Our Empty Room Filled

From the first house Ryan and I rented together we have saved an extra bedroom to make into a nursery when the time came. The longer it took to get pregnant the more empty that room felt, despite the fact that it always ended up filled with random stuff. One thing that never changed was that it was always a room we rarely (if ever) used unless we needed the space for an extra house guest--in which case I had a long day of cleaning and organizing in that empty room full of stuff. The rooms were never really put together or decorated; as a result I didn't take many pictures of those rooms.

Left: bottom-room in our first house in Draper before we filled it with random storage, top-baby room in our apartment in Cottonwood right before we moved out, Right: room of our last house in Riverton (and my niece playing dress-up with my clothes from the closet...this is literally the only picture I could find of this room).

Our "empty" room was like a physical manifestation of the empty space we felt in our life together that we knew would someday be filled with the love for a child. We filled our empty room with random items the way we filled our lives with activities to keep us busy. Don't get me wrong, we had a lot of fun together and had the opportunity to take some amazing vacations together while we waited for our family to grow.

With the purchase of our new house came a new kind of empty room. When we moved in in October I was about 14 weeks pregnant. For the first time we knew that our empty room would not be empty for long. From the day we moved in, the room contained a few boxes of hand-me-down baby clothes, a used crib (that we decided not to use), children's books and baby toys.

After my baby shower last week, I ordered the remaining items on my Amazon registry that qualified for the 15% completion discount--including the crib and dresser that I received an "anonymous" (father-in-law) cash donation for. I spent the week waiting for packages to arrive, opening boxes and assembling baby accessories and furniture! I even washed several loads of tiny baby clothes and blankets (the first of many to come!)

The contents of the first 2 deliveries that arrived this week (and the mess of empty boxes)

Top: Folding tiny clothes, the 2nd (of 3) deliveries on our porch. Bottom: My 6-hour project (and final delivery) Thursday...the crib wasn't so bad to assemble, but the dresser started out as 53 wood pieces, 10 knobs, 88 screws, 50 dows, 24 bolts, 24 barrel nuts and 4 curved washers. Needless to say I am very proud of the finished product!

It's been nearly six months since we moved in and now we have a complete nursery with furniture, wall hangings, lots of baby boy clothes, blankets, diapers and all kinds of baby items. I love what this room has become--I just want to hang out in there! I walk into the baby's room at least once a day and imagine future days and nights spent in there with our baby boy. Now that my glider is up there I have a place to sit so I don't have to stand in the middle of the room feeling lost!

Our completed Nursery!

The picture above the dresser was made by a good friend and is the perfect finishing touch!

Our "baby's room" has even expanded into other areas of the house, like the kitchen and bathroom. I cleared out part of a kitchen drawer for a few feeding items (which I am sure will multiply greatly as he grows), a space on the counter for a bottle drying tray and found a place for the high chair. The hall bathroom upstairs, that we hardly ever use, has baby soap and a little baby bath in the tub as well as a turtle spout cover, and a big drawer full of baby items like washcloths, towels, lotion, q-tips and a cute baby bathrobe I bought close to 10 years ago.

Slowly this kid is taking over our house!

Until the birth of our son started getting so close (only 6 1/2 more weeks until my due date) I never realized just how many empty spaces in our home would be filled. I am sure the space he will fill in our hearts will be even greater.