Issue #31: A Nursery Tour, Sort Of

we built a nursery... then co-slept instead, so here's what we ditched, what we kept, and how we actually use the space now

I never really shared these nursery photos — mostly because we didn’t actually use it. 😂 But, I’d love to take a moment to share about it as well as the evolution of this space.

When I was pregnant, we poured so much love into this room. It was actually the first room we ever painted! We have textured walls throughout the house, which usually keeps us from even trying — but for Keira’s room, I wanted something cozy and colorful, so we decided to go for it. Instead of scraping the texture off (which would’ve been a whole dusty project), we used a putty to smooth it out and bought limewash paint. The paint is from JH Wall Paints (Color: 153)— it’s meant to look a imperfect, almost watercolor-y. You don’t have to be “good” at painting, it’s messy on purpose, which is great for someone like me who isn’t very precise.

We were generously gifted the Nestig crib — it’s truly beautiful and so well-made, with the smoothest wood finish. I thought we’d use the bassinet version at first, but we ended up using the Newton bedside bassinet instead… and then, well, we just started cosleeping and never stopped.

Eventually I figured, okay, we’ll use the crib for naps later. We tried for months. Sometimes she’d go down okay. Sometimes not. But after the four-month sleep leap… all bets were off. Her naps became 20 minutes max — and getting her to fall asleep in the crib took longer than the nap itself. That was my only work window, so we shifted. We tried again here and there, but eventually we gave ourselves permission to let it go, and it felt really good to do that.

The Tech We Ditched

Those first few newborn nights are a trip. You’re adjusting to broken sleep, physically recovering, and they’re making all these loud grunty noises you’ve never heard in your life.

And as a first time mom, I felt like I needed all the things to keep her safe….

The Owlet Dream Sock, the Nanit Monitor, the Hatch Sound Machine, all the alert settings… I was trying to calm my fears with more apps. But we were so overwhelmed that first night home that we couldn’t even figure out how to use the Owlet. And after a few days of just… being with her, I realized I felt less anxious without all the gadgets. The more gear I had, the more I second-guessed myself, so we returned it… and got back nearly $800 (woo!).

Some parents find those tools super comforting (and if that’s you, truly — no shade at all.). But for me, it quickly started to feel like too much. I also couldn’t ignore how so much of the marketing plays on new parent anxiety — convincing us we need hundreds of dollars of equipment just to make it through the night.

That ended up being a real turning point. I started tuning out the noise, trusting my gut, and leaning into a simpler, more intuitive way of doing things.

In case you’re curious, I dive in deeper into my baby product regrets and why in this video:

How We Currently Sleep