Thursday, May 29, 2008

Nursery

Ever since we moved into our house in 2005, we knew the nursery would be the nursery. Right away we would called it the "baby's room". However, it became a collect all room. As we unpacked our belongings and not know where something should go, we would say "put it in the babies room." That was fine until we actually had a baby on the way! So, one weekend this winter (probably one of those -30 degree days...global warming!) we decided to tackle the room. We trashed, boxed up and donated a lot of "stuff". We were left with an empty room that over the next few months we would watch transform into "Baby K's" room!

We began by picking out the bedding we wanted. At the time, not knowing if we were having a boy or girl, we wanted to make sure that we had a room the was gender neutral. Plus, Kristoffer said that he was not going to be redecorating the room every time we had a baby! So, we picked something gender neutral. Dana had seen the green color in the bedding, and really liked it from the beginning. We spent another -30degree weekend painting the nursery. The finished product turned out really well, even though we are left with an extra gallon of paint! So if our children ever decide to be "artists" all over the walls, we have plenty of paint to cover it up.

The next step was purchasing the furniture. We first bought the rocking chair from IKEA. It is very comfortable, but a very bright red. When it was just the green walls and red chair, Kristoffer wasn't getting the whole picture of the room, but would soon see it all come together. Getting the rest of the furniture was an adventure! We had been shopping many times to pick out exactly what we wanted; crib, crib mattress, changing table and dresser. After doing our research to see what stores had what we needed, we took our Tracker into town to pick them up. It was a little frustrating, because we would have to go to 2 different stores to get everything. We were excited though to be able to get our baby's furniture. After talking to several "team members", they brought our crib out from the back. As soon as we see the box, both of our jaws drop! The box was HUGE, we kept thinking there was no way that thing was fitting into the back of our roomy Tracker! Keep in mind that we were at Target, where we never walk away with just one thing. This trip was no different, we weren't going to be leaving with just the crib. Kristoffer, the eternal optimist, reassured Dana, the constant worrier, that it would fit and we would make it home, but there was no way we would be getting the rest of the furniture! Yes, everything did fit in the car, but Dana's knees were in the glove box and sitting up extremely straight. Always an adventure! We went the following weekend and picked up the rest of the things we needed, and thankfully everything fit.

The rest of the items in the nursery came from the generosity of others. We were very blessed to have 3 baby showers in April and 1 in May; 1) in Indiana hosted by Kristoffer's mom's 2 best friends, 2) at church hosted by our youth group, 3) Dana's co-workers had a surprise shower over an out-to-lunch and 4) hosted by Kristoffer's team at work. After each shower we were excited to learn exactly what you use each thing for...there are a lot of things we didn't know before! We also enjoyed watching the nursery come together. We are very thankful to all of our friends and family who have helped us prepare ourselves for our little guy!

The final thing in the nursery is the baby's hospital bag. Neither of us is packed for the hospital, but the baby is! This bag has been packed since our hospital tour a few weeks ago, and mocks us everyday as we walk by. Hopefully we will be using it soon, because tomorrow Dana will be giving "Baby K" his 2 week eviction notice!

Monday, May 26, 2008

Where will "Baby K" be born?



I know a lot of people have asked: "Where are you having the baby?" So...here's some information to put those questions to rest. :-)

We will be having "baby K" at Regina Medical Center in Hastings, Minnesota. Hastings is about 12 miles northeast of Hampton - about a 15 minute drive from our house. The hospital has a beautiful, newly renovated birthing center - called the Family Birthing Center. There are five rooms for families as well as two additional rooms for c-section births/stays.

Each room has hardwood floors, private bathrooms with a bath/shower, a refrigerator, and a TV (along with all of the other hospital needs). There is even a couch that folds out into a bed for the dads to sleep on! The view from each window is great - looking out over a horse farm nestled on the Mississippi River bluffs. Quite an upgrade from rooms just one generation ago...we can remember our mothers talking about sharing a room during labor!!



One nice thing about this hospital (there are many) is the room service. Room service and all meals are actually "covered" in the cost of the birth itself.

We did a "pre-hospital interview" just two weeks ago where they showed us where we would be staying when our baby decided to come. We were very impressed with the rooms and especially the staff. This will be a fantastic place for our newest family member to start his life!!



Sunday, May 25, 2008

Dana's Growing Belly...

What a fun ride it has been for us watching Dana's belly grow with our child inside! It is truly a miracle from God - and it is just incredible to see a new life forming and developing. Here are a few pictures of how Dana's belly (and "baby K") have grown over the past eight and a half months!! There will be many more pictures to come...

Dana at 19 Weeks



Dana at 26 Weeks




Dana at 30 Weeks





Welcome to Our Website...

Greetings friends and family! Welcome to the Growing Gray Family - a blog dedicated to our family and helping to keep everyone updated on our adventures. We will be posting pictures along the way as well.

We welcome all of your comments...and hope you enjoy a more "up close and personal" view of our family - all through the convenience of your home computer!