Nursery 2014

One of the best parts about updating the nursery is how much James loves his new room. We kept the nautical theme, but I tried to make the new baby's side girlier by adding mermaids and more pink. On James's side, we got him a new bed Kevin's family bought him Jake and the Never Land Pirates' sheets, and we tried to make the room generally more fun by adding wall decals.

Baby girl side with mermaids. Though she still need some mermaid dolls.

Peak in the crib! (though we'll take out everything before she sleeps there)

Changing table's new location with baby gear inside- and new cheapy drawers

James is seriously in love with his room now. He calls his room "under water," and invites people to come under water with him, and then he shows them all the fish. At his suggestion we even added a few fish to the ceiling. Kevin also set up my old iPod in his room so he could listen to all his nursery rhyme jams in there. He sits in his little rocking chair singing all the songs or paging through his books.

James's side

James's reading nook

A view of both their beds

The girls are both ready!

The boys enjoying the "reading nook"

And here's a picture of what our room looks like right now since baby will be sleeping in our room for a few months.

Co-sleeper on my side and glider that will move to nursery when baby does.

• The Nursery in 2011 when we got it ready for James's arrival
• When we switched the crib to a toddler bed for James in July
• Here's the last post about updating the nursery complete with a video of James "helping."

Updating the Nursery 2014

At first we thought we might have the kids in separate rooms, but when it occurred to us that having a baby, having Kevin go on book tour, and moving all the same summer was not a good idea, we decided that the new baby would stay in our room for the first few months, and then she'd share a room with James until we bought a house.

This is the nursery when we first set it up in 2011. We finally changed the crib to a toddler bed in July for James. So we wanted to reclaim the crib before the baby came so that James wouldn't blame the baby for taking his bed, and he'd have time to adjust to a new one. So our first step was to clear out the room a little, and rebuold the crib.

Crib-as-toddler-bed

Moved the diaper changing table

Where James's toddler bed is going to go

My boys building the crib for my little girl!

Here's a super awesome video of James tightening the screws on the crib for his sister:

James building the crib.

I also had to clear out all the clutter in my room to make space for the baby's first home. So we have the nursery and the space in our room all set up now. I'll post the pictures in the next post.

James's New Chair 2012

What I love about this new chair is that it's basically a miniature of our living room chair. James has been indicating he would like somewhere to chill (or something else to climb) for a little while now, so we broke down and bought him his own lounge furniture. Of course, he enjoys the box that the chair came in with equal enthusiasm.

James in his new chair (and his old Huntsville, AL shirt)

Chillin' like Dada (just needs his own iPhone)

La casa de caja

Guestroom 2011

Our guestroom has finally moved upstairs. Those of you who stay with us will appreciate its distance from the future screaming baby. We also took a little more time to decorate it this time, so now it has a Cuba and hallway-library-spillover theme. We finished it yesterday. Enjoy!

Tropical bed


Wall opposite door

 
Bookshelves opposite the bed

38 Weeks and Nesting! April 3-9, 2011

Milestones: Nesting! I think. Maybe it's too premeditated to be nesting, but on the other hand all my premeditation about cleaning and organizing before didn't lead me to actually get off the couch and do it. This week I have completely reorganized and cleaned the bedroom and closet, the living room and closet, the bathroom and closet, put the finishing touches on the nursery with Kevin's help (see below), guestroom and closet, finally shelved all my dad's books, and reorganized the closet we use as a pantry. Yes, we have a lot of closets! Lucky us, but bad for fighting hoarding urges. Kevin also moved my office things into his office, and I set up stuff neatly, but I wouldn't say I've actually organized that stuff or have any interest in doing so. The last frontier is the kitchen. Most of the cabinet space is too high for me, so figuring out a place for the new baby stuff like bottles is challenging. Okay, I know, fascinating stuff.

Weekly Wisdom: I realized I am thoroughly not afraid of change. I might be freaked out by the idea of giving birth (what sane person wouldn't be?) but I am not afraid of actually taking care of the baby, or how my life will change or any of that. I try to imagine being afraid of that, and come up kind of blank. The only thing I can think of that would be worrisome is when the baby gets sick.
What I miss the most: Not feeling like I'm an arthritic 100-year-old fat person.
Craving: Tons of water, yogurt, seafood, Thai curries
Anti-craving: Burgers, no thank you.
Symptoms: Pain everywhere, especially my hands. Difficulty standing. Random Braxton Hicks contractions that bear no relationship to each other. A tightness here, a shooting pain there. The only thing the pains have in common is that I'm sure they're not the real deal.
Baby-size: Small elephant.
Weight: I look like I am carrying imaginary triplets, and weigh the same.

Akua visited me at home on Wednesday, which was lovely since I'm not mobile for very long distances. We got to chat for a long time and binge on organic lollipops together. What could be better?

On Thursday, Kevin's friend Trey came in from out of town, but he didn't have a lot of time so Kevin met him for breakfast in Manhattan. I was sad to miss him, but my aforementioned lack of mobility kept me at home. It was a good opportunity for them to compare expectant-father notes, though.

On Friday, Dr. C told me I hadn't progressed at all and tried to encourage me to have the baby sans c-section. For a person who never had any intention of writing out a birth plan, I officially have birth plan whiplash. In fact, for about five minutes during my appointment, the doctor thought the baby had turned himself breech again because she couldn't find his heartbet where it should be, but high up on my right side. A move to the sonogram room revealed that baby is not breach; he is HUGE and curled all around my belly.

And today, Jon came by to watch some Red Sox with us. That didn't really work out so well for the Red Sox.  Oh well, at least the baby is starting to learn the comforting sounds of the game in the background.

This is what my belly looks like most of the time:

Outside view


Sonogram of inside

Compare to:

See how oddly shaped my belly is?

Tomorrow I am 39 weeks! The official due date is April 17th. We have a 39-week doctor's appointment on Thursday, April 14th ... will we make it? It's starting to look like we will...

Nursery 2011

We finished decorating the nursery yesterday except that there are two pieces of wall art we're awaiting from Etsy.com. One is a huge whale wall decal and the other is a little steamboat painting. I also finished putting away the baby's clothing size newborn through 3 months. I hope he wears the newborn clothing at least once since he's already past 8 pounds. I keep walking in and just soaking it all up. I think I'm going to enjoy this room more than the baby.

When you walk in, the first thing you see is the crib.


Diaper changing station and chair opposite the crib

 

Moby and baby Moby

Book case and little dresser next to the door and closet


Peaking inside the closet


Drawer of newborn- 3 month infant bodysuits

P.S. One of the strange benefits of a blog is that I can go back in time and fill things in. This what the book case wall looked like after James came, May 2011-2013:

With whale art and the rocking chair from Sarah

Living Room 2011

Here's the new living room furniture.  Hopefully the baby will enjoy the stain resistant fabric and dark color for many years to come. It's very comfy and relaxing here now.

Couch

Love seat and new plant in the corner

Over-sized chair, faces away from the TV but it can be turned around easily

Our Brooklyn Apartment 2008-2010

In my last post, I shared some pictures from our old Brooklyn neighborhood Cobble Hill, but I thought it would be fun to include some pictures from the inside of our one-bedroom Brooklyn apartment too. We lived there from August 2008 until the beginning of this month, so almost but not quite 2 years. But it will always be a special because we got married while we were living there. Still, I'm not sad about moving to a place where we'll have 4 bedroom and 2 bathrooms for less rent than we paid in Brooklyn!

The outside of our Cobble Hill pre-war apartment building

We were straight down the hallway from the front door. Sometimes not so good.

You come into the little kitchen first


Other side of the kitchen

then down a long hallway...


You come to our dining table first (picture from my 30th birthday)

Our living room, you can see the wall of our bedroom behind Kevin

The right side wall in the living room (it's small)


Opposite the couch

Our bedroom