prepping for baby

I wrote a little bit last week about how my nesting urge has been off the chart. My crafting urge is right up there, too. Here’s some of the things we’ve been doing to prepare for the little lady.

Some of the burpers I made. I used cute flannel print fabric and ribbon on plain white burpers.

Stocked up on laundry detergent for the baby. On sale at the Exchange plus I had a coupon! I did a lot of research on laundry detergents for babies, and asked a lot of moms. We concluded that we will use All Free & Clear since it’s hypoallergenic and fragrance/dye free. I still got a bottle of the Dreft stain remover to keep by her changing table for those big diaper blow-outs I’ve been hearing (and seeing – thanks to some pics from my sister) so much about.

Speaking of stocking up, we’ve been buying diapers here and there – wipes too. Then we decided to take a break from that since we want to make sure we like the diapers, we get the right amount of each size, etc. So for now we have 2 boxes of both size newborn and size one. We’ll see how fast we go through those! PS – sorry this is not a great pic, I took a million this was the best one.)

We re-arranged the baby’s space a bit because we realized we would want a table next to the changing table to put wipes, powder, etc. So we added a table there and a bookshelf next to the glider. Now we have more room for books and toys! The cloth on top of the bookshelf was crocheted by my Memere – or great-grandmother. I like the idea of having a piece of her in the room. Also, I finally found baskets that were the right color and fit on the shelf of the changing table – and at a great price ($4.99, Burlington Coat).

I made her these adorable onesies. One says ‘Papi’s Girl’ – I hand-sewed on letters I drew on fabric. The other is a dragonfly I drew freehand with non-toxic fabric paint. I’m looking forward to making more of these, for sure! The bottom pic is a close up of a fabric flower I made and put on a long-sleeved onesie, for the chillier Spring days.

The hats I knitted before we knew she was going to be a she. I have been looking up how to knit flowers, and I don’t think I’m skilled enough to make them. Luckily, I have a darling cousin who is a crocheting pro, and she is going to make the flowers to add onto the hats!

Speaking of being a knitting beginner, I started making her some booties…and got stuck! Help me someone! I’m using this pattern, and got stuck where is says “Pick up stiches.” What does that mean?

I’m also getting lots of things done around the house that I have been meaning to do since we moved, like:

- Take down the hideous vertical blinds in the living room and put up curtains.
- Put up the curtain-holder-thingy on the side of our dining room window so it looks pretty when we open the curtains.
- Organize all my craft stuff.
- Spot clean the carpet from when the dogs dragged in dirt, or chewed a pen. (Note to self: when we buy a house – go for hard wood)
- Finish getting things up on the walls. (Do you ever feel like by the time you do this, it will be time to move again? I do!)

So what did you do to prepare for your first born? Is there anything I’m missing?

If you are interested in how-to’s for the burpers, or anything else I made: stay tuned! I’m goiong to do a post on those next week!