Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Building a Baby Dresser and The Longest To-Do List Since Wedding Planning

I have a huge list of things to finish before baby. It's three pages long. Typed. I assigned one task to every day until our due date, with the third page being "extra" tasks that didn't get assigned to a certain day. There were not enough days.

How much can possibly be left to do? I mean, the fox mobile has been built.

Well. Between attending weekly childbirth classes, hospital paperwork, showers, cleaning, washing, shopping and returning, organizing, thank-you's, cooking freezer meals, insurance changes, and random house projects to finish, there are plenty of to-do's. Jon has been busy crossing his things off the list, too. 

See what he built!


Because you can never have too much storage.

And because how great is he??

I mean, today I crossed off "pack hospital snack bag for Jon." Except I could only halfway cross it off, because I forgot to buy Starbursts. The list asks for Starbursts ... don't argue with the list. So in comparison to my failure at the simplest task of purchasing artificially flavored processed sugars, Jon produced this:

building a dresser

PRETTAYYY fancy to change diapers on top of!

He drew up the plans himself, a regular Norm Abrams. He probably has no idea who that is. Actually, a few times he would call me out to the garage to look at something (I can say this because he never reads this) and would say look! I am doing this the way your dad taught me! It was the sweetest thing ever. Dad, I hope you're reading this.

All I did for this project was come along to Sears a few times hoping they had free popcorn (no), and pick out the hardware on eBay. I showed the eBay picture to Jon and asked what he thought of them.

Jon - I hate them.


Well. Let me rephrase my question as a statement. Jon, I am ordering these handles.
Jon - What? I said I hate them.
Me - You will like them when they come.
Jon - No.
Me - I am fairly certain. That you will like them in real life.
Jon - I don't know why you bother asking me if --
Me - Oh look! Free 2 day shipping. (Click). They will be here in 2 days.

white dresser for nursery

They ended up being about $5 each.

Jon likes them.

I knew he would come around. That's why I love him enough to pack him a VIP snack bag that he can eat in front of me while I am restricted to surgical clear liquids and mostly likely wondering why I want to have a baby without an epidural when I made sure to be unconscious to get my wisdom teeth pulled.

There are a few bigger things left on the list. Choosing childcare. Repairing the side of our house where the neighbor's trampoline crash landed during a 90 mph wind storm this summer. Cleaning out the "guest room" (a euphemism for our island of misfit belongings ... sombrero's, shooting targets, fishing paraphernalia, half-crafted crafts...).

And the last item on the list, assigned to our due date: Pick a name.

Sunday, September 07, 2014

Making a Fox Mobile: Nursery Progress

We've been busy putting together a woodland nursery for our little boy coming in October. I guess I hadn't been spending enough time browsing nursery themes on Pinterest or Etsy, but I didn't realize that forest animals were such a popular thing for baby's rooms lately. At least it's not chevron... ugh.

One project we planned together was a mobile for above the crib featuring origami foxes. Or, "The Foxmobile," as we have been calling it.


I was in charge of a few months of casually folding origami foxes. I bought the paper on amazon and it came a little brighter than I was imagining, but it's a kid's room. He is allowed bright orange. I'm no seasoned origami expert, but I was able to follow Mark Leonard's origami fox pattern which is found here.


Jon was in charge of assembly, and I am blissfully unaware of the details. I am sure he found the most complicated way to reach the most perfect foxmobile setup. His original design involved a three tier fox chandelier of sorts ... which I requested we simplify. In the end, he strung a small washer inside each fox and dangled them from fishing line, which knotted up to a wooden frame that looks like a 4-pane window. There was also some business involving him crawling around the attic, purpose unclear.


In the end, the fox mobile turned out perfect for the space. They don't tangle when the fan is on, and I don't hit my head on fifteen foxes when I (pretend to) lean over and put a baby in the crib.


I asked my little nephew over skype if he could tell what animal it was. Without hesitation, he replied, "A RAT!" Yes. A mobile of orange rats. Because why not??
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