Project Nursery Underway

Well February is just days away, and this week I have finally got around to working on the nursery for Lily. Yes, she is 6 months old so it seems odd that she wouldn’t have her nursery complete yet.  There are a couple of reasons for that actually. Firstly, with adoption you really shouldn’t do a nursery before the baby is born, and then you have a 21 day period after placement where the adoption can be reversed.  So this means we held off.  Then in the first 6 months, they are generally in a bassinet anyway.  During the week, Lily and Rob sleep in the guest room, which allows me to get the sleep I need to function at work. Little girl has definitely out grown her bassinet now and is ready to transition.         

When planning her nursery I have learned along the way;

  • Create a room that easily transitions as they grow, and develop their own tastes. This is really important.  It helps you avoid having to repaint and do a full redecoration because you went “too specific” or “too infant themed”. My initial thought was to paint Lily’s room pink.  However, I’m applying the same principle you should with your
    Inspiration
    The colour palette and vibe of this image was my jumping point for Lily’s room

    living room or other spaces.  Pick a great neutral base, and then pull your colours in with accessories etc.  In Lily’s room I’m taking the basic builder box bedroom and adding a wainscoting in white around the room, and painting the upper portion of the walls in a light neutral grey.   Then will pull in the pink with art, accessories, bedding etc.  This will allow the room to read pink now, but if in three years she says “Daddy I hate pink”. I just swap out the bedding and accessories and voila.

  • Buy  a good quality 4 in 1 crib. This was one of the best purchase we ever made. For Conor we went with the Jonesport Crib by Westwood, in cloud grey.  It transitions to various crib heights, then a toddler bed, day bed and finally a double bed.  We bought the conversion kits at the same time as the crib and simply stored them. It is a heavy durable quality bed that he will use for years to come.
    davinci-autumn-4-in-1-convertible-crib-white-hero-with-greenguard
    I liked the simple lines of the Davinci Autumn 4 in 1 from WestCoast Kids

    In fact, having the conversion kits on hand allows for the spur of the moment ideas like the past weekend where I sent Rob off to buy Conor a double mattress and box spring and we converted him to the super big boy bed!  For Lily we have chosen a great 4 in 1 crib from Westcoast Kids.

 

  • Furnish the room with what you will actually use and avoid the furniture pieces that look cute but won’t be touched.  With Lily we don’t have long middle of the night feedings or lengths of time trying to rock her back to sleep. This kid, similar to Conor pretty much is out for the night and wakes up around 9:00 am.  While it would be super cute to put a glider or rocker in her room, it would never be used and just gather space.  Some people told me they never use their change table.  We absolutely do, and couldn’t function without it.  So my recommendation is think about what your routine may be, and don’t invest in really large purchases until after baby is born and you get into your routine.  It is much easier for you to get the glider or rocker once you know it is something you’ll use.

I plan to have Lily’s room complete this weekend. I’m really excited to reveal it, as it is coming together nicely.  I’ve been pinning inspiration for months and completing some DIY projects, and the thing that I’ve impressed myself the most with.. I used a brad nailer, saw and did my own construction!!!  Reveal to come!

 

 

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The Cold Doesn’t Bother Me Anyway…

No I am not referring to the Winnipeg weather.  They are lyrics from Let it Go, from Disney’s Frozen and they are seared in my brain.  Frozen has currently taken over our house.

Our son has developed quite the obsession.  It is not uncommon for him to ask several times a day to watch Frozen. When he isn’t watching, he is playing with his Frozen toys, or asking Alexa to play Let it go.

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Conor has now taken his Elsa obsession to a new level, including wig.

Parents of young children will feel my pain, and have likely experienced it not only with songs, movies, but especially books.

We tend to go through periods of time for different books, whether it be our months of reading the Hungry Caterpillar, then on to The Paper Bag Princess etc. etc.  Repetition is the name of the game, and you will start to feel like you are in being subjected to some kind of torture that should be outlawed under the Geneva Convention.

I was curious to see if there was a reason for this. Should he be bored of hearing the same things over and over? According to my research and an article in Today’s Parent it is perfectly normal behaviour, and in fact contributes to a child’s development. Both verbally and emotionally. Children enjoy the repetition because essentially it provides them security in knowing what comes next. They also learn through repetition, so there is that added benefit too.  Now I just have to remind myself of that when I have to Listen to “Let it Go” on repeat to and from daycare, or pretend it is the first time that I’ve ever watched Frozen or Moana.

Conor’s Dad took him to see Frozen 2 in the movie theatre. He really enjoyed it, but it wasn’t enough to get him off the original Frozen sound track. Arrgh. This too shall pass

So my advice to parents trying to get their child to try something new..  just Let it Go.

Any other parents stuck in the Frozen repeat?