Cloth diapers, the newborn edition *Updated*

The only reason I'm writing this post is because I want to show you this picture:

Okay, I'm done.  

I'm dead from the cuteness.

All right fine, I'm not really done.  I have stuff to talk about, namely how cute is this teeny tiny wittle bitty newborn diaper?!  

I wrote a post when we started to use cloth diapers, and another after a year had passed.

Also, because this...

Is now this.  

I will not cry, I will not cry...

We're two years into our cloth diaper journey and about to add New Baby to the mix so I thought I'd share some things I've learned along the way and hopefully it'll help.

Now, I've said it before and I'll say it again:  cloth diapers are not a big deal.  It's one extra load of laundry every few days and that's it.  I rarely touch poop, I do not put poop in my washer nor do I hold my kid over the washer and let her poop directly in it.  These are actual concerns that people have voiced to me in the past two years.  It's funny really - these are fellow moms, their kids poop too, and I know they get diaper blowouts so I'd wager they're touching poop more than I am.  Besides, my kid has puked on me while in the Ergo so I've had vomit between my boobs.  A little poop doesn't even make me blink anymore.

Now, there is a learning curve with cloth diapers that doesn't exist with disposables.  However, it's not insurmountable and getting the hang of it takes about a week and then you're right in the same boat with people using disposables.  We're all just catching poop, people.

With this being my second baby, I felt all kinds of confident about starting from birth with cloth diapers *and* I've gotten over my hang-up about buying used!  Now, I'm all about stalking Craigslist, Ebay and diaper swapping boards to buy my newborn cloth diapers, because I've also learned that unless you give to birth to a nine pound baby, you're probably better off using diapers especially sized for newborns.

Plus, they look like little softballs and that's just too cute for words.

These will fit much better than the giant BumGenius ones

and I kinda can't wait to take a picture of her in them.

When I started using cloth diapers I knew next to nothing and I still managed to make it two years with no problems.  Unfortunately, a few months ago my diapers started stinking.  They smelled so bad that they would stink *while* they were in the washing machine - you know that's a problem.  I figured it was par for the course, that Sofia's 'big girl pee' was just getting too strong and I took to washing my diapers at night because the ammonia smell was so strong it would burn my eyes.  It seriously didn't occur to me that there was a bigger issue.

I finally couldn't take it and started googling around.  I found a cloth diaper group on Facebook and that's where I learned that my diapers stunk because they weren't really getting clean.  Well DUH you might say, but I was seriously that clueless.  I thought that the detergent I was using was enough to do the trick when it probably never did and it just took that long to build up.  I bought some mainstream detergent (gasp!), I bleached my diapers (whaaat?!), but ever since I made the switch I have no more stink and really that's all I care about.

Another thing I learned is that there is such a thing as cloth diaper addiction - can you believe that?  People will pay hundreds of dollars for a 'hard to find' print.  Betcha can't say that about disposables!  Personally, I find it ludicrous to pay a crazy amount of money for something that's just going to get pooped on, but if you have to be addicted to something, I suppose diapers aren't the worst things in the world.

And I won't even lie, I'm totally jealous of 

all that awesome pretty pink.

I was practical and boring and got all gender neutral diapers in solid colors and since I am most definitely not addicted, I only bought newborn and some smaller sized diapers that should hold me over until she can fit into the BumGenius ones.  With the newborn diapers, I indulged and searched for cute prints and I was even able to snag two pink diapers.  I would love to get more girly designs but you wash diapers every few days, so if you buy more than what will get you through those few days, I feel like you're negating the cost savings.  Besides, it's kind of a drag to have all these cute diapers and have to cover them with clothes.  

So I just live vicariously through the other group members

who have such amazing diapers.  I'm just glad mine don't stink anymore - my

standards are low.

I'm also such a nerd I've also learned how to fold receiving blankets to make diapers.  I got several receiving blankets at my baby shower and they're too small to make a swaddle so I never used them.  But now!  They're gonna be diapers, baby!  I got some covers for those and I'm stupid excited to use them.  Did you know you can even use t-shirts as diapers?  I fully realize that I may be the only one who cares about this sort of thing, but I can't help it.  That's what my life has become; I get excited about diapers.  It's who I am, friends.

There you have it; I'm going to use cloth diapers from birth this time.  Those who already do are yawning with boredom but this is huge for me and I'm excited about it.  And also, one more time, cloth diapers are not that big a deal.  Try it, you might like it.  You can't deny the cuteness factor and the printed disposables don't even come close; they'll never be as cute as actual cloth.

I'm sure there are only about four of you who cloth diaper and read my blog, so to the rest of you who just gave up part of your life reading this post, you have my sincerest thanks.  I don't get excited about much these days and since I'm having another girl, I'm not buying a lot of stuff this time around, so diapers are my outlet.  

Thanks for humoring me!

Hopefully I'll be back soon with a nursery update - stick around!

***Click this link right here to get some great deals from Lauren!  She's blog reader and a fellow mom who is a cloth diaper consultant and she's got some great sales happening now and on Black Friday!  I'm talking $4 BumGenius y'all!  She wrote a blog post about it too - check it out!***

Babies and quarantine

Let's switch gears for a moment and talk babies, shall we?

New Baby will be here sometime in February.  I'm due on the 22nd, but I was induced four days before my due date with Sofia, so I'm thinking I'll probably go early with this one too.  The 22nd is three months and two days away and um, holy crap.  This pregnancy has flown by and I can't believe that we're already here.

It also feels like I got big overnight.

I can still wear some of my regular shirts

but I can't wear anything but maternity pants.

I've even busted into Drew's closet because I'm really 

trying not to buy any more maternity clothes.

But I'm getting off track; I learned something absolutely fascinating and I wanted to share it with you.  I was scrolling through my Facebook feed and came across this article.  Talking about auras is a little hippie-dippy for me, but the concept of the article resonated with me so loudly, that I just had to write it all out.

Before Sofia was born, I wrote this post about how I felt myself changing in preparation to be a mother, how I felt my protective instincts growing and getting stronger.  In the days leading up to Sofia's birth, I was nothing but a ball of emotions.  I couldn't name most of them, I didn't know where they came from and I couldn't do anything but feel them, which usually meant a lot of crying.  When I think about that time, it's really a wonder any of us made it through.  The miscarriages really rocked us, Drew and I were frighteningly horrible at communicating (we've since gotten slightly better) and we didn't/couldn't understand each other and neither of us was in a place where we wanted to learn.  

I'm happy to report that with this pregnancy we are worlds away from that place.  I'm nowhere near as hormonal, the physical changes aren't as dramatic and aside from the injections (which actually suck worse this time), I'd say I've gotten a small glimpse of what 'normal pregnancy' looks like.  And even though it's morbid to say, having miscarriages isn't the earth-shattering life-devastating thing it once was.  It still hurts like hell but we have been able to be sad while picking ourselves up and getting on with our lives.  Drew and I have gotten better at communicating and there haven't been nearly as many fights or tears or tension.  Now that I think about it, I'm actually pretty proud of us!

That's not to say we haven't had disagreements and to illustrate our biggest one, allow me to tell you a story...

When Sofia was born, both sets of parents came to Dallas to be with us.  This was their first grandbaby so of course they were going to be there.  However, that was in direct conflict with all my postpartum emotions and desires.  Namely, I wanted nothing more than to cocoon in my bed with my newborn, nurse her, smell her, bond with her and I had no interest in anything else.  As you can imagine, this was awkward for everyone else because they wanted to see and hold the baby too and they thought I was keeping her away intentionally.  At the time, I didn't have the words to explain that I was following my primal instincts and my instincts said not to let go of my baby for even a second.

Because I didn't have the words and couldn't articulate my feelings I found myself handing over my brand new baby because "it's important to get out of the house, even for a little bit."  Drew and I went to the pharmacy, and I cried the entire time, fighting off super intense feelings of anxiety and an overwhelming desire to get back to my baby.  We were gone less than twenty minutes but felt like days and I remember busting through the door wanting nothing more than to put my baby back in my arms, where I needed her.  Where she belonged.

When she was six days old, we took a trip out to the bluebonnets to take pictures.

I didn't want to be there, but I couldn't put my finger on the reason why.

*I don't think even Drew knows this part.*  

There was a street festival in the town near the bluebonnet fields and Drew and I and his parents walked around, in the name of getting out and stretching our legs.  At six days post-partum I was still bleeding but it wasn't so heavy that I couldn't get around - or so I thought.  I had to change my pad at someone's house near the blubonnet field but I thought that was the end of it.

At the festival I had to take yet another bathroom break, and changing your heavy duty post partum maxipad in a port-a-potty is no picnic.  I was doing my best to hover over the disgusting seat when the most giant clot of all clots slid out of my body.  It was such a shocking and disturbing feeling that I actually let out a little scream in the port-a-potty.  A few more clots slid out and I did my best to clean up and put on a new pad and a happy face at having to deal with this outside the comfort of my own home.

That experience is burned into my mind and I have no desire to repeat it.  Therefore, I plan to keep my ass at home as much as possible and get rid of all giant clots in my own bathroom like a normal person.

In the Facebook comments of that article, several women noted that 'laying-in' after the birth of a child is an actual thing and several Latin women mentioned that their mothers and grandmothers would insist that they do la cuarentena, which means 'quarantine.'  Apparently, there's a whole bunch of things you're not supposed to do in the 40 days immediately following your child's birth.  If I don't shower or wash my hair it won't be on purpose but I'll definitely wrap my belly like I did last time.  For me, it helped a ton with feeling supported around my midsection and I think it helped flush out all the extra fluids too.

Between that and the other article, I started nodding my head and jabbing at my computer, talking to no one. "See!  This is a thing!  It's real!  I'm not crazy!  See!  I wasn't being rude!  It's normal and right to hole up with your newborn baby!  You're not supposed to be more than nine feet away from your new baby!  I'm not crazy for hovering when other people held her!  I'm normal!  See!  See?!"

Now, even though this feeling has cultural roots I didn't do it because of that, I did it because my gut told me to.  On the other hand, Drew comes from a very strong 'pass the baby' background, where you hand over present the new baby to the new grandparents, the new aunts and uncles and everyone's else's time with the new baby is just as important as the new mother's time.  I say nobody's time is as important as the new mother's and that was the cause of fights then, and it was the cause of disagreements now.

It's a hard line to walk:  Honor your husband vs. honor your postpartum self and your newborn baby.  I still firmly believe that the mother AND FATHER and child should be the most important people in the equation and everyone else should just wait their turn.  And I will NOT be leaving my house for as long as humanly possible this time.  I'm not trying to throw monster clots in the middle of the grocery store or a damn port-a-potty for God's sake.  

PLUS, my baby will be born in February, smack in the middle of flu season.  Last January, we all got the norovirus and last April Sofia was hospitalized with the rotavirus.  As far as I'm concerned that's more than enough reason to quarantine our whole family.  I don't know how realistic or possible it will be, but I'm sure going to try.

Having a name for the feelings I had and am starting to have again is incredibly validating.  To know that I'm not the only person in the world who feels this way or does these things makes me feel so much less alone and I draw strength from virtually standing with the women who follow and support these practices.  It was hard to be called rude and inconsiderate when all I wanted to do was keep my newborn baby close to me, but it's different now.  My feelings have a name, they have roots in cultural history and I have more faith in following my gut instincts.  

It could be because I'm older or that this is my second child but this time I have a quiet conviction about this birth and this child.  I will hold her close, give her what she needs and the naysayers can go say their nays somewhere else.

My family will be in our cuarentena and we will welcome you with open arms when we're done.

...............................

*So, I'm really curious to know:  Did you do a 'laying-in' when your baby was born?  A cuarentena?  Something like it?  Did you want to and you weren't able?  Do you 'pass the baby?'  

*Obviously, no one way is better than the other and while I vote for quarantine, that doesn't mean that passing the baby is bad.  If that's what you do and you're happy with it, rock the hell on.  Peace.

Warm-up sewing

Alternate title:  Holy Shit I Sewed Something And Lived To Tell The Tale!

Stop the presses, y'all.  I sewed something *and* finished it in a day!  It's not perfect (it's kind of homely, actually) as this was my very first time in life doing something like this, but I have to say I'm pretty proud of myself!

As you know, I do not sew.  I cannot cut a straight line and I can barely sew one.  I do know how to thread my machine, wind the bobbin and with a little thought I can remember which direction to feed my fabric so it goes the right way.  That's where my sewing skills start and end.  However, I have successfully sewn a pillow and crib skirt and hemmed my jeans so I have had some luck a couple of times.

For my next trick, I'm going to attempt to sew a slipcover for the chair that now lives in New Baby's room and I knew I needed some warm-up time at the sewing machine.  Sofia's big girl room is just about done, and one of the finishing touches I wanted was a new floor cushion/pouf and a new pillow, as the old ones didn't match anymore.

  Once Drew hung the picture/book ledges and the curtain wire, 

that left the pouf and the pillow.  

That meant sewing.

Originally, I wanted to buy a pouf and simply sew a new pillow.  I really liked the Moroccan leather ones, but they were just more than I wanted to spend and I really wanted to finish Sofia's room.  Amazon and Etsy were cheaper, but still just a little more expensive than I preferred.  Then the lightbulb went off - why don't I just make one?  Yeah, leather would be fancy and upscale, but we still have to buy stuff for our bedroom, we're redoing the laundry room, Christmas is coming, and I have a whole nursery to build/buy.  Plus, I could use the practice.  So it was settled - I was going to make the floor cushion.

I used this tutorial, and if you make a floor cushion follow hers not mine.  Use this post as a guideline of what *not* to do, because I do not sew and I was mostly winging it the whole way.  

This is what it's *supposed* to look like.

Mine does not look like this, but is anyone really surprised?

The old red pouf was not going to work with the new rug so it had to go.

In a perfect world, I wanted to find some fabric that had pink, orange and white in it.

I did some looking and found this fabric at Pink Chalk.

This was misstep number one.  I wouldn't call it a full-out mistake, but I was too impatient to order a swatch, wait for it to come, see if it worked in the room, order the fabric if it did work, and wait for it to come before I started the project.  I just couldn't wait for all that; I wanted to sew today.  This fabric could have been the most perfect fabric in all the land but I'll never know because I went to JoAnn's today and bought fabric today with the intent of sewing today. 

Misstep number two:  Trusting the people at JoAnn's to know what the hell they're talking about.  Apparently, the staff members at the store in my town don't have to know anything about measuring because I told them what I was doing, they told me how much fabric to buy, I bought it and it turned out to be entirely too much.  I have enough to make a whole other cushion, which sort of negates the whole 'saving money' aspect of this little project.  So if you make a floor cushion, you're going to sit down and do the math and figure out down to how many eighths of a yard you need before you go to the store so you don't end up with a shit ton more fabric than you need.  

But we're moving on.  You need home decor fabric for this project, which is heavier than regular fabric.  JoAnn's didn't have any home decor fabric in stock that I liked and I didn't want to order any (because I'm too impatient), so I settled on the cotton duck, which is a type of canvas.  It's also nice and heavy and as a bonus, it was solid so I didn't have to worry about lining up prints or right side out vs. wrong side out.  They cut me way too much but I didn't know so I dumbly paid for it all, along with my bag of piping because they didn't sell the pre-made piping that the tutorial called for.  However, I wasn't scurred because I need to learn how to make piping for my slipcover so I welcomed this little challenge.

I picked up Sofia from school, she went down for her nap and I got started.

The first thing you have to do is draw a circle for your pattern.

I taped twelve sheets of paper together to make my 

circle 21 inches in diameter.

The tutorial calls for a 17 inch circle, but I wanted one a little bigger because I 

measured the red pouf but didn't account for the different shape and fabric.

Lesson learned.

Then you need a compass to draw your circle.

If you don't have a compass, you will tape some string 

to a pencil and get on with your life.

Then you will curse because a pencil on a string

is not as accurate as an actual compass.

Also, these pictures have a pink tint because I was at Sofia's play table and the

lamp next to it has a pink lampshade.  In case you were wondering.

Then you'll wise up and realize that your kid's play table

is too small to make a full circle but it will accommodate a half circle

rather nicely.  That's called using your brain, my friends.

Fold your big piece of paper in half, draw a half cirlce

and pat yourself on the back for being so smart.

Perfect circle!  Haaaaaayyyyyy!

I was on a roll!  I got my cording out, getting ready to pipe some shit!

The first time, I measured out 21 inches because that was the diameter of my circle.

I was so cocky and I cut that shit, and then was like 'oops.'

You're not going to do that. 

You're going to run the cording around the perimeter of your circle like a smart person.

Then you're going to cut more cording that exact length 

because you're going to have a top and bottom.

I took a lunch break, and while I ate I watched the slipcover video on how to make piping.  Actually, piping is pretty straightforward, although of course I managed to mess it up.

Look at how much fabric JoAnn's sold me!

You need two inches worth for piping.  Two inches!

I could pipe three floor cushions with all this damn fabric.

My very first attempt in life to make piping.

It's not snug against the cording, the stitching is not straight

but you can tell it's piping, so I'm going with it.

You need a zipper foot to make piping, and after my first pass

I wondered if grabbing the foot in a different position would make any difference.

The bottom one is my first try, the top one my second.

For the life of me I can't remember which position the zipper foot was in, 

so again just enjoy the story because I'm sure as hell not trying to 

teach you how to sew.

With the piping was done, I set it aside because it was time to cut out my circles.

I didn't take a picture of it, but I pinned the circle to the fabric because it kept moving around.

Again, look at all the damn fabric I have left over because

I was too impatient to do the math myself and JoAnn's 

couldn't do the math for me.

I got a yard and a half and probably could have done with just half a yard.

Lesson learned, and you're going to do better than I did.

Here's my piping after I trimmed off the excess.

You see how little freakin' fabric you need?!

In case you can't tell, I'm annoyed with JoAnn's.

But maybe I was wrong to go in and tell them the type of project

and expect them to tell me how much fabric I needed. 

Maybe that's not something they do.

Either way, I'm doing the freakin' math myself next time.

I pinned my piping just like the tutorial said,

but my canvas was too stiff and wouldn't bend with the pins in,

so I ended up taking them about and manually lining up the edges as I sewed.

You're not going to do that.  You're going to pin and figure out a way to make it work.

Another misstep:  I thought it would be okay that the piping was longer

than the actual handle.  It's not.  Folding in the edges and trying to sew over

that many layers of canvas and piping will make your sewing machine

rattle and shake and lock up.

I was terrified that I broke my machine trying to sew this handle.

Trim the piping to the length of the handle before tucking in the edges.

Lesson learned.

I followed the rest of the tutorial as it was written and sewing the top and bottom to the body of the cushion wasn't easy.  First off, circles are a pain in the ass to sew.  Straight lines are much easier and you don't have to fight with your machine.  Also, pinning things is preferable because if you don't pin and you try to just line things up as you go, you run the risk of pulling your fabric too much and it'll pucker, and you'll have to rip your stitches out and start over, cursing your face off as you go.  Me and my seam ripper are best friends.

When stuffing your cushion, before you pat yourself on the back that you're going to 'upcycle' some nasty pillows you have laying around, open the pillows and remove the stuffing.  Don't shove a rectangular pillow in a round cushion, because you'll stare and stare and realize that you're going to have to open the damn thing back up because it's too lumpy in the wrong places.  You're going to be better than me.

And after all those words, here's my homely floor cushion with the jacked-up handle.

But hey, I made piping!

It's a good deal bigger than the original red pouf because I didn't do the math.  I wanted it to be a *little* bigger but I wasn't sure by how much so I guessed because they're two different shapes and the fill is different.  Next time I will do the math.  Next time I will do the math.  Next time I will do the math.

I may banish this one to the basement and make this one tomorrow.  

There's no piping or handles and it's straight lines.

Plus, now that I kinda know what I'm doing, it might actually take me

just an hour.

This was my $40 sewing lesson and even though my floor cushion is homely beyond words, I'm not calling this a failure because look at what I learned!

I learned how to make piping, which will come in handy when I make my slipcover.

I learned that I need to be more patient (not sure if that lesson will stick, but one can hope.)

I learned I need to do math and not trust JoAnn's to do it for me.

I learned to work with my sewing machine and I'm not so scared of it anymore.

I learned to find straight edges like rugs to cut my fabric (even though I still need practice.)

You can't learn if you don't try and I tried and I'm proud of myself for that.  And even though this cushion might get banished to the basement, I'm already thinking about how to improve on the next one.  This cushion, we'll keep for posterity and keep on moving.

I love this quote.

I snapped this picture a few minutes ago (Wednesday morning,) and by the light of day
it actually doesn't look that bad.

While this little story is not at all meant to be a sewing tutorial, maybe it can serve as a small reminder.  That even when you try and mess up, you still win if you learn something from the experience.  And yeah, if you never try you'll never mess up but there's no growth in that.  Falling down and *not* bursting into a million pieces is a pretty valuable lesson and while this is just a sewing project, I learned a few things beyond just sewing.

That makes it a good and productive day.

Good night, my friends.

A new room for New Baby

Halle-LU-yer y'all!  Nursery inspiration has done STRUCK me!  

For a minute there, I was afraid New Baby was going to get stuck with this for a nursery:

So sad.  So very very sad.

Thankfully, my second child will not have to suffer this tragic fate, as her mother is going to get it together and properly decorate her space before her arrival.  And then her mother is going to stop talking in third person because when she's talking about a bunch of girls, it's hard to know if she's referring to herself, the first girl child or the second girl child.  No seriously, she's going to stop.  Right now.  Sorry about that.  

New Baby is practicing her judo on me right now which apparently means "You don't need to sleep Mom!  Go tell people about my awesome nursery!"  Sure thing, New Baby.  You're the boss.

So when we left off talking about the nursery, I'd mentioned that I wanted to put hearts on one wall as an accent.

Like these from here

I also knew I wanted to pull the gold into other places around the nursery, and then the decorating gods smiled on me.  A while back, I was in Target and saw a side table that I absolutely fell in love with.  Originally, I wanted to put it in the living room but Drew wasn't a huge fan.  At the time, we didn't really have another place for it, Drew didn't love it, and I didn't want to pay full price for it.  THEN, yesterday Sofia and I were in Target and lo and behold, it was on clearance!

I did a happy dance, along with some 

celebratory oo-OOOOOs (it's at :37, because you don't want to hear me do it.)

Clearance, and a couple more dollars off with my Red Card?

I sure will take you home with me, my precious.

It's okay if Drew doesn't love you, I'll love you enough for the both of us.

I picked it up while Sofia was in school and made another stop to JoAnn's to see about some piping, because you're gonna LOVE what I do with that.  THEN, I rounded a corner and beheld this lovely sight.

Please envision this as a ruffled bedskirt and then please die from the cuteness possibilities.

Just like that, my hearts on the wall changed to gold polka dots and when Sofia and I came home and she went down for her nap, I ran to my computer and started scouring Pinterest.

I took this picture with my phone just after dinner tonight, but this is where the crib will live

and the dots will go on this wall.

The question is, do I make a grid, like for real with 

proper measuring and spacing and such, like this from here?

Or do I go for a fun confetti-type pattern, which will be

much more forgiving and far easier to place, 

like this from here?

I'm not sure where I'll end up, as the engineer of the house will be able to figure out grid spacing in like two seconds, but the free-spirited yoga-loving, dance in the rain type really gets the randomness, you know what I'm sayin'?

Put a gold picture frame or two on the other wall and we've got the gold covered.  As for other colors, the words that come to mind are quiet, tranquil, serene.  Sofia's nursery was and still is one of my favorite projects of all time and it truly was a labor of love.  Those bright and happy colors still make me smile.  But this time around, my age, the things I've been through in recent months and just where I am in life have me craving soft, quiet things and that's translating to muted colors.  I'm also still craving pink; I guess Sofia's big girl room didn't quite fill me up with pink, but I want an even softer quieter pink in the nursery.  I'm thinking dusty pink, antique pink, barely there pink.  Combine that with some gold and natural fibers and I believe we have the makings of a sweet little nursery.

This is the wall opposite the crib.

And here's what I'm thinking for that wall.

I have a mirror like this one, although mine doesn't have the scrolly bits.

I'm still deciding whether to leave the walls the beige-y tan color, paint one wall pink or paint the whole room pink.

I have the top right mirror, and even though it's smaller than 

my inspiration picture I bet I could make it work.

Maybe I could hang it with some pink or gold ribbon like they have on the left.

source

My other mirror option is to go big, like this from here.

You remember my big mirror that was in our old breakfast nook?

I could leave it white and paint the silver part gold or do some sort of

distressing to the whole thing to make it more shabby chic, 

modern vintage, quiet soft and serene.  

These are all technical design terms, BTW.

Now, I realize that's a lot of talk about the walls and that's mainly because I haven't found a rug yet.  However, I'm confident that the decorating gods won't let me down and I'll find the perfect rug in due time.  But I'm leaving out the final piece of the room that I'm sure of, and it's because it's the best part.  Now whether I mean best or worst when I say 'best' remains to be seen.  But I'm getting ahead of myself, so let me back up.

Nearly all nurseries have the same basic elements:  A crib, a changing table/station and a comfy chair.  I have no idea why I skipped over the basics when I was planning because New Baby's poor little nursery is missing a basic element.  The kid will have no comfy chair!  That, my friends, is NOT the business.  I have clocked many hours in Sofia's chair and she still loves to cuddle in it, so we had to have a chair in the nursery as well.  The problem is, that room is smaller than Sofia's and there's no room for a crib, dresser, twin bed *and* a chair.  That means the bed has to go.  Thankfully, it wasn't too hard of a decision as we hardly ever used the bed in Sofia's nursery; Drew and I slept in there when our parents would visit so they could have our bedroom.  Since this house is smaller, a twin bed is the best we could do and there's kind of no point to a guest bed if you can't make it at least a queen.  

When we used it as an actual guest room, there was only just enough room for 

a queen bed and a dresser.

In Sofia's nursery, we could combine the two but this time around there just isn't enough

space, so from now on, if we have guests we'll just have to kick it 

old-school with air mattresses and sleeping bags.

Not that anyone will be banging down our door to share space with a toddler and a newborn; on second thought, can I come stay with you?

Anyway, tomorrow Drew will move the twin bed to the basement and that will make room for a comfy chair.  But which comfy chair?

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This, my friends, is a Monte Luca glider, also known as 'The Chair That Desiree Would Sell All Her Worldly Possessions For.'  And what a coincidence, it costs as much as all my worldly possessions, and then some.  It would seem that I am fated to love nursery chairs that just won't love me back, as my first nursery chair love was also out of my reach.  I sighed, lovingly stroked the screen, and painfully clicked that little red x.  In another life, my beloved.  In another life.

Thus began the search for another comfy chair that would work in the nursery and I didn't have to look far.

Tilt your head and squint your eyes…

And you just might see this.

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Now, I don't intend to paint my chair as I love the burled wood and I think it would be an absolute crime to put paint over it.  However, the fabric leaves oh so much to be desired.  We got this chair at a garage sale in Dallas nearly four years ago and from the day we brought it home, we said we were going to have it reupholstered.  We've been saying that for four years because it turns out that for the price of reupholstery I could have my Monte Luca glider.  Three guesses which I'd rather have, and the first two don't count.  Plus it's hard to shell out nearly a thousand dollars to have it reupholstered when it already cost so much to buy the damn thing.  But Drew fell in love with it, didn't care how much it cost and now it lives with us.  That, as they say, is that.

Now here's the part where you want to sit down.

Since reupholstery is off the table, slipcovers are the only other option, so I made some calls.  Turns out, having a custom slipcover is only a couple hundred dollars less than reupholstery.  Again, that's not in the cards, so this is what's going to happen:

I'm going to make the slipcover.

That's right, you heard me.  Me, Desiree, the next Vera Wang.  I'm going to sew a slipcover and make a lumbar pillow for this chair.  I hemmed my jeans, for pete's sake, I can sew a slipcover!  Just like I can make some jewelry storage!  Okay, maybe the jewelry storage is a bad example, but I can do this!  I have watched the tutorial videos several times, I bought my drop cloths today and I'm going to do this before New Baby gets here.  I have to have a nursery chair and if that's the chair we're using, it has to fit in the awesome nursery I have planned for her.  And really, can't you see that lumbar pillow wrapped in that polka dotted burlap?  This could work, people.

I'm not going to back down from this challenge.  I'm even going to set reminders on my phone that ask me every week "Hey, how's that slipcover coming?"  This is going to happen and you know I'll document every bit of my progress.

Right here is kind of where I wish you and I could trade places and I could get cozy on the sofa with a glass of wine and watch this all go down.  Because…

Wish me luck!