Taking Shape, If Only in Our Minds

The nursery that is. Today was centered around nursery-related tasks and although the room itself doesn’t look all that different than it did this morning, plans have been set in motion. We spent all afternoon looking at dressers at three different furniture stores and have finally chosen one (that hasn’t been discontinued)! I swear we weren’t being all that picky—it is just absurdly difficult to find a simple dresser. But for the first time in months we encountered a salesman today who was happy to show us all the options that met our criteria and help us make an informed decision, rather than investing all his energy trying to convince us that we had deluded ourselves and what we REALLY wanted was whatever the most expensive thing was in the showroom.

So anyway, we now have mental pictures of the crib and dresser that we are inserting into the almost-empty nursery. And we finished putting up blinds in there when we got home and then I spent the evening finishing the curtains. The quilt my mom is making will go over the crib, and the bookcase and rocking chair full of my assortment of stuffed animals are sitting out in the dining room until after we clean, and that really is all that can fit in that tiny room. And so the mental picture of the room as a nursery is complete, even if the room itself still only has blinds, one leftover bookcase Joe needs help moving, and a bunch of trash from shortening the blinds. In fact, I noticed this evening that we’ve started referring to that room as “the nursery” pretty consistently, whereas we had been alternating between nursery and office.

I realize this post is taunting since I’m talking about a mental image I can’t share. But a lot of it will come together physically in about a week (assuming the maintenance guys can help us figure out how to put up the curtain rod given the stupid metal braces around the window), so we’ll post pictures then.

And now, after an amazing normal-person weekend (in addition to doing all this household stuff, we spent yesterday at the D.C. zoo with friends and their 22-month-old daughter), I somehow have to get my brain back into gear for a 10-hour day of meetings and seminars at school tomorrow. Ick.