exit, pursued by bear

it's a boy!

Now that our child is one month old, I think it's time to introduce the little man to everyone!

Charles Henry (Charlie to his friends) arrived fifteen days late, on May 30, at 4:56 PM. He was 7 pounds, 15 ounces and 22 inches long.

After 44 hours or so of labor, we were very glad when he finally made his appearance ;o)

Here's his one month photo - he's such a cute little man - we are so in love with our little Charlie Bean:

Look at those feet! Enormous, I say!

More soon, I promise there won't be another big long hiatus ;o)

Knobs.

I've been meaning to write this post for ages now, but I could never come up with a clever post title about knobs/drawer pulls that didn't sound vaguely suggestive. Not that I have a problem with vaguely suggestive titles, but it seemed a little out of place for this particular subject matter.

As I've mentioned before, we chose IKEA's Hemnes three drawer chest in white, to use for storage and as a changing table. I've heard people worry about the height of the dresser being a bit too tall for a changing table (it's 38 1/4") - I'm 5'3" and so far it seems okay ... not that I have any practical experience yet, but it doesn't feel like it's an awkward height.

I knew I wanted to change the drawer pulls/knobs - I found these hand painted ones on etsy that are just darling, they are painted to match the Land of Nod "All Creatures Great and Small" crib bedding. I love that bedding - I actually have the crib sheets and changing pad cover as "spares," but I knew I didn't want to buy a full bedding set, so this was a great way to incorporate the design into the nursery:

"Set of 8 Hand Painted Children's Drawer Pulls/Nail Covers-Land of Nod All Creatures Great and Small Style," from etsy seller MonkeyBabyBoutique}

Aren't they cute?! She does drawer pulls to match other popular baby bedding styles, including from Pottery Barn. Definitely check it out!

these changing times ...

Despite the pregnancy widget's announcement on my blog sidebar, congratulations are not quite in order yet. I'm still here, still pregnant. I'm 40 weeks and 3 days at this point. Honestly, I feel fine. I'm not uncomfortable, still sleeping relatively well - no contractions, not even Braxton Hicks, no progress, nothing - this baby is content to stay put for the time being.

If things were different, I'd be a bit more anxious about my progress (or lack thereof) - but I'm happy for now to let things move along at their own pace.

Anyway!

So, I haven't really mentioned it here, but the current plan, once the baby is here, is to cloth diaper said baby. I say "plan" very loosely, because I'm really not the type of person who lives or dies by hard and fast rules - nor do I want to stake my claim, flag and all, on a mountain named "THE PLAN." Mostly because I AM a person who hates to admit defeat - so if I never wed myself to one PLAN, that means if it doesn't work out, I haven't failed - right? ;o)

So - as I said, my intentions are to cloth diaper this baby of ours - and if it works out, great! If not ... well, I'll be disappointed and then I'll move on with my life, lol. But for now, here's how our current newborn diaper stash is shaping up:

The basket on the left contains fitteds - on the right, we have sized all-in-ones (newborn/extra-small), plus covers - I also have a few one-size fitteds in the back. In the front on the left are half a dozen organic cotton newborn sized prefolds (the other half dozen are in the second drawer). I also have some two-sided cloth wipes and some travel sized wet bags - plus one of those baby grooming/health care kits. Plus assorted diaper creams/lotions/potions that are not really cloth diapering "safe," but I figured I can use with a liner or similar.

Here's a bit of a breakdown:

• Fitteds: Kissaluv size 0's, one newborn sized Muttaqin that I bought used (super cute dog print!), plus two one size Goodmamas.
• Sized all-in-ones: BumGenius (XS), Sposoeasy (XS + S, bought used), plus fabulous custom Muttaqin in fab sushi print (need to take a separate picture)
• Covers: mostly Thirsties Duo Wraps (Size 1), plus one or two regular Thirsties covers (XS, S). I also have an awesome one-size snap diaper cover from etsy seller brookiellen in a very hip "mix tape" fabric.
• Prefolds: one dozen Cloth-eez® Organic Prefold Diapers (Newborn, orange-edged) from Green Mountain Diapers. Snappis are in the basket on top of the dresser.
• Wipes: Thirsties fab wipes (not pictured in drawer, they're in a basket on top of the dresser - love the fun colors!) and two-sided wipes from Green Mountain Diapers. Half are in the drawer, pictured, the other half are in the wipes warmer on top of the dresser, waiting to be moistened with water and some soap bits that I bought from etsy seller WeeEssentials.

I think we'll start with fitteds, prefolds and covers - with all-in-ones mixed in for day care use and when we're on-the-go. I also have baskets with larger diaper sizes in the closet, ready to go - those are filled mainly with BumGenius one-size, BumGenius Organic AIO one-size (bought used), larger Sposoeasies (used), some sized Thirsties AIOs (used), etc. Once we're passed the fitted/prefold stage, I think we'll transition mostly to pocket dipes and AIOs.

The large wet bag on the back of the door is how we're currently planning on handling dirty diapers, pre-laundry stage (don't worry, I'm sure the diaper bags will have relocated by that point). I have spare large wet bags in the closet, too. The one in the picture I bought used on Hyena Cart's Spots' Corner - couldn't not resist the awesome Heather Ross goldfish print. I just really didn't want to take up extra floor space with a diaper pail and liner, so I'm hoping this works. I've heard from several people that a large, properly sealed wet bag will work just as well, so here's hoping.

So that's the "plan," such as it is.

Questions, comments, difficulties?

nursery: the OTHER, other half.

Apologies in advance, these photos are a bit shadow-y.

Closet - with Baby Bean outfits!

Closet with curtain (we removed the closet door, just to give us a bit more room to maneuver in the nursery):

Here's a look at the closet fabric up-close:

My mom whipped up that curtain in no time - I could not believe it. It took her like 20 minutes. She is a sewing whiz.

Just another look at the table, lamp, shelf and - most importantly - hedgehog clock!

Back of door, with diaper bags and a hanging wet bag (with goldfish on it!):

more bunting.

I didn't make the bunting that hangs in the nursery - I bought it from two different etsy sellers. After we hung the first strand, I wanted to add more (more bunting!), featuring some colors other than just yellow and aqua. (The lovely aqua and yellow bunting that is shown in the other nursery pictures is from etsy seller HollieLollie).

So I ordered some "mini" bunting from etsy seller knottednest. I requested three strands of bunting, in three different fabric colorways: "Underwater Blues and Greens", "Bright Tropical", and "Gorgeous Greens."

I of course, didn't pay attention to the length, so they were shorter than I anticipated, but I fixed that problem by stringing them together. This actually worked out perfectly, since the tied together trio ended up being approximately the same length of the original bunting.

So here's how the bunting currently looks:

a crib with a view.

nursery: the other half.

Sort of. It's hard to take pictures when the room is only 9x9 ;o)

nursery sneak peek.

The lovely Diana edited some of the pictures I took of the nursery, so I thought I'd quickly share one of my faves:

spot on.

Ultimately, I went a different route for the nursery rug, opting for a polka dot pattern, rather than the faux bois that I had originally chosen. Mostly because we sort of veered away from a strict theme for the nursery, and the woodgrain look didn't really fit as well with the other colors and patterns that we were using.

Snagged this Pottery Barn rug from eBay for a great price (I think the design is from last season). The seller had a ton of great, new PB rugs. Since I got in a 3x5 size, there's only two rows of dots, but it still super cute in the room:

stroll on.

Have I mentioned how excited I am about our fancily stroller?

{2010 Bumbleride Flyer in Spice}

Everyone seems to have a different opinion about what they want when it comes to strollers, and I obviously had no idea what was going to work for us, but I really liked the features, the style and the price of this particular Bumbleride model.

It was more than I originally had intended on spending, but since we went with inexpensive nursery furniture and have been very careful with our baby budget, I was comfortable splurging a bit. Plus, we received some money towards our stroller purchase at one of our showers, so it ended up working out well.

I think my favorite feature of the stroller is the reversible handles that flip around so you can have the baby face you:

We also registered for and received the "carrycot," which is a portable, detachable bassinet. Very excited about this accessory. It allows an infant to lay flat, so the stroller turns into a pram. You can then remove the carrycot from the stroller and take it with you, turning it into a portable travel bed/bassinet:

If we need to, we can also attach our infant car seat to the frame - so the stroller also functions as a sort of travel system. I think we'll primarily use the car seat stroller frame (snap n' go) early on, but I think the Bumbleride will be very easy to incorporate into our daily routine. The whole stroller folds down flat really well, it's easy to maneuver and very lightweight. 

I realize this post is not very exciting, but I just had to share my love for our new stroller :o)

Can't wait to try it out with Baby Bean!