Your Questions... Answered.

Question: possibly too early to really tell, but:How do you feel about your nursery furniture (aside from the rocking chair, as you reviewed it recently in a diff post)? What brand is it? Now that you have gotten some use out of everything, are you glad you purchased the pieces you chose? Would you tweek anything if you could (dimensions, etc)?

Answer: When picking out our nursery furniture, we again were thinking long term. I knew I wanted something that could transition to a full size bed. Being that this is the new trend (I’m sure it’s been an option for a while, but maybe it’s something that’s really catching on now), it wasn’t too difficult to find a number of options. Also thinking long-term I wanted something durable. Finally I knew that we would not be purchasing a changing table, so we needed the low/long dresser, not the tall chest of drawers.

I had looked online at a few retailers and was very undecided. We looked at pottery barn kids (for the quality) – they were just too expensive and really I couldn’t find any options that really stood out as something I HAD to have. Also, surprisingly not all of their cribs transitioned.

On one of my many pre-baby trips to BRU (babies r us) I happened to walk down an aisle and even though I wasn’t specifically looking for furniture at the time I saw the Baby Cache Manhattan bedroom set. I immediately fell in love. Ryan is not one for design, so he couldn’t care less about what set I picked (I remember when we actually went up to order it I contemplated getting one other set and he couldn’t figure out what the difference was between the two). It fit our requirements, transitional, durable and had the low dresser. Now that we have the furniture in the room, my opinion of it is still pretty much the same. I love the way it looks and it doesn’t look/feel cheap or un-sturdy.

Some things I might change:

1. Jude’s room is pretty large. We have so much extra space that part of me wishes we would have gotten the second dresser (tall chest of drawers). At the time it didn’t seem practical and being that he’s a boy, I doubt it will ever be practical, but it would have filled the room a little more. But I think the space issues will be solved when we finally get an area rug (I finally found one I love at Costco, I just have to get Ryan to approve!). I felt the same way about our living room, until we put a rug in there and now everything seems to come together more – so I could end up not even wanting to change this.
2. Again a dresser issue. The dresser has 3 large drawers and a cabinet door on the right. Currently the Cabinet is pretty handy and has some canvas totes ( for lotions, first aid type stuff, etc), but down the road, I’m not sure how useful it will be and so it might have been nice to have the extra drawer space instead, but visually it looks really nice.

But for the most part I’ve been very pleased with it. I would be more than willing to buy within that same brand in the future.

OH! And not issues for me, but perhaps for others:

The slots on the sides and the front of the crib are not your standard SLOT, SPACE, SLOT, SPACE set up. And the top rail is a wide rounded piece of wood.

Because of the wide panels it made it difficult to attach bumpers and the large top rail made it difficult to attach some toys. I ended up returning the toys as I didn’t think we really needed them anyway and we took the bumpers off in the long run – but for anyone considering toys, etc perhaps experiment with your crib first.
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Question: are there things you do, or products you use, that Ryan does not do/use? and visa versa.

Answer:

1. The pacifier:

I would say that the single item I can think of that Ryan and I seem to butt heads about most is the pacifier. In the first couple of days at the hospital, we never used it. When packing Jude up, setting him in his car seat, etc he went crazy! The nurse handed us his first pacifier as we were being wheeled out of our room and it calmed him right down. After that we have used it very sporadically, but Ryan is much more likely to use it.

Typically the only times Jude gets really fussy is at night. He’s getting tired and for some reason tries to fight falling asleep. Usually a little sucking will put him to sleep right away. Ryan personally doesn’t see anything wrong with it and if he’s fussy/tired in goes the pacifier. I on the other hand personally would rather sooth him some other way, light bouncing, walking him around the house/going for a walk around the neighborhood, etc. I just have this fear that I’ll have a five year old boy walking around with a pacifier in his mouth because he’s gotten so used to it being the one thing that calms him down.

Any more though, I’ve been less against it and Ryan seems to be relying on it less, so we’re finding that middle ground.

2. Changing Stations

Other than that, we seem to differ in opinion/use on is where we change Jude. I think I utilize his room (the top of the dresser with the changing pad, etc) more and Ryan steers more towards the pack ‘n play changing station. It just seems more logical to me to go upstairs because of the cloth diapers – since you have to rotate through them evenly, I keep them all upstairs in order (if I have some that were washed more recently than others, they go in the back, etc) so if he changes Jude downstairs, it usually requires a trip upstairs anyway. But both locations are stocked with wipes, so it really doesn’t matter.

3. Sling Carrier

The ONLY other thing I can think of that we have different opinions on is the sling carrier. I swear by my sling when carrying Jude (I carry him while walking, occasionally in the store, etc). Ryan on the other hand refuses to use any sort of carrier. His reason is pretty much because he thinks it looks lame… no matter how lame, it’s totally practical and makes my life easier. Currently Jude is kind of in between two stages. When they’re newborns, you put them in it like a cradle position – as they get older you can prop them on your hip and they almost sit in it. He’s more comfortable in the sitting position, but not quite ready to hold himself up, so he gets all bobble-head-like. But I’m sure this is something I will be using for quite some time.