Getting Organized!
My brother Darin finished the rafters on Friday so we spent most of Saturday cleaning out and organizing the garage. I thought I would have way more stuff to go through but turns out that John is the pack rat in the family. Most of the boxes were his! We went through all the boxes and threw out or donated unnecessary items and then re-organized all the boxes and tubs in the garage. We have so much extra space now!
John helping Darin...he did an AWESOME job!
John going through all his crap.
We found a projector (I think it used to be his brother Paul's) so he got sidetracked looking at old Super 8 films.
We only filled up half the rafters!
You can actually see the top of John's work bench now, lol.
Look at all that extra space!! The top and bottom shelf used to be filled with boxes and tubs!
Next weekend, John needs to work on his game room and I have to clean out my desk. We're getting rid of the big one I have now and getting a smaller one since there will be more furniture in that room. I have so much stuff piled on that desk because it has a lot of storage. I'm probably going to have to store some of my photo albums in the garage because I have tons! John wants to get an entertainment center so he can put all his gaming equipment away when we have guests, we're keeping the bed and John wants a recliner. I'm hoping to get the nursery painted in February or March so we need to start moving John over to the guest room.
After cleaning out the garage, we headed over to Babies R Us to look at the strollers and car seats. We looked at the Maclaren first and we both loved the quality of it and how it maneuvered. It was also really light! Then we checked out the travel systems and thought they were HUGE! So glad you all talked me out of that one :-) There was one folded up and it would have taken up my entire trunk! The decision was made right there....out with the travel system. I think the Maclaren will last us a lot longer and we can use it as early as 3 months because it reclines. They didn't have the Maclaren we wanted in stock so I checked online and noticed that the charcoal/green design we liked in the store was actually the old model. The 2009 model has a few more bells and whistles (updated braking system, larger hood, rain cover included, carrying strap and a lifetime warranty) so we decided to pay the extra money to get the new model. After much debate and changing my mind about a million times, I decided on the charcoal/silver Maclaren Quest Sport. I wish they had the charcoal/green color combo in the newer model but no such luck. I showed John all the colors and he liked the charcoal/silver the best. I'm a little worried that it will get dirty fast but the seat cover is washable and in the end, style wins out :-)
Weighing our car seat options :-)
I ended up finding it online for much cheaper than Babies R Us, with no tax and free shipping!
I also bought this cup holder attachment on the same website. I was going to get the Maclaren organizer but these cup holders seemed bigger and the newer version of the Quest has a zippered pocket on the back so I only need the cup holder.
And I'm still debating whether or not I want to buy this seat liner. It could prevent the silver/white part from getting dirty and bring in the green that I wanted.
My in-laws gave us money for the stroller and we have a little left to put towards a car seat. And John got a $100 gift card to Amazon from his credit card rewards program so we're going to buy it on Amazon in a few months and use that. After checking out the Graco and Chicco brands, we both liked the Chicco one better. They're almost identical in safety so it came down to which one we liked best. This is the one I want to buy.
We'll register for an extra base and the Baby Trend Snap n Go stroller frame to use the first 3 months. I researched for a long time and got some great advice from friends and I think in the end, we made the right choice for us. After Babies R Us, we stopped at Home Depot to buy a few extra storage tubs and a laser level to finally hang all my Europe pictures! One last stop at Target to check out the Graco Lauren crib (love it!) and our shopping trip was complete. I think we got a lot done in one day! Sunday, we relaxed, cleaned the house, hung up the pictures, I watched the Golden Globes and then John joined me for the premiere of 24! I love Jack Bauer!
My pictures are finally hung up and no longer sitting on the guest bed!
John had to work today but I've been enjoying my day off. The rain gave me the perfect excuse to be lazy! I'm meeting with a potential daycare in about an hour. It's a small home daycare, max is 8 children, near our house. She sounded really nice on the phone, comes highly recommended from a Peachhead Mom, is reasonably priced and has the right hours for us so I hope I like her in person. I have my list of questions ready :-) I'm checking out another daycare tomorrow that's closer to my work and probably going to stop by a church daycare near our house sometime this week. I feel so much better now that I have some affordable options!
John helping Darin...he did an AWESOME job!
John going through all his crap.
We found a projector (I think it used to be his brother Paul's) so he got sidetracked looking at old Super 8 films.
We only filled up half the rafters!
You can actually see the top of John's work bench now, lol.
Look at all that extra space!! The top and bottom shelf used to be filled with boxes and tubs!
Next weekend, John needs to work on his game room and I have to clean out my desk. We're getting rid of the big one I have now and getting a smaller one since there will be more furniture in that room. I have so much stuff piled on that desk because it has a lot of storage. I'm probably going to have to store some of my photo albums in the garage because I have tons! John wants to get an entertainment center so he can put all his gaming equipment away when we have guests, we're keeping the bed and John wants a recliner. I'm hoping to get the nursery painted in February or March so we need to start moving John over to the guest room.
After cleaning out the garage, we headed over to Babies R Us to look at the strollers and car seats. We looked at the Maclaren first and we both loved the quality of it and how it maneuvered. It was also really light! Then we checked out the travel systems and thought they were HUGE! So glad you all talked me out of that one :-) There was one folded up and it would have taken up my entire trunk! The decision was made right there....out with the travel system. I think the Maclaren will last us a lot longer and we can use it as early as 3 months because it reclines. They didn't have the Maclaren we wanted in stock so I checked online and noticed that the charcoal/green design we liked in the store was actually the old model. The 2009 model has a few more bells and whistles (updated braking system, larger hood, rain cover included, carrying strap and a lifetime warranty) so we decided to pay the extra money to get the new model. After much debate and changing my mind about a million times, I decided on the charcoal/silver Maclaren Quest Sport. I wish they had the charcoal/green color combo in the newer model but no such luck. I showed John all the colors and he liked the charcoal/silver the best. I'm a little worried that it will get dirty fast but the seat cover is washable and in the end, style wins out :-)
Weighing our car seat options :-)
I ended up finding it online for much cheaper than Babies R Us, with no tax and free shipping!
I also bought this cup holder attachment on the same website. I was going to get the Maclaren organizer but these cup holders seemed bigger and the newer version of the Quest has a zippered pocket on the back so I only need the cup holder.
And I'm still debating whether or not I want to buy this seat liner. It could prevent the silver/white part from getting dirty and bring in the green that I wanted.
My in-laws gave us money for the stroller and we have a little left to put towards a car seat. And John got a $100 gift card to Amazon from his credit card rewards program so we're going to buy it on Amazon in a few months and use that. After checking out the Graco and Chicco brands, we both liked the Chicco one better. They're almost identical in safety so it came down to which one we liked best. This is the one I want to buy.
We'll register for an extra base and the Baby Trend Snap n Go stroller frame to use the first 3 months. I researched for a long time and got some great advice from friends and I think in the end, we made the right choice for us. After Babies R Us, we stopped at Home Depot to buy a few extra storage tubs and a laser level to finally hang all my Europe pictures! One last stop at Target to check out the Graco Lauren crib (love it!) and our shopping trip was complete. I think we got a lot done in one day! Sunday, we relaxed, cleaned the house, hung up the pictures, I watched the Golden Globes and then John joined me for the premiere of 24! I love Jack Bauer!
My pictures are finally hung up and no longer sitting on the guest bed!
John had to work today but I've been enjoying my day off. The rain gave me the perfect excuse to be lazy! I'm meeting with a potential daycare in about an hour. It's a small home daycare, max is 8 children, near our house. She sounded really nice on the phone, comes highly recommended from a Peachhead Mom, is reasonably priced and has the right hours for us so I hope I like her in person. I have my list of questions ready :-) I'm checking out another daycare tomorrow that's closer to my work and probably going to stop by a church daycare near our house sometime this week. I feel so much better now that I have some affordable options!