Last week, when I had reached a boiling point about our lack of preparedness for Tiny Baby's impending arrival based solely on the fact that we didn't have a dresser for him or her, my sympathetic husband swooped in with a plan.
He saw the handwriting on the wall: "My hormonal wife is about to lose it over a clothing storage issue, so I'd better do something quickly in order to maintain sanity around here."
His idea was to avoid purchasing another big piece of furniture for a baby who won't even have his or her own bedroom for the foreseeable future. And since our big boy, C, wouldn't care if we decided to store his clothes in his own bed with him, we decided to shuttle his dresser to our room for the baby, and we spent $65 at the hardware store for this set-up for C's things.
Brilliant!
I immediately washed and folded tiny T-shirts and sleepers, receiving blankets and lap pads. I lined up impossibly small newborn diapers next to a new batch of wash cloths and infant shampoo. I brandished the bathtub, bouncer chair, nursing pillow and car seat.
All the while, curious followers were right on my heels.
Can we play with the baby toys? Can we pretend C's a baby and put him in the bath? Can we try out the breast pump and bottles?
I tried to say yes as often as possible so these two siblings will feel real ownership of the care of their new little bro or sis, but it started to wear on my patience, what with all of the "goo-goo-goo" and "wah, wah, feed me" impressions.
Plus, these baby things are probably starting to groan under the pressure of yet another round of use. The weight of a 2-year-old and 4-year-old could spell doom for the trappings we need to hold up for one more season.
So this morning I suggested L and C get their baby dolls out and they could bathe in the tub and click into the car seat instead.
A successful plan indeed! L and C currently are starting a second hour's worth of play with baby dolls and real baby accessories.
I'm sure Tiny Baby will benefit from the care-giving his or her older siblings are rehearsing in advance.
This third newborn may not have a proper nursery or a new stash of trendy gear, but all over our house are sweet, well-loved reminders that a new baby is coming very soon.
And we are ready.
Everything looks great! I think Tiny Baby's going to be very comfortable in his (or her!) new surroundings, especially with so many eager little hands around to help!
ReplyDeleteso exciting!!
ReplyDeleteWe do not own one baby doll. Mmmmph.
What a relief this must be! Those shelves in C's room look perfect for a little boy, especially now that he can help put things away by himself. Simple and efficient. Nice :)
ReplyDeletePlus, how exciting to be folding those tiny shirts and getting all the trappings ready! So soon, so soon!
Smart husband :)
ReplyDeleteSuper cute kids...but tell me, did I miss an update on the housing situation?! Looking forward to hearing about and meeting New Baby!
Julie--Your boys need baby dolls in their stockings this Christmas! C's is named "Ecky" and we switched out pink shortalls for some blue boxers with puppy dogs on them, so he is now as good as masculine.
ReplyDeleteJen--No news on the housing front. We're still waiting and praying for the right place to open up at the right time for us. We're not totally "evicted" until July 31, so while we wanted to be proactive, it's clear we're going to at least wait through the holidays before any big moves happen. Thanks for asking.
Exciiiiiting! We have the same set-up going on with our boys' rooms :) I just realized that we don't have any baby dolls in our house either... Hm.
ReplyDeleteAh...well I'm glad you have time. I thought you HAD to find something before the baby came...the right place will come along :)
ReplyDelete