A new little sometimes-series for these tea leaves: proof I’m having a baby and musings on life in a tiny apartment, bébé in tow (or very nearly).
Seems to me I can’t begin a new series without introducing some kind of plant life, so here you have a tiny pot of string-of-hearts lovingly picked out for Junebug at the Saipua plant sale over the weekend.
The nice thing about knowing you’re going to be sharing your bedroom with a tiny squealing thing is that you get to share in the small indulgences. One tiny plant for bébé equals one tiny plant for maman, and so on.
Like most things tiny apartment related, I like to see the space limitations in a “nursery” as a blessing. When there’s simply not much space, logic follows that you simply won’t have the option of ending up with a lot of things you never really needed in the first place. And in our case, I’m hoping that sharing so much of our space will mean a more muted experience of baby mania. If I have to wake up looking at a mobile every morning, you can bet your bottom dollar that I’m going to opt for the muted model instead of the one that looks vaguely radioactive and altogether menacing.
Anyway. All this to say that we might not have a crib or a changing table, or a diaper pail to our name, but we do have a tiny houseplant so things feel like they’re off to a pretty good start.
Besides, whoever heard of a nursery without plants? Plant jokes 4ever.
34 Comments
You're killing me with the radioactive mobile! I feel you. With the coming of our new bebe we are moving back in with my husband's mom, aka, no space. So there are few things to worry about as far as a nursery is concerned. It really is nice!
lololol love how you refer to the little bebe as a thing 🙂
That joke made me laugh out loud! 🙂 I am going to love this series, can't wait for more! xo
One for baby, loooooots for me! I adore you!!!!!!
!!!!!!
LOL!! I felt the exact same way about all things baby until I had my son and his father and his family kept sending me stuff and I was forced into keeping it. ex: a large baby swing that was a total eyesore.
xo
Rachel
Oh, dear! Hoping I can fend off the junk through ESP;)
I share my room with my little ones, and I feel the same way. If I have to live in it, neon pink is not happening.
Having raised two kids (they're in university now), I can honestly say that there is so little they really need, in terms of physical objects. Not just as babies, but all the way through. So feel free to say no to anything that doesn't sit well with you. Chances are, your instincts will be correct.
I was exactly the same way, Erin. Muted colors, earth tones and aesthetically pleasing baby gear only, please. Ahem, then the baby came. 🙂 She had her own opinions, thankyouverymuch. Fingers crossed you pull it off!
Same experience here! We still do our best to remain minimal (and sans plastic) as much as possible, but my toddler does not share my generally neutral aesthetic. All these tasteful clothes, and she'd wear her glittery Cookie Monster t-shirt every day if it were clean. 🙂
Ha! Only time will tell, eh?
I'd love to see what you do end up using for the baby! I'm always blown away by the sheer amount of plasticy stuff that people buy and then don't seem to use.
When I look at all the stuff my daughter and niece need to raise their children makes me wonder how I was able to raise her without all the extras. Guess I was environmental with the cloth diapers but the now ex and I just didn't have the extra cash to throw in the garbage, same with nursing and blender baby food. She slept in our room until we could afford a bigger place to rent. Less walking for me when I got out of bed to make sure she was breathing or to pick her up to carry her to bed to nurse and change. Just enjoy every moment because it goes by so quickly, one day your just wishing for four hours of continuous sleep and then your packing their things up because they are moving away for school.
Less stuff for bebe is brilliant! We loved not having to make room for a change table (also, they're not pretty pieces of furniture). One thing that was very handy though was a pretty fabric changing mat (small and handmade from a craft sale ; ) to place on our bed when we changed our son, as it really reduced the need to change our duvet cover when pee, you know got around, as will happen!
Although I don't foresee having kids myself, I am genuinely interested in keeping up with these baby musings. I am on board with your minimal approach to lifestyle and and can't wait to see how it applies to child-rearing. At the risk of sounding judgmental, I am often taken aback by the sheer quantity of useless crap many folks convince themselves are necessary for raising a child–toys included!
Oh, phew! Glad I haven't sent you running for the hills!
Less stuff is good, though buying toys for three year olds is addictive. Don't forget nappy sacks in the culling, and cheap babygrows for the 'poo-gate's' that are inevitable (we once had to cut off a baby grow there was that much poo!!) I hope to see some bump pictures they are my favourite <3
Oh my! So much new lingo here! What's a baby grow?
april fools?.. if not, congrats!! i can't wait to see this series xo
ha! 'fraid not!
I have been a mom for 30 years – we didn't have a crib or a changing table or a nappy pail… Towels are useful as sheets, blankets and underlay and no additional expenditure or room necessary! Personally, I don't think you need pretty much anything a baby store sells except a car seat if you drive (and back then, I didn't have one of those, either, I had a Moses basket on the back seat…). Trust your instincts, which is really hard these days – but believe me, you won't need whatever it is you're thinking about 🙂
We had a crib and used it almost never. my son wouldn't sleep on his back – as soon as I put him into the crib he'd wake up – and one thing you don't want is to wake up the baby – especially in the beginning – so he slept on my belly, belly down – all the time. He's now 4 and still sleeps with us in our bed.
My dear woman, get a diaper pail. Seriously.
Ha! It's on the list, just not yet actually here!
My dear woman, get a diaper pail. Seriously.
You'll see….We (mothers in small city apts) all thought the same exact thing (evil laugh). Best investment we made was in a king size family bed that takes up the whole room and sadly, the colorful plastic never ends. I see it when I close my eyes.
Ha! Might certainly be eating my words soon enough!
It was a very long time ago, as my youngest is now 25, but… we DID have a crib with baby number 1. We kept stuffed toys in it. And we moved, and never again had a crib. We did not have many of the 'necessities', by choice – no grinders, blenders, wiper-warmer, and many things we were told we needed. By baby number 3, we all lived in a less-than 600 square-foot house. And all the babies grew up happy, healthy, well read and seemingly pretty content. Get what you want, say, thank you but no to the rest, and toss what you don't love!
"Get what you want, say, thank you but no to the rest, and toss what you don't love!" –woman after my own heart!
excited for this – and for you!!
Just catching up on my blog feed and saw this – congrats! I'm trying to wade my way through the sea of baby junk, presently, and there is SO MUCH STUFF they try to sell you on that you don't even need. And that doesn't even count all the things people want to *buy* for you as gifts. I'm following the approach that I just buy things I know I absolutely want and will sort through the rest as it comes. It feels incredibly hard to maintain any kind of minimalist vision these days when babies are thrown in the mix!
A nursery without plants? I feel like replying with my own joke 😉
Love this. I just went through the exact same thing, although without the tiny apartment limitation, and managed to end up with only what we thought were necessities. Much like you and James, husband and I wanted to minimize the 'kid' stuff we received. It can be somewhat difficult with well-meaning relatives wanting to buy you the economy size of Pampers and the mobile screaming with primary colors, but I learned quickly the art of smiling and then promptly returning said mobile. We tried to politely spread the word about our 'less is more' philosophy, and I think the shower invitations said something like "gift cards are welcome as we respect the couple's commitment to minimal and eco-friendly living." (Oh baby showers, that's a whole other topic…) Best of luck to you! Congrats on your little Junebug!
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