Reminiscing tonight ...
Tessa's room was once our office. It was painted chocolate brown, and all of Nekos' CDs were alphabetized along the shelves that we had custom built specifically so he could store his large collection of alphabetized CDs.
This is what it used to look like:
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| Note: We have since purchased a suitable slipcover for that hideous ottoman. |
There were a lot of late nights in this room, listening to records and
stuff. But I don't really remember those days very well. What I do remember is that this room was always to be "the nursery." The first time we walked around the house with our realtor, when it was all dust and boards during its renovation, I told Nekos that this room would be our baby's one day. And anytime I gave anyone new a tour of our house, I told them, too, that this was the nursery.
When we found out we were having a girl, I at first thought I'd paint the room green. I knew I didn't want to go the pink route. But when I stood before all the paint options in the Home Depot, cradling my tummy in my hands, I found myself thinking: What color room would a princess sleep in? Where will
my daughter sleep? I rolled the word daughter around in my mouth. It was the word I'd wanted to say for so long. I decided a princess would sleep in a purple room.
These days, the room looks something like this ...
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| Pottery Barn changing table, purchased on sale because it was the floor model. |
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| Home Depot chandelier decorated with binkies that Tessa rejected. |
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| Iron bed from my childhood. |
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| Mostly books from my own childhood. |
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| Vintage swivel rocker. |
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A triumph of felt art -- found at a yard sale before I was even pregnant and reluctantly turned over to me by a grandmother who'd made it with her kids many moons ago. Thanks to my friend Brooke Cawthon, who brilliantly convinced me to buy it for my unborn babe.
Reading to Tessa, one week before she was born
The waiting ... 39 weeks pregnant |
Today, I moved Tessa's crib down as low as it could possibly go. That way a thump in the night won't be her flinging herself from her crib. It could happen, people. This kid is super duper strong. (This week, she held on to Hattie's giraffe dog toy, and Hattie drug her across the living floor.) We also finished installing the baby gate at the top of the stairs. I say "finished installing" because it was a several-days-long process that made me want to yell and scream and hurl the electric drill down the staircase. Aaaaand we had to buy toilet seat latches and cabinet locks and a blue, whale-shaped faucet guard this week. Things are changing.
Tessa is growing big and strong and stubborn and sweet, and I love her more than ever.
