Prepping the Condo for Baby

It's been a productive week starting to prepare our place for baby. With no nursery to decorate (tear) the projects are fairly small and I can handle most of them with Brian helping me lift the heavy stuff.

Making Space for Baby Gear:
The first step was to clear some space so we can start bringing baby items over from Burnsville. Boxed up all of our China (sadly haven't used it since the wedding anyway) and baby now gets the China Hutch all to himself. Should be great for storing all his bathroom & feeding essentials, books, toys, & gadgets etc.


Next came the closet. With just maternity clothes left standing it was fairly easy for me to sacrifice 2 shelves and a hanging rack for baby clothes & blankets, but this fall we'll have to negotiate a Plan B with Brian when I start bringing my regular clothes back in. Luckily we have quite a bit of top shelf space in the closet so I'm thinking we can put the bouncer, bumbo, play gym, baby bathtub, and extra diapers up there.





Shopping for Baby:
Again with no nursery there isn't much to get, but we did want to pick out a glider so I have a comfy spot to nurse and for Brian to rock baby to sleep. Have a feeling I'll have to fight the boys for it as I'm imagining many evenings spent with Brian watching a game and baby sleeping on his chest - makes me smile just thinking about it! We ran around the city testing out pretty much every model that exists. I wanted one that looked modern and that would be comfortable for both Brian & I which proved challenging to find. This is the closest Brian will get to a La-Z-Boy until he has a man cave someday so he was very picky ;) It came down to a "cheap" traditional glider from Babies R Us or splurging/investing in a top of the line piece of furniture that will hopefully last through future Woods Babies and could be used for seating outside of a nursery. Only the best for baby of course, so we're really excited about the glider we picked out at Babies on Grand (adorable store) in Hopkins. Behold the Dutailier Intermezzo - isn't she beautiful?


We went with microfiber instead of leather and got the glider + reclining option and matching glider ottoman but the color is similar to this picture and Brian talked his way into free shipping, delivery, and assembly. It should be here in two weeks but if not the store will provide a loaner glider until it arrives. It will replace the small striped chair in the picture below by the window and will awkwardly stick out to the middle of the living room but life will go on.


Next purchase was a small combo unit for the bedroom that will double as a dresser and changing table. Black is definitely not my ideal nursery color but is our bedroom furniture color so options were pretty limited. Storage was the main priority with this since we'll only need it until the condo sells, so we went with a cheap option from Target.com. Some complaints on the product reviews about the quality and time it took to put together, but I suppose you have to expect that for the price and I'm hoping it will work out nicely for baby clothes and diaper stuff. Maybe Uncle Trent will come over and help Brian put it together in exchange for beer...


Was really excited to get our Restoration Hardware Baby & Child Moses Basket - thanks so much Glasrud Family! Now I still get a tiny piece of the nursery I wanted since the fabric is the theme I was going to decorate around. I ordered the matching stand which essentially makes it a cozy bassinet/cradle so this will be where Prince W will get to sleep for the first couple months right next to mommy. Will replace with the Pack N Play when he outgrows it and then the basket will work perfectly for storing baby items.


So how will this all fit into one bedroom you might ask? Very carefully - it will be very um... cozy. I measured it out and and marked off with masking tape and we're talking only inches to spare to get the dresser and "crib" to fit on the open wall. Here is a before picture to reference. My night stand on the left will get the boot and we'll flip Brian's all the way against the wall and shove the bed over as far as it goes. Should leave enough room for me to scoot in between the bed and the "nursery." It's not going to look pretty but it'll work. Cheers to slumber parties ahead (minus sleep) with Brian, Bella, and Baby :)




Strollin
Brian assembled the stroller and infant carseat and we had lots of fun test driving it around the condo with Bella. It rolls really smooth and corners great. Brian will get the car bases installed and inspected this week so we can be cleared to take baby home from the hospital!





Apologies for the super long post. Couldn't sleep per usual so got up early. Brian will be sleeping off his beverages from the wedding last night for hours to come so lots of time to blog, thus the rambling. Heading to Burnsville this afternoon while Brian goes golfing to organize all of baby's gear and am excited to take a load back to the condo tonight! 17 days to go...