Nesting

While most people seem very interested/concerned about our progress (or lack thereof) on a nursery for baby Sweet Pea, I'll confess to being much more focused on the rest of the house. To be more specific, I'm trying to figure out how to ensure that the house remains a warm, inviting space for Jeff and myself while incorporating changes that will encourage those traits and Jeff and I would both like to instill in the newest member of our little family…curiousity, creativity, and self-reliance, to name a few.

Right now our house is not what you would call "child friendly." We don't decorate with knives or anything, but we don't really go out of our way to make the place comfortable for people under the age of, oh, 25, either. Because this has to change, I've got a plan for our back room that involves removing the television and turning it into a cozy family nook, with soft furniture, some sort of thick floor covering, and shelving full of books for both adults and kids, as well as baskets to hold age-approriate items for small hands. I think IKEA is going to be the answer to this one, based on what I've seen available lately. I am trying to strike a balance where child needs and adult needs are both met in the same space, without the house being completely dominated by one or the other. I've found this requires a much greater deal of thoughtfulness than I had expected…there is a tendancy to accumulate "stuff" associated with babies that is almost overwhelming in our culture today, and it's difficult to be selective when it seems like you "need" so very, very much. I have been quizzing friends and family alike as to what they really use, what's nice to have, what never sees the light of day, in the hopes of narrowing down our selections to those things that are useful and functional and necessary.

As I've mentioned before, our space is small, but I think if we use it wisely, it can be a place of comfort and enjoyment for all three of us.