I do have a dresser that I could use, I'm not sure how it all works like if it would be wide enough? I don't know much about babies. My sister recommended the peanut changing pad which you can see here perched on a hemnes:

My daughter purchased a dresser/changing table combo. You can remove the changing table when it's no longer needed and you have a plain dresser to use indefinitely.

A big YES on that waterproof changing pad. That is brilliant and I wish I had seen it when my kids were babies. I can't tell you how many times I had to wash our fabric changing pad because of blow outs, spills, leaks, whatever. I probably had to buy a new cover every 3-4 months because of stains.

Hello everybody! Just checking in to say I think I've chosen a wall color - BM Rainforest Dew (center under the painting - Pale Sea Mist top right was my runner up but looks a little overbold at night).

And I have ordered a set of light aqua blackout curtains to try. I still can't quite let go of my love for ridiculous floral curtains but I am trying to be fiscally responsible. This is not going to stop me from going to the fabric store tonight though.

I picked up this cute little blanket at Value Village because it encapsulates the color scheme I am going for.

Great picks!

Are you getting a mobile? So many cute ones on etsy.

Perfect you now have the blanket to guide your choices. I like where you're headed....such a pretty palette.

OH The blanket is so pretty. It looks like the room will be a very happy and serene room. You will need serene when you're up at 3 am feeding. :)

I used an old dresser for a changing table. The width will be fine it is the height that might be troublesome. You don't want your back to go out!! My DH built a table that fit over our dresser. It gave us the extension up we needed for our backs and created storage between the table and the dresser for diapers. I bought thin table cloth material at the fabric store and made a lot of changing pad covers. For sure you want them non absorbent!!! I went with a Rainbow, Noah's ark theme so it was not difficult to find coordinating BRIGHTS. Mobiles are a MUST and the hot air balloons are adorable! I Velcroed a cloth ark and animals over my changing table. It kept my babies hands busy while I cleaned up. Both mom and baby stayed happy and it was super easy to slap the animals back on the wall when done!!

I definitely want a mobile! I am NOT a crafter. But I do enjoy these homemade bird mobiles and I do have a lot of fabric samples kicking around.

I heard that a mobile can help make changing time easier.

I love the bird mobile!

blfenton - this is exactly what the lady at the paint store said. She said forget how the color looks in daytime because it's at 3am that you'll be staring at the walls!

I heard that a mobile can help make changing time easier.

Babies are all different. My first son paid no attention to his Mobile. For my second baby I made a bold graffic patterns black and white mobile that I could detach and clamp to other things. He loved that mobile. That child needed lots of stimulation. First child was content with a hug and a smile.

http://www.rosenberryrooms.com/749-myroom-changing-station-with-pad.html?utm_source=googlepepla&utm_medium=adwords&id=205409690905&_vsrefdom=adwords&gclid=COLPxsObmNQCFYaFswod5NUNVg#

Here's an example of the hemnes three drawer with a changing pad on top. I do happen to have a three drawer (white) and an eight drawer (black brown) at the cottage that I could steal. The eight drawer would be a son of a gun to move but it is also little-used (we have a big closet there where we stash most stuff).

First, a big congrats! How exciting and wonderful!

Second, I would not get long curtains but cordless blinds. My kids would have been swinging on the curtains.

As far as changing table, we ditched it quickly with the first one and changed our kids on a pad on the floor. Much safer. (Also, our changing table was much deeper than the dressers, so you didn't have the pad sidewards.)

As far as bedding, I got these sleeping bags from Europe. No worries about lost blankets and it slowed them down, once they started climbing out the crib.

My sister has some sleep sacks and they are so cute. When the baby was littler and transitioning out of swaddling they got a sumo type one that was weighted down and it was hilarious.

Robo, that sack is the Baby Merlin Magic Suit. My daughter used them for her kids that weren't the best sleepers.

Robo.....btw.....how are YOU doing? How is the pregnancy going so far? Morning sickness? Cravings? Tired? Hope you are feeling well!

Wow - how did I miss this news! Congratulations - so happy for you!!

Agree with everybody on the dresser instead of a changing table. If you have a wiggle worm you won't want to change Squirmy high up on a changing table and it'll be useless. We had the Hemnes 3-drawer dresser and a pad on top and it worked out well.

Pro tip #2: ANCHOR your furniture to the walls. We used an angle bracket and bolted the dresser to the wall. No worries about it falling over on baby. You can also anchor the changing pad to the wall or dresser.

Agree with the curtain poster who made a baby proofing point. Decorating with baby proofing in mind will save you and your family so much unnecessary stress. I had one friend who refused to baby proof. Her children broke many of her lovely antiques--just by being kids--and she remained furious with them for years. Another friend never thought to put a high up bolt on her front door. Toddler got out and was 4 blocks away when they found him (thankfully unharmed).

I was just thinking today that I have many bookshelves that I need to anchor!

Oh my dear, I hope I don't have a runner. When I was a toddler I escaped my family's house twice, both times in the middle of the night in the winter. One time the milkman had to let me back in the house. The other I was found in an empty neighbour's house, playing with her Barbies. Good thing I left footprints in the snow!

About baby proofing, I have a very active and fairly destructive young dog so there has been much puppy proofing already. But I have the advantage of being able to lock the puppy away in her room when she gets too rambunctious and I don't think they take kindly to that with little kids.

How am I doing? Great! Happily enjoying second trimester honeymoon of relatively lots of energy and being able to eat again! I'm quite nervous because I have a long history to get to this point and consequently I'm older, or as they say in the pregnancy world, geriatric.

But I have decided for my mental health just to proceed as if I am a normal pregnant lady, which is what my doctors assure me I am now. I just think living in fear is counterproductive so I'm trying not to as best I can.

I have the good fortune to be hooked up with a great, proactive hospital based prenatal clinic. I really love my OB/GYN who also saw me through dealing with infertility, he is young and very evidence-based which I appreciate. He also is conscientious and willing to listen but doesn't hesitate to very frank about the risks and benefits of different approaches. All the girls at the fertility clinic have big crushes on him (but he is too young for me). He was trying to gently break the news to me that I may not have full control over where, when, or how birth happens. These days I guess they rarely let older fertility patients go over 40 weeks and often induce a little early because we are at higher risk for Low levels of amniotic fluid, hi blood pressure, sluggish baby and other late term complications. I imagine that a lot of older first time moms have very definite opinions on how they want things to roll out. I told him that I'm not wedded to any method time or place as long as there are a lot of drugs involved. And a healthy baby. And drugs.

If all goes well, I am so old now that this likely will be my only kid which is not how I had envisioned things, but I'm really happy that I have a nephew living close by who will be only a year older. Hoping that if all goes well the cousins can spend lots of time together and have a pseudo-sibling relationship. It's crazy how family structure changes over time. My mom had nine siblings, I had two sibs and dozens of cousins, and this kid will have max three or four cousins and likely no siblings.

Thanks for the update, Robo. Sometimes, decisions are made for us. You have a doctor that you have confidence in and he will guide you through the process.

Best wishes.

Child Safety: I wonder at this "anchoring" furniture. Where did that come from? Is it that furniture is lighter weight? Children are less supervised? In the history of child rearing before the last five years I have never heard toppling furniture was an issue. It certainly was not mentioned ever in the "prepping for baby" books I read back in the '90's while pregnant. It certainly never was an issue when raising our three offspring. My nursery/children's rooms had only valances so curtains could not be pulled down/climbed. Roller shades so no cords could choke, no lamps so outlets/cords could not be accessed/ pulled over, no push-able chairs for climbing, no hardware that little toes and hands could use as a climbing wall. If it couldn't be played with it was not in reach or in the room for that matter except for diapering needs that were kept out of sight. We found putting a board two feet high at the base of the closet to be a safer "toy box" than one that had a lid. Shut the closet doors and mess out of sight. We had no electronics in said rooms for the same reason, no cords, outlets were covered. The dimmer switch on the over head light replaced any NEED for subdued lighting for late night feedings. I guess it was a happy coincidence that DH is handy at making furniture and oak his is wood of choice. Never once did I witness/experience a little one almost toppling a book shelf or dresser, as one hears is a very real issue these days.

Congratulations Robo !!!!!

Congratulations!

A big congratulations to robo!

arcy_gw

Just because you didn't hear of it, doesn't mean that it's not a very real danger. I've had 2 of mine pull out the drawers and then climb up which tips the dresser over. I'm sure some of it has to do with the furniture being cheaper quality now.

I don't think the accidents have anything to do with the children being less supervised now. If anything, they are much more supervised than when I grew up. A kid can get seriously hurt in 3 mins of you taking you r eye of them.

The bottom line is if it prevents an accident, why wouldn't you do it?

Congratulations! I love your color scheme. Yes, definitely anchor any furniture that might possibly be pulled over. I read a blog post a few years ago by a mom who shared how their toddler daughter died after pulling a dresser over onto herself while the parents were sleeping. A coworker's child died when he pulled a large TV off a stand and it fell on top of him. I think all IKEA dressers, chests, bookcases, etc. come with anchors these days, and if not, you can get the anchors at hardware stores. Better safe than sorry.

arcy - I do think part of it is relative weight of furniture these days. It's a lot easier to pull over a 30 lb pine IKEA dresser than the 100lb curly maple monstrosity my grandfather made me. And part is just increased attention to safety -- safety has improved so much that we can afford to pay increased attention to preventing even rare tragedies (41 furniture tipping fatalities in 2011 compared about 773 drownings per year in children under 14), I think motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of accidental death in the 0-19 age group.

arcy - here's a video for you to watch - 2-year-old saves twin trapped under toppled dresser

OMG remember the other video about the twins partying all night long? Made me laugh and laugh.

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Toddler-Twins-Party-Crib-Overnight-Sleep-Viral-Nanny-Cam-Parents-416558243.html

Glad you're feeling well and enjoying the pregnancy!

Got some fabrics for bird mobile. Buying the fabric is the hardest part, right? :D

Curtains came and although a little darker than I expected, I'm satisfied with the color and they block a lot of light. Found these cute tree canvases in my basement, too.

i am going to hem the curtains up to windowsill to minimize climbing.

Funny you should mention the weight of furniture. I was on the phone with my granddaughter and she became alarmed (I could tell by her voice) Then she said "omg Dylan just pulled the very heavy coffee table a few feet away from where it was." He's nine months. The thin tvs. HAVE to be secured either to the wall or screwed in to the cabinet. You can never be too careful.

I love every choice you have made! What a bright and beautiful room it will be.

Which color paint is the one you chose? The top or the bottom next to the curtain?

Love the fabrics for the mobile (although I'd probably burst into tears if I had to spend 4 bucks per fat quarter lol). The curtain color looks great and the tree canvasses are really nice looking. This is going to be one terrific room (and belated congratulations)!

Those are going to be some cute birdies on that mobile. Love the curtains.

Thanks! The paint colour isn't visible in that picture but it is a little lighter than the top right sample. I'm going to get my husband to paint so plan for that to take a few months.

Black brown or white dresser? It is going to be the big size either way.

I had another question that now escapes me.

Oh yeah, what do you think of this slipcover? My problem is I have a rocking chair and rocking footstool to slip cover, but nice footstool slipcovers apparently do not exist.

Psst...

If anyone has any estions-quay about my idea (the ower-shay), please email me at MtnRdRedux@gmail.com

Haha

Thanks mtn :) so do you think that brown dresser is a good idea?

Brown for a boy, white for a girl? If you're not going to find out I'd go with white. My youngest son had white IKEA furniture...I liked how it went with any color scheme as he got older and we changed things and how it kept the room bright and airy.

For no clear justifiable reason.....

I like white a lot, and the thing about white furniture is, to me, it looks really good even if it is the modest, simple Ikea pieces fiberboard, etc..

I like brown too. I am not sure why, but when it comes to dark brown, I find i like it less in Ikea styles. I like dark brown only if it is sort of matte finish and antique-y looking. Like the bed in AKTillery's May 18, 2017 at 1:25PM post.

Congratulations! I endorse an IKEA crib. We had a pricey crib for ds, purchased by my parents. Then the safety standards changed (no more drop sides) and I couldn't bring myself to re-use his crib knowing there had been safety issues. So we bought an IKEA crib. Best decision ever. Inexpensive, worked perfectly. We also bought one of the pricier IKEA mattresses (still cheap compared to others) and felt like it was a very good choice as well. I actually also bought some IKEA crib sheets as back ups and they were nicer than I expected.

I also endorse a dresser instead of a changing table. My oldest was over a year when we adopted him and I never once changed him anywhere but the floor or ground--he was way too wiggly and strong. Then we adopted dd as a newborn, but she rolled over at 4 weeks 4 days. So again, super wiggly baby that I always changed on the floor or ground.

Definitely anchor furniture. You never know what they will do. It's worth a little time and money for the extra safety. I had a neighbor who traded babysitting with me and her first was very calm, walked late, followed rules, etc. WHen she was pregnant with her second, she said, if my next one is like your dd I'm going to have to actually baby proof, aren't I? I laughed and said YES!

Not about the nursery, but my advice on baby gear is to put some thought and money into carriers and strollers. I had a freehand mei tai, a pikkolo carrier and an ergo with dd. They all got a ton of use and made my life so much better. And I had a series of high quality strollers, which again got a ton of use and made my life so much better. The Bob stroller we had with ds got over 10,000 miles of use as I walked miles with it daily. Worth every penny!

For baby gear advice in general, the forums at the baby bargains book website were invaluable to me.

Also....white doesnt show the dust...lol. Ok...I am older than you and retired and while I do clean regularly, I loathe my espresso furniture in the LR...never again...I have to dust it 2-3 times a week. I have some white IKEA pieces in the den and I could go weeks without dusting in there. At least if someone drops by I don't have to worry about the den, while I'm cringing if I haven't dusted the LR.

Mtn I will have to find some vintage frames!

Crl, thank you for the gear recommendations! My sister has the Bob and she absolutely loves it although it's a little cumbersome for short City strolls so I think she just added an umbrella stroller. I forget what carrier she has but it looks really practical and comfortable for baby and parents. Although her baby is still under a year so carrier preference may change as he gets bigger. If all goes well I will be really lucky because she has a lot of up-to-date baby gear that she is going to let me use. Bathtub, infant car seat that hasn't expired yet, etc.

check out my charming nephew! (yes we have had one beach day so far this spring).

Oh, he is luscious

Just an update: thanks to kijiji (Canadian Craigslist) I now have the crib I wanted and a white Hemnes dresser! Total savings about $400.

Our local la z boy is having a remodeling inventory clearance so we went up there yesterday and got a hideous yet comfortable recliner that will evolve into my husband's man chair later on (savings about $600 compared to full price).

A few moms I know highly recommended a rocking recliner instead of a glider (for ease of feeding and if you have a longer than normal recovery and want to be out of bed but still reclined).

All of this is happening a little earlier than I planned but I can't seem to resist a bargain.

ps I am thinking I can pick up a cute quilt to throw over the recliner.

pps I am off to Montreal next weekend and my husband swears the room will be painted by the time I get back.

Yay! Furniture! You've got this ;0) You'll be ready a little early and be able to coast through the last weeks, savoring that pregnancy.

You'll be happy to get as much done ahead of time as possible. I remember still having some shopping to do in the last few weeks and being at the mall and having to break to sit down....a lot.

Great finds on the furnishings so far.