Dairy Barn Preparations: Part III

We're still slowly (but surely) piecing the baby's room together. It's frustrating because (a) I have an exact vision in my head of how I want to decorate (which NEVER happens), but, financially, we can't afford to do it exactly that way so I'm having to really stretch my creative skills to accomplish similar results for less, (b) I can't do very much physically because of the giant basketball residing in my gut which leaves me depending largely on Stephen to do the majority of the grunt work, but (c) poor Stephen has been having to work so many hours at now three different jobs because of our financial situation and the lack of luck in finding a "real" job so he doesn't have much time to devote to working on the baby's room.

Thanks to Angie's and her mom's generousity, though, we at least have the most important piece of furniture for the baby - the crib. I think they bought it for us because they, for some strange reason, weren't too keen on my idea of just putting Baby Neener to sleep in a drawer or a basket. It arrived a couple of weeks ago and even with Stephen's busy schedule we were able to put it together within a couple of days. I think it looks very lovely and sophisticated, even without a mattress. But, oddly, Stephen doesn't think Baby Neener should have to sleep on the hard wooden mattress platform, so I suppose we'll be making a trip to my mom's sometime in the near future to pick up the crib mattress that Ella used a few years ago. I can't believe how much he's spoiling this child already. A cushiony place to sleep? Geesh, then what? I suppose he'll need clothing and food, too? Stephen's parents also generously gave us an old dresser for us to use in the baby's room. It needs a lot of work done on it, but we've bought the new hardware for it and Stephen has even starting sanding it, so hopefully in the next week or two it will be completed.

We made a spontaneous trip to Bolingbrook, IL, yesterday to visit our favorite store, IKEA, and found lots of cheap fun stuff for the room, like light fixtures and wall hangings and even a very basic changing table that kinda looks like it's made out of matchsticks. We're hoping it'll be sturdy enough to hold his ginormous weight considering the fact that everyone is under the belief I'm going to give birth to a forty-pound baby. We were even lucky enough that Angie was willing to make the long trek out into "the 'burbs" to see us for a little bit and have dinner with us. I think she really enjoyed listening to me whine the whole time about how badly my back hurt, watching me hike my maternity pants up every thirty seconds, and witnessing me occasionally hobble around like Frankenstein with a bad limp when the baby would press on my sciatic nerve. I personally can't think of any better way to spend your Saturday evening than with Pregnant Kim.

Keep your fingers crossed that progress will continue and I'll have more to report soon. Otherwise, my impatience may kill me. With Stephen's assistance. I get the feeling he's not the biggest fan of the impatient side of me.

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Dairy Barn Preparations: Part II

The Dairy Barn, though not quite open for business, is coming along nicely. Stephen and I painted the room Wednesday and Thursday of last week, and since then I've finally managed to put everything from the baby shower that belongs in the nursery away. (Car seat, car seat accessories, and feeding gear are still strewn all over the downstairs, but I'm sure they'll find homes soon enough, too.)

As you can see, the room is still basically empty, with the exception of the cats, the bookcase, and the television, which is temporarily sitting on a filing cabinet that doesn't belong in the room. The closet, on the other hand, is filled to the brim with baby clothes, diaper bags, changing supplies, and health care items. Our crib, which was an extremely generous gift from Angie and her mom, has been purchased and is waiting at the store for us to pick it up - we just have to con Stephen's parents into letting us borrow their van and maybe his dad's assistance, since the crib weighs slightly over 100 lbs. and is very bulky. Hopefully within the next few days we'll be able to pick it up and assemble it - it's killing me knowing it's sitting at the store instead of in Baby Neener's room. I'm so damn happy and relieved - my baby won't be sleeping in a drawer after all!

We still need to get a rocker, a small media stand for the tv, a dresser (the one we picked out for our registry is long so it can double as a changing table), curtains, and some wall accessories. Oh, and a breast pump. After all, we can't very well call it the Dairy Barn if there's no milk pumping devices. I am hoping we can manage to get most, if not all, of these items before we get our baby.

Stay tuned for more (*yawn*) exciting updates...

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Dairy Barn Preparations: Part I

This weekend Stephen and I FINALLY finished carting out the remainder of the office junk from Baby Neener's room - granted, most of it is still sitting in boxes or randomly piled in the hallway right outside of the room, but that's beside the point. We also made an exhausting trip to Home Depot to pick out paint because, for some reason, Stephen doesn't want to keep the pale pink that's already on the walls. It took a good hour, but we finally found the perfect shade of sage green. (Or at least we hope we won't hate it once it's on the walls.) Our goal is to paint the room this week - as you can see, I've begun taping the baseboards - because my wonderful mothers and sisters are throwing me a baby shower this Saturday and it would be ever so lovely to have a prepared room all set to throw Baby Neener's treasures into.

Stephen suggested we document the transformation of the office into the baby's room. Since the office was such a huge pigsty that I absolutely refused to document the prior condition, we're instead recording the transformation of this lovely clean room into Baby Neener's room or, as Stephen has decided to refer to it, the Dairy Barn. Because, ha ha, I'll be doing a lot of nursing and milk pumping in this room. My dear, clever husband. So hilarious.

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