We’ve finally started getting The Acrobat’s room ready in earnest. I’m hopeful that we’ll have it mostly ready to go this week, but it really depends on my energy level. I wake up in the mornings exhausted, after “sleeping” fitfully all night, so I run out of gas pretty fast these days. I’ve been setting little goals for myself every day, so as long as I can continue to make those I will have the bulk of it all done before his arrival. Of course, he could come at any time so let’s just hope he waits until we at least have a crib.

I was going back and forth about getting a new rocking chair for the baby’s room. On the one hand, the green plush chair we have is perfectly good and I’ve rocked both of my babies in it. On the other hand, I didn’t want to take it away from Annabel since she and I sit in it every night for story time. But, Annie heard Mike and me discussing the chair dilemma and shocked us both by saying she wanted her baby brother to have it. “I will sit in it and read him stories every night!”

I wanted to do something for her to take the place of the chair – something special, since there are a lot of changes in the house right now. So I came up with the idea of a “Fairy Reading Tent.” I’m not really sure why I went with “fairy” other than I just needed something that wasn’t princess, and it sounds fancy and fun to a three-year-old. Plus, I wanted to emphasize reading, because she loves being read to and I always want her to love books and stories.

When I was at Ikea a few weeks ago, I found the perfect gauzy-tent-like-thingy (that’s its official Ikea name, those crazy Swedes). With that and a few new pillows and a bunch of old ones, plus an old down comforter and a handful of blankets, it’s the perfect cozy spot to curl up with some books.

in the tent

The Fairy Reading Tent

Annie looooooves it and spent hours in it yesterday, flipping through the pages of books. We told her that it was her own very special place, and no one was allowed in it without an invitation from Annabel herself. It’s not the easiest little corner for me to sit in right now (Mike had to help me up on more than one occasion), but it was worth it to cuddle with Annie. I told her we’d get some pretty (fake) flowers and attach them to the tent if she wanted, but she seems content with it just the way it is. In fact, she said, “I can’t wait to show this to my baby brother!” That makes two of us.