..4th times the charm

Our Crib Adventure:

On a lovely evening back in June, Brooks and I were taking a little nightly stroll around the neighborhood. We passed a house that had a crib and mattress on the front doorstep. A little girl was outside, so we asked her if they were selling it. She went to go ask her mom, and when her mom came out, she said "Oh you guys can just have it!". She was sooo unbelievably kind. Not only did she give us the crib, but she gave us toys and clothes as well. We were so grateful and impressed by her charity. After taking the crib back to Brooks' parents house and inspecting it further, we realized (in better lighting) that the crib was quite..used. The crib was made out of a combination of two cribs. The sides were completely different from the head and foot boards. Oh, and we can't forget that there was a little pencil drawing of 'Boo' from Monster's Inc. on the side of the crib, courtesy of one of the crib's previous owners. (hehe it was funny, too bad I don't have a picture). Anyways, the crib needed a LOT of work. It wasn't horrible, but I just didn't feel good about doing so much work to restore/reinforce an old crib for our first baby. I loved that it was free, but I wanted to find something a little more sturdy that would need less TLC.

So, Brooks' parents took on the challenge of re-vamping the crib so that they could keep it in the basement for when we bring the baby over. As for Brooks and I, our crib quest continued...

In August, after we moved into our apartment, my grandma called and told me that she had a really sturdy crib that she had never used. She had bought it off of KSL a couple years earlier, but she didn't need it anymore. We thought, "Sturdy crib? Free? ..Sweet!". We went up and got the crib, brought it down to our apartment, and set it up.



The crib was, in fact, very sturdy. However, it needed a paint job, and it had drop-gates (don't worry, not drop-sides) which lacked finger latches..so they just fell and didn't stay up by themselves. Our mattress was also too small for the crib, so there was empty space all around the edges. We didn't rule this crib out completely. We thought that with some effort, we could definitely make it work. When I told my mom about it though, she said that she thought it would be better to invest in a new crib that could last through all of our kids (and that needed less work).  After some thought, we agreed. My parents had us bring the crib up to their house so that they could re-vamp it and use it for when grandbabies come up (just like Brooks' parents did with the other crib)

 ...and so our quest continued.

We looked online and found a pretty affordable crib from JC Penney.

It looks pretty good, right? Well, we bought it, picked it up, brought it home, and set it up

...well, technically we didn't actually set it up because we knew almost instantly that the crib was NOT going to work. For how much we paid, we couldn't believe how bad the quality was. The wood was super thin and flimsy, like plywood. It was easy to see that the crib would not last through all of our kids..let alone our first baby.

So back to JC Penney it went.

By this time, we were feeling a little discouraged. We now realized that 'new' didn't necessarily mean nice. We wanted something sturdy and durable, and if it happened to be used (but great quality) we were all for it. After some KSL Classifieds searching, we found that there was a man in Salt Lake who owned a small liquidation business. He was selling a $565 crib for the same price as the flimsy JC Penney crib. We called to inquire, and he said that the crib wasn't used, but that it had some nicks and scratches from shipping (from Brazil), so the big department store in Salt Lake didn't want it. He told us that it was a great deal and that we could come look at it the next day if we were interested. The next evening, we went up and looked at the crib. It was beautiful. The box was hammered (it looked like it was shipped in a plane that was bombed by terrorists) but the crib itself looked awesome. The small 'flaws' were barely visible, and we agreed to buy it.

After bringing it home and setting it up, we could not be happier. It is SO sturdy, and the quality is amazing. 

So, our quest is finally finished, and we now have a crib (it only took us 4 tries!). This week we were able to get our nursery all set up. (pictured above). It went from mayhem, to a cute little room. We are so relieved to have a place for our little lady. Brooks and I love being in there, just to sit and rock in the glider. ...and it is making us even more excited to bring our baby home! Here are two progression photos

Me at 27.5 weeks

Me at 37.5 weeks (yesterday)

Whoa there! Ha, baby girl is definitely making herself known. I took this after Kelsea and Sav's funeral yesterday. Everyone who saw me said "Whoa! You are huge!!" ...Yes. I know, thank you for reminding me though. For good measure, we'll end with a picture from Brooks and I's little Friday date; a lovely drive through the Alpine Loop.

Matching poses and all.

Adios er'body.

Jena out.