Nursery Pictures

Since Carder arrived early, I didn't get his nursery decorations finished and hung until after his arrival and his return home.  I know that it is (once again) late, but I wanted to have the pictures of his nursery documented here.

I painted these letters and hung them from ribbon above his dresser.  His dresser (which is actually the dresser from our bedroom suit) doubles as the changing table.  He loves to look up at his name while he is on his changing pad.

Here are the pictures that I painted for the nursery.  The grouping started out as 3 - the monkey, lion, and hippo.  However, since Carder spent the first few days of his life in an isolette called a "Giraffe", the giraffe was painted and added to the grouping to represent those first few days of his life.

The 4 paitings are hung above his crib.  On the same wall, there are 3 shelves hung to balance out that wall.  Currently, jungle themed Beanie Babies are sitting on these shelves.  I am sure their contents will be updated frequently.

 This bookshelf is on the wall entering his room on the right.  The lamp is great for middle of the night diaper changes and keeps the room much darker than the overhead light would.  The shelves are filled with toys and books for the little man.  The monkey on the shelves is the monkey I have been using in the monthly pictures to document Carder's growth.  It is also the stuffed animal I bought at the hospital gift shop (on the day I was released) to watch over him when I couldn't be there.

Preparing for A Baby

The week after I returned home from my trip to Georgia, I became adamant about the fact that we needed to start preparing for the arrival of a baby in our house.  I realized that I had reached the point of being 30 weeks pregnant and there were only 10 weeks left until my due date.  When you coupled that fact with the higher risk of complications in an IVF pregnancy in the 3rd trimester, I became astutely aware that we would be bringing a baby home in just a few short weeks.  And then I realized how quickly the last several weeks had passed.  And I began to panic.  And sob uncontrollably cry.

That Saturday morning started off with our cloth diapering class at a local store.  Sensing just how important it was to me to get the ball rolling, Derek suggested that we go ahead and buy our diapering supplies.  So, we picked out the type of system we were going to use and we bought them.  There was also some great incentive to buy since we received a 10% discount on the day of our class.

And then we headed out to the local Tar.get and Toys.R.Us to do some shopping.

Now, let me interject here that when "we" were registering, Derek wasn't really all that interested in helping.  He thought it would be super simple to just register online and he didn't understand why it was taking me so long to register.  I tried to explain to him all of the choices and how hard it was to decide on some of these things when you couldn't touch them or read the box.  Once we got to the first store, he finally understood why I had a hard time registering online.  He was shocked at the options available for bottles, pacifiers, swings, monitors, play yards, car seats, strollers...  When we were looking at swings, he began ruling out swings because they didn't feel soft and comfy enough or because they didn't have an AC adaptor.  He remarked several times that it was confusing to pick the right one.  To which I responded "And THAT is why it took me so damned long to register."

We spent most of the day baby shopping.  We didn't go overboard on the little things - we only bought a couple of bottles and pacifiers - I am hoping to breast feed (pumping a couple of times a day so that Derek can bottle feed him - both for bonding and so that when I return to work and he needs to drink from a bottle, it will hopefully be an easier transition...).  We filled in the holes for the 0-3 month clothes size (gowns, onsies, footed pajamas).  We bought washcloths and towels.  We bought a thermometer and a health/grooming kit.  We bought a changing pad and covers, crib sheets, burp cloths, bibs, and some receiving blankets.  We bought a pack and play and a crib mattress.  We bought a boppy pillow. 

We were on a roll with the shopping and we realized that we had some Best.Buy rewards points that were about to expire, so we rolled on over there and bought a video camera to be able to record Carder as he grows.

We came home with bags and boxes galore.

That Sunday, we made the final determination on the type/style/color of travel system we wanted to buy (of course, it wasn't available in any local stores).  I had some 20% off in store purchase coupons for BRU and wanted to use one of them on the travel system.  Luckily, the BRU rep was kind enough to give me a 20% discount over the phone.  That has now arrived and has been assembled.

I found the crib we wanted to buy online with no shipping and no sales tax.  After a brief detour to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan due to an error with the shipping label, the crib has now arrived and is assembled.  The mattress is inserted and his bed is made.

The swing we picked out wasn't in stock that weekend nor the next.  It was finally in stock this past week.  We assembled it yesterday afternoon and it is now sitting in our living room.

All of the 0-3 month clothes have now been washed, as have all blankets, towels, and washcloths.  Larger clothing sizes are folded and organized in drawers in his room.  All of the cloth diapers have been washed and dried 3 times in preparation for use.  I still have some items that will need to be washed, but I am feeling pretty good about where we are right now and I feel like I still have some time.

I had bought my first bottle of Dr.eft the week before the shopping spree.  At the cloth diapering class, I found out that they don't recommend Dr.eft to launder the cloth diapers (perfumes and oils), so I got a recipe for baby detergent.  I now have made my own baby detergent.  (Super easy to make and much more affordable than Dr.eft).

I bought some wooden letters that spell out his name and I have painted them.  I am hoping that we can hang them up tomorrow.

My projects for this next couple of weeks?

• Finding Cloth Baby Wipes (I know what I want, I just need to either find them online at a reasonable price or see if I can get someone to make them)
• Artwork for above the crib (Originally I was going to go with a wall cling.  I am now thinking of buying a canvas and painting it myself)

Once the artwork above the crib is complete and hung, I think I will feel like the nursery is pretty much complete.  At that point, I will post some pictures of the nursery for everyone to see.