Nesting, not just for waterfowl!

The fun stuff...setting up the nursery....There are a surprising number of emotions that come up when we set up the room that will welcome a new baby. Excitement, anticipation, warmth, nervousness, a need for perfection, and that maternal stirring so tactfully associating women with waterfowl....nesting.

So before you start I would suggest obtaining someone who can put together a wide variety of piecemeal furniture.  Even if you scored some second hand stuff, cribs in my experience do not fit through doors. I have endless video of my husband enduring me taping him while he set up the crib, change table, and dresser for our first baby. Then, prepare to assemble, this may take longer than you think! After you have all your furniture put together arrange it how you like and of course you have to add a few blankies!  I got very excited and had to put all the little clothes in the drawers, etc.  It can be very exciting!

Some may wish me to talk about decor and  design ideas, but that is more Northern Mom's territory. I would suggest a few random tips for setting up baby's room.

1. Make it a special place. Arrange and decorate so you can be comfortable there for those endless feedings and changings. A comfy chair is a good idea and even a mini stereo for music.

2. If you are short on space, a low dresser can double as a change table with one of those curved change pads. They are not expensive and have a safety buckle as well.

3. Put some pictures of your family and baby up, it wonderful to look at these change as your baby grows.

4. Enjoy yourself, This can be one of the most fun preparations for baby while you are expecting.

If you wish, you can post some fun design ideas or money saving tips for nurseries, our readers would likely find them helpful!

Thanks for reading!
Mom-of-all-trades

An add-on by Northern Mom, 

Setting up a nursery is one of the most exciting, and sometimes overwhelming, parts of being pregnant.  I've included some pictures of our nursery to show some of our favourite ideas for setting up a nursery.

 First, we chose to use a neutral color for the walls that will work for the long-term.  We've put hits of baby boy blue throughout the room in ways that can easily be changed out if we have a daughter someday or if we decide to repurpose the room.  The placement of the crib is purposeful.  It's on an inside wall, well away from the window.  This way we don't have to worry about nasty drafts causing trouble for our precious little guy.  It's also relatively close to the door so it's easy for us to peak in on sleeping baby.  You'll notice there's no bumper pad on the crib for safety reasons.  The blanket set we bought came with one so I repurposed it.  You can see it on the lamp (top left).  I simply took an old lamp that we had kicking around the house, cut part of the bumper pad out, slapped on a little hot glue, and, voila, matching lamp.  I also made the sign above the bed, which we placed high enough that baby can't reach it. 

We installed this ceiling fan just before our third son was born.  We had been having issues with the room getting really hot in the summer and needed a way to cool it down.  Our best brain wave though was to put it on a dimmer switch.  The dimmer switch makes putting baby down at bedtime and visiting him during the night a lot more relaxing and less stimulating.

I highly recommend a hook or set of hooks somewhere in the nursery.  Here you can see we've got a baby housecoat hanging on ours (what's cuter than a baby housecoat?).  We also use it everyday to hang his sleep sack for the day.  Something to consider when you're shopping for your upcoming arrival.  Sleep sacs are a great alternative to blankets.  Experienced parents will tell you that it's common for babies to pull blankets up onto their faces and get "trapped" under them, kick blankets off causing them to get cold and disrupt their sleep, or simply get tangled up in them.  Sleep sacks are a great way to keep baby warm without worrying about any of these problems.  They're basically sleeping bags that the baby wears like a pair of overalls.  We love them!

I really wanted to show you the rug underneath our change table.  This serves a couple of purposes.  The first, and most important, is for safety.  It's a great idea to put soft floor coverings in front of the change table.  Obviously you don't intend for baby to fall off the change table but, accidents can happen and a soft rug can cushion a fall.  The second purpose is for your tootsies.  Guess what?  You're going to be standing at that change table a lot.  A lot.  A lot.  So why not have warm, comfy tootsies.

This is the amazing change table that my husband made for me when we were expecting our first.  I'll just point out a few things.  First, the change pad is exactly what Mom-Of-All-Trades was talking about.  We just put a store-bought cover over top.  Most of the time we have another rectangular change pad on top so if it gets soiled we can just toss it into the laundry and and pop a new one under baby.  We purposefully chose to have removable boxes rather than drawers.  I'm able to grab any box and pop it onto the table beside me with one hand so everything is at my fingertips.  We also made a spot for the laundry hamper so it would be easy to to clean up.  With the laundry right there I never have to go back into the nursery later to pick up dirty clothes from the floor.  I'll also point out the basket on top of the change table.  It's full of diapers.  Every couple of days I refill it so the diapers are always at my fingertips.  It also allows me to keep the boxes of diapers tucked in the closet so the nursery always looks neat and tidy.  Tucked behind the box of diapers is a tupperware container for homemade baby wipes.  I have a great recipe for this that I can share at a later date.

So, that's how we laid out our nursery.  We did our nursery remodel when we were expecting our third son so we knew what worked and didn't work for us.  I'm finally really satisfied with what we have.  I want to point out too that, with the exception of the change table, everything in the nursery is second hand and given to us by others.  So, a coat of paint and matching door pulls gave us a "new" nursery.  With a little elbow grease and some creativity you can have the beautiful nursery of your dreams for very little cost.  We've also built up the "stuff" in our nursery over the birth of three children so I can tell you that you can get by with very little.  If you don't have a lot of money make sure you have some diapers (cloth saves you money), wipes (you can make your own for pennies), a few sleepers, some receiving blankets, and you'll find you can get by if you're nursing.  If you aren't planning to nurse 3-6 bottles will get you by as well.  Then you can wait to see what you get for gifts and fill in the rest over time.  Baby clothes and products are often great to buy second hand because infants put very little wear and tear into things.  Often second hand baby products are in great shape.  The only true "must-have" product that I would recommend you buy new is a car seat.  You will not be allowed to drive away from the hospital without one.

Happy nesting!

Northern Mom

Sharing a Common Vision

Hi there!  I’m so excited about today’s blog because it has something for everybody.  It’s a great exercise for families but it can also be done at any life stage whether you’re a single, a newlywed, a small family, a large family, or even empty nesters.

This is the second in our series on parenting fundamentals.  Last time we talked about the worthwhile work of motherhood and how important it is to identify what it is that fuels us to invest so much into our children.  Today I want to talk about the next stone in our foundation - sharing a common goal. 

To do this I want to walk you through the process of creating a vision/mission statement for your family.  Just as a business creates a mission statement to encompass the values of their business you’ll be creating your own mission statement to encompass your own values.  In addition we’ll add the twist of putting some vision for the future into it as well.

Step One: Identify Your Values

First sit down either individually, as a couple, or as a family if your children are older, and list your top five values.  Values are the things in life that are most important to you.  It could be faith, friends, health, security.  It could even be money, fun, etc.  Everyone values different things so it’s okay if your lists show a little variation.  Then share your lists with each other.  Discuss as a family where your lists line up and, together, make a list of your top five shared values. 

Step Two: Write Your Vision/Mission Statement

Using your family’s top five list of values create a vision/mission statement for your family.  Write it as though it is already in place even if you haven’t achieved it yet.  That’s where the vision part comes in.  For example, if one of your top five values was financial security but you’re currently deep in debt write something like “Our family is debt-free and is secure in our finances.  We live below our means but above our needs and are able to give generously to those in need”.    Work your values into your vision/mission statement, writing and re-writing until everyone at the table is happy with what you’ve come up with.  Remember this is a fluid document, meaning it is going to change with time and circumstance.  You’ll likely find that you’ll change your vision/mission statement as you change life stages.  Write your vision/mission statement on a piece of paper and post it where everyone in the family can see it.  In our house it’s posted in our “command centre”.  In other words, next to the calendar!  That way we are constantly reminded not only of who we are as a family but also where we’re going.  To give you an example let’s say your family’s top five shared values were respect, health, financial security, creativity, and community.  Your vision/mission statement might read something like, “Our family is respectful of others and respected by others.  Individually we are always considerate of each other’s needs.  We take care of our bodies through a good diet and plenty of exercise.  We are active and energetic.  Our family is debt-free and secure in our finances.  We live below our means but above our needs and are able to give generously to those in need.  We think outside the box and encourage each other to try new things.  We create art in many different mediums.  Our family is active in our community.  We volunteer and support local causes”.

Step Three: Create a Family Charter

Now you can use your list of values and your vision/mission statement to create a family charter.  Your family charter is basically just a list of rules to live by in your household.  Some of what’s on that list will be broad rules used to develop character.  The top two “rules” on our family charter are “everyone deserves respect” and “pets are people too”.  As your children get older you can add things like, “no toys at the table”.  Again, this is a living document that will continuously change as your circumstances do.

Step Four: Formulate Some Goals

The final step is to formulate some goals to make the vision part of that vision/mission statement become a reality.  A simple way to begin is by writing statements of need identified by the vision/mission statement.  What part of your vision/mission statement are you not currently achieving?  List these as statements of need.  For example, “We need to become financially secure”.  Then from there you can start formulating goals.  Remember when you write goals they should be SMART.  Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Result-Oriented, and Time-Specific.  For the statement of need above you might write a goal like, “Our family will be debt free in five years”.  Another goal might be about being creative such as, “Each member of our family will enroll in an art class in September”.  Once you’ve written the goal add a list of tasks that are required to achieve that goal and assign a person responsible for that task.  Again, using our financial example, tasks might include, create a budget, speak to a financial counsellor, snowball debt payoff, etc.  These goals should help you to make your vision/mission statement a reality for your family.

My family completed this exercise just after the birth of our eldest son, five years ago.  It was a great experience for us.  We encourage you to do the same.  For my husband and I we were able to finally determine the direction we wanted to go and started to have a much easier time moving in that direction together.  I believe that having a shared vision has increased our ability to work independently of each other without jeopardizing our future goals.  We have an easier time staying on the same page so to speak because we have so clearly discussed and outlined what that page is and we review where we are in the process.  I strongly encourage you to take the time to do this process regardless of your circumstance.  This is a great exercise for single people and couples without children too.  It’s a really great exercise to have your children who are about to leave home do for themselves.  Once you’ve done it for your family plan to review it from time to time.  You could review it annually, or every time you change life stages (adding a child, getting married, a child moves out, etc).  Having a shared vision for your family is an excellent way to unify yourselves and give your children a feeling of ownership over your home and family.

This week’s assignment: Schedule some time to go through this exercise with your family and, if you’re comfortable, share all or part of your family’s vision/mission statement with us here.

Preggo....not the spaghetti sauce.

Pregnancy, most of us have to go through it to have children.  If you boil it down, someone has to experience pregnancy for there to be a child.  Whether it's your first child or your fifth, a surrogate is having a baby for your family, or you are adopting a child, pregnancy has had to happen at some point!

You can read in numerous books and online about the stages of pregnancy and we all have seen the pregnant woman on TV who craves pickles and peanut butter.  However, along with the physical changes our bodies go through during pregnancy, what is talked about on a smaller scale is the emotions and thoughts that can go through your brain, (which is soaked in hormones of course).

I can only speak of my own two pregnancies, but I know that the anxieties and the excitement was nonstop.  Anxiety about "can I handle this?" the first time and "how will my first child react" the second time.  I had a very physically "easy" pregnancy in comparison to others, meaning I had little to no morning sickness and with the exception of near the end, was relatively comfortable throughout.  So I had a lot of time to talk and think about my emotions and thoughts surrounding the pregnancy.  Along with the worries of how things would turn out, including labour; what resonates with me is that unbelievable feeling of having a life growing inside of me.  That may sound cliche but anyone who has been pregnant knows there is nothing like it.  I remember my husband even admitting that he was a bit jealous that he couldn't physically feel that connection that I already had with our babies.  That is probably why his hand never left my belly both pregnancies :-)  Well, here I am getting all sentimental about my own pregnancies.  This could be a very long post if I don't get down to something actually helpful to our readers. 

So.... without further adieu here are my own personal twice tried, twice true tips on pregnancy to help you and your family get the most out of a very special time.

1. As much as physically possible, enjoy! Show off that belly and be proud of it, maternity clothes have joined us in the 21st century and if you have a few good friends you can share them and not have to spend a fortune.

2. Eat as healthy as possible, but remember if you have junk food once and a while it's not the end of the world.

3. Prenatal classes can be helpful, or even a good pregnancy book.  It can help with not only practical questions, but to help you feel even more connected to the process.

4. Walk, it is the best form of exercise a pregnant woman can do apparently.  But if you are walking in the winter make sure you have a good pair of boots.

5. I hate to say it but anyone who has had a baby has to admit...Kegels.  Those little exercises are something you will never regret.  Especially when jumping on a trampoline...

6. Lastly, without getting into all of the labour and delivery business, be open to the fact that anything can happen.  It is important to know what you think you want when you go into the delivery room in terms of drugs/surgical procedures, but equally important to be prepared for that to all be turned upside down in the name of you and your babies safety.

An assignment to those who would like to:
Post your number one pregnancy tip and describe how it "bettered" your pregnancy experience!


Mom of all trades.