Flynn's Nursery Nook

Living in a one bedroom unit can have its spacial challenges, especially when you add a +1 to the family. Tracy and I took this in our stride and converted the pseudo dining area / hallway / junk storage part of our unit into a functional nursery. 

The before photo

The space we had to work with was a bit of an odd shape like the rest of our apartment but we both saw potential there. First step was a complete overhaul including painting, floor sanding, new light fittings and a built in. It's a little hard to see but in the before photo above there is an orange picture on the wall. Just to the right of that is a small free standing cupboard which we replaced with a built in. This created an amazing amount of new storage for us.

The after photo

We created a defined space by building a divider. This gave shape to the nursery without breaking the flow or creating to much of a visual imposition. The divider was just a couple of merbau privacy screens from Bunnings which I hinged together, cut a tad smaller and we painted white. I added a pole onto it which I attached the vintage pulley light I made in NY. The letter and animals on the dividers are from Bunnings as well and I painted in a distressed red look.

The pictures on the walls came from a graphic designer in Surry Hills. I got them off Etsy and thought they'd provide some color for Flynn to stare at when getting his nappy changed. The old truck is seriously vintage circa 1900 and was from my great great grandparents.

We have a few different options for lighting at night. The pulley light has Edison globes in it and emits a really lovely and warm light. We've got another light by the change table for those late night surprises.

The divider hides some draws we got from Ikea. What home would be complete without some Ikea? The change table is jammed in between the draws and a simple shelf. It's on wheels so easy to move when needed.

The cot didn't quite make it into the nook however this is in our bedroom just behind the wall with the pictures on it. The cot is a euro special so it's a bit shorter and skinnier than the normal ones. It's also on wheels and can fit between the door so we've got some flexibility to move it if Flynn starts snoring a bit to much.

So far we've been really happy with the setup. It's really practical for us and enabled us to create a little space for Flynn in a pad that is well short on that.

Cuter By The Day

Master Flynn is now a week and a half old and starting to get settled into his new possie. His day and night is filled with eating, sleeping, pooping and crying. Tough gig really. Tracy and my life at the moment is all about feeding him, getting him to bed, cleaning his nappies and trying to settle him down. It's going really well and we're having a blast. You do get tired and there are tough times but we're loving every minute of it and our junior.

It's still to early for us to really get into a good routine but we're getting better at picking up his signs. At the moment pretty much every time he wakes up he wants the boob and if he doesn't get it in about 3 seconds there will be tears. Tracy has been doing a sensational job with the feeding side and he's gaining the weight back that he lost after birth.

This weekend was big for the little fella. He had his Grandparents come up from Geelong to visit as well as Fiona (one of Tracy's friends) come up from Melbourne to do a photo shoot. Also had a few visitors today so all in all the little celebrity.

Post feed bliss

It's the thinker look.

Grand Dad and the boys

Grandma and the boys

The Deutsch

And Then There Were Four

Well for all you 16 blog subscribers I finally have something different to talk about other than Dasha. I'd like to introduce Flynn Hudson Jones to the blogsphere. It's been an adventure over the past week with the arrival of Flynn. Let me run you through the roller coaster ride that it was.

The fun started on Wednesday 12 of June. It was actually his expectant date. During the day there had not been a lot of movement at the station. This however changed at about 6.30pm when Tracy;s water broke. We didn't know it at the time as it was far from the Hollywood version a.k.a Niagara Falls style gush. We ended up heading to the hospital at around 9.30 to get Tracy checked out. She was hooked up to a monitoring machine at it was at this point she had her first contraction. 

We went home to get some rest. As the waters had been broken we were planning to have bubs induced the next morning. As it turns out this was not needed. Around 1am the real contractions started kicking in. These gradually got stronger and stronger. We tried all the pain management techniques we'd learnt in our classes. Around 4.45am Tracy comes out with a 'I need to push' statement. I wasn't going to argue and didn't think the Neutral pad was the best place to have a baby so we jumped in the car and motored up to the hospital.

Now in a normal scenario that would be a fairly easy trip but not having an off street park meant the car was a country mile away. With Tracy rolling on the bathroom floor in pain I shot off like Usain Bolt (for at least the first 20 meters before realizing I was not Usain Bolt) to get the car. It was an eerie journey to the hospital with Tracy having no less than three contractions and incredibly low visibility due to the fog.

We made it and they put us into one of the birthing suites. They were planning to hook up Tracy to the monitor again and do other things. The Midwife was gone for what felt like a century and I had Tracy saying she was going to drop the bundle. I went and grabbed on and she came back and checked Tracy and was shocked to see she was 10cms dilated. For those not in the know that means she was ready to drop the bundle. 

I wont go into the gory details but they say childbirth is an amazing experience and I can see why. Flynn entered the world like a cannon ball and the midwife just managed to catch him as he shot out. The first thing I looked for was to see what gender he was and one of Tracy's few memories from the event was hearing me scream 'it's a boy.'

Tracy did an absolutely stunning job and I'm really proud of her. She managed the whole experience with no pain relief although I think she really wanted some after my attempts to distract her with some Bon Jovi covers by yours truly.

So Flynn Hudson Jones was born at 6.46am weighing in at a tidy 3.42 kg's. He was practically hairless which was a shock considering his father and incredibly cute. Tracy spent two days in hospital recovering. We've got nothing but praise for Royal North Shore Maternity. Very caring and considerate staff who did an excellent job of looking after Tracy and Flynn. 

My days were spent taxing between the hospital and home. We were going to send Dasha to sleepover at someones place but in the end he stayed home. He was an incredibly well behaved bow wow during the whole event. Day two we put Flynn in a singlet for the day. I brought it home that night for Dasha to smell. That went well until he thought it was a toy and wanted to play tug of war. It probably took Dash a solid 48 hours to calm down he was a little agitated to begin with but more from the excitement I think. He's subsequently turning into the real guard dog and always follows his little brother around and want's to know what he is up to.

The final thing I'll end with is a story from when we did the birthing class. As part of this we did a tour of the maternity ward. While waiting to start this we were hanging around the entrance and we saw a family leave the hospital. The father was carrying the new born and the thing that struck both Tracy and me was the smile on his face. It was priceless. Having now done that walk myself I can understand his happiness and I dont think I've stopped smiling since.

Bubs circa 5 mins old.

His first weigh in

One of my fav photos

I shocked a few of the nurses when they came in to check on Tracy.  This was me in her bed having some skin to skin time.

Flynn's first bath.

Dasha checking out the smell of his new brother

Getting ready to come home

Bon voyage hospital and welcome to the world Flynn Hudson. The blanket is one my Granny knitted.

Dash meet Flynn

Proud Grandma and Aunty flew up from G-bangers. Had to check Teola's bags before she left to make sure she didn't take the baby.

Dinah putting Flynn to bed for the first time in his cot.

Trollied in Enmore

Yes yes I know. It's my first blog in ages and it features supermarket trolleys. This afternoon I did some ride by photoing on my Scooter around the inner west. For some reason Enmore seemed to be the epicentre of trolley dumping in Sydney. They were everywhere. 

And you wonder how they get here? Ask this dude. Also notice the dog run in the background. I didn't realise we had them in Sydney.

Some excellent examples of graffiti round the place as well.

Ah just like dub-burg