Preparations!

My Aunt Sue threw a shower for us and the baby last weekend in Niles. Our very generous family and friends set us up with nearly everything we need. I'm feeling much calmer and more ready now that we have most of the baby "must haves." I took some pictures of the kid's room this morning so you can see some of the fancy new stuff our lucky kid will enjoy.

The crib all set up with new bedding from Damian's mom. The bedding is My First ABC from KidsLine and I love it, love it, love it.

Close up of the crib bedding, with the sleeping Sammy the Lamby, a gift from my Grandma Mona. This is just the sheet over bare Ikea crib mattress. We need to get some sort of waterproof mattress pad under there STAT.

Jasper, the crazy, clingy monkey with magnetic hands and feet that I absolutely couldn't resist. 

More IKEA goodness. The window seat/bookshelf is from the Expedit collection, turned on its side. The brown fabric bins are from the new Itso line at Target, but they look like they were made for it. The rolled up rug is waiting for construction and cleaning to be finished before resuming its rightful place on the floor under Maggie. 

You may be thinking: "Construction?!?" Indeed. Minor. We desperately need to replace the windows in this room. The windows throughout the house are in pretty bad shape, but the two in this room are some of the worst. Our friend, Kelli (who is expecting her first baby a few weeks after us) works for Pella and has helped us order new windows and set us up with one of her best installers. They should be in sometime this month.

The dresser handed down from my parents that D painted and I put new knobs on (and contact papered the inside of). We need to attach the changing pad to the back of it and it will be ready to go. The table is a hand-me-down from D's mom, with another fabric Target Itso bin on the bottom shelf for holding diaper-changing necessities. 

I'm supa excited about that lamp. It's a touch lamp with three brightness settings that I picked up at Target this week for 17 bucks. Perfect nursery lamp. 

Also, notice the Bunnykins bank, another gift from my Grandma Mona. She also gave the baby a Bunnykins baby set. Growing up, Graham, Jessica, and I all had our own sets of this china and I remember eating my Cheerios from it on Saturday mornings while watching cartoons. I can't wait to see my own child doing the same (using Damian's baby silverware that his mom passed down last weekend)!

And! And! DIAPERS!! Damian's dad and stepmom got us a set of BumGenius 3.o diapers. Everyone I know who uses these is very happy with them and look at how freaking pretty they are! Plus, aside from the newborn, peeing-every-10-minutes stage, what you see here are probably (hopefully!) all we'll need until the kid is potty trained. They adjust to fit kids from newborn up to 35 pounds.

And finally, the stroller parking lot. The black one is the Micralite Fastfold with the infant carrycot. This is the one I'll be pushing around the neighborhood in a few weeks, marvelling at the sudden lightness of my body (and the beauty of the baby in front of me). Once the kid has more neck control, we can take the carrycot off and it will look more like this. 

The other is the BOB jogging stroller, a gift from Ginny and Todd Tyler. We are very, very excited about getting out with the baby in this thing particularly on the Prairie Path. We also have big plans for the BOB and the annual Niles Turkey Run, also known as the Thanksgiving 5K Hangover Stroll where the Young family traditionally finishes last.

(And, OH MY GOD. I just caught sight of our countdown. 33 DAYS?!? HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?!?)