Monday, April 25, 2016

#Microblog Monday: Doesn't the Nursery Make You Sad?

One of Bryce's friends recently asked him if the nursery makes us sad.

You know, because we're starting to update our homestudy and the tiny rocking chair quite literally has a coating of dust on it...and it seems to be enjoyed most by the cats.

The answer is no, no it doesn't.

I need to dust but I regularly vacuum in there (because cats), and every once in a while I tidy up or change out the books on display or try to fix up the tall bookcases that will eventually look a bit more closet-y. And sometimes I lie on the floor and stare up at the ceiling and try to imagine a new baby in the crib, a baby that can sit up tearing through the baskets of board book looking for a favorite, a night spent rocking a crying baby to sleep in our glider out in the hallway nook that again is a cat favorite but also quite a nice reading spot for those who actually live in the house right now.

Sometimes it's easy to visualize these things, and sometimes it seems painfully far away.

However, the nursery never, ever makes me sad. It is a place of hope. It is a place of promise. It is a place that belongs to a baby that might be baking RIGHT THIS VERY MINUTE, a baby whose arrival time is a mystery but who WILL be coming some day.

The door is left open, all the time, and I smile every time I peek in on my way downstairs in the morning to feed the cats before I get ready for work at an early hour. It's not a cordoned off room that feels hopeless, a room posing as a guest room with empty onesies stashed in drawers and a sad years-old pregnancy magazine under the bed, hollow and filled with the unkept promises of infertility treatment. It's a celebration of what's to come, and it is bright and happy and reminds us that we are actually expectant parents, just with the gestational period of a mastodon or something equally large and slow.

Sunday the spring sunshine was just pouring in the windows and I took a boatload of pictures so you can really see what this special space looks like. I mean, how can you be sad when in this cheery, sunny, owl-filled space?

Peeking in from our bedroom door
Looking straight in at my host of stuffed animals and books, books, books
Little blue nook with the windowseat that Bryce built when I first moved in and redid this room. I need new cushions though, thinking of making an all-one in a coordinating fabric to our owl rug or bedding. Love my little (dusty) rocking chair!
Looking from the other end. Some of these shots make the room look spacious. It's more spacious than I thought I would be given its 90 square feet, but still tiny. COZY. It's COZY. 
The left side of the room from the door side (you can see our Tower of Boppy)
The first half of the Long Tall Wall, and what will be a storage/closet thing when we're done taking some shelves out
The other half of the Long Tall Wall, including the Tower of Boppy and Ergo (and my favorite rug ever)
One owl is a lamp, the other is a stars-on-the-ceiling-soothing-noise-maker-night-light.
The giant bookcase head-on, still something to work on. Books and bins, and shelves coming out to make space for hanging clothes and shoes and maybe more diapers. Good to have more on the to-do list. 
Speaking of diapers, we have the start of a little changing table basket, with wipes and those tiny diapers for newborns and the Butt Paste I hope doesn't expire before Mystery Baby gets here because in a fit of optimism I bought a 3-pack online. 
And now for some art we have hanging... these were cards that a local artist created (I think she could be a children's book illustrator). I love them so much:
Strangely appropriate and adorable

And artwork we still have to frame and put up (again, something to do when we're feeling we need to spruce things up and make it a little less dusty):
The kissing puffins are from Maine, if I can't see a puffin in real life I can at least have some in the nursery!  The bottom two are from a series called 100 Owls and I love them so much! Especially the one on the left, which echoes the blue-and green-and-orange color scheme. Plus we love fall. 
Our little rocking nook, also not quite done but passable. It's a great place to sit and if you recline the chair just so and look up it's like you're in an escape pod from Star Wars. The print on the right was given to us by a friend and it made me cry a little. 
So there it is. A sunny place of hope and color and stuff that has us ready for a baby even if it takes a while for one to materialize. A decidedly NOT sad place, even if it's still empty months after we put it together in earnest. It's okay. It won't be empty forever. And the changing table is kept warm by Lucky, who will be sorely disappointed when it becomes off-limits.

Want to read more #Microblog Mondays? Go here and enjoy!

19 comments:

  1. I'm really glad that it is a happy place for you (and that the cats are enjoying it)

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  2. Awww, it's as adorable as I thought it would be!

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    1. Thank you! It's such a cheery space, and that carpet is so super soft. Which is good, because my old knees will spend a lot of time on it in the future, I'm sure. Ha ha.

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  3. What a sweet little room! I agree, not sad at all. I think that it would be more sad to have piles of stuff untidily sitting around (although that was totally our style). Those low bookcases/window seats are brilliant. AJ would love them; I want some for her room. Looking forward to seeing the pictures of the occupied nursery; I always have an inward chuckle at the staged pre-baby nursery photos.

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    1. Thank you so much! Those window seats are amazing. It only took a few days to build them, with the biggest thing being the moulding that Bryce did to blend them into the nook like they'd always been there. And ha! I have no illusions that it will stay so catalog-y forever. I look forward to things strewn all over and spills on the carpet... :)

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  4. The nursery looks so wonderful, wish I had a room like that for myself!

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  5. This is a beautiful room Jess! You and Bryce have done a fantastic job decorating it. I'm glad that you find it to be a place of hope and are spending time in it. Too often, many shy away from these rooms. I did and I found it hindered me from preparing for the arrival of the Beats (Grey bought their cribs just before they came home from NICU and we never did decorate). It is a regret. So I'm glad you are embracing this space.

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    1. Thank you so much! I am definitely embracing the space, it reminds me of where we are going instead of what we're missing. I absolutely loved decorating this room, so thank you for your compliment!

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  6. Both literally and metaphorically filled with light, that is a beautiful room. It's wonderful that you've prepared so thoroughly and lovingly for Mystery Baby.

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  7. It looks the most beautiful room ever!! I also love that you are able to embrace the space, I did the opposite and closed the door and never went in. The room became my black hole of worry. I'm so glad you are taking the opposite approach, I think this is lovely.

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  8. Glass half empty much, o friend-of-Bryce?

    It's such a homey, cheery space. Laughing about the Butt Paste!

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    1. Little bit... although I think it's hard for people who haven't experienced what we've experienced to imagine what it's like to suffer the years of hope squashed and then this time of waiting for a baby that has no real due date yet, so maybe it was curiosity more than cynicism? Probably a bit of both.

      Nothing says optimism like a 3-pack of Butt Paste!

      I love this space. It makes my heart happy all the time.

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  9. Oh, and as for your wonderfully kind comment on my blog today, ILY, too <3.

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  10. It is such a happy room and a cozy room. It will a fun place to play and cuddle -- hopefully soon!

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  11. Love this post, although I think I say that about all your posts.

    When I was still in my post-horrific-ultrasound stupor, I packed all my maternity clothes and whatnot into a rubbermaid tub thinking they may make me feel sad when I regained feeling. The other day we were looking everywhere for something and I thought maybe I accidentally threw it in there in my daze. I took a really deep breath and opened the box expecting a wave of emotion, but I didn't really have one. I just looked through it and thought "I'm excited to wear these again someday soon." and that was it! It's interesting what people think would bother us, vs. what actually ends up bothering us.

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  12. That room... *swoon*

    You have an amazing and wonderful attitude to go with this wonderful and amazing baby space, Jess. You could easily start your own nursery design company! <3

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  13. Late to the concert, joining the chorus of sweet, happy, fun, welcoming . . and on and on.

    Yes, amazing baby space Well done.

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