Thursday, August 4th, 2011
We Have a Crib. Now What?
As if things weren’t getting real enough with this belly (26 weeks), things are now SUPER real as we have a crib and changing table in our house. The nursery has been painted and we have a pretty good idea of how we want it to look. Would you like a tour?
Here’s a daybed I bought about a year ago for a steal from The Foundary. Notice the large cat shedding, I mean napping. The plan is to make pillows out of red/white, white/yellow, and white/green chevron fabric to cover the back of it. I figure if Baby on Board has a bad night, one of us can crash in there to be closer. Normally, the bedspread is not tucked in. My cleaners did that and it looks terrible. (FIRST WORLD PROBLEM)
Here we have the changing table with a bunch of randomness on top of it. Like a Kate Spade Diaper Bag, Nursing Pillow (did I tell you all that I won a Pioneer Woman giveaway for a gift certificate to Luna Lullabye a while back? I DID and with my winnings I bought that nursing pillow and several swaddling blankets), Finnish Shield from this year’s Scandinavian Festival (I don’t know. We thought it was darling) and some books and stuff for the walls. We need to figure out a window covering to replace the super cheap paper mini-blinds that the previous owners left. As you can see, that is a very sunny window.
And, here we have the crib. So crazy. Obviously the bedding needs to be washed and the skirt ironed.
Here’s a close up of the bedding. My imaginary friend Nic found this bedding for me when I was barely pregnant and then found it for me on Gilt shortly after that. It was a steal and I’m glad I bought it as it’s perfectly gender neutral and it’s also been discontinued. Sad trombone. I have no idea what the rule about bumpers is. If you know, please share with me.
And, here is BoB’s lamp. I’m not sure that I’m in love with it. I wanted the Jonathan Adler giraffe lamp, but I just can’t justify a $400 lamp in an infant’s room. And, then I wanted to do this, but I don’t want to buy a $70 and then possibly screw it up. So, we’ll see how this little guy fits in once the room is done.
Next Up:
These guys. Maybe, JUST MAYBE, when I return from BlogHer they’ll be all installed.
Also, Bill is building these book ledges on one wall. I’ll be finding an upholstered rocking chair that is not hideous and I suppose soon we’ll have to start focusing on stuff like CAR SEATS and such. We also have a mobile on the way and some cute grey chevron baskets that I saw on Anna’s recent nursery post.
Comments on this post
I think the rule with fabric bumpers is that you should remove them once your little one is able to roll and move around the crib to avoid accidental suffocation.
We ended up using the super unattractive breathable mesh bumper once we moved our baby to his crib to keep his arms and legs inside. Man, are they ugly but they do the trick and he can breath through them if he finds himself too close to the sides.
Loving your nursery so far! Good luck with BoB!
4. August - 3:29 pmWoo! Adorableness. Oh, you totally need someplace to sleep int he nursery. Trust me. Need.
Why not try spray painting the lamp. OR< buying some cheapo stand in, spray painting it and seeing what you think. Does that make sense?
I used fabric bumpers for both my girls. They were handmade by my mother and I was NOT going to discard them. I bought an Angel monitor (WORTH IT) and slept easy at night.
You need to get a ModTot piece for the nursery for sure. It would be adorable!
4. August - 4:49 pmLucky girl – I can’t believe you won that PW giveaway. I enter them all and know someday I will win one!
I’m opting to go bumper free because of articles I read in my local paper last year and earlier this year. I’m going to leave you the links but with the warning that the articles will probably make you cry:
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-12-12/news/ct-met-bumpers-20101212_1_crib-bumpers-crib-slats-staple-in-many-nurseries
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-03-29/business/ct-met-crib-bumpers-deaths-watchdog-20110329_1_crib-bumpers-bumper-pads-suffocation-risk
4. August - 4:59 pmFollow Portland mom and blog lurker here…
I vote no on the crib bumper. I never used one and the baby managed to keep his limbs in the crib.
Also a piece of unsolicited assvice–if you get a chance when you are on maternity leave, check out the Providence New Moms Group (various locations). I loved having other cool new moms to talk to when I was going through all the newness of being a new mom.
Good luck with the baby, happy times are ahead!
4. August - 5:24 pmIt looks great! You guys are so far ahead of where we were in the prep work- we didn’t get a changing table until about a week after Lydia arrived (she was only a week & a half early). I love the bedding. I believe the rule is that securely tied (with no string longer than 7 inches) breathable bumpers are safe until the baby is sitting & starting to climb. We didn’t do bumpers so I’m definitely not the expert!
4. August - 6:27 pmSo. LOVELY. Really. The bed in the room is a great idea – we did the same thing.
For the window – I would definitely recommend getting something with blackout fabric. Some drapes/curtains come with it already sewn in (we have some from Target in our bedroom) OR you can buy it at a fabric store(just $6/yard) and either sew it in to curtains you buy or sew your own curtains and sew them in. You want that room to be DARK, so that precious baby can SLEEP.
In other assvice, I totally recommend the following:
Britax carseats (expensive, but worth it) – their straps never twist, easy to correctly install, etc. We used the Marathon – really the only thing you’ll ever need until boosters.
MacLaren strollers – if you need something lightweight. I had both a single and a double. If I needed and could have afforded a BOB jogging stroller, I would have gotten one.
The Happiest Baby on the Block Book. LORD, THIS STUFF WORKS. Swaddling is heaven sent. My son especially needed. Both kids STILL sleep with white noise. Helped them sleep and be happier babies all the way around. And for swaddling, just by some cotton jersey and cut it to 48in x 48in.
Are you planning on a rocking chair? We have loved our Dutailier brand one (we have a ottoman, too). It has lasted and lasted – I spent many, many hours feeding kids while watching TV in it. While some of the Pottery Barn ones are lovely (looking like a gorgeous overstuffed chair), I recommend one tall enough that you can lean your head back on (I’ve fallen asleep with feeding), reclines (strap that baby in a carrier and rock away) and withstand the abuse. The $150 ones just can’t.
Yah! Baby!
4. August - 6:56 pmUm, I want that adorable lamp for my own room!
4. August - 7:19 pmThe deal with the bumpers is that once they can move around enough to shove their little faces into them, they should be removed. Of course, that’s about the time they start waking themselves up by getting their little limbs stuck between the rails, so a breathable (read: unattractive) bumper is always a good idea at that point.
4. August - 8:02 pmEverything is so cute! I love the sheets. My sis is keeping the sex a surprise too (She’s due 10/6). It’s a shame those were discontinued. Adorable. I like the lamp, but I think spray painting it might work, too, if you hate the color. Have fun at blogher!
5. August - 4:51 amIt looks great! I especially love the bedding. Even though we know we’re having a boy, we went with gender neutral bedding, too, so it can be used with future babies.
5. August - 6:26 amLove the lamp!
We bought a bumper and never used it for safety reasons. You probably don’t need a mesh bumper because TRUST me, if the baby gets his limb(s) stuck, you will know within about 2.5 seconds because he will scream bloody murder. Aaron did that twice, and we simply removed said limb from in between the slats. And that was when he was old enough to mess with whatever bumper would have been there anyway.
Bed in the nursery is absolutely essential. Also, if you’re going to nurse, or even if not, you’ll want a foot rest with your chair for comfort when you feed the baby in there at night.
I also recommend a bottle of nursery spray. You can get it at Babies R Us…it’s a spray that totally covers up foul odors. And believe me, babies are a cornucopia of odors.
Last peice of assvice: buy several crib pads (waterproof pads slightly smaller than the crib to put under baby when he sleeps. That way, if he pukes, pees, etc., you can just remove the pad and put on another. Much easier than completely changing bedding at 2 a.m. They also work really well on changing pads.
Looks like everything is coming together. Very exciting!
5. August - 7:21 amLOVE that chair . . . is it staying in the room?
Bumpers. Sigh.
Basically, when your baby is wee and new you’ll be afraid to use them because of the potential that baby could accidentally roll into them face first then not be able to roll back. Once baby is capable of rolling at will, you can use the bumpers, but only until baby can pull up, because at that point there’s a risk baby might step on the bumpers and use them as a foothold to climb out of the crib.
Your bumpers are adorable. We had adorable ones too . . . with rocket ships. We didn’t use them AT ALL though.
5. August - 12:38 pmSO CUTE! I love it all! It looks great! BoB will love it!
8. August - 9:27 amGorgeous, gorgeous! That daybed is a terrific idea; I’d have done one myself if we had the room. And I officially have a crush on that chair with the super fun fabric.
We skipped bumpers entirely – I got scared reading the safety warnings about them – until Master P hit around 7 months & started reaching out of his crib to do fun things like unplug the video monitor. We now use those ugly “breathable bumpers”; think I got ours at the awful BRU.
10. August - 10:00 amHAHAHAHAHA. Wait till the $#!+ hits the fan…
10. August - 11:13 pmDitto on what Kathymcc said above about the waterproof crib pads with a little bit more assvice thrown in for good measure. If you have several crib sheets and several waterproof pads, you can layer them up like a nice bedtime casserole. Then whenever your baby messes up the top layer, you can just rip it off and presto clean sheets underneath. Because, you just don’t know fun until you are trying to change pukey/poopy crib sheets at 2am.
We used our bumpers with both kids until kid 1 puked on his and I was too lazy to put it back together after washing and kid 2 started rolling around.
22. August - 3:32 pm