I’m naturally a nester. Tom has observed from the time we bought our house that I’m more concerned with the lining and he’s more concerned with the box. But, pregnancy has certainly taken my nesting instincts to the next level. My return from the holidays brought with it a pretty serious feeling of “countdown.” Projects that I once happily set aside for another day now feel immediate. My mind races something like this:
Maybe I should start priming this unfinished side of the basement today. . .I want to look for art work in aqua and orange for the bathroom- do you think I could find something on etsy?. . . oh how about I start the baby’s quilt today, the insides of these kitchen cupboards need a serious cleaning and fresh coat of paint. . . Ahh, how have I not bought the hardware for all these window treatments yet?. . . I should just spend all day deep cleaning. . . top priority- completely clear out the garage! . . . I could go on and on, just like my little ticker does, but I’ll spare you.
Despite the fact that the checks on my list don’t fill as many boxes as I would like, we’ve made some pretty substantial progress on our baby prep list.
Most notable is our recent purchase of a car! Monday morning we found a great deal online for a 2008 Toyota Camry hybrid. It was more than $3,000 cheaper than anything we had seen, so we jumped on it, and spent the day driving four hours to and from Dayton to pick it up. It’s a great car and we feel super blessed to have it. Oh, how I love having a car! It’s been amazing how much more free I feel knowing that if I need to run and do an errand I don’t have to plan it in so carefully with Tom’s schedule. It’s the basic model of camry, but feels VERY fancy to me. It includes features like keyless entry, power doors and windows, dual heating, aux input so I can plug my iphone in and hear the audio through the speakers, bluetooth, built in garage door opener, fine seat controls, but mostly an amazing hybrid system! If gas really goes up to $4.00 this summer like they’re predicting, we’re set! I keep finding myself turning back around to look at it as I’m walking to the library or wherever, just to be sure I really just stepped out of such a nice car. When I find it in the parking lot, I get this strange sense of complete wonder that that beautiful car belongs to me! It drives smooth and has handled well in the snow. I couldn’t be more thrilled. I can’t tell you how many times I have considered putting in the car seat, and hanging up the little baby mirror. But, I’ve restrained myself. I still have 36 more days.
Other than that our improvements have been more minor, but I think still worth sharing.
The nursery is slowly coming a long. My sister’s dear friend, Emilie, generously gave me this cute orange bumber while I was out in Utah. I also got these orange curtains while I was there. I’m in the process of making a quilt to tie all the colors together: blue, green, orange and brown. I went ahead and purchased this cube set of shelves for all the future items I’ll want to store. (Currently they’re empty.) And we got this cheap rug at Home Depot so our baby has some where soft to play.
The changing table is complete, except for hardware. I’m debating whether I want to make a cover for the changing pad. It would sure look cuter and be more comfy for my little guy, but it would be harder to clean. (The geranium doesn’t belong here, but was relegated here when the Christmas tree took its place in the bay window downstairs.) As you can see I still need to get the hardware to hang the other curtain over this window.
Other small improvements have been made in the bathroom. We’ve officially moved in here. The medicine cabinet holds all our stuff, and anything it doesn’t fit will be contained in these little his and her baskets on the bottom shelf. I got these towels at TJ Maxx, we’re going to stick with the orange and blue color scheme from the bedroom. The top shelf is actually a drawer, but it has to be slightly remade as there are pipes in the way now. Obviously baseboards will be added someday. I have the towel rod and the toilet paper holder, we just need to hang them. And I bought matching blue rugs. I’m going to actually cut the one that will go in front of the sink in half, because it’s just too large otherwise. Anyone ever hemmed the sides of a carpet/rug before? 
Here you can see the rug (folded in half). I pulled a few things from around the house to put on top of the toilet tank. I want to find a tray of some sort to put there. 
My other big excitement is this little cradle. My friend Dominica is lending it to me, it’s gorgeous and looks so cute in our room. I’ll wake up in the middle of the night and see it, and suddenly the reality of it all is all too apparent!
While I was out looking for curtains, rugs, towels and the like I came across this twin duvet cover that was selling for $10.00 at the TJ Maxx. I loved the fabric and for the price figured maybe I’d make a table cloth or pillows or something. Then it occurred to me that it would probably fit on our futon. It’s a bit big, and when I get around to it I might hem it a bit, but it is sure an upgrade from the ugly pad, and really gives the basement a new sense of energy and style.
Well, I better be off to check a few things on my list, before I think of some more to add to it!
