A Puzzle Wrapped in a Conundrum Wrapped in a Tortilla

I'm trying to figure out how to use our rooms in the best way once Blueberry arrives. I'm kind of confused. Could you help?

We have 4 bedrooms, 2 upstairs and 2 on the main floor, and a ~12 X 20 finished basement. Here is how they are currently being used:

Upstairs 1: Master
Upstairs 2: Dressing room
Main Floor 1: Guest room
Main Floor 2: Entryway/mud room, shoe dump, litter boxes
Basement: Work desk, craft storage, plus 2 adorable loveseats that would be destroyed by cats anywhere else.

We plan to move the litter boxes to the 2nd floor landing as necessary, and could get dressed in the master bedroom, like normal people.

My sister Jasmine* suggested, and I agree, that there should be a baby sleeping/changing area both downstairs and up.

So do we set up two separate dedicated nurseries? Two cribs, two changing tables, two rocking chairs? Do we use the guest room as one of the sleeping/changing areas? The guest room is a little nicer than the mud room but with a little work (paint, a nicer area rug) I think the mud room could compete. It's not a mudroom, it's a bedroom, but it's near the back door and has an extra door on the other side, so it's a convenient dumping area and a way to get to the rest of the house, so it has become an entryway. But it doesn't need to be.

The guest room is more convenient to the living room, where we spend a lot of time, but that would make it less quiet I suppose. On the other hand, we usually enter through the back door, which is right off the mud room door, so if Blueberry is sleeping, that might wake him/her up.

It would be nice to keep a dedicated guest room as long as possible. But other options for guests are the basement (a little musty but otherwise pleasant and well lit) and the living room (well stocked bar).

So is there a clear answer? What would that be? Any suggestions? Thanks very much.

*Names changed.

Fruit

Hi Bloggies!

Have you heard that I'm going to have a baby in January? I had to get that out there. I'm 13 weeks along. I may be showing but I think it's my normal belly with a little extra fat because I've been eating a lot. I had a great first trimester. No major symptoms, and I felt great except that I needed a nap every day. Stanley and I heard the heartbeat and some somersaults via doppler two weeks ago. 170 bpm, and a somersault every 10 sec. All systems go.

The fetus' name is Blueberry, named by my sister Janis* when I told her that he/she was the size of a blueberry. Currently, he/she is the size of a peach. Last week was plum.

Blueberry will no doubt be a steady feature in future blog posts. My friend Amacrine* is also pregnant, 4-5 weeks ahead of me. She may be coming to visit at the end of August, at which time she will be ~25 weeks and I will be ~20 weeks. I hope we both look obviously pregnant at that point, so that we can cause a scene everywhere we go. If I don't look pregnant enough, I'm going to add some padding.

These berries are growing on a tree in my yard.


I plan to eat them once they're ripe. I know you're not supposed to eat berries if you don't know what they are but I believe they are chokecherries, which people use to make jam. I am basing this belief on Stanley's mom's hunch about the tree as it blossomed last spring, and on google searches for images of chokecherries, as well as for "mistaken for chokecherries". Apparently the berry commonly mistaken for chokecherries is buckthorn, but this is definitely not buckthorn. So I'm going for it!!

When we got back from our 4th of July week in Texas, I found a bunch of adorable sprouts in the compost bin. There are two of these:


Possibly a tomato? Anyone?

And approximately 50 of these:


Possibly cantaloupe? If so, I guess they will have to be thinned out. I don't really feel like transplanting them because it will take work to till the soil, etc. I have learned a valuable lesson in gardening because I made a half-assed attempt at planting a bed of ipomopsis and butterfly weed this spring by hacking at an area of grass with a pickax, pulling out some (but not all) clumps of grass, and poking seeds into bare areas. This is an excellent way to encourage weeds. Some ipomopsis and butterfly weed sprouts have appeared, but they are not growing. Stanley suggests they need fertilizer. I think they need a gardener. This is why Stanley is in charge of the vegetable garden and I am in charge of the flowers and volunteer/pre-existing/self-sustaining fruits that we may or may not eat.

Blueberry fits into the self-sustaining category. As long as I feed my face, Blueberry will be fine, and I can be counted on to feed my face.

Our black raspberries are ripening!

Have some fruit today.