A Peek at Baby Tran's Nursery!

Hey friend,

We are officially on baby watch here. I'm 38 weeks and a few days right now, and we are anxiously awaiting Baby Tran's arrival.

We had quite the journey to get here, including several years of infertility, miscarriage, and finally ending with a round of IVF. We got incredibly lucky and know that so many people walk this same path with a different outcome. It's impossible to know or understand while we are still on earth as to why some people's journey's to parenthood are easy, and while some are never realized.... at least not in the way they hoped or expected. I was reminded of that again this morning with an Instagram post from one of our customers grieving the children that were never born, while still celebrating with me and our coming bundle.

I cried at the reminder that motherhood is something to never take for granted. So if your journey is not what you expected, please know my heart is with you. I wish it made sense.

I want to give you a little tour of Baby Tran's nursery and how we tried to stay as ethical as possible.... often with getting items secondhand!

The curtains and rug are items we've had for years at this point. Swapping out curtains is the easiest way to update a room, but I always keep my old curtains because you never know when you might need them.

The crib and mattress are among the only new major purchases made, and they were a gift from my parents. The crib is a Graco Benton 4-1 Crib, and while it's not ethically made, it has one of the highest safety ratings and has non-toxic paint, which was really important to me. The Safety 1st crib mattress is Greenguard Gold Certified which again speaks to it's safety with no toxic fumes.

That sweet elephant blanket was crocheted by Baby Tran's great grandma, just for him!

Can we just have a moment for how cute this mobile, garland and little banner is?! I snagged these from my friend Sabrina at New Creation Boutique, and I couldn't love them more. They are ethically made and supporting artisans, like all the products in her shop!

This dresser is probably as old as me. I didn't see the point of having a separate changing table, so we spruced up this dresser with some new drawer pulls and hope to refinish it one day. (Yes, that is one of our Rowan bags that we no longer carry! I got a diaper bag insert secondhand and will use that bag as a diaper bag).

I love macrame, and this stunning piece was a gift from Ordinary Mommy Designs (who happens to be my sister). She doesn't sell these macrame on her Etsy store, but if you contact her and tell her I sent you, you might be able to convince her to do a custom piece for you.

We have so many fun pieces of art in the nursery! This was another gift from my sister Christen (if you've ever emailed our customer service, you've talked to Christen!). She commissioned this piece from AL Art+Design. I'm a huge C.S. Lewis fan and I'm obsessed with this piece.

I had been looking for a bookshelf on Facebook marketplace for a while, and hadn't found what I was looking for. My sweet hubby went to Lowes and got some pine boards and crafted this simple shelf for his boy's room. It turned out exactly how I wanted it and was much cheaper (and way more sturdy) than buying a new one. That playmat was another secondhand item that we love.

We ended up on an elephant/jungle theme, if you haven't figured that out yet! My friend Molly from Still Being Molly didn't know that when she gifted us this sweet, artisan made elephant from Vibrant Hope Boutique.

Because of our journey to parenthood, this gift from friends really hit home. It was a custom piece from 507 Designs. Bonus that this Etsy shop is local to us!

I am a big reader, and so starting a little library for our boy was important to me! My husband can get a little obsessive and has so far spent hours searching Facebook marketplace for books. With the exception of a few, these books are all secondhand.

We are so excited to meet this little guy (and finally share his name)!

XO,

Bethany