Nursery Musings

In recent years, it seems like the trend for creating a nursery has been to excessively design the room, making it an elaborate production that often epitomizes form over function. Look through a magazine and you'll see massive cribs, huge wall murals/stencils/decals, and ridiculously overdone themes (often the baby's name is on a wall somewhere, too). And I'm not just talking about celebrity nurseries; 'regular' parents are putting in the time, effort, and money to create over-the-top nurseries. Yeah...I'm not doing that. Need an example of what I'm talking about? Here are two.

Oh for crying out loud.

I understand wanting to prepare the baby's room and make it comfortable, and that decorating the nursery is an exciting and emotional process. I also understand wanting to create a space for the baby that is soothing and calming, yet also engaging, inspiring, and stimulating. But it seems like parents-to-be (especially the moms) feel that not elaborately decorating their baby's nursery must mean they don't care enough. It's as if they need to prove to other people, to themselves, and/or to their future child just how much of a caring parent they are, and they feel that the nursery they provide is a reflection of their love and dedication. Are these super-fancy nurseries cute? Sure, but really, how much of the nursery's decorative merits are actually judged - or even noticed - by a baby? And how much time does a baby actually spend in the nursery when he/she isn't sleeping? I'm not suggesting that there's something wrong with decorating, I just think the "norm" had shifted to an excessive level.

Because a nursery just isn't complete without A CAROUSEL.

But lately I've noticed that many people seem to be getting on board with the idea that a fancy or elaborately designed nursery isn't a yardstick by which to measure how much you love your baby. It looks as if parents are now becoming more focused on creating a highly functional space that is still comfortable and provides visual stimulation for when baby is awake. This approach resonates with me. I'm pretty sure my attention and affection will matter more to my child than whatever hangs on the walls of his/her room.

Since the nursery I'll be decorating is very small, my focus will be on organization and keeping it as simple as possible. I plan to use either a mini-crib (normal crib, just smaller dimensions) or a very simple and streamlined crib in the space (I'm still debating which I'll end up with). A low dresser will serve double-duty as a changing table, and rather than a massive glider and ottoman in the corner, I'd rather have a simple, clean-lined (perhaps a bit modern) rocking chair for those middle-of-the-night nursing sessions. The walls will likely be gender-neutral - probably green, beige, or gray (though I already have a lot of gray in my house since it's my favorite color, so gray might get tossed from consideration) - and I plan to provide visual interest by choosing some great art for the walls, an area rug to cover the hardwood floor in the middle of the room, and some fun curtains. Other than the crib, dresser, and chair, the only other furniture will probably be bookshelves for storage (and books). There won't be an adorable hamper with woodland creatures on it, just a couple of small plastic laundry baskets that will live on the floor in the closet. Speaking of the closet, I plan to use some organizing products to get things as neat as possible, and put a disc light in there so I'll be able to see.

At this point, those are my ideas. Basic, yes, but I hope to make the nursery a functional space without too much furniture or unnecessary stuff packed into it. Going forward I'll report back to let you know if I have accomplished any of this successfully!

17-Week Update (Feelin' Groovy), Nursery Planning, & Flicky Spasms

I am incredibly grateful for the second-trimester respite. While I still get tired even faster than I normally do, I have much more energy now; I'm able to juggle more things, which is good because there's a lot to do before the baby comes. In fact I decided to take a break from classes while I'm in my second trimester so I will have time to get things done while I'm feeling good and not yet the size of a walrus. But I do plan to take one more class before my due date, just to knock out another 3 credits.

The future nursery is still full of random stuff - it looks more like a storage room right now than a bedroom (because that's basically how we've used it for the past 3 years). The nursery is also VERY small, so I'm planning to try to be creative in how I furnish and organize it in order to maximize the space we do have. For instance, I'm putting a lot of thought into how to organize the small closet so that fewer things need to be stored out in the room itself. I have the feeling I'll be glad to shut the closet door and hide a lot of things like clothes, laundry baskets, etc. - for me, the more I can hide away, the better. Too much stuff/clutter stresses me out. (I know, I'd better get used to it with a baby coming, as babies tend to require a bunch of stuff.) I'll be posting more specific ideas for the nursery soon.

According to BabyZone.com, this is what the Peanut looks like right now (he/she is about 5.5" long):

I can totally understand why the baby would start playing with the umbilical cord; it must get pretty boring in there. And claustrophobic. In fact, I'm surprised I wasn't born mid-panic-attack as I fought to get out of what surely was a claustrophobic living environment; I'm sure my "plump" size didn't help matters - I was over 9 lbs so there couldn't have been much room to spare in there. As cool as it is to see these kinds of progress photos and drawings, my first thought when I see them is, "Oh man, it's getting bigger. And bigger. And at some point it's going to have to come out of my body." Seriously, you guys, it's terrifying.

I recently began feeling Peanut moving around in there, which is a very cool experience. I've read all sorts of descriptions of how it feels when you first feel the baby move, and it's clear that it's very difficult to describe, and also it seems that the feeling is different for different people. For me it feels sort of like a tiny muscle spasm in my abdomen, or like I'm being flicked from inside my belly. Other people describe it as popcorn popping, bubbles, or butterflies in the stomach, but I think for me the best description is a tiny muscle spasm. If that kid really is flicking me from the inside, I fear I may have an ornery, Dennis the Menace type on my hands. Time will tell.

16-Week Belly

This will have to be short, but I wanted to post a 16-week belly photo. I promise I'll try to get better belly photos in the future, but for now this is what I have. It may not look like there's much difference between my 15-week photo and 16-week photo, but I assure you, that bump is definitely bigger!

Monthly visit tomorrow morning with my midwife, and some blood work afterward. I'm still pretty antsy to find out the gender of the peanut, but that appointment isn't until August 22, so I've got a few more weeks to wait.