When I was 34 weeks pregnant with Olive (give or take a couple of days) Brett came home (to our Beijing apartment of almost 4 years) and shared some big news. We were moving back to The States. It wasn't totally unexpected news—but we certainly hadn't planned around it. Case in point—Olive's birth at our international hospital was pre-paid.
2 weeks later (after a crazy fire sale of random stuff not worthy of putting on a slow boat, several farewell dinners, and the most insane packing experience I have ever witnessed) I was on a plane back to the US of A. Brett followed 2 weeks later after wrapping up his portion of the acquisition.
With no home, no American insurance, and a baby on the way (like any day!)—our options were limited. We settled on my home town of Murray, Kentucky (a place I hadn't lived since I was 17) and moved in with my parents. Good times.
Don't get me wrong, we were extremely grateful for the open doors and hospitality, but I think we can all agree that it was a less than dreamy situation. It was our first baby. We had no home of our own. We had no nursery. There was no "nesting". It was not the plan.
But guess what—everything worked out. 2 weeks after Brett arrived safely back in America, our baby girl was born. We brought her home to a lovely, albeit very adult decorated guest bedroom with a bassinet and a baby monitor. It wasn't Pinterest perfect—but it was perfect to us.
Fast forward 4 years, and we are now preparing to bring home Baby #2. This time around couldn't be more different. For starters, we are not homeless. (So that's something...) In fact, we actually have a proper nursery—designed and outfitted specifically for this little bun-in-the-oven. I'm not going to lie, being prepared really does have its advantages!
And we didn't just stop at the nursery! Our whole house is prepped for his arrival. Around every corner you will find what I like to call "a baby Hutch station". I'm not messing around this time! I also didn't mess around when it came to the look and feel of the baby products we picked. After a top to bottom renovation of our house, I wasn't going to settle for "ugly" baby stuff. Thankfully (very thankfully) the timing of the Jonathan Adler crafted by Fisher Price collaboration launched just in time! So long ugly mint green monkey swing, HELLO black, white and beautiful Rock n' Play!
In the spirit of making up for lost time, I also snagged the JA X FP Sensory Gym and Deluxe Bouncer. Our house is pretty vertical so I wanted to be sure that I had baby entertainment on each level!
Of course, stylish is great at all, but the stuff has to work too right? Quite amazing the advancements that have been made in 4 years. Take the sensory gym for starters. Nothing basic about it. The pillow vibrates for soothing baby and the top part lights up and sings. We did a test run on Olive. I figure if it can entertain a picky 4-year old, then we are golden with an infant!
