbands' brothers and nieces/nephews tend to stick their tongues out when concentrating really hard on something. Some of them still don't know they do this, but I have taken note of this little gesture and have seen them all do this at some point or another! Usually while playing some kind of sport against each other... :) So Baby P. must have been concentrating REALLY hard on not showing his/her face for us today! What a stinker ;) Here are the few pics we were able to get!

This is a pic of Baby P. trying to cover it's face with it's hands. He/she has it's fist up against the chin.

Fist against chin, making a puckering face with it's lips.

 Fist near chin again.

 We are obviously not finding out the sex of the baby, but Peter is convinced that this picture proves it's a boy, and that his "son" is well endowed. That is it's arm again honey....

 3D picture, hand against cheek and chin.

Sorry I have been MIA these past couple of months! I am determined to post my recent rehab pictures, along with the new nursery for Baby P! :) Stay tuned!

Donations Please! Household Donations That Is... ;)

I am searching for household items that I can refurbish and make new again! I'm always on the lookout for the following items, and I'm usually "that" girl going through your pile of trash on garbage day. I'm looking for the kinds of things that you might set out in the alley for someone else to use, but aren't necessarily garbage. I love turning your junk in to gold! If anyone in the Chicago-land area has any of the items listed below, please message me! :)

- Wood chairs (finish unimportant)
- Wood cabinets
- Old wood nightstands
- China hutches / old cupboards, especially corner cabinets
- Old suitcases (not the plastic hard-shell kind)
- Blue Ball/Mason jars
- Old bird cages
- Silver plate flatware (all kinds, mix/match)
- Small wood kitchen tables (maybe about the size of a desk)
- Metal or industrial carts or tables
- Wood cabinets that are a manageable size 
- Pressed glass goblets, plates, cake stands, etc.
- Lamps that fit into the "shabby chic" aesthetic
- Old chairs with and without seat pads
- Wood, iron, or brass headboards (all sizes) 
- Chandeliers of all kinds (even ones that are non-working and rusty.)
- Wood, brass, or iron bar carts or bar cabinets
- Vintage or old trunks (the wood ones are my favorite!)
- Wood pew benches
- Wood fireplace mantels
- pretty much anything old, wood, and that has great bones :)

I repurpose and refinish these items. I look forward to hearing from you! ~~~Please note: My budget for collecting items to work on is minimal, so this should really be something you're about ready to toss or donate. Thank you for supporting a green-minded crafter who's trying to recycle these items and give them a new life! 

Registering for Baby P!

Now isn't this the most awesome thing?! :) I wish every store had front row parking spaces for expectant mothers! This past week Peter and I were busy BuSy BUSY registering for Baby P.! We have our very first baby showering coming up in only two weeks (yikes!) and had yet to register! We made a day out of the event and hit up Babies R Us, Target, and Buy Buy Baby. Boy was it exhausting! So many items and brands to choose from, but we managed to do it all, and survived!

Everything we ended up registering for is going to be so awesome, and Baby P. is going to be SUCH a lucky baby! Here's a coupe of items I'm actually SUUUPER excited about!! Above is a picture of me registering for our swing. Yes, that futuristic-space-thing-contraption is a swing! How awesome is that!? It's called "4moms mamaRoo® Plush Baby Swing" and rocks the baby in various motions that adults rock babies when holding them in their arms (side to side, bouncy, etc). Check out the video below!

You can find this swing at both Babies R Us and Buy Buy Baby, but Babies R Us does not carry them in store, and are sold out online in the color we wanted! So Buy Buy Baby it is! :)

The next item I'm pretty stoked about is our diaper pail. I love items that are "new and different" and I saw this diaper pail on The Ellen Show, so I just HAD to have it! After doing some research, I actually found out that they sell those expensive liners to go inside of the pail, but you can also use regular old garbage bags! MONEY SAVER! :)  This is an "Ubbi™ Diaper Pail" and I could only find them at Buy Buy Baby!

Of course, the next item, and most expensive item, is our stroller! I couldn't believe how expensive baby stuff is, but this stroller is by Graco so the car seat that comes with it (which attaches to the stroller- genius!) will fit with the other car seat bases that were passed down to us from our sister in-law!

Signature Series by Graco Trekko 3-Wheel Travel System Stroller with SnugRide 30 - Jive

The "Nap Nanny Chill Portable Recliner-Giraffe" was recommended to me by my sister in-law. She had one for each of the twins and swears by them! I loved the animal print so I'm hoping this works for Baby P. just as well as it worked for my nieces!

Last of all, the last couple of items are super fun and I had never seen them before! Some people will think we're crazy for registering for an iPad, but yes we did it! We would like to purchase one of us AND the baby no matter what. We're both teachers so we use iPads every day with our students and are able to see how awesome they are for kids! There are SOOO many amazing apps for children (educational!) so we decided this would be our "fun item" on the registry. :) To go along with the iPad, we found this super cool iPad Holder by Eddie Bauer at Target! The iPad fits in to this rubber surround and has a screen protector on top. They also make them for smart phones, and they are specifically made for infants! Target doesn't even carry them in their electronics section... they're in the baby section!

We also registered for a couple of these "Rockabye Baby" CDs that are "lullaby renditions" of famous artists For example, they take different albums like the Beatles, Queen, Bob Marley, Journey, Madonna, etc and turn all of the songs in to lullabies! Fun for parents AND baby! We registered for these at Babies R Us, but I have seen them in multiple stores and on Amazon!

Half Way There! (Baby Bump Collage)

This weekend was quite a successful "bargain find" weekend! Other than finding some AMAZING furniture (for some friends, family members, and of course myself) which I will post pictures at a later date... I thought I would post an update of the "bump"! I tried making a collage in the Paint program, but I am having some technical difficulties figuring out how to size everything. Right now it kind of looks "pixel-y" if ya know what I mean. ;) Any easy and helpful tips on how to do this? Thanks!

Headboard Update

So remember that awesome headboard I garbage picked last month?

 BEFORE

I have finished it, and it looks even more fabulous than I thought! I decided to just go with a plain coat of white paint, and we had to do some trimming on the ends since one of the posts was broke. I think I like it so much I may store it away and keep it for Baby P! Well, only if Baby P turns out to be a girl. ;) It would look so cute in a little girls room! I had thought about painting the insert in the middle with chalkboard paint, or putting a monogram right in the middle of it, but since Baby P isn't born yet I wouldn't know what initials to use. We will see what comes of this in about 4 more months!

AFTER

(By the way, that really cool dresser I picked up at a garage sale for 3 bucks last month?... I ended up just reselling it the way it was and made a little profit! No time to refinish... but I'm glad the seller had the same vision I did. I hope she emails me pictures when she's done! :)

I'm Baaaack!!!

It's been over a month since my last post, and so much has been going on! We have been SUPER busy ending the school year, getting ready for Baby P, and trying to enjoy summer! We had our 20 week ultrasound today and it was SO awesome! Here are a couple of pics... we did not find out if it's a boy or a girl, but we are opting to be suprised in the end! What's your vote? Boy or Girl!? :)

More posts to come SOON... I have so many projects to show you! :)

Garage Sale Season Has Begun!

This weekend turned out to be a picker's dream! Friday night my husband and I drove up to Highland Park, IL for their annual "Spring Clean-Up" to see if we could find anything sitting curb-side for the taking. The spring clean-up is an annual opportunity for the residents of Highland Park to put out their "big" items of trash (furniture, lumber, old carpeting, etc.)  out on the curb, and the cit would come around Saturday morning to pick it all up for free. This is not an advertised event... in fact- the city actually does not like having people like my husband and I driving around the neighborhood looking for items to garbage pick... but we still went anyways! This was my first time going, so I wasn't really sure what to expect. It wasn't all that exciting by the time my husband and I arrived on the streets at about 8:30pm. From the information I have gathered from other pickers like myself, the best time to go is during the day! Now I know for next year! :) Even though everything was pretty picked over, we still found two items that I was pretty excited about!

The first was this practically new baby bouncer! With Baby P. on the way, I'm always looking for a good deal on baby items. I'm thinking I might even leave this at Grandma's house for Baby P. to play with there. It is in perfect condition, and I just had to give it a good scrub down to make sure it is nice and clean.

The second item we picked up is this fabulous old headboard. I had absolutely no idea where I was going to put it, I knew it needed tons of work, but I could see the potential! I am pretty sure it's an antique three quarter size headboard. The notches where you attach the side rails look like the old kind from the 1860s. I only know this because we actually have a three quarter size bed in one of our guestrooms and it was a pain in the butt to find the side rails to put it all together! Since there was not a foot board to go with this, I'm not going to worry about finding side rails for the frame. If I end up using it as a headboard, I'll have to mount it to the wall. I definitely want to give it a good coat of paint (color undecided) and then we'll see if I find a spot for it! I could possibly turn it into a bench for the front door, but since it's such old wood I'm not convinced it will stand up to a ton of weight. Maybe I will just have to save it for Baby P... :)

Saturday and Sunday was the Village of Mount Prospect Garage Sale Weekend! I actually forgot about this lovely event, and was reminded of it Friday afternoon on my way home from work. I couldn't figure out why there were so many garage sales up and down the streets leading up to my house, and then it hit me! How could I forget!? I woke up bright and early the next two mornings and hit the sales! Of all the garage sales I went to, I only ended up spending three bucks on one item. This awesome dresser/buffet! Can you believe it! THREE DOLLARS! I had to take it home with me and re-purpose it. I was praying my husband wouldn't have a heart attack when he saw yet another piece of furniture in our garage.... thank goodness we have such a large garage! :) It looks absolutely gaudy, but I know once it gets a good coat of paint (possibly white, with gold handles) then it will look amazing! We have no where to put this piece, so this will have to go in the resell pile!

All in all, it was an awesome weekend! The weather was gorgeous, I got a nice tan in the process, and I am very pleased with the items I ended up with! I am so pumped that garage sale season has begun! Happy picking!

Antique Dresser Turned Changing Table

So my husband picked up this dresser for me off of Craigslist for my birthday last month. I knew I wanted an old antique dresser to turn in to Baby P's changing table, and most of the ones we looked at needed lots of work!  There were some scratches on the front drawers, and lots of water marks on the top- BUT I loved the lines and style of this dresser, and the storage is great!

It also seemed a little too dark for my liking, so I sanded the whole thing down. My original plan was to just sand down and re-stain the top of the dresser. I was going to paint the bottom half white, but once I sanded down the entire dresser, I started to like to look of it again all wood. I decided NOT to stain it again... instead, I put a clear satin protective coat all over it to make sure it was durable. Here is the end result! (minus the knobs... I need to put those back on)

However, now that it's finished, I'm still not 100% in love with it. I am STILL debating about painting the bottom half, but I'm not completely convinced! Here are a couple of ideas I saw... what do you guys think? All wood? Or painted bottom? Help! I can never make any decisions on my own.... ;)

Baby P.

Today was my 12 week check-up and hearing the heartbeat for the first time made this pregnancy so real! :) We still have 28 more weeks to go, but we can't wait to meet Baby P.! I've been taking weekly pictures of the "bump" that continues to grow, so here's a sneak peek!

Kane County Flea Market

Today a couple of girl friends and I took a trip out to the Kane County Fairgrounds for the monthly flea market! We had a VERY rainy day... but luckily for us there were a lot of vendors inside, and we ended up having a great time!

Here is one of my favorite displays from the day! I loved all of the vintage globes, vintage school supplies, and the fabulous "Irish Family Day" sign! An Irish girl loves her Irish heritage :)

There were a LOT of shabby chic displays throughout the flea market. I loved this old white-washed buffet. The lines on this piece are beautiful!

I came across this dining room table and fell in love with the idea of a chalkboard top! I think I might do this to a small children's table for the baby's room. What a cute idea! :) I didn't purchase anything this month at Kane County, but hopefully I find a treasure next time! The flea market really inspired and motivated me to finish all of the projects sitting in my garage.... I can't wait to show you all what I have in store!

Garbage Treasure

Happy Sunday! This weekend I started working on my garbage-picked tufted chairs (don't worry- they were well cleaned and vacuumed!) I did NOT like the color of the chairs, but I have never re-upholstered anything this intricate before (with tufting).

I figured I could make an easy slipcover for them... burlap is what first came to mind... but I wanted to try something new! So I picked up some fabric paint from Michael's (it comes in a little spray bottle for easy application), taped up the legs of the chair, and went to work!

The bottles are small, so one bottle only covered the back of the chair, and it will definitely need a second coat. So far I'm pretty excited with the turnout! The fabric doesn't feel stiff or hard. I was worried about the color coming off when you sit down on it, but I don't think that's going to be a problem! I gave it a good rub down (once it was dry) with a clean towel and nothing came off! Yay! I will definitely keep you updated on the final product! Now I need to decide what color to paint the legs of the chair... it's going in out "vintage industrial" basement... any ideas?



A new "Salvage Savvy Mommy" in town

Hello to the world of blogs! I am quite new at this so please forgive me if it takes me awhile to figure out how to run this shindig! I am so excited to share with the world my projects, ideas, and flea market finds ... and to hear what people have to say about my work. Thanks for stopping by, and don't forget to check back soon for my next post! Once I figure out how to upload pictures that is... ;)