Are We Ready?

Is anyone ever fully ready for their first child?  There is so much unknown about labor, about postpartum, about infants, about the tiny little person that's about to change your life forever...

There's only so much we can do to get ready.  We've taken our baby class, which was super helpful and informative, we've toured the birthing center where Baby E will be born, and now our nursery is basically complete.  She actually won't be living in the nursery for the first several months since she'll be in our room sleeping in the Pack n' Play next to my side of the bed, but it's a project that was nice to get out of the way.

Let me take you on a little tour.

A simple Ikea crib, a hand-painted dresser, and some local art on the walls.

Bird curtains, some changing table entertainment, and, of course, Totoro.

We didn't start with any intentions of having a theme or even creating anything super special. The "theme," if you can even call it one, has ended up being animals/birds just based on the various items we collected, and we chose not to paint the room out of pure laziness.  Since our house is so small and this is the only other room in addition to our own bedroom, we had to keep one corner of the room as my crafting/sewing corner.  Eventually, when she moves in to this room permanently, the sewing desk with likely move into our room but for now, this is how it's going to work. She won't be old enough to care for a while anyway.

Let me highlight some of my favorite elements.

* The chicken quilt: It's handmade from my aunt and we LOVE it.
* The curtains: It took us about an hour and half to pick the fabric (which ended up being really expensive,) but it's so fun and cute we're happy with it.  It has two layers, the one closest to the door is an almost-sheer white so that we can let light in without letting any peekers being able to see what's inside. The second layer adds a darkness to the room so that when the baby/toddler has to sleep during the day the room stays relatively dark.
* The kitty shelf: We fully acknowledge that the kitties will likely feel replaced and neglected a bit so we wanted to give them a space in Eddy's room that they can have as their own.  They like high places, and love looking out windows as they snooze, so we thought it would be a nice place for them to be that is safe and out of the way of grabby toddler hands.  So far, Nikolai has taken to it quite well, (he actually fell out of it because he was rolling around a bit much,) but Gus is still a little hesitant.  I think they'll like it eventually when we start spending more and more time in there.
* All the handmade stuff: From the Kingfisher pillow to the rainbow/cloud mobile, to the various blankets hanging around, and the dresser, we have MANY generously talented friends who have put effort and love into making something that will help make Eddy's life more cozy.  I couldn't feel prouder or more loved.

So there you go.  Our bags are packed for the birth and we've done as much laundry as we can.  I've begun making and freezing food here and there so that we can keep ourselves fed when we're in that post-partum fog.  I have this week off for mid-winter break so my mind and body can rest as well.

I guess you can say I'm ready.