Tanner Life

Baby's Room

Those of you who know me well, know we have been waiting on our own Baby Tanner (not our nephew mind you, Aimee really threw confusion into the mix when she named Tanner, Tanner. :) for about 8 & 1/2 years. My Mom & I have been shopping for him or her, pretty much since Andy & I got married! (9 years ago!) When we made our official decision to adopt in October, it was a relief and tons of excitement to begin bringing those boxes of things upstairs knowing that it was no longer "if" we were going to be parents, but rather "when"!!

There were 9 boxes of things to unpack! Andy & I sat in the baby's room every night opening boxes of fun things, it was like Christmas! There were clothes, nursery decorations, toys, bottles, plates, cups, puzzles, diaper bags and on and on and on! There was so much that it had to be cleaned out on many occasions. I sold things on Ebay, donated things to different charities, sold some at a consignment store and have given some away. We've got it cleared out now to the point where our son or daughter will actually fit in there amongst "the stuff". For awhile, there would have been no room for baby! We still have a closet full of things that are going to make great birthday or Christmas gifts for our little one for years to come!

There is some discussion on a forum that I visit about working on the babies room, while waiting on adoption. Some of my new "waiting" friends say that they just can't work on the room yet, they don't want to buy things and see it all "sit" while they are waiting. It makes the waiting worse for them and they feel uncomfortable about the notion of even buying baby things. We are not amongst that group, obviously. There is another group of people, which is where we fit in, who are excited as we get a room ready in our homes for our little one. It's a great comfort to know there's a place all ready and waiting, it's our sign of hope and faith that we are going to be blessed with our son or daughter. We both like to go in there, just sit and think of the blessings to come.

So here it is so far, the transformation of our son or daughter's room!
(I wish I had a picture of it while it was my scrapbook, craft, office room.)

December - after cleaning everything out and getting new carpet!

December - brought home the rocking chair from my Mom's house that was mine when I was a baby.

January - when we started to open boxes of fun stuff!

February - when my Dad painted the blue on the top of the walls for us! He wasn't thrilled we'd chosen blue, "What if we get a girl?" He asked. I assured him we would make it work for our son or daughter!

Notice the edge of the furniture box in the floor, we'd bought the furniture in December. It had been waiting in the basement for a few months!

February - when Dad & Andy put the furniture together

March - when I got totally carried away at a few spring consignment sales, after all the stuff I'd already bought. Now it's packed even more as I continue to buy one in pink and one in blue of everything! The other day I counted 49 boy outfits, 37 girl outfits (though at one point there were more girl than boy, now it's gone the other way) and 25 outfits that can be for either!! I have a shopping obsession!!!! I am buying all sorts of sizes, thankfully only things that are on clearance!

March - when there was still so much in the floor that there wasn't room for a baby. I did another big clean out after this!

June - I had talked my friend Shelley into painting my trees on the walls, she's awesome. Then I decided that I wanted to do it myself and what kind of mess could I really make? I think they turned out pretty cute, not perfect, but all done by me. (Mommy to be!)

Here's the idea, thank you photo shop! If we have a daughter I'll add pink flowers to my trees and if we have a son, I'll add blue birds. Right now, there just trees! (which Amber says she likes better anyway) This is just to give you the idea!

July - Mom & I went to pick out fabric for curtains. I am going to make them! They are going to be patchwork, like a quilt. They will be tied to a simple rod by different kinds of ribbon. I look forward to working on them!

Here are the fabrics so far for a daughter.

Here are the fabrics so far for a son!

August - a peek inside the crib. Yes, I know. We'll take the "stuff" out when it's time for our little one to lay in there. It sure looks sweet for now though!!

Here are some of the Pooh plate collection I had. I sold 6 of the plates on Ebay and kept these, my favorite 4. I also sold a collection of 8 Honey Pot shaped plates, there just wasn't room for them. I think I am moving the two middle ones though and putting a little wooden shelf I have up there to put stuff on in the middle. Then moving those 2 plates to the outside edges up there.

August - our baby's name will go over the crib in letters. The curtain rod will be replaced to a silver one I'm thinking. The book shelf has some of my favorite children's books up there, a book on baby sign language (thank you Shelley & Sam) and some fun infant toys!!

August - I added the cloud to this wall just the other day. Thank you Holly for helping me figure out how to make clouds that looked right with my retro ish trees. This tree will have a few pink flowers or blue birds as well. This piece of furniture will make our changing table for awhile and then a dresser in years to come. It has some Winnie the Pooh books, stuffy friends, a picture frame about our miracle from God, baskets for all those diaper changing goodies and some fantastic books that I've bought on adoption, forever families & our adopted baby. The Pooh figures sitting on the bottom will go on the shelf I'm going to hang above the closet. There's a cross there with a bedtime prayer to be hung and a little "our angel" thingy ma bob that Misty bought when we made our decision to adopt too!! Just have to find the perfect places for those as time goes on. The lion stuffy friend in the chair is one that my Grand Daddy gave me a few years ago for Christmas, I couldn't resist wanting to have it be in there as well!!

So, there ya go. There's still things to be done. I love going in there and working on a few things at a time. I love to sit in the rocking chair and talk to God about OUR baby, pray for the birthmom who is going to help make our dreams to be parents come true!! I've been crocheting a blanket in pink & brown, when I'm done I'm going to do one in green, blue and brown too. It sure is fun to watch as step by step, our little one's room is coming together.