Where Dreams About Potty Breaks Probably Means You Need to Wake Up and Go...

Most of you have heard by now, but for those of you who haven't, my husband and I are expecting a baby in October, if the Lord wills. This, of course, accounts for my long absence from my writing. Between work and pregnancy issues, I haven't felt like doing anything, much less writing about it. However, work is slowing down, and the pregnancy issues have regulated somewhat (for the moment), so this Momma is about to have lots of projects to tell you about!

I can't wait to get started on all the things I want to do before Baby comes! For those who care, and so I'll have it written down somewhere, here's the list of large projects I hope to complete:

• Find a crib

• Find a dresser to use as a changing table

• Paint furniture for Baby's room

• Paint Baby's room

• Make slipcover for rocking chair

• Engineer some way to filter light from the half-moon window in Baby's room

• Find curtains

• Clean out closets in both extra bedrooms to make room for Baby's stuff

• Have a Yard Sale with the items cleaned out of the closets

And that's just the short list... so far...
Of course, ideally, we'll get most of this done in the next couple of months so that by the time October rolls around and I'm hideously uncomfortable, I won't still be worried about all of this. We'll see.

Fortunately, thanks to some wonderful parents and in-laws of mine, we have two of the items already marked off the list. A few weeks ago, while I was slaving diligently into the night (ok, so it felt like night), my parents called me. They had discovered a crib that they thought I might like. I must assure you that I do like it! It is a crib, but converts to a toddler bed and then to a twin bed. It's just what I wanted.

My lovely parents brought it home for us, and helped us get it out of the box.

My dad and husband unpacking the box.

Baby's bed!

 The next day, while I was gone, my sweet husband set up the crib to surprise me.

Isn't it precious!?

Meanwhile, I had decided that instead of a traditional changing table, I wanted to convert a dresser into a changing table. This would allow the furniture in Baby's room to grow with Baby.
After telling this to my in-laws, they jumped right on it. Searching in antique shops, thrift stores, and Craigslist, they sent me picture after picture of dressers they thought I might like. While I didn't end up choosing one that they found (though I almost did), their ideas helped me decide what I was looking for in a dresser. I decided that I was going for a look something like this:

Image via Pinterest

Obviously, what I'm looking for is not exactly like this. For one thing, who puts shelves down so far on the wall where the baby could reach them while being changed? I'm not really sure about some people's style choices these days. Nonetheless, as far as the dresser/changing table situation goes, I really liked this style. I like that there's a pad for the changing, but enough room to the side to possibly put a basket of diapers, wipes, etc. I also like that there are drawers for storage, but also cabinets for some things that might not fit in drawers. The dresser is also generic and versatile enough to become just a dresser once Baby is grown and a changing table is no longer needed.

But you don't need to hear me go on and on forever about why I like it. All you need to know is that this is similar to what I was looking for. So, this past weekend, my husband and I made a forage into the depths of a flea market in search. Amazingly, we found it. It, also, is perfect.

Baby's changing table

It's a strange gray color, and unfortunately, has been distressed to within an inch of its life, but otherwise is perfect. We plan to paint it an antique white color to match the crib and hopefully rescue it from those who are distress-crazed. Now, don't get me wrong. I think some distressing is just fine. But this poor piece had begun to resemble a faded out Dalmatian. You can see from its elegant lines that this dresser (which may actually be a buffet) did not deserve this sort of unjust indignity.

So, with the discovery of the changing table/dresser, we have one more thing checked off the list. Along with painting this, we have two more items of furniture to paint the same antique white. You may have also noticed that the walls behind the crib are brown, like the walls in the rest of the house. We're planning to take a gutsy leap (for us) and paint Baby's room an ethereal blue with white clouds. We hope to begin all sorts of painting projects (for which I will mostly be supervising) soon.

We are so very excited to welcome this new little life and are praying for health. Many prayers are appreciated, and hopefully, we'll keep you updated as we go along!