Too much furniture and too little space

You have to order cribs early. They take 8 to 12 weeks to arrive. You don't want to get caught having a premature baby, arrive home, and realize that either you or the newborn has to crash on the couch.

With this in mind, we purchased a crib last weekend - It arrived after 5 days. Either it had been sitting in inventory already, or the factory workers in Indonesia had suddenly gotten a lot faster at making cribs (and shipping them around the world). Either way, we were happy.

The crib caught us off-guard though, and required some major re-arranging. Given that we were already tight for space in our one bedroom apartment, we needed another large piece of furniture like we needed...well, you get the picture.

Fairly certain we could find better ways to spend $100 than on a crib delivery fee, we elected to pick up the crib ourselves. Of course, the crib wouldn't fit in our car, so we had to drive across town, borrow a pick-up truck from a friend, and then pick it up. When we got back, I picked up an allenwrench and attempted to decipher the poorly written instructions. The process took me back 2.5 years to when Elizabeth and I moved to San Francisco and bought a truckload (literally) of Ikea furniture. Uggh.

About 60 minutes and only a handful of obscenities later (trying to get that down to zero before the little one arrives), our crib was assembled. We had even used all the parts, which seemed to increase our daughter's likelihood of safety. See the crib photo above. If she were to arrive today, our daughter would gaze up at a poster of the 2005 ceremony in which the Red Sox were awarded their World Series rings (in front of the Yankees) after completing the best sporting performance in the history of the world. While I want her to grow up aspiring to that kind of greatness, I've already been informed that the child's safety will require us removing the heavy frame from above her crib. Happily, she'll still be able to wear the Red Sox outfit my better half was kind enough to purchase for her.

While the Red Sox poster will have to move, our daughter has some neighbors who will be staying in the vicinity of her crib, and are already looking forward to her arrival. Elizabeth's bunny "Sweet Pea" and bear "Truffles" look forward to hugs from a new owner after years of loyal service. New additions "Patches" and a soon to be named pink bear (both grandparent gifts) are also eager to meet the little girl.