Wow – it’s been busy the last month or so.
1)We finally finished putting up the Ikea shelving in the basement!
It’s the Broder system and if anyone asks, I’d suggest not choosing this shelving system. It was horrible to put together. Because the shelves are metal, you’d figure that this would imply “sturdy” – but the teeth that join the shelf brackets and the main beam are soft, pliable, and tear off. Luckily, we accidentally bought way too many of these brackets so we could just toss the ones we wrecked and select another one.
We brought back the extra bits after the 45 day return period had expired, but they gave us a cash credit for the amount, which was excellent. The clerk congratulated us on getting our shelving up. He bought some and had to give up and switch to the Ivar (or whatever the wooden ones are called).
2) Installation of window coverings.
We bought a black-out rollerblind for the nursery, wide slat horizontal blinds for the study, and shutters for the front window. The shutters haven’t come in yet, but the others were installed and look great. Expensive, but we’ve been without window coverings for a looong time now.
3) Bought a car!
We now own a lesbian icon – a Subaru Outback. The 2010 has been redesigned, and it’s massive. We’re ready for anything. We could probably live in it if we had to.
Do we put a rainbow sticker on it, or is that redundant?
4) Sold a car!
I sold my little VW Golf TDI. I’ll miss it. It was a good reliable car, fun to drive, and could go forever on a tank of fuel. S sent out an email to everyone she knew letting them know I was offering it at a low price and giving full disclosure of anything and everything we could think was wrong with the car. The plan was to use a low price for a quick sale, and that’s what happened.
The low price saved me from having to list it in Autotrader or Craigslist – I didn’t want to have to deal with complete strangers taking it for a test drive, calling at all hours.
5) Moved the furniture out of the guest bedroom
Our friends S&L lent us their extra queen sized bed, dresser and night table to furnish our guest bedroom. Because it’s no longer the guest bedroom, it was time for it all to go back. We tried to rent a cargo van for the final weekend of our week off in July – but we failed to plan for it being the last weekend in July — and all the cargo vans were booked.
As it turned out, S&L would be renting a cargo van for another purpose midweek, so they drove only 1.5 hours out of their way (3 in total, I guess) to pick the furniture up. Wow – that was excellent. Thanks S&L!!
6) Got a murphy bed for guests and a new bed for us!
Now that the guest bedroom is the nursery, we needed a place for guests to sleep. We ended up choosing a wall bed for the study, instead of a sofa-bed, because it could take a standard mattress. Presumably, this would equate greater comfort than a sofa-bed.
We measured our mattress, and it was 9 inches – which was the maximum size for the wallbed. So we decided to buy ourselves a new mattress and use our old mattress for the murphy bed. Ya – I know – it doesn’t seem to make sense that we’d get rid of a bed then buy a new one.
We got the new bed in before the murphy bed arrived, so we just put the old bed in the nursery until the murphy bed was installed. The nursery isn’t so much a nursery right now as it is a landing pad for stuff while we move things around.
The new bed is pretty comfortable, and we have 60 days to make sure (Sleep Country Canada). But much to my disappointment, the old 9″ mattress is just a smidge too big for the murphy bed – it doesn’t close all the way. I hate it when a plan doesn’t come together.
7) Sold my big Bombay Co desk!
Listed on Kijiji and on Craigslist on Friday – although the Kijiji one gets delayed for 24 hours or so. Got two replies from Craigslist and a bunch from Kijiji. Sold the desk on Sunday via Kijiji.
Speedy (well, the low, low price helped speed things up. Cost me over $900, similar desk currently lists for $1299. I sold it for my asking price of $350).
Maybe I’ll sell my Harvest House mission bedframe next.
8)Had another shower!
Baby shower, that is. The Toronto shower was thrown by Li’l Sis, with snacks provided by M. It was much like a kitchen party, which was excellent. The only game was “pin the diaper on the baby” – Li’l sis opted not to go ahead with the planned “Pregnancy Twister” or “bobbing for babies”. She did serve Babies in the Oven, though – peanut butter cookies made into baby faces with Smarties for eyes.
And Junior raked in more swag.
9) Installed the “bucket” car seat!
Of course I did it on the hottest day of the summer. It’s in and level but is not completely immoveable (hardly moves side to side, but I can lift the free end up and down). Although I can’t imagine it ever being totally imoveable because the base is secured at one side only (where it latches into the hooks built into the seat of the car itself). There’s nothing that secures the other end of the base to anything.
I’m sure S will want to take it to a professional to get redone. That’s fine by me, but she can make the appointment and pay the $40 to get it done.
10) Bought the stroller/bassinet
When asked if a bassinet was a safe place to let a baby sleep, the midwife said “you will sleep with the baby in your bed”. It was kind of a surprise to get that pronouncement, especially so late in the game – what if we had already purchased one of those lovely but stupidly expensive bassinet thingies??!.
She also told S that she had to leave work earlier than she planned to (she plans to end work 1 week before her due date). Alas, this information needed to be supplied much earlier if the midwife expected any take-up. S has to give people notice, stop seeing clients well before hand to give her time to finish notes and tidy everything up.
I’m thoroughly confused about appropriate ways for baby to sleep. “They” say No Crib Bumpers – They’ll Suffocate Your Baby. They’ll just crawl right over to the baby and suck the life right out of it (wait – no – that’s what cats do). But a bassinet is a typical way to have a newborn sleep – especially in the same room as the parents – and a bassinet is, effectively, a small small crib with a big big bumper. Shouldn’t they be outlawed? And you’re not supposed to put a blanket or toy or anything at all in a crib with a baby – but you can have them sleep in bed with you – surrounded by adult sized pillows, sheets, blankets and two big sleeping adults. Very conflicting information.
11) Went on the tour of the delivery ward of the hospital.
We had a tour months ago as part of the Dykes Planning Tykes class, and we’re glad we did because it was a better tour.
12) Bought newborn disposable diapers, wipes and cream.
The hospital provides 1 diaper and recommends you bring more yourself. So we want to make sure we have extras on hand to bring to hospital. We plan to use cloth diapers at home, and washcloths instead of baby wipes. But it’s good to have disposables for when we’re not at home.
Next steps:
>Thank you cards to be sent out for the Toronto gifts.
>Pick up the crib from S’s friend at work.
>Buy a dresser for the nursery and get the room ready for baby
>Have the baby.
