The Nursery "Furniture"

I swear that it’s not that the nursery is the ONLY thing on my mind…I promise it’s not…but it might be the most pressing thing. :) Because of that, you’re hearing a LOT about it…and I don’t know if that’s ok with you or if I should say “sorry!”

I mentioned the other day in a post that we worked on acquiring some of the items that we’ll need for the nursery. No, not booties, bottles and onesies…but like a dresser, a room divider, etc. You know, the big stuff! I mentioned here that we are sharing our room with baby Jax for a little while…making the lemonade out of lemons…and we had been tossing ideas about how to “divide” the room to still allow us a little smidge of privacy and give Jax his own space as well for a while. We’ve discussed everything from installing a wall (not in favor of) to hanging a heavy curtain (also not one of my favorites) and some type of bi-folding screen (not the best option either). As you can probably tell, I’m the one holding all of our progress back with my lack of enthusiasm over everything that we could think of doing.

Then the other day it hit me like a ton of bricks…what about a bookshelf? Like a really BIG bookshelf that would go up pretty high and be pretty wide so as to “create” a wall without us actually putting up a wall…hmmm…this could work. I started searching and quickly found several options that I liked on the IKEA website. Of course, when I mentioned the idea to Brent, he wanted to see it all in person and we made plans to visit our local IKEA store over the weekend.

Now, in my defense, I really DID go just to look. I mean, I thought that if we liked it, we MIGHT be coming home with a bookshelf. You know, if things went just right. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would leave the store with a truck-bed full of boxes and a MUCH lighter checkbook! But hey, when you find what you’re looking for, you get it right?
Because if you’ll remember, we were still searching for a dresser for Jax to use as well. I’ve been going back and forth about a separate changing table and then whether to snag Jenna’s dresser (which matches the crib and turns upside down to make a changing table) for a few months now. I’ve been scouring Craigslist and just couldn’t find exactly what I was looking for at the right time. For some reason, I was about 30 minutes too late on more than one listing…and I got ROBBED out of the perfect long dresser last weekend, but that’s a whole other story!

Anyway, to make a long story shorter, this is what we left IKEA with this bookshelf…

And this dresser…

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the dresser and it’s unique finish. Since we hadn’t yet decided on a trim color for our room, we immediately finalized that decision and will find a trim color that will complement/match the finish on the dresser…making sure that it also works with the wall color, of course.

And the bookshelf isn’t exactly what I had in mind…you might have noticed that the shelves are OPEN…but it’s the one that I liked the best and it’s the right size. At just over 6’ square, it’s perfect to divide our room up without actually dividing it up. And the plan is to find some curtains or some type of fabric to cover the “back” of the bookshelf with so that it’s not open on both sides…

What do you think? We’ve got our work cut out for us this weekend, that’s for sure! I’d like to have both pieces assembled before my shower next weekend, so I’m crossing my fingers that it actually happens. Then again, Brent has to work two shifts this weekend…and I know from a friend’s personal experience (holla Lady Di!) that IKEA dressers are NOT the easiest things to assemble. Let’s just say that I laughed so hard a few years back when she told me about putting the dresser that she got from IKEA together that I nearly peed my pants…there was MUCH cussing and throwing of tools, if I remember correctly…so we’ll see.

I’d like to at least get the dresser up so that I can start washing clothes and putting them up…but I’d also like to have the dresser so that I can put up the five BOXES of books that I own up on shelves and not have them in the upstairs living room any longer too. We’ll see what happens!

*source for pictures

HELLO!!

I think that the little man thinks that he can punch his way out of my tummy through either my belly button or just, you know, down there.

I swear on a stack of Bibles that he punched me a few hours ago so hard “down there” that I was shocked to not see a hand sticking out and waving at me. And all of that was done while I was having an important conversation with someone at work. Nice, Jax. Real nice timing there, buddy! Not only did you hurt Mommy, but you made me jump so hard and make such a painful face that they thought that I was having really bad contractions…

I don’t know what he’s doing, or what’s going on in there, but the punches are getting sharp. And they have lots of force behind them now.

I’ve read somewhere that they can sense light and dark now, so maybe he’s thinking that because my belly is stretched almost to its limit (which logically in my mind makes my skin thinner therefore making it lighter to him in there) that he can just reach out and touch the lightness that he “sees.” I hate to tell you this buddy, but that’s not really the way that it works…maybe someone else could clue him in for me?

If so, can you also explain to him that he’s supposed to sleep between the hours of 11pm-6am…not throw parties in my belly between the hours of 2:30-4:30am? Thanks ever so much, that would REALLY help me out!

The Progress of The Crib...

If you've been reading along with me for a while now...or if you know me in real life...then you know that it's just not in my nature to let something sit once I sink my teeth into it. Ok, Mom, I'll be honest here...sometimes it's in my nature to let something sit once I start on it - think about the year and a half that it's taken me to finish my bedspread! - but nine times out of ten, once I decide to start something and I get good and truly started on it, there's no stopping.

So now you'll understand why putting together Jax's crib was no different. Did I encounter problems? Sure. Did I still make my deadline of putting it all together on Sunday? Of course! Did I let the fact that the bag of "parts/hardware" that I remembered being the parts that held the crib pieces together was not in fact parts to put it all together, but extra parts sent by the manufacturer deter me? NO! Of course not! Two "quick" trips to Lowe's solved all of my problems...and there was a back-up plan of ordering what I needed from the manufacturer's website, if needed.

Luckily, fate smiled on me and I didn't have to pay twice the cost of the parts needed themselves just for shipping alone...LOL!

At the end of the day, this is what Jenna and I managed to get together...maybe I've already shown it off, but can you tell that I'm super duper proud of how handy I was able to be at 8 months pregnant?!?! Yep, so proud of my handy skills...I should hire out, huh?

OK - maybe that's taking things a little too far. And maybe by the time it was all put together I was pooped with a capital "P" but it was worth it. I immediately set to the task of washing all of the bedding linens and getting them ready to put on the crib. Of course, my plan was to finish the putting together phase early enough to also finish the washing phase and move on to the putting-it-all-together phase all on Sunday...but that didn't really happen. Everything got washed and dried, but there was nothing left in me to put it all together.

Somehow, I managed to get some sleep and recooperate enough so that when I woke up Monday morning, I was tired, but refreshed enough to drag out the iron and give the bedding stuff a quick press before putting it all together. Want to see it all assembled? Of course you do!

First I added the bed skirt, which I suppose would technically be called a crib skirt... Then I took the mattress...after putting it BACK in the crib first one time and THEN remembering that it's easier to put on the crib mattress stuff when the mattress is OUT of the crib..cue Sandy taking the mattress back OUT of the crib... ...and added the WATERPROOF mattress pad (VERY important!) I also managed to remember to add a waterproof crib pad on top of the mattress pad BEFORE putting on the crib sheet. Look how cute! What's that? Oh, you'd like to see a close-up of the design on the sheet? Oh, OK - twist my arm! Too cute!

OK, NOW is the time to add the mattress back inside the crib...it's ALL coming back to me! Isn't it all so cute?!?! Yes, I'm going to say that a few hundred times...

After that was all done and inside the crib, it was time to add the bumper. Did you knwo that safety regulations state that crib bumper ties can be NO longer than 9" in length for the safety of the baby? I had NO clue, and I've done this once before! But like I said, it's all coming back to me. I remembered how when I had Jenna a crib with side posts as large as the crib that I selected wasn't all that common and I had a HECK of a time getting those things tied to the crib sides. They constantly sagged...I guess it's a sign that times have changed because although the corner ties were still a "close call" on actually tying together, it all worked and nothing sags! Let's take a quick peek at how cute it will be from Jax's point of view...here's the back of the crib... And this is the front of the crib... Last, but not least, and something that would TOTALLY not tie onto the crib in Jenna's baby bedding set...the cute little diaper stacker! And not to leave anything out...there are still two things that I already have that also belong to the bedding set that I haven't done anything with...the window valance (not pictured) and the cutesy little crib blanket... As you may, or may not know, the crib blanket can't really be used as a blanket in the crib right at first...so I'm not entirely 100% sure what I'm going to do with it for now. But I'll figure it out. And the reason that the window valance isn't pictured yet is because A) I thought that I had enough windo material to make the flowing curtains match the rest of the windows in our bedroom, and I was actually short on material, so they look retarded...and B) I forgot that the window valance was actually a tab-top and the curtain rod would show. So while at Target I just bought the cheapy double valance window curtain rods since I thought they weren't going to show...I'll correct that soon!

Now maybe tomorrow, I can get started washing this pile... Yep, those are the clothes that I have already bought for Mr. Jax and haven't cut the tags or washed anything yet. Part of me was waiting to verify the sex one more time before clipping all tags, but that happened two weeks ago nearly. Now, I'm just waiting to have somewhere to put them once they're all washed and folded up. We've got the dresser, we just need to get it in the room...pictures coming soon!