Five Nursery Organizing Ideas I love (and stole from Pinterest)

Some people fantasize about exotic locations. I dream of being organized. It's something I am working on but a slow process. 

So here are five things I found on Pinterest. Five Nursery Organizing Ideas I Love.

Organized drawers from My Sweetnest. This nursery is enviable. 

I am acutually doing this in baby I's room. I have extra diapers, wipes and creams in a drawer under his changing pad. 

Under Crib Storage. A Lovely Lark has this idea. I LOVE IT! 

Boots & Tooty has this adorable storage idea! Look at it, an old Farmer’s Market Epergne. Clever, clever. 

These buckets from Pottery Barn are really precious. 

RNL Musings has this great idea for organizing baby clothes. It's like shopping in the closet!

Today I am linked to The Baby Shower. 

Nursery Reveal: Our Little Farmer's Room

Our new little boy will be here any day now. I can't wait to meet him, hold him and kiss his little face. But until then we have busied ourselves with preparation.

Little "I's" room is a farm and truck theme (although right now it's more farm than truck) and I would say it's about 90 percent complete. I just need a rug. But I thought I would give you a brief tour.

Here is a before and after shot. Before it was sort of a catch all for our junk.

 

We moved in a dresser that used to be at my Grandmother's house. This will be I's dresser as he gets older and for now it makes a really good changing table. (I honestly don't see the point in buying a changing table. Why have a piece of furniture that takes up space like that with limited function?)

This old house has walls made of stucco, so it is really hard to dress them up. They are bland and ugly. But I did make photo display "stick" on the wall (You can barely see it sticking out at the top of the photo). Here is a how to.

This is our quiet, soothing corner. The rocking chair belonged to Jason's grandmother and the side table belonged to my great aunt. You can click here to see how I recovered the chair.

The opposite wall of the rocking chair is the crib. It's pretty boring looking right now with no bumper pad and nothing hanging above it. But I am stickler for the rules when it comes to infant safety. Even the blanket will be removed. It's just for decoration.

The crib is made by Delta, it's the 3-in-1 Cherry bed, and I am thrilled with the way it looks. (This is an affiliate link, please read my disclosure policy.)

 

We got these basic room darkening curtains at the Home Depot. They are made by Martha Stewart. However, I think they use the word "darkening" pretty loosely.

The fabric drape was leftover from the rocking chair renovation project and was purchased at a locally owned fabric store.

Here are some friends waiting for Little I to get here. 

There are two closets in I's room. One contains clothes for both boys (sizes newborn through 3T). The other contains lots and lots and lots of diapers. I have been purchasing diapers on sale since I found out I was pregnant. We're good for a while. And when he gets a little bigger I plan to cloth diaper the new baby.

So it seems we're pretty ready for this baby to get here!

If you want to see some really creative ideas hop on over to Romance on a Dime for Take it On Tuesday.

Baby Beach Gear and Ideas

It's officially beach season down here in South Alabama. Well, it's been beach season for a couple months. But before you get jealous remember we have EPIC humidity. 

I have a little water baby. He has loved the few times we've gone to the beach. He LOVES playing in the sand and I am happy to report that even as a little, little fella he never ate it. 

He even loves the pool. 

But I've learned over the past year there are a few things a baby needs when going to the beach or the pool. 

1. Swim Diapers. When going to the beach we just use a shell from our cloth diapers. But our YMCA requires a swim diaper and when I say require I mean they will fine you! So we use Little Swimmers. (This is an affiliate link, please read my disclosure policy.)

Here is my trick. I put a cloth liner under his Little Swimmer. Then I just ring out the swim diaper and reuse it. I just hate waste! 

2. SPF. I am a stickler for SPF. I put on a 30 SPF everyday and when we are taking our little buy to the beach or just outside to play I slather him down.

I like this stick by Neutrogena. 

 

3. A hat. Seriously, how cute is that boy in that hat. He loves it. He wears it all the time and I am so happy about that. I actually got it a Gymboree for only $1.48! How breat is that? 

4. Beach Toys! My Mother-in-Law found these cute shovels and things at Hobby Lobby. Our boy loves them so much. We play with them in the yard, the garden and the beach. He is serisoulsy attached. I have seen some really cute shovel and bucket sets at The Dollar Tree as well. 

5. Baby Powder. Baby Powder? Yes. You sprinkle a little on the baby's feet and the sand falls right off. 

6. Bath Sheet. Nope. Not a towel. If you're going to visit the beach often invest in some bath sheets. Utopia has some cute bath sheets for around $15. 

7. A picnic. Don't hit up the local McDonalds. Pack your own snacks. You can pack water with little drink packets, fruit and sandwiches in a cooler and save a lot of money. But don't forget to bring a trash bag. We don't want to litter on the beach. 

What's your favorite thing to bring to the beach? 

This post contains affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy. 

Today I am linked to The Baby Shower. 

Bedtime Book Favorites

For as long as my son has been on this planet we have been reading to him. My mother read to him in our hospital room the morning after he was born and we've been reading to him day and night since. 

It's important. I believe that a child learning to read is one of the single most important things that can happen to them. Think, what is more life changing than reading? 

So I thought I'd share some of our reading favorites. 

 (These are affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.) 

Good Night Moon.  This one is a classic and we have been reading it to sweet baby boy since the day we brought him home. Good night room, good night moon... 

The Going to Bed Book.  We heart Susan Boykin at this house. But The Going To Bed Book is our favorite. My sister gave it to me as a shower present and it might be time to buy a new copy. 

The Begginers Bible.  Each night we read the baby a bible story and a book or two. This one was really good for basic stories. However, my husband did find himself trying to explain some of the inaccuracies to our toddler. 

If you Give a Mouse a Cookie.  This is officially the first book that our boy has gotten attached to. I read it six or seven times a day. I am not even kidding a couple weeks ago I hid it just to give us a break from that mouse and his cookie. I think I recite it in my sleep. 

Guess How Much I love You.  Jason bought this one for our boy right after he was born. It's so sweet and I love listening to him read it to the baby. 

There is a Monster at The End of This Book.  We love Grover. Elmo is seriously over-rated. This is another book Jason bought the boy and I remember this one from my childhoo. I think the boy loves it as much as I do. 

The Little Blue Truck. This is one of our favorites. We loved this one so much we have made it the new baby's nursery theme. I love the friendly little blue truck and all his farm animal friends. 

Do you have a bedtime book favorite? 

This post contains affiliate links. 

Today I am linked to The Baby Shower. 

Tools I love for toddler feeding

Feeding a baby can be a challenge as they get older. That sense of independence kicks in and I know for my son, he wants to do it all himself. It gets to be a battle. 

So I wanted to share with you a few things I've found to make toddler feeding a little easier. 

A sippy cup with a straw. These Toss and Go cups with straws have been a lifesaver. 

Clearly my sweet boy loves a straw. Here he is swiping my drink. So I got him his own cup and he drinks way more water out of it than a traditional sippy cup.

But when I need sweet boy to take a traditional sippy cup I really like these cups from USA Kids. They are made right her in Alabama. They are BPA free and they absolutely do not leak. But they are hard to find. 

These Munchkin spoons are great because the spoon part is deep enough to hold onto food that might get flung off otherwise. 

And you can see that sweet boy likes to wear his yogurt. 

But I LOVE this spoon and fork set from Green Toys. They are made out of recycled milk jugs and are the perfect size for little, chubby hands. 

Those baby food pouches are convenient. But they are expensive and leave a lot of waste to be tossed out and not reused. I love these SqeezEms pouches. I fill them with yogurt or homemade foods and my sweet boy loves them. 

Do you have a favorite feeding item?

This post contains affiliate links, but these are not paid endorsements. 

Today I am hopping at the Baby Shower.