Review: Gro-Egg Digital Room Thermometer

To be honest, I'm not as vigilant as I should be when it comes to checking James' room temperature. So when I was offered to test out one of the Gro Company's products, I decided to try the Gro-Egg Digital Room Thermometer. 

If you haven't heard of a Gro-Egg, it's basically a room thermometer and nightlight in one. The light changes colour depending on whether the room is hot, cold or just right. 

We all know that a safe sleeping environment for our little ones is a room temperature of between 16-20 degrees, however this is not always possible. Sometimes it may be colder than this and other times it will be warmer, and knowing what the temperature is at a quick glance allows you to figure out what to dress your bub in for the night. If you're a little unsure you can always check the clothing guide that comes with the Gro-Egg.

The first thing I noticed about the Gro-Egg was the size. For some reason, I had pictured it to be a lot bigger than it was.. not that size matters in this case. In fact, I like that it's small enough to fit in the palm of my hand, making it easy to pack when travelling. 

The light is a little more subtle than your stock standard night light, but it gives out a nice glow. We've been using it in James' nursery for the last week and he loves it. It's been great for us too, just being able to pop our heads in and quickly see the temperature of the room. 

Now I'm keen to get one of the super cute Gro-shells for it..

I'm leaning towards the Owl, which do you like best?

xx

Toddler Table Makeover / Hack

This was James' first birthday present from me and his daddy. We figured he'd need a little table soon for colouring/eating and I wanted to make him something special that he could use for while.

I was inspired by the Ikea Hack of the Latt Table (which in Australia retails for $40).. but seeing as we don't have an Ikea near us I decided to get this Junior Table & Chair Set from Babies r Us (for $45).

My first step was to assemble the table, I used a drill to tighten the screws (a lot quicker than doing it manually). I then sanded the chairs so that I could spray paint them (in hindsight I wish I'd gone with regular paint as the spray paint kept bubbling and dripping - so annoying!).



I sprayed them with White Knights Squirts Spray Paint in Dusk Grey.

My next step was to cover the print with contact paper. I then traced the inside of the seat on a blank piece of paper to get the right measurements, I then cut this and used it as a template.



Once I'd cut the print I super-glued it to the chair.

I then repeated the same process for the table.

 I decided to make a different version for my beautiful niece for her birthday too..



I won't lie, it was very time consuming (especially the spray painting), but I'm really happy with how they both turned out. I love that they are unique and something the kiddies will be able to use for years to come.

What do you guys think?



xx

Nursery Tour (Part 3)

The last installment of the Nursery Tour is finally here! Thank you so much for your sweet comments on Part 1 and Part 2! 

So today I'll go through what else is in the closet and how I've organised the chest of drawers (aka the nappy station!).

I decided that I wanted to hang all the onesies and sleeping bags in the closet, using the Ikea Wooden Kids Hangers ($1 ea). Originally I'd sorted them into summer and winter clothes but after washing them recently, I also sorted them by size (just to make things easier).

Under the clothes, I have a few random things... like my giant suitcase (as I have nowhere else to store it!), my bubba moe baby sling (second hand from gumtree), a heater, a laundry basket for bub's dirty clothes (target) and a nappy pail for dirty cloth nappies.

A couple of other things I keep in the top of the closet (for now) are my nappy travel pack, shape sorter and tummy time mat.

That's it for the closet! Now for the chest of drawers...

The top-left drawer has items for bub's bottom half - things like leggings, socks and shoes (although I haven't bought any shoes yet) and the top-right drawer has items for bub's top half - singlets, beanies, mittens etc.



I've organised the middle drawer using more of the Ikea Skubb Boxes ($10 for 6) to store clean nappies (cloth and disposables), cloth inserts, cloth nappy liners, washers, creams and a small moon shaped bucket to hold water (if needed).



and lastly.. the bottom drawer or as I like to call it... the smelly drawer (for dirty nappies)!

So I've got bags for the dirty disposable wipes, liners and nappies (which will be tied up and thrown away after each change), a couple of wet bags for the dirty cloth nappies, poo-pourri diaper odor eliminator spray (to spray the cloth nappies before putting them in the wet bags) and also an organic all purpose cleaner (in case things get really messy!).



I plan to wash the cloth nappies every second day. Once a wet bag is full ill throw it in the nappy pail (in the closet) until it can be washed.

So there you have it!

I can't wait to start using the nursery. I know it will continue to change over the next few months and I'm looking forward to seeing it grow!

I hope you guys enjoyed the Nursery Tour and it provided some ideas/inspiration to those of you who are setting up your own nursery. I'd love to hear what you think!

xx

Nursery Tour (Part 2)

Okay.. onto Part 2 of the Nursery Tour! If you haven't checked out Part 1 you can do so here. Now I know I said I would break the nursery tour into two parts.. but now it looks like it might have to be three (there's just so much to go through!)

As I mentioned earlier, this post (and the next) will focus on the storage and organisational aspect of the nursery. So let's start with the closet storage boxes...

 To make things as easy as possible, we organised the closet using Ikea Skubb Boxes (3pk for $30) and labelled each box accordingly (inspired by Allison at Utterly Organised). 

On the bottom-right shelf, we have nappies and 'bits & bobs'. As you can see we have a combination of both cloth and disposable nappies. We plan to use cloth at home and disposables when we're out... but we'll see how we go! In the 'bits & bobs' box we've got aromatherapy oils for the humidifier, dummies + dummy chain and a health care kit for babies from Kmart ($18) which includes a thermometer, medicine spoon, nasal aspirator & nail clippers.

On the middle-right shelf, we have 'toys & teds' and bath time. Toys and teds is pretty self explanatory; we've got all bub's toys in there including rattles and pram accessories. The bath time box holds all bub's bathing needs including shampoo, conditioner, lotions, creams, washers and cotton buds. We also got a bath thermometer from Kmart (which isn't a necessity but for only $8 we thought why not!).



On the top-right shelf, we have 'feeding' and bibs. The 'feeding' box has things I'll need right away like breast pads (I'm hoping I can breastfeed - fingers crossed!) and things I can use later on when bub moves onto solids. Most of this was given to us as gifts - although we did pick up the Ikea rainbow tableware for $6. At the moment we've only got 4 bibs, but I'm sure we'll have a lot more down the track.



On the top 2 shelves, we've got Hooded Towels, Blankets, Cot Sheets & Clothes that don't yet fit (size 1+). The clothes are just stored in a clear container from Big-W.

I hope you guys have found this somewhat helpful. I know that when I first started thinking about the nursery, I had no idea where to start and what I needed to get. I certainly didn't pull all this together overnight and the majority of these boxes remained empty until recently. 

If you're still interested and I haven't bored you to death already, keep an eye out for Part 3 of the Nursery Tour which I promise will be the last installment, where i'll go over what else is in the closet and how I've organised the chest of drawers.

xx

Nursery Tour (Part 1)

I've decided to break-up this post up into two parts, as there's a lot to go through! I should also mention now that I am one of those annoyingly organised people (you'll see what I mean in part 2).

So before this room was a nursery, it was our spare room. To see pics of what it used to look like click here. We decided not to re-paint the room, as we still liked yellow for bub. Using yellow as one of the main colours, I decided that the colour scheme would be yellow, white, grey and turquoise. Turquoise is slightly more boyish, but I still think it can work for a girl. As for a theme.. I picked up a classic winnie the pooh book set at the markets in my first trimester and decided then and there that I wanted a classic winnie the pooh theme. I didn't want it to be over the top, just a few hints of it here and there.

Now that the colour scheme and theme were sorted, it was time for us to get the big ticket items (cot, mattress, chair, lamp etc). We wanted to build the nursery on a budget, so where better to go than Ikea! We don't have an Ikea in Canberra (yet!) so Rob and I made the trip out to Sydney and after 4 hours of shopping we successfully left with...

The Poang Chair ($249) which was one of the most expensive items we got but well worth it in my opinion, it is sooo comfy and I figure if I'm going to be feeding every 2 hours... I need a good chair! I also wanted to get a stool that was small enough to fit next to the chair so I picked up the Frosta Stool ($15) and we also got a floor lamp (Januari Base $40 + Umfors Shade $25).

The Gulliver Cot ($199) was another purchase from Ikea, as was the Vyssa Skont mattress ($89). Attached is a Tomy Winnie the Pooh Lightshow Mobile which we couldn't resist getting on Ebay ($34). It's the cutest thing when lit up and will come in handy over the next few years.

Given our nursery is quite small, we wanted to get an all-in-one change table/chest of drawers.  That way, down the track we can remove the change top and use it as a regular chest of drawers. I fell in love with this one from Ebay ($279) because of the open shelves. I also splurged on Etsy, buying a Chevron Nappy Caddy ($52) so we'd have all the essential at our fingertips (nappies, wipes, powder etc) and a Classic Winnie the Pooh Wall Sticker ($37) to add some character to the room. 

We also got a few other bits and bobs like this Cool Mist Humidifier from Ebay ($45) which doubles as a night-light. This sits next to the cot (behind the chair). I've been using aromatherapy oils (such as lavender, chamomile and orange) in it to make the room smell nice. This will come in handy at bedtime and after nappy changes. We also got a few baby monitors which we haven't yet set up. The first is the Babysense II Respiratory Monitor (which sounds an alarm if baby stops breathing) and the other is a standard Tomy Walkabout Baby Monitor (purchased used, both for $55 on Gumtree).

Once bub's born and we know the gender, we'll be adding more personalised pieces to the room. I can't wait for that! For now though, I'm pretty happy with how it's come together.

Keep an eye out for Part 2 of the Nursery Tour, which will focus more on storage (aka what's in the closet and drawers!).

xx