Baby Productivity

This past weekend turned into a very productive baby weekend!  It wasn't in the plan for the weekend, but opportunities kept popping up that turned into baby weekend.

Saturday morning we decided to go to a neighborhood that promised a big garage sale.  We kept going back and forth on going (since we should have been working on the yard and preparing for vacation) but decided it wouldn't hurt to go check it out.  When we got to the neighborhood, we realized it was quite the deal.  There were traffic directors forcing the flow of traffic to do a one way loop through the neighborhood. We would find a spot, park, walk around a little, get back in the car, drive a little, find a new spot, & repeat.  We spent way too long there, but found some good baby deals!

While we were browsing the sales, we discovered baby clothes were a popular item.  After explaining to Steve how Bean will fit certain months at certain times of the year and what clothes to look for, we were on our way.  By the end of the sales, we'd spent less than $10 and got 8 outfits -- win!  In between sales, I realized that these clothes were the first items that we've bought for baby!  My mom has been buying things (since before I knew I was pregnant) and we've had friends send gifts, too; but this was the first things that we've specifically bought knowing our baby girl would wear them.  Pretty crazy!

(Clothes for Baby Bean!  It seems unreal that she will soon be wearing these clothes - they seem so big!  We chose items ranging from newborn to 6 months.  We are excited to meet her and see whether she'll be a little baby or a big baby!)

Saturday night, we decided it was time to go through all the nursery decor options we'd found online and finally pick a set.  We started with over 20 options and kept weeding it down.  Our system involved a spread sheet with all the links (and comments added by both of us).  Then one at a time, we'd go through and rank the options separately (we'd hide each others' ranks so we could rank freely).  We'd then go through the list together and axe all the lower ranked options.  Most of the time my top picks were Steve's lower picks and vice versa.

At the end of the night, we stopped with a "top 5 list".  Right before heading to bed, Steve found one of our middle picks (remember, my #1 was his #5, so the middle picks were our compromises) on a craigslist ad.  He sent an inquiry email and we headed to bed.  The next morning, we discovered that the Pottery Barn set we could compromise on was for sale in Cincinnati for a great price!  After church, we ate a quick lunch then headed to Cincinnati to pick up our new bedding!

We felt out of place pulling up in Ruby (our old Honda) to a house that we estimated was easily $400,000 - haha! After we made our purchase, we headed to celebrate at our favorite Cincinnati restaurant -- Dewey's Pizza!  After eating, we hit our other favorite Cincinnati spot - Ikea - where we went baby crazy!  We found some bird pictures, decals, a shelf, and a new light for the nursery.  We got great deals on it all and feel like after painting the nursery, we are set with the decor!

(Nursery decor!  The theme is birds -- have I told you how much Steve loves birds?!  The Pottery Barn bedding set we bought came with bumper pad, quilt, crib skirt, 2 crib sheets.  Brand new would have been $350+, we got it for $120 in great condition!  And check out that Bird picture we bought from Ikea.  Matches the set perfectly! We also have other little bird photos that match, but you'll have to wait for the nursery to be done to see everything!)

(Bonus photo: At 22 weeks - in this photo from last week - I'm looking the way I feel - very pregnant!)

Birdies

Who knew that Steve was so into birds?  We live in a perfect area for him, as there are all sorts of little birds flying around.  Over the summer, he put out a suet block, but the squirrels ate it right away.  After some research, he bought a window bird feeder that squirrels are unable to reach.

All summer long, we were convinced that the birds were too scared to eat out of it because of the reflection in the window.  Steve switched out the food a couple times, but we never saw any birds.  In early fall, I was sitting in the living room and heard a noise and discovered a little bird in it!  I tried to take a picture, but I had to move to get the camera, which scared the bird and resulted in a very fuzzy picture.  Steve just had to take my word that there was a bird in the feeder.

Since then, Steve has seen birds in it, but we've never been able to take a picture.  As soon as we move in the house, the bird jumps ship and doesn't return.  Until yesterday --- I caught a bird in the act!

(Not the best picture, but you can totally see the bird in the feeder!  I watched either the same bird, or multiple birds, come in and out of the feeder for awhile.  Steve claims that the feeder being at an angle has intrigued the birds to come into it -- sure dear!)

Ever since we've lived here, we've heard owls hoot randomly.  We've talked to the neighbors and were told that a big owl lives in one of our trees, but we've never been able to see him.  I've even had the neighbor came over and tell me that we missed it!  

Last Friday night, we were headed to meet friends at the movies.  We had just gotten out of the driveway when Steve parks the car in the road and jumps out of the car saying "THE OWL!".  Ha ha, he had seen it swoop across the street and land in the tree across the street from our house.  It was too dark to take a picture but it was neat to finally see an owl!

Yesterday, when Steve came home, he came straight in and said -- "The Owl's outside!  I have to take a picture!!"  He ran out and soon brought back some pretty neat shots of the owl in our tree.  I don't understand his fascination with all birds, but I definitely understand his fascination with owls!

(There's something about the eyes that just fascinate me.)

(Steve's doing research to see if we can figure out what kind of owl this is.  So if you know -- let us know!)

(So pretty!)

We're not sure if the owl we saw Friday night is the same as the one we got the pictures.  We'll have to keep our eyes and ears open and see if we can find another and document it.