Progress on the Baby’s Room

So we have this great room that gets TONS of sunlight during the day, and when we moved here we had planned to use it as the playroom for my in-home childcare. But then I got my job as a nanny (outside of my home) and decided not to pursue getting my childcare license, because it takes many months of “process” (made longer by furlough days and understaffed offices) and several hundreds of dollars.

I had already unpacked all of my childcare stuff though, and had even set up my play room – that’s how quickly I got “settled” here. So anyway, as time went on, we began to use the room as a sort of dumping ground (I hate rooms like that, grr) for various things we didn’t need right away… and then for the few things we bought for the baby already, and the things our friends have handed-me-down for her… but we never went in there, so we didn’t care.

But now we’re roughly 17 weeks away from having another family member join us, and even though she will sleep in our room for a while, it would be nice if we had a “baby room” where I can spend some quiet time with her during the day, or where I can take her for the night and sleep with her if she is being fussy all night and my husband has a 6am flight and needs his sleep. So I started packing up my childcare things. And do you know what? I have a LOT of books and toys and stuff for 3-5 years old. Our baby girl is gonna be SET in a few years.

So anyway, today I set up 12 boxes – one for each month of the year, and I put my book boxes into them (I recently got little “cube” box/baskets from Target and separated my books by month) and my seasonal toys. Then, I started dividing up other toys – floor puzzles got spread out, different types of building sets and blocks got spread out, different “card games” got scattered… so this way when I do eventually start up childcare again, my toys will rotate a bit better and maybe I won’t forget about things as much. The two pictures on the right here show those boxes, 6 in the baby’s room and 6 in the living room, as I sorted things into them. I also started picking out a few toys and things I had never actually used and didn’t see myself using in the future for my childcare or my child, to sell them.

Aaand… this is the state of the room right now. My 12 boxes are all packed up, and most of the other childcare stuff is also in boxes and moved out of the baby’s room. In the bottom right picture, those 2 shelves closest to the closet? Those, and everything on them, are going to be garage-sale-d next weekend, along with the little pile of books and things that are in the bottom left photo on the left side of the door. Some of the boxes and things still need to be moved/stored somewhere else, but for the most part, the room is looking MUCH better and is much more ready to become a nursery.

This is the hall closet – before, during, and after all the packing. This is ALL childcare stuff. Can you believe it? Like I said, our little girl is going to be set for books and toys when she’s 3-5. haha.

I will post more updates as I prepare the room for our sweet baby’s arrival. We won’t be doing a TON in this room, because we already know we will be moving about 3 months after she’s born (though we don’t know where yet). So no paint on the walls, or wall shelves installed – we will probably hang some pictures and get her a dresser and a recliner/rocker for me, but I have lots more ideas for her “final” room… the one she will actually spend 3 years of her life living in. You’ll just have to wait till Octoberish to see all of that though.