not on my baby budget list

sometimes after a day of despondently plugging numbers into a calculator, i like to look at extravagantly expensive and beautiful things that i definitely won't be buying.

one of my favorite online baby shops is fawn and forest, primarily because they carry wonderful handmade items from wonderful artists like sian keegan and tiny warbler. but honestly, i can't afford ninety percent of what they carry.

how do you stay true to your design sensibilities when all the lovely things for the baby are so expensive? in an ideal world, matthew the architect would take up woodworking among other things (like building me a house in maine). not to mention, i've heard that diffusion furniture lines at target and walmart are shoddily constructed and have strong chemical smells. for now, i think we're leaning towards ikea with a dash of flea market repurposing.

here's what i would include in my fantasy nursery (which is also in my fantasy three-bedroom apartment):


offi nest crib, $2,499
kalon studios ioline changing trunk, $740

things to come

second anniversary outfit, june 3, 2008.

this photograph marks, more or less, the beginning, though we didn't know it then.

due dates are estimates only. but it's something to hold on to during these long yet paradoxically short months.
february 24, 2009.
matthew will be 26, i'll be 29. we will (hopefully) have 1.5 years left before we go on the job market. that's 1.5 years for this baby boy to be a new englander. i will have lived in cambridge for 5.5 years.

name brainstorming has begun, budget lists have been drawn up, but nothing aside from lovely clothing from flora and henri and nature baby has been purchased. we like to procrastinate. i also find clothing to be an easy distraction from hard questions about car seat safety test results and stroller reviews.

this is a blog about waiting. there will probably be a lot of photos of me in various 'maternity' outfits for now. not too much complaining, i hope, but lots of honesty about what happens when a grad student trying to finish a dissertation decides to start a family. and soon, more photos and comments about the baby than you could ever imagine. if you thought i took too many photos of my cats, just wait. i think it's time to buy a nice digital SLR camera.