Nesting, Part Two: Upstairs

Did you think that all of our downstairs organizing was the extent of my nesting horomones? Nope. We redid our entire upstairs, all for this new little guy who will be arriving Thursday morning. Let's start with the boys' room. I have to put the apostrophe after the "s" now, because this room no longer belongs to just one boy.

Here's Nick sitting on his new big-boy bed. His doll is next to him, and you can see the changing table/dresser on the right. Those drawers will now be for Nick's little brother. Instead of buying another dresser, which would've been prohibitively expensive, I got this storage cube thingie from Target. It's anchored to the wall, so he can't pull it over on himself, but he can pull out the fabric drawers to get access to his clothes. My eventual goal is to take a picture of each kind of clothing, laminate it, and then velcro it to the outside of the fabric box, so Nick can learn where to find socks, shirts, pants, pajamas, etc. Then again, this organizing bug will probably leave me as soon as this kid is born, so my picture idea may never come to fruition.

Moving to the left, you can see that Nick's book rack ($20 at http://www.napervilleyardsales.com/ last year) has been moved upstairs. Grandpa Mike and Grandma Patty brought him his own rocking chair last week, so he has a place to sit and read. We had enough floor space to set up Nick's train set in his room on the floor. The door you see open is the walk-in closet, which Nick will still be sharing with his daddy and (now) his little brother, too.

Nick has so many clothes that I had to buy this fabric organizer for out-of-season stuff. All of his winter pjs, jeans, and sweatshirts are in here for now. The shelf holds random baby items that we're not sure if we'll use yet. I didn't take a picture of the five giant-sized boxes of diapers (sized newborn through 2) on the other side of the closet, but I'm sure you get the picture. You can see the 1,000 pack of baby wipes, though. We're stocked, but I'm sure we'll be out in a few weeks. It's so easy to forget the days of going through 8-10 diapers every day.

For toy organization, I bought one of those bin organizer thingies, also at Target. I'm figuring that once our new little boy starts moving around, we're going to have to keep him away from some of Nick's smaller toys. The solution? Keeping those toys in the bedroom. I'd love to attach pictures of which toys go where, so Nick can learn to clean up. We'll see if that happens. While the crib is still in here (behind the door on the far left), our little guy won't be able to escape it for some time. In fact, we probably won't even have him sleeping in the crib until he's sleeping through the night. He'll be in a bassinet in our room until then.

I've gone through all of the baby clothes in sizes preemie through 6 months, folded them, and organized them. This is not normal behavior for me. I've also spent a lot of time and money hunting down adorable summer newborn clothes on ebay, because many of Nick's baby clothes had snowmen and reindeer on them. They were also long-sleeved and fleece, which just won't cut it in June. I did find some stuff I could salvage, though, and everything is clean and ready. . . just waiting for the baby.



Onward to the loft. Grandma Toni used to sleep in a full-sized bed in Nick's room when she spent the night. She spends every Tuesday and Wednesday night during the school year with us and needs a comfy place to sleep. We bought her this futon, complete with a real (upgraded) mattress, not one of those foam thingies, and she's been pretty comfortable so far. You can see Greg's easel to the left. He has dreams of painting again this summer. I hope he finds the time. Oh, and one of my classroom plants is next to the window. I'm crossing my fingers that the cats won't eat it.

In about a week (when I'm discharged from the hospital), our bedroom will become baby central. Thank goodness we have a fancy bassinet/pack n' play with a diaper changing station. We also moved the rocking chair and ottoman into our room, so we can actually, you know, rock the baby at night. Our bedroom is kind of small, but this will work for the summer. Hopefully by fall this little man will be sleeping through the night, in his crib, with his brother. (Hey, I can have dreams, right. It is possible, though not likely, that I'll have a second child who sleeps through the night consistently at 8 weeks.)

The rocking chair is actually very comfy. I use it for reading sometimes, when not rocking babies. Notice another of my classroom plants next to the window. It's more likely to survive in here, where cats are forbidden, because I'm allergic (to cats, not plants). You'll also see my new diaper bag, packed and ready to go to the hospital. I am bringing outfits in preemie, newborn, and 0-3 month, all because I have no idea what size this little guy will fit into. Nick was in preemie clothes for several weeks, but the OB estimated that this baby will be at least 7 pounds, so the newborn stuff will probably fit him better.

Either way, our house is ready for baby. As for me, I'm ready to not be pregnant anymore.

Big Boy Bed!

Nick has been sleeping in his big boy bed for a whole week now. A little over a month ago, Nick figured out how to get out of his crib. This started a whole chain of events, culminating in the purchase of a nice toddler bed for our boy here.

Between having to return the crib mattress and buy a new one, and moving furniture around, we finally got the whole thing set up for him. Nick was super-excited about sleeping in his new bed. We love his new quilt and sheet set, which was made by a lady who sells them on Ebay. I love that it doesn't have any wacky cartoon characters on it.

All day, he kept saying, "I seep in my big boy bed!" (He doesn't always pronounce his "l"s.) I was totally anticipating problems, because I've spoken to a number of friends about the transition from crib to bed. Some of them had their little ones wandering around the house at all hours of the night.

Nick slept just fine, though, and when Greg went into his room in the morning, he was sleeping in his bed, happy as a clam. One night, I guess, he woke up in the guest bed, which still hasn't been moved to the basement. But that's no great tragedy. Every other night, he's slept in his big boy bed with a stack of books and his favorite monkey beside him.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
When it's time for bed, we just ask him, "Nick, what time is it?" He always replies, "Seepytime." Then he goes to sleep in his big toddler bed. Sniff. My little baby is growing up!

*Photos courtesy of Amanda Wiatr.

Dry Erase Markers, Being Too Busy, and Kicking

Last week one of Nick's pee-pee prizes was a little dry erase board and marker. Because I was naive, I let him take it with him to nap time. Frankly, I was exhausted and not thinking straight. The sudden, random tiredness that hit me all the time in the first trimester of this pregnancy has started returning with a vengeance, right on schedule in the third.

Do you see those cute little knees? Yup. Dry erase marker. Everywhere. He's been doing pretty well with potty training. He has even had several days without wet man panties. Nick has not, however, been able to go #2 in the potty. I have no idea why. I hope he figures that one out eventually.

Today Nick used his first urinal--Greg took him into the men's room at the Kohl's, and held him up, and low and behold, success! This does present a problem for me, though. You see, Nick is afraid of public toilets, and the ladies rooms never have urinals. Hmm. It was hilarious when Nick came running out of the men's room. He announced to everyone at the service desk, "I went pee-pee in the potty!" They were duly impressed.



Pardon my absence lately--the last two weeks have probably been my busiest in years. I have a part time freelance writing job and I am under deadline, so I've been spending lots of time researching and typing like a madwoman. I have 5,000 words due by Thursday, but I got a lot done yesterday and today, so now I only have about 2,400 left to go. I'm trying to earn some extra money for all the diapers we're going to be going through very soon. I seem to remember an average of 8-10 diapers per day--I shudder to think.

Then, I have two teacher friends working on their National Board Certification. It's the highest honor a teacher can get in this country, and the only way to get a Master Teaching Certificate in Illinois. I became a NBCT in 2008, and now I help mentor other teachers working on their portfolios. I remember how excited I was when I got my new IL Teaching Certificate, and it read, "Master Teacher." Can't beat that feeling.   :)  Anyhow, I've spent the last few weeks reading their papers and giving them suggestions. Their final portfolios were due last Friday.

To top it all off, I had to make a little visit to the hospital. The little boy inside of me was being kind of lazy, and my doctor had warned me to call if I didn't feel movement over a 24 hour period. This kid has never moved very much, and maybe it's because I was so busy, but I couldn't feel him at all for well over a day.

My obstetrician had me go in to radiology to get an ultrasound and have the baby pass some tests. He started moving right away on the ultrasound, though I still couldn't feel it. My placenta is in a weird spot, in the front, and I think that's why movement is so muffled. I guess he passed all of the test with flying colors. Aw, he passed his first test. The doctor said that with this good of a test, the chances of anything being wrong are practically Nil. Plus, especially in the last two or three days, the baby has been dancing a jig. His movements have become stronger and I'm having less trouble feeling him.

Anyhow, the trip to the hospital was just a precaution, but now I've been extra careful with tracking movements. We found out that Greg can usually feel him with his hands, even when I feel nothing. So he is now in charge of kick counts. Seems like a fair deal, seeing as I have the responsibility of carrying the baby 24/7. Oh, and apparently dark chocolate and caffeine help--this little guy dances when I indulge.

Speaking of dancing a jig--here's Nick dancing in his crib. This is probably the last week he'll be sleeping in the crib. Greg got the toddler bed together, and we're just waiting for the new crib mattress to arrive. (The original one we ordered was the wrong size.) Nick is thrilled, and every time he passes his toddler bed, he announces, "That's my bed! I gonna sleep in there!"

An $800 Weekend

So how, do you ask, can a weekend cost $800?  Let's see. . .

It all started with a big surprise Saturday morning. I was sleeping, because, you see, I have a wonderful husband who always gets up with our son and lets me sleep. Also, I sleep with earplugs (snoring husband) and it would take quite a lot of noise to wake me up. Anyhow, Greg woke up to find Nick wandering around the loft area upstairs. He had apparently figured out how to climb out of his crib. We waited with bated breath to see if it was a fluke. Nick did it twice more, once on Saturday and once on Sunday.

Transitioning from his crib was inevitable, I suppose. Nick is now 28 months old, and has a little brother on the way who will need to use the crib. We had hoped, however, to delay the transition a little longer. With the way Nick's crib is designed, though, it's really not safe for him to be flinging himself over the edge. So I began shopping for a toddler bed. I found one quickly, at JCPenney. A bonus is that I had a coupon good for 10% off furniture. Not too shabby, and I think it's pretty cute. Here's what I ordered.



























Once I had added this toddler bed to my online shopping cart, I realized I probably needed a new crib mattress. Also, since we're just starting potty training, I bought a waterproof mattress cover. Good thing I had a coupon code for 30% off online at Kohl's. Oh, and a new bed requires sheets! I hopped over to ebay and found this handmade sheet/pillow/quilt set for less than any new bedding set I could find anywhere. It's neutral but goes with our green nursery theme.

Since Greg is going to try to potty train Nick this weekend, I did some price-comparisons and bought 5-ply Potty Scotty underpants for Nick at $8 per pair on eBay. We had to buy at least 5 pairs for home and 5 pairs for daycare. (Potty training is expensive, but not as expensive as diapers!)

I realized as I was being distracted by potty training paraphernalia that we have a space problem. You see, we have a two bedroom home with an open loft. The boys will have to share a room, which is no great tragedy. However, right now the bedroom is completely full. There's the crib, a nice cushy rocker and ottoman, a dresser/changing table, and a full-sized bed. The bed was Greg's from his bachelor days, and Grandma Toni has been sleeping on it when she stays with us. There is no room for a toddler bed unless we ditch the mattress. Grandma Toni will need a place to sleep. So I started futon shopping. Here's what I found:






















We would've been fine buying a used futon on Craigslist or something, but we have no way to transport furniture. By the time you add in the cost of renting a truck, I might as well just buy a new futon and have it delivered. (Total cost for delivery of all items bought this weekend: $44. Not too shabby.)

However, a futon needs a mattress. And a cover for the mattress. This is how we ended up spending $800 in one weekend. All because of a little man who learned how to climb.

Do you notice how he's also chewed on the side of his crib? Most of that was done when Nick was at the teething stage. I hadn't realized how much had actually been chewed until I saw this photo. I guess the crib will be all worn-in for the new baby.