Thursday 10 October 2013

Nursery (10/10/13)

Finally I have uploaded the photos from our camera.  Here is our before/after of our nursery. 
 Entranceway 
 Before
After

 Crib Wall Before

After


One of our crib bedding sets.  I know bumpers are not recommended for a new born, but we will be having our little bean sleep in our room for the first few months in a bassinet. 


Change table wall before




This is the change table wall after. 



 This change table, we were able to pick up from a garage sale for $1.00.  It needed some slight reinforcements, but Deb was very able to quickly fix it up and take off the packing tape residue.  In fact most of our nursery items are from garage sales or shop at home.  The dresser used to be Ikea Birch, we painted and then MIL got us decals from the Dollar Store.   The dresser is full of our small sized baby clothes, and the closet is full with the 3 – 12 months clothes, diapers for the first few months, along with other baby related items. 

 The baby gear storage, bassinet, exersaucer, swing, toys etc.  When baby is in here, this is where the rocker will go. 


Storage for bibs, socks, facecloths etc

This is the light switch cover we *sigh* paid full price for at Babies R Us.

The growth chart outside the door.


Even before we were pregnant, I was doing research of things you should have/shouldn’t have, must haves versus wants.  From Deb friend who is a midwife, we got a recommendation that a video monitor is very worth it, and a canopy cover for the car seat that doesn’t interfere with the handle.  In turn we purchased those items.  Can I get some feedback on recommendations for must haves for a newborn or infant from some more moms who have been through this?  We have put together a list of stuff still to purchase, which mostly includes stuff like talc, diaper cream, baby shampoo/hair brush, nursing bras, along with a few wants like a giraffe diaper stacker. 


A few people have been asking if we are having a baby shower.  When we say no, we get some of the weirdest looks.  We might be wavering on that, and doing something like a pot luck, but then again, maybe not.  I’d also appreciate input into baby shower pros/cons.  The usual is gifting, but we have pretty much all ready provided what we need, we have more clothes than I’m sure we’ll need.  The other side of things is visiting and friends/family meeting the baby.  We get fairly overwhelmed having a lot of people over, but having a constant stream of one on one meet ups day after day seems a bit daunting as well.  

9 comments:

  1. Looks fantastic! I love the animal theme.

    We don't have a video monitor, but at times I think I would feel more reassured having one vs. the sound ones we do have. (The Fisher Price sound one we have is MUCH better than the Safety 1st one.)

    My "essentials" list for the first three months or so would include a car seat, somewhere for the baby to sleep, a nice chair for the baby (I love the Bjorn Babysitter Balancer), a carrier (Ergo with infant insert), a mirror for the baby to look in (Lamaze My First Mirror or similar), a rattle, a ball, some books, a hooded towel and some wash clothes, soap (Live Clean), a soft brush, olive oil, arrowroot powder, mild bum cream (Luna), zinc cream, wipes, diapers, a few swaddle blankets (muslin and stretchy cotton like Carter's), 5 or so sleepers, 5 or so onesies, 2 pairs of pants, 2 pairs of socks, 2 hats and whatever outerwear you need. Oh, and a stroller is also nice to have. And Jen really liked having a glider to sit in.

    Of course, we had about a million times more things than that, but when it comes to ESSENTIALS there aren't many.

    For yourself you may want a donut to sit on, breast pads, at least two good nursing bras, and lots of meals/snacks that are ready to warm up or easy to grab and eat with one hand. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Allison.

    We have a 3 in 1 car seat all ready. There was a good sale on recently, but we still need the infant carry car seat, but we know which one we want, just waiting to see if it comes on sale first.

    We have the crib/bassinet for sleeping, as well as the chair/swing. We have a few different carriers that came with our bulk clothing buys at garage sales. We can try each out and see which we/baby likes.

    We have a small mirror on the change table that would be portable, and we also have the mirror that hangs in the car so you can see the baby and baby can see themselves. Of all the toys we do have, I think we are missing a simple rattle. I'll have to double check.

    Debs mum bought a slew of books from the library second hand. I haven't looked at most of them yet, but I think we are mostly covered.

    Toiletries/creams are where we are lacking. But I think most of your list is on our buy list. However I think mild burn cream is missing on the list. I'll check it out.

    With you mentioning arrowroot powder, I had just assumed it was an alternative to talc, but didn't know why. After looking it up, I think I'll change our purchase list to Arrowroot powder.

    Clothes/swaddlers/blankets, we are covered. Strollers are also things that seamed to have multiplied. We have the jogger, the standard that fits the car seat, the umbrella, and I think we have one or two more. They just kept appearing, people giving them to us.

    For the glider, we looked at various places, and figured we have expensive taste when it comes to gliders. Then it dawned on us, we shopped at home, it is a black one made of faux leather, so easy clean, but I think we might make a slight cover for it, so it isn't black in the nursery.

    I hadn't thought of a donut to sit on. I'll keep that in mind. We have breast pads, and nursing bras are on the shopping list.

    Meals are going to be cooking extravaganza over the next month or so. I want our freezer full of home cooked meals that we can just throw in the slow cooker/oven and be done. I think we will also make some fruit leathers too. We have a freezer full of crab apple sauce and some other regular, along with raspberry puree.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey, as for meals, a couple friends of mine run a meal preparation business called "dashing dishes" here in Calgary. It's where you go to a session and prepare freezer meals (all ingrediants and nutritional valued are available on their website). The meals are healthy, delishious, and affordable. The cooking instructions are always on a sticker you put on the ziplock bag. I had the meals ready in my freezer when my little guy was born. It was so much easier to go to one of their sessions and do it all at once rather than trying to prepare meals over weeks in preparation for baby.
    I LOVE your nursery, btw. We also got tons of stuff second hand from kijiji and family members. We didn't have a baby shower, we just had people over for snacks in august when out little guy was about 6 weeks old so everyone could meet him.
    Two things I'm not sure if you mentioned were a play mat (my little guy liked laying under it fairly early on and would bat the dangling toys), and a white noise machine. You can buy white noise machines from babies are us, but the one I got and like way better is from London drugs (we use the same one for the babies in hospital). It's conair brand, not expensive (maybe $15?) and I found it useful to keep him asleep because its similar to the sounds that he's used to in the womb. (It has about 8 sounds you can choose from). It has really helped my son sleep better.
    Last thing, one tip I have is to keep going through the baby clothes you have as your baby grows. Different brands will have different sizes for 0-3, 3-6, 6-9 month clothing. So for some brands, my little guy (at 4 months) is wearing 9-12 months, some brands he's wearing 3-6. Just keep trying them, otherwise he'll grow out of clothes without even having worn them :)
    I hope you are feeling well. Looks like you are super organized!
    (Btw, I never had a video moniter so I can't comment, I actually rarely use our moniter as we live in a side split so I'm never far from my son while he's sleeping - I can always hear him just fine without it...)
    -Calgary nurse :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the heads up on the dashing dishes, but we do that at home. Make twice as much of what we are making and freeze one half. We are next going to try the Freezer Meals Mass Prep recipes that we have come across. We're fairly experimental in the kitchen these days (To a degree).

      As for the Baby Shower, I've come across what is called a Sip N See, for after the baby is born. It can be as laid back or as formal as you like, but it is basically an open house for people to swing by and see the baby and catch up with moms. So I think we will do that.

      We have a play mat, but not a white noise machine. We live fairly close to a major road and that is a fair amount of white noise as is, but I'll keep that in mind if we have issues.

      For the baby clothes, deb has them sized in small, medium, large. She didn't pay attention to the maker's labels as she noticed that they varied greatly. I think we will be battling to get our little one in each item once/twice before he outgrows them. I think we will have our favourites at the top to make sure we get to use them.

      The lanolin is all ready in my purse. I had to get some early on with my BP medication as it was causing extreme nipple issues, so we figured this was a good thing to try. Didn't quite work for what I needed it for, but now I have it for later.

      I was waiting as long as possible for nursing bras, as I don't trust my boobs to fit something now and later. They have all ready gone up a pound or so each, and the milk is barely there yet. I have some good cotton stretchy (not good for support) bras that I can manoeuvre out of well enough for the first little bit if I don't quite have the nursing bras yet.

      Thanks for the tips.

      Delete
  4. Oh, get some lanolin for sore nipples. It's something you will use very early on.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Last thing, don't buy to many nursing bras beforehand because your breast change size a lot in the first week. I just had one beforehand then went out a week after little guy was born to get a couple more. (Sorry if this is more info than you were looking for.)

    ReplyDelete
  6. A diaper genie is an absolute must!! They are the best. We bought another one where you put your own bag in it but it stunk right away. Blah! Invest in the best if you haven't already!! http://www.toysrus.ca/product/index.jsp?productId=13265017

    If by chance you use bottles (we didn't plan on it but Rhonda never produced enough milk) I highly recommend Dr. Browns. The best! We did tons of research and bought two brands. Ended up loving the Dr. Browns. http://www.drbrownsbaby.com/bottles-accessories With that being said, they also make the best bottle warmer ever!! The microwave bottle sterilizer also rocks!

    In the hospital they gave Brielle this one type of pacifier. We tried to switch her to the "cute" ones we bought before she was born but ended up going back to these. They are THE BEST. http://www.toysrus.ca/product/index.jsp?productId=11291076

    When purchasing diaper cream, get the one with the highest amount of zinc you can find. It works like magic.

    This is the best bathtub ever! Brielle never, ever cried with a bath and from day one, she would float in this tub. It's awesome!!! http://spababytubs.com/store/

    Well, that's all I can think of for now. If I think of anything else, I'll let you know.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Crystal

      We do have one Diaper Genie for the nursery and are considering one more for the main floor. We are going to see how this one goes and decide if we want another one. But at least we do have one for now.

      We are hoping not to do bottles for the first while, but we were going to possibly do the Playtex with liners if/when we do need them. But if we do need them we will probably do a bit more research and see, I will include these in our comparison.

      Thanks for the link on pacifier. We have a couple standard ones, and I think I've heard the hospitals give the one you mentioned out here as well, so we can see what little bean likes.

      That bathtub is cute and looking functional. We all ready have one of the standard ones, but if that doesn't quite work I'll keep this one in mind.

      Delete
    2. Most of the time we use cloth, but when we do use disposables we just throw them in the regular trash, which we take out pretty much every day. All that to say, I think you'll probably be fine with just one diaper genie.

      Also, don't buy too many of any brand of bottle without having tested them out first. We bought a ton of what we thought would be best before The Bean was born and he took milk from them ONCE. Sprout still won't drink from any bottle. I'm thinking we'll probably just to straight to sippy cup with her. (Which is more or less what we did with The Bean.) Oh, and we have the Medela Pump in Style. Honestly, it's more pump than we've really needed. It was nice when The Bean was drinking breast milk from bottles at about 9m- just after a year. It works quickly, is (relatively) comfortable, quiet, portable, etc. I think if we were doing it over we'd wait and see if it were something we really needed or if it was something where we could get a less deluxe model and still be fine.

      Delete