If you understand Kevin and I, then everything we accomplished this weekend will make perfect sense. Otherwise, you will be calling us insane, over-the-top freaks. Kevin and I are both stringent planners. We both thrive on having a very detailed plan laid out before almost anything can be done. This can often take a lot of time. But once the plan is outlined and the final draft of the plan has been stamped with the other's seal of approval, we are all or nothing kind of people. This means we get stuff done, no time wasted.
That's what happened this weekend. We were on it, with the baby room plan in hand. I'll save you from having to hear the long version, but here is what we accomplished in a nutshell.
1. Things we purchased and put together:
Crib
Dresser
TV stand
Cubbies and baskets
Baby items purchased:
Some bedding items (we are not doing the whole matching themed bedding set, as there is no need for pillows, and a big ol' blanket and bumpers that pose a suffocation risk. And I'm not into having the room "kiddy" or cutsey". So just basic gender neutral stuff for us. We will register for extra sheets and blankets.)
Small TV ( For me at first)
Hamper
I am doing a lot of crafty things to decorate the room, so we spent countless hours in multiple craft and home stores trying to find all the supplies I need and started on some of the projects ( More to come as these projects come to life)
Rug
Crib Mattress ( We knew exactly the mattress we wanted, the most highly ranked mattress there is, a Colgate foam mattress, opposed to a coil mattress like most baby stores sell. So this was a feat to find.)
Curtains (I am using curtains that we already had) and new curtain rod
Decals
As you can see, we were moving and a going this weekend. We realize we are only 21 weeks, but that's okay. It's super fun!
We are on a very strict budget for the baby room. As I have mentioned many times, all of our infertility treatments/cycles/surgeries/ and IVF were not financed, nor did we get any insurance assistance. We paid for all of it from our own income, which, in a nutshell, has bled us dry. Kevin and I have never really been here before, as we have always worked hard to be smart with our money and have a nice cushion saved. That's no longer the case. But we made the decision fully aware of how it would impair our finances. We wanted the baby more. With that said, we are working with finite resources, so we have set a budget for each baby room item--literally every singe item or project--and we have made sure not to go over our budget at all. Again, we are not financing anything baby.
We have had to make some sacrifices on the items we have or will purchase, but, again, like I said, we want the baby more. So what if the $700 crib that we both fell in love with is not an option. The most important thing is that this baby was crazy planned, is wanted more than anything I can imagine, and every single detail for his/her homecoming will be hand picked with love and intent. Everything about this baby is intentional. We will be intentional parents. We already are.
So, yes, we are on a very limited budget for the baby room, which is part of the reason I am going to try to find the crafty bone in my body--I sure hope I have one--and I'm designing or making a lot of the decorative items. Don't worry, they aren't cheesy crafts. I hate cheesy stuff. I have no doubt it will all look amazing. I can't wait til some of it is up so I can put up some pics. I should have more of it to post in a few days.
Without further adieu, here is what the baby room looks like so far. It's a far cry from where it was a month ago! This room was an entire guest room, then a throw away pile, then a huge give away pile. So we've made tons of progress.
The bear in the corner was my bear that I got for my 6th birthday. My heart-to-heart bear. I loooved this bear!
We have some of the decal up on the wall, but we are not yet done. And we have since added a shelf in the corner above the cubbies that will house block letters of the baby's name.
As of now, we just have odds and ends on the dresser, no real decorating or finalization yet. We added some really cute white polka dot knobs to this dresser to lighten it up a bit.
Here are some updated pics:
We have finished the circles that are now hanging above the crib. These are different size wooded embroidery hoops that have been glued together, painted white, and hung.
We moved the TV to the other side of the room. The cable outlet is on the opposite side of the room, so Kevin bought a long white coax cable then placed a wire cover that would blend with the carpet and baseboards on top of the cable and ran the cable to the opposite side of the room. Looks great.
This is a string/yarn zig zag wall hanging held up by birch wood thumb tacks that will house family photos and mementos to incorporate our family into the baby's room. We used the cutest petite clothes pins to affix the pictures. So precious! And finding these real wood twig thumb tacks was no easy feat! Etsy.com is the best for items like this!
In these frames are are four pages from different kid books with warm and fuzzy text that share different life messages to kids. I had these pages matted, then purchased frames for them, and hung them. Well...Kevin hung them. We have Sesame Street: Elmo and Big Bird, Dumbo, Winnie the Pooh, and The Tortoise and the Hare.
New Rug: Circle Theme and gender neutral
So there it is! Things are moving along! I love it. Every night I will go in the baby's room and turn on the lamp so that I feel like the room is "real". I also often go in there and just sit. Just sit and look around, brain storm, or just think about our actual baby sleeping in the crib. It's a really surreal thought.
I am truly trying to cherish every second of this.
Moving right along!Exciting :)
ReplyDelete