Prepping for baby #2

Just going to quiiiccckkkklly type out this post while waiting for my little-big 2 and a half yr old to wake up.

Baby prep!
When I was pregnant with Ella I was not only significantly sicker than this time but also just didn't make very good decor/furniture decisions. I didn't know our house well enough (having moved in whilst pregnant) and I guess I didn't really know what I wanted. All I knew was that I felt a heap of pressure to get everything DONE before baby came.

The result was I bought a chest of drawers of Trademe that I came to hate (they smelt of old-lady perfume, and to this day I can't smell them without retching. Ah pregnany memories) and they were slightly stiff and not on runners.

Fast forward to this baby, and I've been taking my time with the prep process!

Ella has recently moved into a different bedroom with a 'big-girl bed' which is currently a dump. It was our office originally, and then it was a playroom, and now it will be her bedroom. WHEN I get drawers etc set up. Allow me to grace you with a picture of it's current glory:

[Please oh please may I be able to come back here one day soon and update this with a really nice After shot]

Meanwhile her old room will be the new baby's nursery and we're having a BOY so I was initially thinking that would mean a really boring room (blue? Do I have to do blue?!) but once we got this IKEA dresser last week I started to love it. Long story short but we don't even have IKEA in New Zealand so I was praying about our drawers (as you do...) and was looking into getting some parallel-imported drawers shipped from Auckland when I suddenly checked Trademe and there was a set for $150 instead of $450! And they were already assembled, and local to us. They were the EXACT ones I'd been wanting to ship down. So those are in the room now - IKEA Hemnes and really, really roomy. They look deceptively small in photos - this set is actually large enough to double as a changing table.

[And the drawers slide smoothly! WEEEEEEEEEE]

Other things I'm thinking about:

I never figured out an earthquake-safe feature to hang on the wall over the cot. I don't want any picture frames or anything remotely heavy. So I'm thinking of making a simple string garland of stars like these. Will they be easy to make? I hope so :s Craftiness is actually not my pregnancy forte... I save that for every other part of my life.

I had wanted to make an awesome (and complicated) hot air balloon mobile but... yeah nah. So much work!

If I had 2-hundy to drop on a baby mobile (I don't) then I would be spending up immediately on this beautiful mobile handmade in the Ukraine:
bear,bear decor,woodland,woodland nursery,nursery decor,baby mobile,bear mobile,organic

bear,bear decor,woodland,woodland nursery,nursery decor,baby mobile,bear mobile,organic

It's everything I want in a mobile, and bears (especially polar bears) are kind of a special nickname/theme in our family so it would be perfect. And I love the neutral colour. *SIGH*

I've been thinking about these merino baby wraps in lieu of the pile of sheets and blankets that we layered on Ella as a newborn. Anyone used them? Are they good? I would get the double set in soft mint and soft blue, I think! You really need at least 2 of everything for a newborn and their poonamis, #amiright.

Baby boy fitted cot sheet. I suddenly realised most of our cot bedding for Ella was pink/floral. I'm thinking a simple ticking stripe would be nice for a boy and found this one for a decent price. It looks simple and quality.

Plain newborn socks! I need them - ones that are natural materials (e.g cotton) and teeny tiny and stay on without needing ribbons tied.

Baby coathangers - need more and they're so handy

Umm, and, apparently baby boys pee on you while you change them. So I should probably look into some kind of cloth to put on there during changes (that's what I'm meant to do, right boy-mums?????!)

I swore I wouldn't spend any more money on decor-type items but this basket looks like it would be perfect for holding kids' books. Do you think? It's $16 from Kmart NZ. It looks shallow enough that you would actually be able to see the spines of the books. Currently we have Ella's in a deep square cane basket but I find the rough interior damages the books and any smaller books get buried at the bottom:

The thing I love about being a second-time mum is having slightly more of a handle on what I actually need. I'm down to wearing the same dress almost every single day (so comfy, so wearable, so not-sticking-to-my-skin-because-I'm-always-overheated, so easy to pull on and go!) and I'm still using the same L'occitane organic Shea Butter on my belly to try to prevent stretch marks (on my third tin now) and with only 6 weeks to go, I'm feeling like I don't need to buy anything else for myself. Mainly I just want to get these rooms sorted so I don't have to find my way through a maze of giant storage canisters everywhere I walk around here :)