Given that I’m now less than a week from my due date, I figured it was time for us (meaning me) to clean out the room that we plan on using for the baby. Over the last couple of months, it sort of became our “everything” room; when we needed a place to store something, we’d throw it in there, figuring that we’d get around to cleaning it out eventually. Then, yesterday, I realized my due date was only six days away, she could come anytime, and if she did, her room was a disaster. We could barely get to the crib. I took it upon myself to do some cleaning.

It took me a few hours, but the end result makes me pretty happy. It is also serving as a study, in addition to being her room, so the desktop computer is in here, along with all the stuff we’ll need for her. We didn’t have the money for a new dresser, and my boyfriend didn’t like the idea of me putting our dresser in here, so we don’t have one of those. You’ll notice that we also don’t have an actual changing table; I asked for one at my baby shower, but instead, my mom got us the Pack ‘N Play, which has a little changing area on top of it. I know she’ll outgrow it fairly quickly, but until then, I think it was a good investment, especially since I can move it out into the living room for her to take naps in. It’s also a little playpen, which I’m not sure I’ll use too often, but I think it’s nice to have. If nothing else, we can always store her toys or something in it.

The futon was sort of an accidental addition to the room. My mom was looking to get rid of it a while back, and asked us if we wanted to take it. Immediately, we said yes, because we’d been looking to get rid of one of our couches anyway and thought we could replace it with the futon. Shortly after she gave it to us, we had a pair of friends offer to give us their old couch as well – which was in excellent condition, and we couldn’t pass up the offer. The futon ended up in the second bedroom, and getting everything to fit without feeling too crowded with this thing in the room was difficult, but I didn’t really want to get rid of it. Plus, my mom’s Mickey Mouse blanket needed a place to go, right?

As I said, the desktop computer is in here as well. We really had nowhere else to put it, except maybe the living room, but my boyfriend hated the idea. We had the desk in our living room in the first apartment we lived in together, and it was such a pain to deal with. It was constantly in the way and we hardly ever used it. When we moved into our second apartment, we were able to shove it into a corner of the bedroom where it was relatively out of the way, and we used it all the time, but our bedroom there was pretty crowded. In our new place, if we didn’t have two large couches and an entertainment center, we might have room for it out there, but it’s pretty full as it is when it comes to furniture. Same with our bedroom as well. This was really the only spot we could fit it. (Fun fact: you can’t really see it, but there’s a Mickey Mouse lamp sitting there in the corner. It was also something I got from my mom.)

Here’s her crib. We were originally going to just use the one that I slept in as a baby, but my grandparents got a good deal on this, not realizing that we already had plans for a crib. I like the way it looks, despite the fact that it’s kind of dated. We did have to “fix” the sides on it, though; it’s a drop-side crib and both sides move up and down. Unfortunately, we were missing the bars that go on the bottom of each side to make them move up and down. We couldn’t afford a new crib, and I didn’t want to bother with the hassle of having to bring another one down this way since my mom lives over an hour away, so we got brackets and fixed the sides so that they’re both all the way up. We’ve messed with it a lot to make sure that it’s solid and doesn’t pose a risk to the baby. I’m comfortable with what we did. Also, the blanket sitting on the side of her crib was made by me; it’s fleece that I got from Joann Fabrics for just over $6 and I tied the sides together. I won’t be putting this in the crib while she’s sleeping, but I still like that the color matches the colors in her bedding and crib bumper. I figure we can use it for “tummy time” or to keep her warm in her car seat when we’re out somewhere.

The bumper, and the sheets, inside her crib are from the Circo Neutral line at Target. I know a lot of people don’t like crib bumpers, because of the risk of SIDS, but the exact cause of SIDS has yet to be determined, and I figure if they’re truly as dangerous as some people believe, they would no longer be on the market, right? In all honesty, I’m not worried about it at all. I like that it’s colorful and gives her something to look at while she’s in the crib. I also like that it can help drown out distractions of the other items in the room. I know plenty of babies who slept in cribs with bumpers, and I’m not incredibly worried about SIDS. Maybe it makes me a bad mom, but the risk is incredibly low, and I read an article about how the bigger issue is “accidental suffocation.” When a baby dies suddenly in a crib, most people automatically think it’s SIDS, but there’s usually a detectable reason as to why it happened. Click here to see the article on NPR.

In short, I’m not worried about my bumper. It’s cute and I don’t think we’ll have issues with it. If I change my mind later, I can always take it out, that’s not an issue at all. I know there’s also a stuffed animal in the crib, but that won’t be there when she sleeps either; we just needed a place to put it for now. It’ll likely sit on the futon when she’s in her crib. And those letters? They’ll find their way to the wall eventually, but my boyfriend and I haven’t had a chance to put them up yet. We also have two shelves that still need to go up. Oops.

Finally, here is her closet. Look at all the diapers! I have some more clothes that still need to go in here, and the whole thing really just needs to be organized better in general, but for now, this is what it looks like and it will probably continue to look like this until after she’s born and I actually find the motivation to rearrange everything and sort through what should go where. (The fact that my boyfriend and I also have some of our own things in here doesn’t help the fact that it’s disorganized, either.) Remember how I said we couldn’t afford a dresser? I had a gift card given to me from one of my former coworkers when I found out I was pregnant, which I used to buy the plastic drawers and some white storage containers, one of which you can see in the top drawer there. They still weren’t exactly cheap, but it was better than buying a dresser, and they fit together perfectly. Besides, I figure no one’s probably going to see it anyway, so I don’t really care much about how pretty it looks.

That’s how I spent the majority of my afternoon and evening yesterday. Other than the fact that my hospital bag isn’t packed and her car seat isn’t in the car yet, she could probably come tomorrow and we’d be ready. Her room would, anyway. Psychologically, I don’t think either of us is ready to be a parent just yet, but we’re a little bit past the point of no return now.