Anytime Gourmet: A baby changes everything

Otto Constantino - 8 weeks

A baby does change everything - trips to the grocery store, my diet, the amount of laundry we do in a week, how much sleep we think is "good", the amount of time and money I spend on myself, and even his own room. I had set up Otto's room with some limitations such as my budget and the fact that we are renting our place. Once he was born, a few things changed, and now I know what I will do next time I design a nursery.

A few things I changed:

1. I put a table next to the rocking chair for water, books, etc. I know this sounds obvious, and I did think about it before he was born, but I couldn't find a table I liked. I still don't have a table I like, but it doesn't matter - any table will work. I want to find a bookshelf/side table or I might just build one myself if I can't find one.

2. I put the elephant mobile above Otto's crib. Now that he's sleeping in his crib, I thought it would be nice for him to have something to look at when he wakes up. And I never really liked how it looked above the rocking chair - too busy or something.

3. I hung the "Otto" frame by the door instead of the chalkboard. My friend made me the "Otto" frame with pictures, and I just love it, so I wanted it to be where everyone could see it.

4. I put hooks below the Otto frame for his sweatshirts and jackets. You wouldn't think a baby would have so many hoodies, but he has lots of hand-me-downs from his sporty cousin, so we have ended up with a lot of sweatshirts. I used cup hooks (see link at bottom), which are super cheap (I bought mine at Target), and you don't need any tools to put them up. I just twisted them directly into the wall. Technically, you're supposed to pre-drill holes, but I have used these hooks many times without doing so. They can hold up to 5 pounds each, which is more than enough for hanging jackets and sweatshirts!

5. I always have a receiving blanket on top of the changing pad cover. The first few weeks, Otto liked going to the bathroom as soon as his diaper was off, so we were washing the changing pad cover every other day or something (I can't remember that long ago.). Now, I just use one of my flannel receiving blankets so that if he has an accident, I can just wash that. You could also just buy fabric from the fabric store, but since I had these cute receiving blankets I wasn't using for anything, I thought they would be perfect.