A teensy bit of progress.

Willow has graduated from her co-sleeper to her pack n play next to our bed. I hate having her in the pack and play! When she fusses and I need to pat her I have to reach my arm down from my bed with my armpit on the rail cutting off the circulation to my arm and hand...and that's only if she's on the side closest to me. At least with the co-sleeper she was right there. She does seem more comfortable now, though she is still most comfortable in our bed of course. I'd like to think that it's because our bed is more comfortable (therefor her transition to the new bed will be a breeze!) but I'm quite sure it's because she prefers to sleep with one hand on Mommy's face and one on Daddy's. She is not sleeping nearly as well as she used to but who knows the reason? Growth spurt, teething, new skills, who knows?! I'm done trying to analyze...babies are just an enigma and until they learn to speak as they are coming out of the birth canal, we will never know.

I believe I said in my last post that I had ordered Willow's mattress. Well, I lied. My finger was about to click the order button when I realized something was off. The price was considerably higher than the price that the nice fellow at abundant earth had originally quoted me. I think he accidentally quoted me the price for a thinner mattress. I was unhappy with the new price and so didn't click the order button and continued my research. Today, after a good amount of research, I ordered (for real) a 6 inch cotton/wool futon mattress. It is not organic but it is chemical free. I ordered from Healthy Child and the futon is made by White Lotus. It was $500 and the shipping was free. I like free shipping:) It will take 3-5 weeks to get here so that is the time frame in which I have to clean that room! 

Also, in case anyone is interested, I had to go through this entire post and delete one of the two spaces I'm conditioned to make in between sentences. I will recondition myself to only make one space if it's the last thing I do.  [space space]  :)

The before picture....

Yikes!  And yes, that's the whole room with the exception of an extra 2 feet that curves behind the closet.  I've got a bit of work to do:)

Creating Willow's Bedroom

This blog is intended to follow my progress (and Willow's) (or lack thereof) as I attempt to set up a "Montessori bedroom" for Willow.  This room will not have a crib, just a twin size mattress on the floor for her to sleep on.  The room will be Willow-centric and she will have full access to it from the beginning.  The goal is to create an environment that will help her develop a sense of autonomy early on.  She will be able to move freely about her room, day or night (!), limited only by the gate at her door.  I am not talented with interior design and I won't pretend that Willow's bedroom is going to beautiful in a purely aesthetic sense.  I'm fairly confident that I can create a beautifully austere, safe, functional, child -friendly space for our little peanut to sleep, dress and play.  Those of you who have been to my house know that Willow's room is the size of a closet, so this is no big feat really.

Right now, at 7 months old, Willow sleeps in a co-sleeper attached to our bed.  She generally sleeps through the night...though I think she is going through a bit of a growth spurt right now that is causing her to wake up each night.  She tends to toss and turn a lot in the co-sleeper ...the mattress is flimsy and I think she has outgrown it.  She sleeps much better in our bed and though I enjoy the closeness, I don't want our bed to be her primary sleeping place.  We have a queen size bed and John is always terrified he is going to roll on her when she is between us, so it negatively affects his sleep.  I don't want her on the other side of me because I'm afraid she'll roll off and I don't want to install rails.  So, it's time to try to transition her to her own bed in her own room. 

Right now, her room is being used for storage...and not the organized type of storage with bins and things but kind of storage that involves (literally) throwing stuff in there when there is nowhere else to put it.  It will be easy to clean out though and we probably won't need it for a while since Willow's mattress will likely start at the foot of our bed. 

So, step one in this plan is the mattress.  You might think that this is a simple part of the plan but as 'health and environmentally conscious' type of people who live on a tight budget, this was pretty complicated.  In the end, we chose a 6 inch twin sized organic cotton/wool/latex futon mattress.  It is $600.  Yup.  We chose a twin because it will allow me to sleep on it with her when necessary, give her more room to move since their aren't any rails and with the right care will last her until she is a teenager.  We chose organic because conventional mattresses are full of icky chemicals that I don't want her breathing all night.  It's a good investment and since we never bought a traditional nursery set, we have still spent much less than many families on baby stuff.  We are buying the mattress from Abundantearth.com in case anyone is interested...they were super nice and helpful.  This project/ experiment will officially start when we get the mattress.    Abundant Earth Organic Futon Matresses