Spring Break + Spring Cleaning = no real break (and a really organized house)

First off we'd like to dedicate this blog post to Kelli, she gets a MAJOR shout out for basically being a genius and miracle worker! Without her help the craft area/office/Keith's closet merge could have been a marital disaster; instead we are beyond excited to share this small space. In fact, we may just spend this evening sitting in our respective spaces staring at each other and call it a date! Kelli, we love you and we are amazed at your skills (including, but not limited to, moving heavy furniture like 7 times---you should totally try out for American Gladiators or something! This fat pregnant girl was not so helpful in that process!).

I wish we had taken a before and after picture! This was Keith's world and that was perfect (golf posters, golf gear, his closet of clothes, and our "office"), just down the hall was Meghan's world which was also perfect (cute, chaotic, crafty and our "catch all" room) ...until we found out a baby would be joining us in this house and suddenly Meghan's world was going to be turned into the baby's world and my crafts were homeless! The original plan was to relocate to the basement. But the reality is that I might as well never craft again! There was no way I would venture down to the dark cold spaces (far away from a sleeping baby!) to get my creative juices flowing! A compromise was made. We could share the office. The only glitch: Keith and Meghan have very different organization styles. Keith likes nice neat piles---chaos contained, Meghan likes to see everything at once, spread out, that way I won't miss anything---chaos at it's finest! My mom had a grand idea to use an armoir to conceal some of the creativity. So we bought and built the armoir (as much as we hate build it yourself furniture, we are a pretty awesome team, and it totally saves money). Great! But the only problem was I had no idea how it would all fit and how to make the room look good too! I tend to be the kind of person who goes out to buy new storage baskets and cutesy things that I think will help me stay organized but it actually just adds to the mess. We had things plastered to the walls and bins of things to get to later...not looking good. Enter Kelli. We now have a spot for everything and even some room to spare! Keith and I are now in the process of deciding what are the essentials to keep in the office portion of the room (how long are you supposed to hold on to important documents anyway???).

We also FINALLY completed the basement cleanse! Oh man, how many weekends have we started and then procrastinated this project??? It's surprisingly difficult to let go of wedding gifts that have lived in the basement for 4+ years and we have NEVER used. But with my nesting in full gear we got rid of massive amounts of crap that we have no clue where it came from and why we have held on to it for so long, some of it has even made several moves with us---CRAZY. We might be hoarders. So here it is. Notice there is actually a floor in our storage space! And we will actually be able to find things we do use. AMAZING! We even have room for more stuff (and I'm confident in our ability to accumulate it!). This was a major undertaking to say the least. We spent many hours revisiting pictures and letters from dear friends and family, we made piles and piles of trash, give aways, and keepers, and we some how made room for the important things and said farewell to the rest. I feel like doing laundry is going to be a little more pleasurable in an open organized space. Well, probably not, it's still laundry.

The BEST part of our spring break was preparing for baby Ross! All this organizing did in fact have a purpose beyond the fact it really just had to be done! My mom was here for a few days to help me pick out fabric which she magically turned into crib bumpers and a crib skirt (curtains are also in the works!---yes, she is amazing!). She was also the driving force behind getting our butts in gear and not just waiting until today to get started on all this organizing. We obviously have a long way to go before the room really is ready for a baby (and lucky for us the baby isn't supposed to be here for another 4 months) but it feels like we are getting closer. Today while Kelli and I got crafty, Keith built our crib!!!! Isn't it beautiful? He did a great job! I'm so happy to have real baby furniture in the house and can't help but sorta wish the baby was coming a little sooner. Now with this crib all set it's really sinking in.

We are having a baby!!!

and it will sleep right here!