The Everingham Fam: Sophie's Room!

Busy.

Tired.

Sore.

Accomplished.

Grateful.

Just a few words to sum up the last week or so in the Everingham Household. The major burst of activity around here actually started a few weeks ago when my mother-in-law headed down to start her house hunting in Florida. She’s a late sleeper and while she’s assured me that I can go about my usual chores without worry, I don’t like to vacuum or do anything too noisy until she’s up and about for the day (just common courtesy in my book). So, with an empty house, I felt more free to crank up the tunes and scrub until my little heart was content. I came up with a long list of big chores I wanted to get accomplished, from a deep cleaning of the upstairs to rearranging closets. I was super proud of how much I managed to get accomplished (even though I really need to do it again, already)!

I know it doesn't look clean, but it really is.

Once I completed MY list, we started on the stuff we needed to do together or things that were going to fall mostly on Richard’s shoulders. I’m kind of a control freak – there, I admitted it. One of the things that’s been really stressing me out has been the lack of progress on Sophie’s room. I know babies don’t need such things right away and I know that the nursery won’t get much use the first month or two. Nevertheless, it was causing me a lot of anxiety that Sophie’s room was still Richard’s office and the catch-all space for other misplaced junk. I was starting to feel a little panicky that there was “nowhere” for the baby to go, so Richard and I came up with a solution and cleaned out the room! Yay! Phase one: complete.

Storage room!

We needed a place to put all that stuff, so we went downstairs to our storage room. Cleaned out all of Richard’s mom’s boxes and stacked them neatly in the main room down there. That freed up space for our misplaced stuff to go and allowed us to pull aside the baby stuff we’ll need that Sam’s outgrown but Sophie will need. Phase two: complete!

New Living Room ceiling fan!

Now that the room was mostly empty (Richard’s desk was still in there, since I couldn’t help him move it), we would be able to PAINT!! We decided to go ahead and do some shopping for Sophie’s room and the projects I had lined up on my “Before Baby” list. Off to Lowe’s we went! We got two ceiling fans (one for Sophie’s room since it didn’t have one and did you know thatceiling fans reduce the risk of SIDS and a replacement for the living room fan, which a blade broke off of this winter) and some paint samples. My mom was awesome enough to swing by after work the following day to give her opinion on the paint color (we tried two pinks and a yellow). To my surprise and delight, we all agreed on the same color! So, off Richard went to buy the paint. The next day was supposed to be a blizzard, so we figured it would be a great opportunity to start painting if Richard ended up being home.

Sophie's fan and first coat of paint - a very pale pink

Though the storm totally fizzled out, it was still snowing hard when it came time for him to call off or go in and he decided to stay home. They were still calling for an additional 10 inches at that point. They actually ended up closing the poker room that day, so he would have been sent home anyway. Eh, it all worked out for the best, because my extraordinary hubby managed to get the first coat of paint on the walls and install the ceiling fan in Sophie’s room. Yay!

It took a few days for us to have the time to get back in there, but in the meantime… Have I mentioned how awesome my mother is? Well, she’s pretty damn awesome. My mom bought the nursery furniture! I’d found a set that I liked online; it was a bundle and a great deal. So, over the course of a few days, it arrived piece by piece.

This past weekend, we conquered a huge chunk of my “Before Baby” list! Richard: hung the ceiling fan in the living room (I assisted as best I could), finished painting Sophie’s room (I watched Sam), painted the trim in Sophie’s room (I’m still watching Sam), moved his desk and computer into the living room for the time being, and put all of Sophie’s furniture together (though I helped a great deal on that part!). We also both had doctor’s appointments and Richard had an appointment with a CPA for our taxes this year. We even managed to squeeze in a trip to the grocery store!

Walking into Sophie's room

Her crib

Her dresser and the glider from Sam's room (which may or may not stay)

Changing table, complete with Newborn diapers!

To say that we were exhausted is really an understatement.

There is still a lot to be done. I need to rewash all the newborn and 0-3 month clothes and get them put away. I have some decorating to do and projects for Sophie’s room I want to complete. I will probably rearrange the room about fifty times before I find a configuration that I like, but for now this will do. For me, that’s fun stuff! The only other big project that I’d like to see happen is an addition of a half wall between our living room and kitchen upstairs. We’re still discussing our options, so if it happens there will be another post about that.

This week, I’m kind of taking it easy. Now that we’re in the home stretch of this pregnancy, I’m finding myself feeling very short on energy and in a bit more pain than I’d like. In many ways, I think I handle pregnancy pretty well. I seem to be pretty lucky when it comes to a lot of the negative side effects (such as horrible morning sickness). While I was definitely nauseated a lot my first trimester, I never got truly sick. However, now that I’m about 9 weeks away from popping, I’m really feeling it. Staying active is a double edged sword. I feel much better during the day or activity, but find myself so sore and uncomfortable at night that I can’t sleep (well or long). If I take it easy, I feel better but I’m not getting anything done. I’m trying to just keep it all balanced, but it’s tough.

The next couple of weeks are going to be very, very busy! My mother-in-law did find a house on her trip to Florida and has a contract on it. Closing is tentatively set for April 5^th. Unfortunately, we started planning Sam’s birthday before she had a contract and with Easter falling on the weekend right after Sam’s birthday, we had to bump it back to the 7^th of April. So the next few weeks will be full of decorating Sophie’s room, planning and prepping for Sam’s birthday, and helping get my mother-in-law ready for her big move. Meanwhile, there’s a huge poker tournament happening the last two weeks of March, so I probably won’t see much of my husband.

I’m sorry about the caffeine, Sophie… :o(

Here are a few more pictures. Hopefully, I’ll carve out some time to update again soon! :o)