This Room

Decorating nurseries is always fun.  When we were expecting our first daughter we went all out as first time parents usually do. Everything was color-coordinated.  She had a big beautiful custom-made tree decal on her wall.  Her dresser and shelves had cute little knickknacks. We bought a fancy convertible crib. Then, when our second daughter was born we put her in a crib that was given to us used (because my oldest daughter was now using her convertible bed as a toddler bed.) Her “room” also doubled as a play room and even a guest room because of the futon that was in there.  Poor kiddo. We moved to a new house when she was almost two that had more bedrooms, and she was finally going to get her own room.   That lasted a whole five minutes before she and her sister wanted to share a room.  Today my two big girls share a big bedroom with a bunk bed, and they love it.

Baby girl number three (H) arrived summer 2017, so I spent some time getting to “re-decorate” a nursery! This photo captures just a small corner of the room, but it’s my favorite corner. The chair is a hand-me-down from my sister-in-law, and I used it with all three girls.  The cushion covers and matching crib sheet were a hand-made gift from a sweet friend.  I love the colors on the wall.  But what I love most about this corner is that it’s the one place in the house where I am able to breathe. and pause. and read. or rest. When I sit in this chair with my little H to rock her or nurse her there are no other demands.  There are no other chores I can do simultaneously.  When I go in there and shut the door the rest of my family knows there is an invisible “do not disturb” sign on the door. It’s here that I pray, read, sing, close my eyes, or sometimes just stare at that sweet sleeping baby face; and it’s here that I literally take the biggest deepest breath of my day.  Inhale. Exhale. This makes me think of the song in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella… “all alone in my corner in my own little chair, I can be whatever I want to be…” (Watch the YouTube clip here if you’ve never seen it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4Nr-IIvuTo )

Now, it wasn’t always this way.  We went through some really exhausting and frustrating and emotionally draining sleep struggles with this little one.  Lots of crying and screaming and rocking and nursing and more of the same. My evenings and nights were consumed to where I would dread bedtime.  I tried lots of things including various sleep training techniques and this amazing rock n play. (Someone please tell me where this was when I had my first two babies?!?  Best baby purchase ever!) Staying home to get her on a schedule was super hard for me, because I’m a get-up-and-go kind of girl.  But, I’m so glad I did. With some patience, tears, sacrifice, and lots of prayer bedtime is now a sweet time where I enjoy quiet moments with my baby in our chair in this room.