31 Weeks- The Nursery

Putting together our baby’s nursery was something I really looked forward to when we were TTC.  I happily pinned idea after idea on Pinterest for the perfect nursery and figured from the word go, on being pregnant, that I would be decorating and redecorating baby’s room till my heart was content. I watched other friends slowly put their nurseries together over the years and thought “Why aren’t they doing this sooner, faster, this way, that way?!” I’m a type A person, I’m a planner, I’m organized, and above all, I would be prepared!  After all, isn’t working on the nursery one of the perks of hauling around the kiddo for 9 months?

Fast forward to reality and this pregnancy.  My old self laughs at my current self.  There was the major situation of finishing our basement so my sister could move down there.  In the mean time she used my office and soon-to-be nursery as a storage facility while sharing a room with Rebecca.  There was no way I could nest or even plan a nursery with contractors in and out, boxes scattered about and nothing remotely where it belonged.  Bottom line, it has been chaos.

I would read other blogs where people had their entire nursery ready to go by 20 weeks.  Over achievers.  Family and friends often asked what I had left to finish up on the nursery and what the theme is.  Snoopy.  People stop over, glance at the closed-door and asked to see the nursery.  Nosy.

Then something happened.  Two weeks ago I kicked my sister and her two cats down the steps to the basement.  Don’t worry, they landed on the nice, new, carpet.  I emptied everything out of Rebecca’s room, the office and the living room to have professionals come in and clean the carpet.  We drove two hours and picked up the baby furniture.  I then purged the closets of unnecessary crap, dusted everything, put everything back in its spot, had the Husband paint the nursery, put the furniture together and started feeling progress.  We stood in the office that was no longer an office.

It was happening.

A place to house our nugget.

It felt real.

When I hit my second trimester I did make one purchase from ChildrenInspire on Etsy and I knew I would base the nursery around this one thing.  Peter Pan inspired.

Over the past couple of weeks I have gone back over my boards on Pinterest and spent a small fortune on Etsy. A few things include this wall quote from Peter Pan, which is now above her crib.

Also, she has a large, double window along one wall that this quote will go above.

I’ve let myself finally piece together what I have been lightly thinking about for this nursery.  I may have mentioned we are not entirely “team pink” people,  even though we are having a girl.  I have never dreamt of pink walls, glitter and lace.  It isn’t us. Instead we are going with yellow and gray bedding and so forth that has the stars and moon.  Tying everything together to create a bit of a fairytale, a bit of dreams, and a bit of imagination.

I’ve gone through Rebecca’s old totes of baby items.  While there isn’t a whole lot to re-use from 13 years ago, I did pull up her old books that I saved.  It felt good to place them back on a shelf, remembering the ones that used to be her favorite.  I went through the piles of stuff that we have bought or have been given.  I sorted, made lists, hung up clothes, double checked my registry.

Here I was on the third trimester and finally able to do something major to prepare for our nugget’s arrival.  I had this weird feeling, sitting on the floor in there last night, that something actually comes out of this pregnancy thing.  It sounds strange, I know, but this will soon come to an end and it will actually be worth it.  The reality that there is actually a baby at the end of this is starting to become more and more real, not just an idea, dream or something we talk about for the future.  I will actually lose this growing bump, will be able to go back to sleeping on my stomach, have all the wine and as a bonus, get a baby that hopefully doesn’t get her Dad’s big nose or my huge forehead.  There will be a mini us to put in the crib and dress in all the clothes we have been slowly acquiring.

That feeling right there, that was what I needed right now.  The third trimester has been such a bitch, slapping me in the face and I needed a moment that says I’m not doing this for nothing, not just someone telling me.  I’ve just had nothing to show for it and for some reason the nursery is my reality.  Truth be told, I’m glad I couldn’t work on the nursery so soon.  It gives me something to do now.  Some purpose that I can work on while the Husband is still trucking along on the basement.  (There is still an entire bar, entertainment center and bathroom to start!) And with baby showers just around the corner, I have a place to bring all the presents back to, instead of a corner in storage!

So our house officially has a nursery, the start of her room for as long as we live in this house, a place that is hers.  It is weird to be making space for a new human that we haven’t met yet.  All I know of her is how she loves candy corn and is a night owl.  So far, so good.  Hopefully she is cool with her room too.