Margot's Room: Little English Lady Meets Little Hipster Baby

I've had a nursery planned out in my head for years. Of course, in all my planning, I was convinced we'd have a boy first, so when Margot turned out to be a Margot, not a ____, I had to adjust a bit.  My plans also did not include that we would still be living in a two-bedroom flat with no yard and the laundry two floors down, but that's life I suppose, and we are grateful for what we've been given.

Anyhow, once I actually came to terms with the idea that we were really having a girl, and that we still needed to use that second bedroom for guests, I started to put together a room that would not only still function and feel comfortable for our guests, but could house a growing, beautiful girl and all of her stuff. (Side bar: how can such tiny people have so much STUFF?!) It's still a work in progress, but I always feel that way about every room in my house.


It had to start with a plan for storage. This can be an issue in any house, but we had some particular challenges due to our closet space, or lack thereof. Kyle's clothes have long occupied the closet in our guest room (or Spare Oom, if you will), and there is just nowhere for them to go from there. We knew we'd need a wardrobe for Margot.


We also knew that we wanted this shelving unit from IKEA, which just so happened to fit like a glove into the space we had available. It's currently a bit "busier" than I'd prefer, but did I mention how much STUFF she already has? I don't know that the shelf will ever make it down the stairs and out of this house if we move, but I couldn't be happier with the storage it provides in the meantime!


The second thing I had to consider was color.  I wanted it to feel bright and cheery, and yet not too babyish. Neutral walls and neutral bedding, with brighter colors layered on top. For Margot's bed, I scoured the internet for crib bedding, but didn't like a thing, so I ended up getting plain white sheets, a vintage white quilt from Etsy, and a breathable bumper. It ended up being super cheap that way! We used an old quilt made by Kyle's grandmother as the "comforter" for the guest bed, and I was so glad that the beautiful flower blanket gifted to me by my mother a couple years ago could finally be on display.


Many of the other pieces of furniture and decor in her room came from yard sales, Craigslist, and Etsy.




One of my favorite items (and probably my mother's LEAST favorite) is her little woodland creature, who came from last year's Strange Folk Festival. He's currently just chillin' in her Boppy. I think he's cute and whimsical. Margot's Grandma Lu had a few other adjectives for him, but we love him just the same!


Kyle made some personal contributions to the room, as well. He is an avid tea drinker, a connoisseur of fine tea, if you will. He's been saving dozens of tea tins for years, in the hopes they could some day be used for a baby. They look pretty cute just randomly stacked on her shelves for now, and I suspect she'll love playing with all of them some day.


Two things I'm pretty sure of for the moment:
1. Her room will probably never look or feel this clean again.
2. As with every other room in my house, it will always feel unfinished.

Unfinished is not the same as incomplete, however, and when she is here I am confident the room will feel complete!

Cue the Jeopardy music.

As of today, Kyle is officially done with finals! He is 5/6 of the way through law school, and I couldn't be more excited or more proud of him. That is, until he gets that big, fancy Doctor of Jurisprudence in May, and then when he gets sworn in to the state bar next November. Those days will be very proud days. I already have visions of taking some precious family pictures with him in his cap, gown, and hood, and beautiful little Margot in a pretty Spring dress.

In the meantime, our life now looks a lot like this:

Waiting, waiting, waiting.

I've been pretty restless, both mentally and physically. This makes for long, fuzzy days and nights. At work I feel distracted and slow-moving, but I am thankful to still be working and have something to take my mind off of all. the. waiting. At home I feel physically exhausted, and yet so anxious and unable to rest well, wishing I had the energy to get up and really deep clean this whole darn house.  I keep waiting for that last big burst of energy that people keep telling me about. So far, I haven't seen any signs of it.

In these last few days as a family of two, I have some plans for how we'll spend our time. Most of it involves snuggling on the couch and watching movies. It sounds glorious to me!

A Bad Kitty Christmas

Kyle and I have a tradition of buying a new Christmas book every year. In the past, we've purchased classics like Christmas Day in the Morning and The Polar Express, and fun, silly books like Llama Llama Holiday Drama. We never plan what we want to get, we just peruse the Christmas books and get whatever strikes our fancy at the time. This year, we found a book that is not only a great story with a sweet ending, lots of rhymes, and a healthy dose of alliteration, but particularly appropriate for us.

You may have seen an update from me earlier this week that our very ornery kitty, Ellie, knocked down our whole Christmas tree, making a huge mess and snapping the legs off beyond repair. After locking her in our bedroom for a couple hours and shedding a few tears in frustration, we packed up all the ornaments and lights, and decided that it would just be one less thing we'd have to deal with after MJ arrives.

Anyway, fast-forward to today... I went in search of our annual Christmas book, and the very first book I saw on the shelf was A Bad Kitty Christmas. Before even opening, I knew this would be our book.

It's a pretty humorous story at first, detailing all the damage Kitty causes at Christmas time, but then takes a turn for the sentimental as Kitty's family responds to the naughtiness.

I don't think there could be a better-fitting book for us this year, unless of course it had something to say about waiting on the arrival of a new baby. We still love our pretty kitty despite her destructive ways!

A Lost Habit

My blogging has steadily decreased over the last couple years. I attribute this in part to grad school, and in part to other social outlets like Twitter and Instagram, where I can share bits and pieces of life as they happen. Lately, however, I find that I miss the reflection that comes from writing this blog, and the outlet to share pictures and document life's adventures in a more meaningful way.

As we are about to embark on one of life's biggest adventures, parenthood, I find that I really want to re-establish this habit of writing and sharing. I realize that my time is about to get stretched even more, but I also feel it's important to create this journal and scrapbook of sorts on the joys and challenges of our lives, and have a place to look back and see all that God accomplishes in time.

So here's hoping that I can re-establish this discipline, and that it won't be thought of as a chore, but something I can truly enjoy again. To jumpstart this, here's a mini-update on life recently.

We are waiting for Margot. I am feeling huge and increasingly uncomfortable. I woke up last night at 3am thinking I was having my first contraction (it felt just like people described), but then realized it was just gas... I'm sure you wanted to know that.

 Kyle is taking finals. This semester has been very taxing (not that you'll find him complaining), and next semester doesn't look any better, particularly when you factor in a new baby at home. The poor man has pretty much every minute of every day scheduled, which makes for a pretty exhausting regimen. Remember last Spring when I wrote about how insanely busy he is? Well, it's worse now. We are both looking forward to the day when there is even an hour of free time to relax with each other, invest time in others, and enjoy life. One more semester and a summer of Bar prep to go!

That about sums it up for us. I am looking forward to Kyle being on break, which will allow us to do some fun things like go see The Hobbit. Oh, and having a baby. That'll be pretty good, too, I guess.