The weekend was crazy busy. This marks several weekends in a row now that have been crazy busy. I suppose I should get used to it, since things will never be any less busy with a baby around, right?
On Friday night, we trekked over to Sugar Land for a Skeeters game to celebrate Jason’s birthday. We were just joining the line to buy a couple tickets when a guy walked up and gave us 2 extras that he had for free! They were pretty good seats too — on the 3rd base line maybe a dozen rows back. (It’s a small park, so there really aren’t any bad seats, but still.) On top of that, our section won coupons for a free Smashburger.
I got up early on Saturday because I had two things I hoped to do before Kelly’s baby shower that afternoon: finish her gift and make a chocolate trifle. I used this recipe for Black Forest Trifle. It’s from health.com and calls for all kinds of low-fat and sugar-free stuff to make a lovely 132 calories per serving dessert. Um yeah. I ignored those admonitions and used a normal chocolate cake mix, regular chocolate pudding, heavy whipping cream that I made myself, and maraschino cherries (aka cherries soaked in sugar). Oh yeah, and chocolate curls on top that I made using this recipe.
The shower was fun, the trifle was a hit, and Kelly’s gift…was gifted in an unfinished state. I totally failed to finish the baby blanket I was making for her baby! Sigh. I took it back and will put the binding on it this week. I am a bad gifter.
Anyway, I came home from the shower and helped Jose put together our crib, which we picked up on Thursday night from Walmart. Hurrah, we have a crib! And yesterday, we got a crib mattress too. Two more things checked off the still-very-long list!
Yesterday I left the house at 11:00 and didn’t get home until 8 hours later. Some things were fun, like a pedicure with Becca, and a movie date to see Brave with her, Gavin and Carina, and Jose. Other things were annoying, like eating lunch at Pei Wei where their air conditioner was apparently on the fritz and shopping for a dresser.
Here’s what I want: a simple dresser, not too ornate, in a color that at least somewhat matches the crib, at a height of somewhere around 34-35 inches so that it can be used as a changing table too — and I’m willing to pay more for something that’s made of real wood using quality construction method (dovetailed drawers instead of glue, etc). We looked at Rooms to Go, Babies R Us, and Star Furniture and we saw a whole lot of UGLY DRESSERS. The majority of stuff they have in most furniture stores is hideous! I don’t get it — how difficult is it, really, to make a nice, simple dresser? I admit that perhaps I’m picky, because I tend to have trouble almost any time I go looking for furniture, but I can’t be the only person in the world who favors simpler design and cleaner lines.
(Does anyone out there have experience with Pottery Barn furniture? They have a few options that look really nice online, but they’re pricey and I’m hesitant to pull the trigger without knowing more about their quality.)
The best option we found, although I wish the color was a bit darker
The dresser above, from Babies R Us, is pretty close to what we’re looking for except in color, and of course it’s not available in espresso — although at this point, I’m starting to care less about whether it matches the crib perfectly. We had hoped to find something of decent quality that would last for many years, but we may end up just going with something cheaper. The jury is still out, but we need to find something pretty soon.
As soon as we got home from all our errands, we started cleaning up the house since my parents are arriving on Wednesday. Let the cleaning spree begin!
Katie says
Two other suggestions for places to look – Thomasville furniture, or Costco. Thomasville has really nice stuff but tends to be a little pricey. Costco probably doesn’t have many options, but from time to time I see furniture I really like there, and their prices are good.
I noticed the rocking horse in the photo with Jose and the crib. Isn’t that the one that you got when you were born? So fun that you get to pass it down to your baby! 🙂
Christy (txrunnermom) says
I have heard good things about Pottery Barn furniture being solid and durable. I don’t have any of their furniture, but I’ve been really pleased with all the decor items I’ve purchased.
Christy (txrunnermom) says
Also, we found our bedroom furniture at Ashley and we love it, so you might want to take a look if you haven’t already.
Christina says
our pottery barn kids dresser is good, though the crib and bookshelf were okay. Good enough for the money.. One should invest in good furniture, especially if it will be in your kids room. You don’t want flimsy particle board dressers falling on them.
We went with pricier than pottery barn kids furniture for the second kid – got second hand off Craigslist. It has held up SO well that I’m a convert in investing in excellent furniture. Especially if you plan to have multiple kids…
Larissa A says
Pottery Barn Kids furniture is good but pricey. Our crib is from there and has lasted through 2 kids, and could keep on going. 🙂
We got a dresser from IKEA. You have to be choosey though because some of their stuff can be flimsy particle board, but the dresser we picked out was completely solid pine. I think I saw some solid wood ones on their website the other day with an espresso color.