Building the nest

As I write this, my lovely wife and I now have just under two months to go until the due date
for our first baby. These last 7 months have gone by so quickly, I can’t believe we’ve got less
than two months left now!

As the impending arrival of our little one grows ever-nearer, we’ve turned our attention
towards getting as many things ‘ready’ as possible – this has so far involved buying quite a
bit of ‘baby stuff’, sorting and organising what will become the baby’s room, and other things
like preparing an extensive list of TV boxsets ready to work our way through in the wee small
hours of the looming sleepless nights!

So, you may or may not have come across the term ‘nesting’ with relation to pregnancy, but
my understanding is that pregnant women often get an instinctual urge to tidy and organise
their homes during pregnancy, to prepare for the arrival of the baby.
For my wife and I, it definitely feels like we’ve started nesting, albeit quite intentionally in our
case. We’re fortunate enough to have a spare bedroom in our little house that we’ve always
intended to use as bedroom for our children if and when they turned up, and so over the last
few weeks we’ve been working to get it fully ready for our little one’s approaching
appearance.

It’s slightly strange trying to work out exactly what needs doing to get a room ready for a
baby as, after all, we’ve never had one of those of our own before! Questions like “How
many shelves do we actually need to put up?”, “Just how many storage boxes does a baby
need for it’s no doubt extensive toy collection?” and “Is that shelf wonky?” have been
occupying our conversations lately, but it’s really exciting to see things coming together now.
I think the strangest moment of preparation so far for me was one day when I walked past
the spare room, after my wife had started washing the already overwhelming amount of baby
clothes we’ve bought or been given, and I saw all the tiny little baby grows and onesies
hanging up on an airer in the spare room. I had a sudden moment of panic and wondered
“Wait, why’s there baby clothes drying? …Do we already have a baby?! Where’s the baby?”
before quickly realising that this was just my wife being very well prepared.
But, beyond brief moments of sheer panic, as I say it’s been exciting to see things really
coming together in what will become the baby’s room. It’s also been a really nice way for my
wife and I to spend some time together doing something that feels slightly more worthwhile
than sitting on the sofa binge watching Netflix!

Now, I’m no DIY expert by any means, but I’m certainly a keen enthusiast. When my wife
and I bought our house just over two years ago we spent several months renovating it, both
before and after we moved in and actually started living here. One thing we did at the time
was decorate the spare room with the intention that we were hoping to one day use it as a
kids bedroom for our children. So, we opted for simple neutral colours, and got the general
basics of the room sorted back then.
In more recent weeks we’ve turned our attention towards storage and, er… more storage! If
the amount of clothes, blankets and other assorted ‘baby gear’ that we have already
amassed before our child is even born is anything to go by – we’re going to need plenty of
storage.

As well as general DIY tasks for the baby’s room, there’s a few more adventurous and
hands-on projects that I’m hoping to undertake over the coming weeks and months (the
recommendation of having the baby sleep in the same room as you for the first six months of
its’ life buying me some more time here, rather helpfully).
My enthusiasm for DIY that was generated during our house renovation led me to a real
passion for woodworking, which has become a big hobby of mine – as and when I get the
time. This has in turn led to both myself, and my wife, being keen for us to really put our own
stamp on the decor and general feel of our baby’s room, by adding a selection of handmade
items and decor.
The largest of which, is that I’ve decided to set myself the rather daunting challenge of
attempting to design and build a cot for our child myself, from scratch, and build it in my
spare time between now and, roughly, October when the baby will most likely start sleeping
primarily in her or his own room.

This will most certainly be the most complex and advanced woodworking project I’ve
attempted yet, but I really hope that I’m able to pull it off as the idea of having a handmade
cot that will (hopefully) last us for how ever many children we hopefully end up having – and
potentially even being handed down through the generations – is really exciting for me.
I’ve got a few other, much smaller, woodworking projects that I’m hoping to make for the
baby as well like a homemade wooden play gym, some wooden wall art and other bits and
pieces – but the cot is obviously the main task. And the most pressing, as my wife reminds
me in a very loving manner… on a fairly regular basis!

I’m hoping to try and loosely document my progress, successes and failures in these
projects over the coming weeks and months here on Music Football Fatherhood, and
hopefully my efforts may even inspire someone to have a go themselves at making a truly
meaningful, sentimental and special gift or practical item for their own children.

Now, where did I put my tape measure…?

Dave Robson