My friend Tom told me last weekend some of the best advice he had was too make sure we were as prepared as we could be with six weeks to go … And with just more than two months left before our due date, Kates and I starting to feel the pressure …
We painted the baby’s room a couple weeks ago, but still have a lot left to dress it up with furniture and décor. And since Kates is giving up her office space for the baby’s room, we’re also having to make some alterations to our guest room and basement rec room to accommodate the changes …
It's a race now. We’ve set a deadline for ourselves to get it done by March 2. In the meantime, a lot of our nights and weekends are filling up with people wanting our attention and time …
Don’t read this wrong, though. We’re having a really good time with all of it …
* * *
Kates and I had our first birthing class on Wednesday night. We’re doing a six-session course …I wish I had an amusing or comical story to share -- you know about some oddball parents-to-be who made us squirm in our seats Like in the sitcoms. But the class was uneventful … We and about a dozen or so pretty normal and likable couples spent the two-hour session seated around circular tables listening to two nurses give a primer about the birth process and an introduction to various breathing techniques …
A few people in our group asked good questions, and I found the whole discussion pretty interesting and worthwhile … But for Kates, apparently all of it was old news to her. I’m thinking her high school health classes just went a lot more in depth than mine ever did …
* * *
Most of the past week has been devoted to redoing our guest room and what will soon double as Kates’ dressing room …
See, we live in a small three-bedroom house with a master bedroom that’s barely big enough for one person. Therefore, from the day we moved in, my clothing has always been in the small master closet, while Kates has stored her wardrobe and accessories across the hall in the other bedroom. Which was also her office. Which is being converted into the baby’s room …
We tried to come up with a way that both of us could have our things in the master bedroom, but it just wouldn’t work … So we decided to move Kates’ closet, clothing and dressing area to the guest room.
But that’s only a minor reason for redoing the guest room …
The honest reason is we’ve always had a hard time with that room. During our four summers in this house, it’s gone through more changes than any other room. First from our joint office to just Kates’ office and then to a guest bedroom. And from there, the room has gone from dark green walls (the previous owners’ toddler had a jungle-themed room) to a soft yellow. We’ve tried different bedding patterns, different curtains and different types of furniture, but never could find the right mix or feel …
We thought we got it when we found some curtains with orange and red and gold stripes and a bedding combination that included light brown coverings with pillows that had red and gold and green -- but all of that made the yellow walls seem like a bad decision …
Finally, somewhere in all the discussions about baby décor and rearranging things in the guest room, Kates mentioned painting the guest walls once more -- this time to a shade of red (Remember I wanted a red room …) … With the reds in the curtains and the pillows, not to mention the golden brown woodwork, we were sure as ever that this move could finally do it for that room. So we picked out several possibilities and last weekend made a trip to the local Lowe’s for a gallon of Red Ochre.
We spend Monday night clearing out the room and moving furniture. The primer coat went up on Tuesday night and on Thursday I was adding some color to the walls …
Except at about 8:30 Thursday night, with one wall remaining, I ran out of pain … Now, it had been snowing pretty heavily for the entire evening, but Kates and I had a big trip planned for Saturday and I was determined to get the painting finished so we could be moving the furniture back into the room Friday night and comfortably on our way Saturday with a clear vision of what we needed to complete the space …
So I walked into the living room where Kates was watching some TV and grading papers and boldly told her, I’ve got to get more paint! … Then, out I went, putting my life in peril, trudging into the deep snow and steering my miniature green tank through the unplowed -- though not totally treacherous roads -- to Lowe’s … for more paint. And I took it nice and slow.
I arrived at the store just before the 9 o’clock closing time, got my paint, and was soon back at home painting the final wall and starting a second coat … Nevertheless, my mission was accomplished: I finished all the painting, touched-up some of the bad spots and put away all my equipment -- even if it was past 1 a.m. before I got to bed …
* * *
And that brings me to Friday. …
When I returned home from the Lowe’s on Thursday night, I told Kates’ “You’re not having school tomorrow.”
She didn’t believe me. But at 5:30 a.m. Friday, her phone went off -- it was a fellow teacher telling her classes had been canceled. And about 10 minutes after that, the alarm I set when I came to bed about four hours earlier was going off -- signaling it was time for me to get up to shovel.
Ugh.
Not long into the shoveling operation, I started to ponder whether this snowstorm was reaching the magnitude of the infamous 17-inch bomb that hit us last winter. I’ve since decided that this one was not quite as bad (They called Friday’s storm at about 12 inches), though it did leave its mark -- mostly in the bemusement that it took me almost two hours to shovel our driveway and sidewalks, and the snow was coming down so fast I could barely keep up …
* * *
Saturday was the day Kates and I had been looking forward to for weeks. A road trip to Ikea.
We had our wish list. The iPod was plugged in. The Forrester was warmed-up. And we were on our way by 11 … Stopped at the tollway oasis for a quick lunch, and finally there it was -- the mega blue box with the bright yellow lettering. IKEA. We were prepared to spend the whole day there …
It didn’t exactly get off to the hopping start we’d hoped for, though. The rocking chairs were awkward and uncomfortable. The shelving units had too many extras, or we couldn’t find any in the right size. After about an hour in the store, all we had to show for it was a decorative vase for the guest room … On top of that, debates over a few of the items had made both of us tense. And not only was the place so jammed it was hard to get through the narrow aisles, people were being crazy inconsiderate. If our cart had a horn, I would have worn it out.
Finally, we started making some progress in the lights department, grabbing a couple trendy paper lanterns for the guest room, and a colorful lamp shade for the baby’s room … But by 3 o’clock we were wiped and decided to regroup over a snack at the store restaurant. We each grabbed a piece of pie, filled our glasses with a tasty beverage and found a quiet table secluded from all the chaos of rambunctious kids and snarky adults. It was splendid …
Totally reenergized and focused, we returned to the floors we’d already traveled to reassess some of the things we’d seen earlier. We got a giant mirror for the guest room, which we think will fit a good-sized wall nicely. A large work table and storage unit that will free up a lot of space and help Kates and I combine our office areas. A carpet for the baby’s room. And a plant, which I never got the name of, but it looks nice, and you can call it George.
We rolled through the check out line a little after 8 p.m., loaded up the Forrester (so much cargo space!), tied our new work table to the top and then got the heck out of there …
Kates and I wasted no time setting up some of our new lights when we got home, but much of the furniture construction is going to have to wait for some evenings this week … (We'll post pictures when it's all finished.)
After we’ve caught up on some rest. Watched the Super Bowl … and that “Lost” premiere that everyone’s been talking about.
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