nursery

Nursery Inspiration

We live in this tiny little sphere of the universe called Limbo. It’s a slightly unsettled, anxious place where the daily norm is that of the unknown. After you live there awhile, you find yourself adjusting to the feelings, and actually find calm in preparing for all the various “what if” scenarios that might unfold.

In other words, still no news on the house hunting front. There are other balls being juggled, too, that we’re figuring out, but that’s one of the biggest. So, with each week blowing by, closer and closer to the baby’s arrival in November, we’re pushing forward with any and all possibilities: in this case, turning our office into an office-slash-nursery (I kid not).

I’m hoping that whatever general scheme we go with for the space will fit swimmingly into a new place, should one pop up, as well.

See? Prepare for the future, in whatever possible incarnation it may be. 😉

That said, these are the two different mood boards I whipped up to decide between. We’re fighting a losing battle with an outdated, cheap diamond-patterned brown and tan carpet (which simply isn’t worth replacing with the crappy paint splatters someone left underneath) and, well, the fact that the place is also A (not large) OFFICE. Dave may or may not allow me to replace his fur-covered black office chair. (Beardslee sleeps on it during the day…and night…and forces Dave to abandon desk when he so pleases to use the damn thing. It’s hilariously sad to view.) But, dude, Mama needs a nursing spot, so we’ll see who wins this one. Admittedly, I used our bed the first time around which wasn’t always comfortable.

We also painted the walls when we first moved in and the color is neutral enough to help sell the house…even if it is a tad pink-ish for my taste. (It’s tan…but with a fleshy undertone, if that makes sense.) The background on these boards indicates a facsimile of the color. So, nope, we’re not painting!

So, check these out and weigh in down below (comments, please)! I’m not saying which has been floating in my head far more…so your results may have me in tears. Or not. I’m not THAT hormonal. Oh, and the inspiration colors will be accent colors that will work their way in as bedding, art, and possibly a painted furniture piece or something.

I don’t want to give either a “theme” because, well, then it turns into a whole thing. Like collecting. If you say you like one thing, the flood of “I know you like owls!” gifts begin…and continue 10 years past when you gave up on the things. So, no. But you can still guess the vibe I’m going for, right?

I’m loving the golden brass lately. If you told me I’d be into it 5 years ago, I’d have smacked you…or at least raised a cynical eyebrow. But, anyhoo, mixing it with the walnut tones we already have going on (with the crib, desk, and one bookcase…we have three, sigh) and neutrals gives some glam and texture to the space. Toss that with a deep green and fuhgetaboutit.

And, speaking of texture: can you say “DIY pouf”? Because that’s all my itchy Pinterest finger can peruse. Can’t wait to hit up Goodwill to see what sweaters they have in store. Mwahaha.

As far as art, we don’t have a TON of space, and I’d like the whole room to just accept its bipolarity and enjoy the ride – so, if there’s an inspirational wall hanging, it must inspire child and office-user alike. Throw in a vintage map and it screams “Oh, the places you’ll go!” as much as it does “this is a rad office, where’s the scotch?”

Mmm. Booze. I miss booze.

Can you tell I kinda want that Target chair? I’m still searching for something with a small footprint that’s upholstered on wheels that can be used as an office chair OR a spot to comfortably nurse, so this is just a thought for now. Hoooooly crap, am I picky? But, clearly arrows are non-negotiable. And tassel garland. Which I fully plan to make. I guess I have a thing about DIY art in a kid’s room. Maybe I need some in our room while we’re at it.

Notice the fluffy white rug, too? It’d be nice to have a landing pad on the floor and soften up the place. Plus, major points for detracting from the diamond monstrosity currently enveloping the space. I truly think that a well-placed layer like this will make the carpet read more like a neutral. #fingerscrossed

In this board, I clearly am all about the mint accents. Sure, a bit of peachy coral helps, but there’s just something about mint + brass in a neutral room lately. Yum.

So, here’s what it’s your turn! I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments (and maybe even a vote or two for which is your fave). As usual, all the stuff shown depends on availability and whether I find (or make) something a million times cooler, but they give you the general vibe I’m going for.

Please and thanks for any thoughts!

Oh, and nope. We’re not finding out the baby’s gender in advance. Happy picking! 😉

Third Time’s a Charm…or is it Fourth?

I love Hadley’s room. It’s the only room we immediately painted (and cleaned the floor a dozen times) when we moved in, constantly referring to it as the nursery. We weren’t even married yet, but we just knew.

Still, it evolved from a guest bedroom to, well, a getting-ready-for-baby mess…

Nursery Inspiration - image on https://megactsout.com

…to, finally, an awesomesauce nursery. Here are a few shots from when we had just finished (or as close to “finished” as one can get when the nesting thing doesn’t really hit you that hard):

Notice that “LOVE” art over the crib? I mentioned way back when that I had used Dave’s packing tape to put it up. One by one, letters started falling. So, I moved on to a couple of different Command strip and M3 adhesive thingies.

And guess what. They failed, too. Not all at once or anything; just one letter at a time (usually the “O” or the “V”.) Big wop wop. And bigger PITA when they fall on the baby during a nap. The letters are papier mache, so it’s not like he was hurt, but the sudden surprise of “thud on my head” tends to turn a sleeping babe into a suddenly-awake-and-none-too-pleased-about-it crankypants.

So, I recently purchased some Velcro-like (it’s definitely not Velcro since it snaps rather than quietly attaches) strips to attach to the letters. The baby even helped. That kid’s BRIGHT and immediately figured out that taking the protective paper brought forth stickiness. Ha. But, yeah, so far…so good!

The Velcro-like behavior of the strips means that the letters rise off the wall more by about 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch, but since they’re 3-D art, anyway, you can’t even tell. Plus, when Hadley’s tall enough to reach them and yank them down, it’s no big deal — we can just snap ’em back up!

So, how’s this for a lesson in stubbornness and tenacity? Stick with it, folks. Even if it’s something as silly as letters on a wall.

Nursery Reveal – Devil’s in the Details

You’ve already seen a general nursery reveal here, but some of my favorite parts of the space are the little details. The personal touches that make it special. The room may not be perfect, but consider me smitten.

First, a reminder of the nursery as a whole…

Nifty, eh? Like I said — smitten! Now, here’s a look at some of the specifics that make my heart go pitter pat.

The “LOVE” over the crib is simply those papier maché (had to write it in the proper French format; hope to make Mrs. Turner proud!) letters that are available at any craft store. I hemmed and hawed over whether or not to paint them — white? Bright orange? Plum, if Hadley had been a girl? When all was said and done, I just wanted the space DONE, so I figured I could always paint them if the urge struck. It hasn’t. I love them au naturel. Oh, and they’re being held up with the hubby’s packing tape. Use whatchya got! (And, yes, I have to occasionally “press” them back up, but they’re nothing that will crush the bambino in his sleep, so we’re not worried.)

Time to get artsy fartsy! Aside from the “LOVE” ‘installment’ above, we made a bit of a collage wall o’ stuff. Here’s the general gist of the thing…

(The picture on the bottom left is of Dave as a baby. I’m trying to track one down of me. Few and far between, my friends.) And here are some close-ups…

This is a lovely print that one of Dave’s co-workers had made for us when the little guy was born. How. Cool. Is. That?!

And, of course we want the buddy to learn his “brothers'” names, so what better way than to throw some pictures on the wall? It doesn’t hurt that they’re right above the mirror (which he stares longingly into before trying to pull off the wall. Must take after his mama.)

This is a hat that Dave got from his family that we think is just awesomesauce. I think it was his dad’s, but you know we’re trying it on the little guy when his head grows a bit more. Gotta love a 3-D effect in the midst of flat art, and some history/sentimentality is even better.

I’m pretty proud of these guys — two oval thrift store frames, a couple of sheets of scrapbook paper and two tiny wooden dudes taped to the front and you’ve got Hadley’s favorite thing in the whole room. He’s mesmerized by them. Serendipity!

Yes, you can see me in the reflection. I don’t care! My mom sang this to me when I was a baby, so it had to be included in the room. (I’ve tried to sing it but can’t get through without tears.) I took my inspiration from a print I saw online, changed the colors a bit, painted the frame, and voila!

Speaking of stealing, er borrowing art ideas from the internet, I downloaded a cool font and created this piece, too. Another thrift store frame and some cutting (you can tell that it’s a bit small; I need to find a larger mat or something, but it’s no hurry. Oh, and notice the yellow letters…

Here’s a different angle. You can see the pattern on the curtains (which I made (!) using this tutorial), along with a McCoy pottery teapot (I think my mother bought it for me; the fact that my maiden name is “McCoy” is not lost on me) and a couple of cheap (cheep!), cute ceramic birds (another craft store find) that help fancy up the place.

Here’s another online print that we LOVE. Sure, the owls are cute, but we prefer the irreverent Beatles quote (er, variation of a Beatles quote). It’s our favorite song and we want our son to hold that meaning dearly.

I wish this artwork worked better lately… It still makes me laugh a bit, though. And ya gotta love dafont.com for getting juuuust the right font. (Run your virus scanner afterwards, though; ya never know.)

This art started life as a sweet baby shower card from a friend of ours. Strangely enough, giraffes have become the little man’s “animal,” but the colors and design just screamed “I need to be seen every single day!” Oh, and then there are a couple of antique blue glass bottles that I’ve had around forever, plus a basket for his toiletries. (This is high up, by the way.)

Speaking of high-up glass, here’s a place for us to keep some of our smaller toys, like blocks, an awesome organic wood teether (another owl) and the special musical turtle from Aunt Tara and Uncle Dan from their trip to Italy. I just love all of it!…which means, keep your glass-hating comments to yourself. 😉

And, last but not least, we have our rocking chair. It doesn’t get a ton of use (he’d rather be held standing up), but it came from my mother’s childhood home; God only knows how old it is. It’s got the best dark patina and helps make the place a tad more “serious,” playing off all the bright colors and modern prints.

So, these are just a few of my favorite details in the little man’s room. I’m hoping to do a bit of a source list/price breakdown of everything. Most of the items are hand-me-downs (or a gift, like the crib and the Ikea shelves), but I figure that’ll wrap up the nursery over-sharing.

Nursery Reveal – A Quick Peek

Now that the big man is 6+ months old, I realized it was time to let you guys have a peek at the nursery. Hopefully that’s as thrilling a phrase to you as it is to me. If not, that’s cool. At least I can look back one day and crrrryyyyy over what the monkey’s first space looked like.

It’s embarrassing as hell, but this is the only “before” picture I got of the space (which started life as a guest room…okay, let’s call a spade a spade — a catch-all room o’ crap)…

Yeah. I know it was a mess. So, you may be surprised to see what the room has become.

I’m planning to give some details in a couple more posts, but check out this post for my original inspiration for the nursery. I think I kind of achieved it! It’s definitely a fun space, but not too busy, with a certain amount of calm. Especially when clean. 😉 Hope you like it as much as we do!

Side note: Can you BELIEVE we had this mostly done before we had Hads and we didn’t know he’d be a boy? Standing in it, looking around, I’m not sure it would’ve suited a girl. Then again, I think he was speaking to me during the whole pregnancy, anyway, (whether I was hearing him or not) so why wouldn’t we have decorated for a boy? Hee hee.

Consider Me Showered

Nope, this isn’t a post about reducing your water usage by showering less (although, admittedly, I do this…don’t worry, lots of quick “washing up” going on). Rather, this is about all the awesomely rad stuff I was able to acquire at my baby shower, thrown by my incredibly generous family and attended by some of the sweetest friends and relatives I know.

Just gonna start by saying that, while it wasn’t the perfect day (I was battling a sinus infection…and can we say “Target, you SUCK!” – 3 pack ‘n plays!?!?), but it was memorable and funny, a few folks worked their tails off on it, and the baby’s got some great people watching out for him/her – so it was totally all worth it. 🙂 And, really, isn’t it all about the baby, anyway? Damn straight.

Now, on to the GOOD stuff. The BABY stuff!
Nursery Inspiration - image 4a5dd-diapercake on https://megactsout.com

I never would have admitted that I wanted a diaper cake. As a matter of fact, the words “I hope I don’t get a diaper cake…” were uttered to my husband shortly before the shower. Man, was I wrong. I ended up getting two diaper cakes; one, simply made by my mom (which helped add to a ducky decor – I thought it was adorable!) and another, elaborately made by a former student/now friend, Jolene. The fact that the diapers were either cloth (which I’ll use as burp cloths OR may try my hand at the good ol’ fashioned pre-fold — she gave me Snappis, after all!!!! Either way, wicked versatile) and the rest that made up the body of the cake included well over 60 eco-friendly disposables (in size 1, the girl thought of EVERYTHING; if the baby’s anything like me, it may never need newborn sizes ;-D). I was overwhelmed at how much work she put into making this, and with all the fun goodies that were hiding inside. And the cats enjoyed batting at it for a few days before I finally, sadly, deconstructed it. I think Winston was as devastated as was I.

Nursery Inspiration - image b3c6f-packnplaytarget on https://megactsout.com

Of course, the pack ‘n play fiasco. These puppies ain’t cheap. They’re also a huge life-saver when you’ve got an old 2-story house and a touch of OCD about carrying a newborn up and down the stairs for a million diaper changes a day. It can be a place for them to nap or get changed or just to give you a couple of free hands for the moment – and can be packed away when traveling. We had registered for one…ONE of these…and we ended up with three. Whether someone didn’t beep the registry when it was purchased (I’m pretty sure I know at least two of the gift-givers DID this, though!) or what, we ended up with three. Regardless, we’ll be returning at least one (depends on if our future sitter will need one; both sets of grandparents already own one), which we can put towards some of the items we didn’t get…so, no harm. But, man was it embarrassing and uncomfortable for a) the folks who pitched in and gave such a nice gift and b) ME, the mommy, unopening them and knowing full well what was in each box. Regardless, it was an AWESOME gift and we’re lucky to have it. Er, them.

Nursery Inspiration - image ca44a-mobytarget on https://megactsout.com

This thing intimidates me, but I’m over-the-moon excited at the same time. I pondered signing up for this Moby as well as a more “stable” carrier, but read such great things about it that I just went for it. And, it turns out, my incredible aunt who gifted it to me has a son who ADORES using his with his new little one (side note: the mini-cousin also gave us one of the coolest onesies ever). Glowing reviews tend to suck the intimidation out of it…a tad.

Nursery Inspiration - image 81260-bathtime on https://megactsout.com

Here’s a shot of all the wonderful eco-friendly/natural toiletry products the baby got. This is about half of what we actually got. Seriously, I don’t foresee needing to buy anymore until the kid’s…well, using OUR soap. 😉 (And the ducky has a blue belly that helps you with water temperatures – which you’d think would be self-explanatory, but I really don’t trust how hot our water gets.) And here I was worrying folks wouldn’t get the “they don’t buy the traditional Johnson’s & Johnson’s” memo! It makes you feel loved when folks care that much to know who you are. 🙂

Nursery Inspiration - image 17c98-sprayer on https://megactsout.com

I was ecstatic to receive this gift from my long-time friend, Kelly. It’s supposed to be one of the tools that has brought cloth diapering into the 21st century (although I’m not sure how long it’s technically been around, hee hee). Pretty self-explanatory, it’s attached to the potty area and is used to spray cloth diapers before throwing them in a receptacle to eventually launder. Why in the heck did I get so excited about it? I have no clue. Perhaps I need to get a life. Maybe I’ve just read so much about the darn thing that I couldn’t help but squeal like a 16-year-old getting a set of keys for her birthday. Or, it could just be the fact that I LOVE that Kelly knows me well enough to get it. Bingo, yep. That’s the one. 🙂

Nursery Inspiration - image c0052-buddy on https://megactsout.com

This lil’ guy makes me cry…mostly because he’s a gift from his soon-to-be owner’s soon-to-be cousin (my sister’s baby girl). Plus, giraffes are apparently “our animal.” And, no, that doesn’t mean our nursery has a theme. Oh, and the BIGGER version of this (from my sister, herself) has a good ol’ musical wind-up mechanism in it that REALLY makes me bawl. She used to have a unicorn a a lot like it that our dad bought her. We played the crap outta that thing.

Nursery Inspiration - image afddd-handmade on https://megactsout.com

How about a nice representation of all the hand-made goodies we received? (This, again, is just a sampling!) One reason I picked these ones is because the light blue sweater (which came with a hat) and afghan were made by my mom…and the other sweater (along with its “apple” hat) just SCREAMS “let’s go to Cooperstown Farmers’ Market then feed some ducks at Fly Creek Cider Mill this fall”. 😀 We received more blankets and even our traditional hankie-turned-bonnet (for the christening…and for the child to use at his/her wedding one day), too, but I couldn’t show everything. Besides, as far as the beautiful ribboned hankie, “The cat won’t leave it alone!!!” (Reference, anyone?? :-))

Okay, we got several INCREDIBLE gifts from B+B (I’ve mentioned them countless times here…and still haven’t gotten around to asking them if I should divulge their names…why are they the ONLY people I make the executive decision to just say, “Let’s call them B+B.” Perhaps the mysteriousness gets across how downright cool these cats are.), so why’d I pick this over the vintage/antique (can’t tell which, but either way, AWESOMENESS) baby eating utensils? Because it’s just so. Darn. Cool. It’s a rattle of sorts. Made out of organic wood. For teething. I mean, if it was just a cool little owl toy, I’d love it. But the fact that it makes neat noises AND is organic AND is great for soothing sore gums makes it the best multi-tasker gift EVER. Plus, you guys can buy one online if you like. (I haven’t checked out the web site, mostly because I don’t care too know how much it costs. It’s priceless to us.)

Talking about gifts from best friends and I honestly could’ve done an entire post just on the jam-packed BOX o’ goodies that my BFF Beth (along with her grandmother and mother – yep, 3 generations of generosity!) brought along. (Not to mention the IKEA trip she made for us!!!) Seriously. Why’d I pick these (although she got ORGANIC blankies and other must-haves off my registry)? To give you an idea of our diaper situation. These are “wet bags.” They’re, tentatively, where we’ll be throwing wet cloth diapers (after sprayed; or, when on the go, just thrown on in there without dunking or spraying) before laundering. If we need a larger solution, sobeit, but for now these (two travel ones on the left, one awesome zippered one on the right) will work great for our needs. Besides, I figure these bags would work great for a other applications, too, if need be.

After bragging about only a handful of the awesome gifts we received, I must say that we appreciated absolutely everything we got. While the hubs was slightly overwhelmed (okay, maybe more than slightly) by the sheer numbers of everything, I found it to be just the right amount of goodies. There are still items to be bought, but none are emergency things – and it’s to the point where Mommy and Daddy want to invest in some of their own stuff. We don’t have to rely on friends and family for everything. 🙂 We’re uber-lucky, as is the baby, to have folks who are so willing to get us stuff – but, as I’ve learned from my mom, a vast majority of the stuff you simply don’t need. At least, not right away.

Becoming a Nursery

FINALLY. I finally sent in the nursery art – art which was inspired by Pinterest and tweaked slightly by moi – to Staples. Sure, I won’t be able to pick it up until I get a chance to swing by the joint (which is about a half hour away), but the prints will end up costing just over $10. I’m happy with that. An alphabet print, which I decided to use with a humongoid frame I picked up awhile back (I believe half off of $2.99; a steal for a 12×16 frame with that’s matted to 9×12) ended up costing $6.99, just due to the weird sizing, but everything else (four other graphics) were $2.36. All the frames were Goodwill goodies, so the ultimate cost is less than $20 for five pieces of art. I’m hoping they all fit the frames! Now, back to my “handmade art” projects.

We also officially have our crib set up in the nursery. Anything non-nursery-related is outta there (except for a couple of items that will be sharing the closet…y’know, a wedding dress), so we’ve just got our honest-to-goodness nursery work to do in there. Oh, and when I say “crib”, I don’t necessarily mean mattress. Still gotta pick that out. I’d like to go organic with it, but may just settle for a mattress with, for lack of better description, “low emissions.” 😉 We shall see, but it was awesome that Dave and his papa got the crib together in under 30 minutes — and I’m in love with the wood color (even if I wanted white all along; sometimes a husband and wife have to compromise…and the wife has to get creative in her decorating choices…. *wink, wink*). I’ll take pictures after things come together a tad more.

The big nursery “to-do”s include:
– A major cleaning of the wood floors (and everything else – that toy train, for example). Those floors are in rough shape, and no matter what I clean them with I can’t seem to get up the film…or the rough patches.
– Hang the blinds. The curtains I made are already up, but our Christmas Tree Shop bamboo blinds (I believe $6 each) need to go up to block out more of the light – can you say “naptime”? Don’t worry, I’ll either replace them or find a way to make them child-safe when the time comes. I’m not too concerned about them considering that their construction is much simpler than regular blinds, and we may not even be in this house when the toddling starts – who knows?
– Sanding and painting the dresser (AKA changing table). I’d been waiting for the perfect weather, but when the sun finally shines, “other plans” coincide. Maybe I should learn how to ignore guests and just get to the dirty work while the weather cooperates. 😉 Oh, and it has occurred to me that the frames also need painting. And perhaps the bookcase. Hmm. Now, where IS that nesting instinct?
– Closet craziness. We’ll be putting up an overhead shelf (ie big ol’ board from Lowe’s), and actually shifting where the rod (currently a huge wooden dowel – use whatchya got) resides. I know this will be a crazy feat, mostly because it was when we did this in our office closet. But, who knows? Sometimes projects surprise us. 😉
– A ragin’ game of hangman. This will involve all the aforementioned art, as well as whatever else I can rock out myself. I’m still popping out more ideas, so we may simply have too much darn art for this kiddo! I don’t want to overstimulate them (there are a lot of verbal graphics going on), but if I group them in collage form, I’m hoping they won’t overwhelm. I also have some simpler art ideas, too, so it’s all good. I’ll edit if need be.
– Finishing (and hanging…again, see above…hangy, hangy, hangy) the mobile. I’m thinking of putting this over the changing table rather than the crib. Y’know. Just to rebel a little bit.
– Finishing touches. Y’know, bringing in the rocking chair (which currently resides in our front room), move stuff around, find spots for all the goodies I’ll be getting at my upcoming shower, and all the fun “final touches” decorating. Then share ’em here!

More importantly, our biggest job right now is researching our pediatrician options and putting in a phone call about a possible daycare provider. And, of course, I have to make the final cloth diaper decision (but that’s technically lower on the list). There are a million loose ends I’d like to tie up all over the house – especially outside (our curb appeal is driving me CRAZY right now!!!) – but the energy levels are diminishing while the belly size is increasing. And why is it that every time I get halfway through a sewing project, my bobbin tension goes all wacky?! Is it the Universe shouting “It’s time to call your mother” (mind you, the Universe in this scenario has a middle-aged Jewish accent, similar to Mrs. Costanza)?! Sheesh.

However, I must say that our weekend was quite eventful, between getting the full-sized bed hauled to its new home (the in-laws :-)), the crib built, a post-birthday celebration at Beardslee Castle with my favoritest people, a trip to Oneonta to visit a former student (who’s like our first child, truth be known) and stop by an awesome natural food/product store and antique shop, and heading home to do a bit of yard work (during which I had an epiphany – the foundation is okay as it is, for now…the paint chipping off of the basement windows, however, could stand some paint – much easier mini-makeover, don’tchya think?! And I can totally do that with the right cushioning…hee hee). Oh, yes, and I sanded down the dresser only to realize that we needed more wood putty and to decide on some hardware for that sucker. So, while my energy lacks for more sanding/painting, I DO think I can head to Lowe’s and grab those items…then fill some holes and call it a night. Whew. So, that’s all for now!

Kitty Pics

Why in the heck am I sifting through kitty pictures?

…other than the fact that these faces are the cutest thing in the world…

…for now. (Who am I kidding? These are our first children.)

Let’s just say that I’m working on some one-of-a-kind nursery art. And we can’t leave our “first babies” out of our “first baby’s” space, now, can we?

I’m still working out which style of art we’ll land on, but introducing our guys to the “little one” is just one more step in this crazy process. What sentimental item(s) or art do you surround yourself with everyday?

Eco-Baby

As you know, we’re all about making our best attempts at going green and live sustainably around here. Sometimes it works great and we’re able to change our habits completely (hooray for cloth napkins!!!), and other times we fall off the wagon (boo when the “baby” craves McDonald’s – yep, there’s a correlation between McDonald’s and non-sustainability – for 100 points, tell me what it is :-D). Heck, at times our CATS do way better than we do – after all, their lives are pretty much “eat, play, potty, sleep.” Not TOO complicated. 😉

So, of course, when it comes to the future Baby D (still no nickname, and the “D” isn’t a hint as it its possible first name ;-)), it’s not like we’re suddenly going to throw caution to the wind and suddenly raise the kid in an eco-less life. We feel too responsible for the future of our planet, especially now that we’ll be worrying about the future generations that will be using it. Plus, so much of living a “greener” lifestyle is also about maintaining one’s own health – it’s a win-win, as far as I’m concerned.

As far as how we’re going about our green baby journey, it’s probably easiest to simply break it down for ya:

– Cloth diapers. While I read an article last night stating that cloth diapers AREN’T more eco-friendly (from a magazine riddled with disposable diaper ads…hmmm, coincidence?), I’m still fighting the cloth diaper battle. I’m still trying to decide between a million different options, and am finally to the point of asking myself, “Do I just want to go simple and purchase all one kind and brand, damn the consequences? Or should I pick a few different styles and brands (as well as price points) to see what works best?” It’s hard to determine how your kid will respond/react to each type, and I haven’t heard 100% positives from ANY one given diaper. Of course not! Kids. All. Poop. Differently. I just hope I don’t regret my final decision. Regardless, we’re doin’ this.
– Cloth wipes. Depending on how challenging cloth diapering is, I’m planning on using cloth (reusable) wipes for their tushies. If it was good enough for my mom to use on my bum… Oh, and if we’re traveling or visiting someone’s house (y’know, the grandparents, aunts/uncles, friends, etc), we’ve got eco-friendly wipes.
– Reusing Clothes. I’ve already got a bin of newborn-to-6 month, gender-neutral clothes, courtesy by incredibly generous sis, who also didn’t find out the sex of her daughter prior to her being born last September. Anything else I get will be icing, as far as I’m concerned. Although, I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I can’t wait to find out (when he/she finally comes) whether I’ll be shopping for the modern bright pinks and chartreuse greens for a girl or finding part-quirky/part-hippie/part-preppy (think sweater vest; like Daddy, like Son) for a boy.
– Decor. Okay, not only is it a huge cost savings, but finding thrifted items or repurposing old family treasures really adds massive personality to the nursery. We’re nowhere close to done, of course, but some of the ways that we’re saving AND “greening” up the place include using an antique rocker that my mother passed down to me (from my grandfather’s house – man, does this thing have personality! And I’ve already have blankets/cushions to comfy it up), putting art in cheap (yet mostly wood!) frames from Goodwill, painting a hand-me-down dresser to use for storage and as a changing table, using toys/books that we grew up with (which serve multiple purposes), and I’ve even got something up my sleeve for a sheet that has an awesome antique-looking edge (which happened to cost $2…yes, I said $2). All this is stuff that wasn’t created new just for our little space – although we’ll, of course, have to buy a handful of new items.

Cute AND politically incorrect? Sign me up!

Mmm…scallopy…

– Breastfeeding. I’m by no means a praying person, but “LORD, JESUS, PLEASE HEAR MY PLEA TO HAVE A RELATIVELY UNCHALLENGED TIME AT BREASTFEEDING THIS LITTLE ONE WHEN THE TIME COMES!!!!” *whew* Seriously, though, what’s “greener” than breastfeeding? 😉 While we’re at it, I’ve registered for the manual pump, although there wasn’t really a green reason for it; if breastfeeding DOESN’T work out, for whatever reason, I don’t want to try to resell a $200+ double-boob-electric-monster. Ain’t happenin’. The eco-friendliness just happens to be perk. Oh, and when I pump (or if BF doesn’t work out), we’re hoping to get BPA-free GLASS bottles.
– Toiletries. We’re trying to be “ASAP” – As Simple As Possible. We’ve done enough purging (still more to go) that simply adding to the chaos is silly. So, taking a cue from some blogger parents I’ve read, we’re going pretty darn basic with toiletries. Here’s what we picked up one day (because the prices were pretty good); I’d like to eventually keep it down to one item for washing (shampoo and wash in one), sunblock, and if we absolutely need it, lotion and baby powder; oh, and have the products as eco-friendly as possible.

– Toys. We’re in love with Melissa & Doug toys (mostly wood) and other non-plastic options out there, but a lot of this depends on what we’re gifted, too. (See our little choo-choo above that belonged to my hubby’s family.)

I’m positive I’m forgetting some other eco-stuff we’re doing, but we’ll just blame that on pregnancy brain. Fun! If I wasn’t already air-headed enough… (And, yes, I realize that “Mom Brain” or “Parent Brain” or whatever it’s called hangs on for good. Oh, goody.)

There are some areas that I’m sure we could do better on, I’m sure, but it can sometimes be an uphill battle. We’re incredibly blessed to have family members who are aching to help out – so if that means not purchasing a certain item secondhand, sobeit. And there are a few convenience items (a travel-sized swing or breast pump, for example) that I just want new. But, as with everything, we try to do our best, and I’m looking forward to keeping things relatively simple around here — because things are sure to get complicated enough pretty quickly!