Getting Ready for Baby

I've been thinking a little more about how to make space for our new baby. We have lived in this house for 4 years now, and have tailored it to meet our needs as a homeschool family of 4.  We will have to get creative to make space for this little one.

And I have decided that I honestly do not have a clue.

We are thinking about making a bedroom out of our upstairs living room (the "common room"), but it will be so small, I'm not sure the effort is worth it.  Technically, this is a 3 bedroom house, but we have made one bedroom our school room, and I refuse to give that up. It is a perfect set up for our homeschooling needs.

I would really love to add on a bedroom downstairs for Dustin and I. But that is simply not in the budget, and I don't think there's really a good space to do that anyway.

In the meantime, I've been making lists of things to buy, things to borrow, and things to do to get ready for the new addition. I'm starting early because I doubt I will have much energy and flexibility to do these things later in the pregnancy. This pregnancy is progressing quite a bit faster than the first two and my discomfort is already slowly rising. And what with an easy summer with little to do, I'd like to see a lot of things get taken care of now before I start school with the girls later in August. (In August, by the way, I will be meeting with our new pediatrician to see if I like her. Our last pediatrician retired, but I didn't like him anyway. The girls really do not need to go in for physicals anymore, so I didn't spend much time looking around for a new one this year, but with a baby on the way, we need one. So I got some recommendations and went ahead and scheduled an appointment for Claire; this way I can actually see the doctor in true form. I'm thinking about scheduling a physical for Lara with another recommendation to see which I like best. ;))

So for now, probably, the common room will be converted into a small nursery. This is a huge project and I'm not sure it will get done this year. But I've already got decor ideas, paint colors, and nursery themes picked out. I just got my pack and play out of the dust and grime and mice that is our garage, and breathed a sigh of relief that I have all the bassinet and diapering parts still intact. We will keep this downstairs, along with our rocking chair, so we do not have to go upstairs every time to change baby's diaper or rock Baby to sleep. My sister-in-law is lending me her pack and play and we will probably use this in our bedroom until Baby is consistently sleeping in the crib.

I still have all my nursery furniture and other baby stuff, but I do want to get a changing table this time. It was time to throw away our 8 year old car seats, but a good friend came to my rescue with two nice, and fairly new car seats. We call them our "Ukranian car seats" because our friends had used them during their many years living abroad in Ukraine.

Which reminds me. Please do not make me get a mini van...