Friday, October 25, 2013

Am I Ready for This?

I left the house today for my last day of work before Maternity leave. I would normally work until the due date but the sitter is off next week and I'll probably be induced by Friday.

As I left the house, Hubs said "this is the last time  you'll leave for work with only one kid". I immediately felt sad. I'm not sure why. I know that Hubs wasn't trying to make me sad, instead he is excited about the new adventure we are about to embark on.


I felt sadness that my one-on-one time with Babybit is coming to an end. Sadness and fear that the now manageable morning routine will have to be rediscovered and relearned. And of course, sadness surrounding the sleep I know I'll be missing out on in the coming months. My emotions were/are probably exacerbated by my fatigue. Within the past two weeks, both Hubs and Babybit have battled the same nasty virus. Whenever either of them are sick, I worry and fret and lose sleep until they are better. Oh yeah, and I'm 10 months pregnant, uncomfortable, achy and having irregular contractions that interrupt all attempts at sleeping.

We are so excited to give babybit a sibling and grow our family. I can't wait to meet him/her and fall in love with my new baby and tell you all about how different yet similar the two kids are. I can't wait to see how our family and our hearts grow with the new addition. But in the middle of all this excitement and anticipation, I allowed myself a morning of sadness to mourn the way things were, making room for the way things will be.

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Itty Bit's Nursery

I know its been a while but there hasn't been too much to report. I've been sleeping A TON. If I'm not at work, grocery shopping or finding time to play with Caroline, I'm sleeping. I actually told my Husband yesterday that I miss him.

My nesting phase came and went in a whirlwind. I accomplished trying to clean the walls (FYI, NEVER USE MATTE PAINT. It just doesn't come clean, no matter how many magic erasers you use) cleaning the tub and putting up a backsplash in the kitchen. I did some other normal house cleaning too, but the house is so trashed again, its as if I never did anything.

I'm at that point in my pregnancy where bending over to pick something up is akin to climbing Everest. Just dropping something on the floor results in a slew of cuss words that you'll probably be hearing from Caroline soon. Oops.

Itty Bit's room has been 95% complete for probably 2 months now. I've been waiting to post the before and after until its 100%, but that aint gonna happen. It probably won't be complete until a month or two after he/she is here.

To understand what a transformation this room has become, you have to understand that for the 8 plus years that we've lived in this house, the room in question has been Hubs office/closet/dumping ground. Have I ever mentioned that Hubs is a PACK RAT?? He is one step from a hoarders intervention.We've had epic fights regarding the overflow of crap stuff in that room. I never, NEVER, won. Instead, I resigned myself to keep that door shut and ignore it. That was, until I peed on the stick and saw two lines.


It was months of cleaning out the room, boxing up crap stuff and purging before I could even consider what it would look like. I scoured pinterest and found map-inspired rooms that I just LOVED. Hubs has so many old maps that we could put to use. Some of them even had road trips highlighted on them and brought back good memories. Remember TripTicks from AAA???  I collected all of Hubs maps and some from friends and family to create a map accent wall.  I didn't really want it to be permanent (wall paper glue and all) in case we decide to move in the near future, so I just used painters tape to hang the maps.

In support of the 'map' theme, Biscuit and Tina refaced the dresser drawers we had with in-laid maps. AWESOME. After that, I spray painted some of the accent pieces and assembled all the furniture in the room. The rug is actually the one from Caroline's room. Nana bought us a map rug but it was more primary colors and looked perfect in her room.

You'll notice that the room isn't complete because we still need to purchase and hang the shades. I still need a mirror to hang over the dresser, and the rocking chair will be moved from Caroline's room into the corner of Itty Bit's room.

This is me trying to get a good picture of the map wall.
Untitled

Hanging over the crib are cork boards that I spray painted and/or covered in a map. Currently there are ultrasound pics and cards. As Itty Bit gets older, I have to reconsider what to hang here!
Untitled

This is the corner where the rocking chair will go and a mirror will be hung over the dresser. Ignore all the stuff stacked up in the corner. Check out the dresser, so cool!
Untitled

Another angle of the room with changing table and shelves. 
Untitled

So that is the state of Itty Bit's room. Caroline loves to spend time in there, getting in the swing and getting into the drawer to find pacifiers. I hope she finds it just as fun when her baby sister/brother settles in!