The nesting has begun! I didn't plan on prepping a baby room so early, but a good opportunity came to buy a used crib from someone at work, and so it began. I didn't want the house or a certain room to become cluttered with storage until we "get around to organizing." That's not my style. Since we have the space to do it now, we might as well do it. So we took advantage of some visitors we had to help us move the bed out of our extra guest bedroom and began the set-up.
Kiah approves of the new crib
Finished product with the essentials-a crib complete with sheet and nursing pillow generously thrown in with the sale of the crib, our used IKEA chair that we already had, a bookshelf we got for free at a garage sale with new books from grandparents, and some African decor that happened to be in the room beforehand.
We also refurbished an old dresser here in the parsonage, and it looks like new!
Before...
...After
I've really enjoyed being thrifty with acquiring things for the baby. It's not the normal kind of thrifty, like buying lightly used products from a secondhand store. Even garage/moving sales are sometimes a little out of hand when it comes to prices I have found. A funny thing about Bethel is that people often try to sell used things but tack on a few extra (or 50 extra) dollars for the additional shipping cost to get it all the way here from two years ago. Most of the time, people buying used things don't care if you paid a pretty penny to get a product here eons ago, but nonetheless the practice continues here. It just gives me a little chuckle from time to time. Thriftiness has come mainly from accepting the generosity of some people who are willing to part with their baby products or make something nice for the baby by hand and finding new use for things already lying around somewhere.
I also have not really gotten into the whole "we have to paint the room and buy brand new things and have every baby product out there" phase. I think sometimes our culture goes a little overboard. Sure, a baby takes a lot of stuff, but they could also care less about a lot of things that we adults think are so important. And they change so fast! When they are so little, it seems silly to have dozens of items they'll use for a month. Even clothing-wise, I'm thinking lots of onesies and cloth diapers will do (of course with a few intense winterwear items).
As simple as we want to keep things, we also have a few things in mind to splurge on, like the BOB stroller we bought from REI with a convertible carseat. We hear that a heavy duty BOB can make foot travel much easier on these bumpy, often muddy or icy roads of Bethel.
Essentially, gathering "things" is a way we humans prepare for some kind of journey, picturing and shaping that journey into what we want it to be, whether it's a vacation to a tropical place, a new school year beginning, or moving into a bigger home. It's just one of the only things we can do right now in the excitement and anticipation of a new baby coming: gather things.
And there is definitely no doubt that a baby is coming. The baby has been moving up a storm the last couple of weeks, reminding us everyday that he/she is their own being and will be needing their own space very soon!
