Changes we didn't even know we needed...

Well, we've made it. Today rings in Julian's one-week birthday, and so far, we've managed to keep him alive and kicking. He's already formed a lifelong friendship with William, the dog; he's had his first sponge bath; his first and second pediatrician's appointments (already up 8 oz. Yay!); his first pee-geyser onto the nursery wall and pooh-geyser into his father's hand; and of course, his first 4:00am reggae-dance-a-thon in his living room when he didn't feel like falling asleep. It's been a big week!

This is Julian's "PARTY!" face. He's a pretty serious dude.

Interestingly, it's also illuminated some short comings in our apartment that I didn't know existed, as well as showed me exactly how great and baby-ready our apartment really was. There was something so incredibly calming about walking into the apartment with our little newborn, wide-eyed and terrified, and being able to walk right into the nursery, plop him onto the changing table (which was covered in a fabulous "POP" of orange!), open the drawer and have the diapers and baby wipes all ready to go... It was like, "Okay. Game on folks!"

However, I have quickly realized that my charmingly mis-matched antique-y bedside tables are considerably too small for all the accoutrement we're now storing bedside. At any given moment, there is a bottle of water, a coaster, a tube of boob cream (excuse my honesty...), a notepad and pen, an iPad (to keep me entertained at 4:00am when Julian is having a leisurely nursing session with no end in sight), a baby monitor, an actual book (in case I ever find time to finish it), and our new bible, "Heading Home with Your Newborn: From Birth to Reality".

Add to this equation a boppy pillow and a squirmy newborn, and I quickly realized that I needed at least one, if not two, larger nightstands. However, the nightstands are currently mis-matched and I only sleep on one side of the bed, so in the interest of economy, I think I'll probably just buy one for now.

This serious contender (shown above) was found on Amazon for $79.99. If you've spent fifteen minutes with John in the last month, you'd know that he recently signed up for Amazon Prime. If you want to get the full pitch, email him directly and I'm sure he'll try to sell you on it (Amazon should hire him for advertising) but the gist is that you pay a low annual fee, and get free two-day shipping on everything under the sun. He can't speak highly enough about the whole affair, and this is yet another example of why it's great... $79.99 for the table, and free shipping, right to our door. No driving to Astoria and meeting someone in their dodgy apartment to pick up a nightstand when you should probably be at home with your newborn! Excellent!

Of course, old habits die hard, so I did search Craig's List before I looked anywhere else... I actually really liked this piece, and amazingly, it's literally located blocks from our apartment, but given that it's twice the price of the Amazon table, and yellow, I decided to give it the pass in favor of the Amazon option... (I'm thinking spray painting a bedside table white isn't exactly on the top of our priority list right now...)

Another option was this little 2-drawer nightstand from IKEA, but as you know I have a burning hatred for IKEA, and John also pointed out that what we really need is "surface, surface, surface!" so two-times the drawers and no shelves wasn't really solving the problem we have. As far as I'm concerned, this all qualifies as due-diligence... Nothing easy to pick up on Craig's List, nothing functional from IKEA, and nothing affordable from any of the usual cheap spots I hunt online. Done and done. 

The Amazon "White Finish Wood Nightstand" is ordered and on its way!