The crib has landed!

Much like painting, furniture assembly at the Heerssen household is never a good thing. Inevitably, the man of the house will misread directions or forget a critical step and end up having to backtrack, leaving the woman of the house harping out of frustration and reading the instructions to him for the remainder of the project. We were reminded of this unhappy ritual when we recently purchased an IKEA entertainment center. If you've ever purchased anything from IKEA, well I don't have to explain the measure of desperation those cryptic assembly guides and small wooden pegs will create in the pit of your soul. For the rest of you, use your imagination.

Thankfully, our crib is not from IKEA. Joshua's parents were sweet enough to purchase our crib for us and have it delivered to our house for our assembly enjoyment. I use that word loosely.

Step 1 - Unwrap the pieces. Scatter the pieces. Decipher the instructions.

Step 2 - Begin. Let the cats help if they want.

Step 3 - Give the female the instructions for deciphering for the remainder of the project. Continue.

Step 4 - 90% completion. Assemble the Drawer Of Awesome.

It is important that I mention here that this drawer was 50% the reason I decided on this particular crib. I am a sucker for practical storage.

Step 5 - Completion!

Step 6 - Move into temporary position. Apply temporary ornamentation.

Step 7 - Insert baby here.

At the end of the day it wasn't all that bad really. It could have been worse... we didn't need to glue any critical pieces together so it was a win in my book. Also a win: the now undeniable fact that the queen bed will not fit in Squirrel's room along with the rest of her goodies. Which I knew from the beginning. Not that I'm bragging or anything.

Wasabi on the walls

The last time Joshua and I painted and I was actively involved in the process, we were living together in a 3 bedroom townhouse. We almost got a divorce before we were married.

Since then, we have avoided painting. However, Squirrel's impending arrival brought on the drive to put some color on our untouched walls. The living room accent wall Joshua did in June was our litmus test for how painting in the Heerssen household would go. I was mostly uninvolved. I think then we both decided, to ourselves, that it would be best if I remain uninvolved when painting our daughter's room too. Of course I had every intention of being involved... when we said "we're painting tomorrow" I was expecting to jump right in when I got home from work. Joshua had other plans... because he's amazing.

He not only painted Squirrel's room, he painted our electric blue accent wall in the gameroom. And cleaned up before I got home.

The color is perfect... not an exact match to her bedding, but given the amount of color I've got planned for her little space, exactness was not a concern. The window wall was left the original tan-ish builder color. Vinyl art and shelving will eventually live on that wall.

Here's the gameroom wall. I have a slew of movie posters to frame and decorate that wall with.

More painting is planned for Labor Day weekend... dresser, end tables and shelves.

Showing off the stash...

No, not the lovely red mustache that has become a permanent fixture on my face... my baby gear stash!

This kid is spoiled for clothes. No really, she already has 112 pieces of clothing and some of those are 2 piece outfits. Yikes! So far we have amassed the following items for Squirrel, mostly through gifts and hand-me-downs:

• A pack n' play (gift)
• An infant-to-toddler bathtub (gift)
• Crib bedding, diaper stacker, valence and matching changing pad cover ($150 on Amazon)
• A dresser (freecycle, plus $18 for paint)
• An activity mat with a musical mobile (gift)
• 4 penguin-themed children's books (Daddy gift from London, £20)
• 3 FuzziBunz cloth diapers ($13 resale)
• A red wrap-style baby carrier ($40 from BabyEtte on etsy)
• 2 handmade burp cloths (gifts)
• A swanky handmade nursing cover (gift, laying on the pack n' play in the pic)
• A polka-dot swaddler from a craigslist lot of winter baby girl clothing ($30 for over 60 pieces of various sizes listed below)
• A pink Halo sleep sack (from craigslist winter lot)
• 19 Newborn outfits (5 gifts, 14 from craigslist winter lot)
• 50 size 0-3 outfits (16 gifts, 34 from craigslist winter lot)
• 11 size 3-6 outfits (2 I couldn't resist, $6 at Carter's, 9 from craigslist winter lot)
• 20 size 6-9 outfits (all gifts)
• 2 size 12+ outfits (all from freecycle)
• 11 size 18+ outfits (all from freecycle)
• 19 size 24+ outfits (from freecycle & gifts)
• 12 toys including a penguin stroller clip-on thing that shakes! (all gifts)
• A vintage red pleather bag, heretofore re-purposed as a diaper bag! (already had it!)
• 8 bibs (all gifts)
• A super soft pink polka-dot blanket (gift)

I love, love, LOVE the gorgeous nursing cover and the bedding because neither of them are pink and they match any room of our house!!

We're so very lucky to have so many great friends and family members sending us baby love... Squirrel is off to a good start I think! If she were here tomorrow all we'd really scramble for is a car seat, a boppy, a pack of newborn diapers and some baby wash.

The painting of her room will hopefully happen soon. We're going with a light greeny-sage color called Wasabi Powder (Behr color UL200-16 if you're really curious). A fitting name, as the mobile I'll be making is origami! Can't wait to really get started!

25 week belly

Ta-da!

Also, "ta-blah" applies. Thankfully she's just pushing out forward, not sideways too.

It's a regular Tae Bo gym in my tummy lately. I can see her karate chop from the outside now, which is strangely endearing. Mostly just strange though. Squirrel is still being such a good girl... she lets me sleep all the way through the night. Keep that habit, child.

Went through a mess of nesting this past weekend. Bought paint for Squirrel's dresser, new stuff for the house and started sorting through Random Boxes of Crap that have been sitting in our closet for 2 years. I put a bunch of stuff up on Freecycle for porch pick up, but nobody wants it... at least not yet. I'll give it a week then it all goes to Katy Christian Ministries. Also started rolling ideas around with Mom for our girl's first scrapbook pages, starting with the ultrasounds. Once I get those put to paper you can bet I'll be posting them!

Also, I've forgotten to post this because I didn't have it scanned until last week, but... for my birthday I got a 24 week ultrasound. You can see her little face...the first pic is a sweet smile, the second pic is a death metal scream! Expressive little Squirrel!