....And Of Course Her Too!

 H's room is not really considered a bedroom, but more of a sitting room.  I think the owners were using it as an office/sewing room.  It is quite small.  In fact, the current JD plant manager here in Horizontina is an ex-pat as well, from Mexico.  He looked at this house when  he was house hunting, but felt it didn't meet his needs because he needed a house where he could separate his 3 teenage children, and this room was just too small for a teen's bed and things.  For us, it is an ultimate solution.  A crib doesn't take much room.  This room actually suits our tiny H very well.  She doesn't need much space, and she herself is so little she's not even on the "growth curve" to show how she compares to other kids her age.  She's slightly off the bottom of the chart, which I guess must mean that 100% of the little American girls her age are bigger than she is!  She has always been small, but we hardly notice.  Brazilian kids, on average, are smaller than American kids anyway, and so she doesn't seem so small.  I also don't know many babies the same age as her, so I don't do a lot of comparing.  She is growing and developing, healthy and happy (unless you say "no!") so we just love the little bit of her that God gave us.

This crib was one of the most difficult pieces of furniture we purchased. Cribs here are typically smaller and not nearly as deep. It would be easy for a baby of 1 year to stand up and fall out of a crib. I could not leave her unattended in the crib we used when we first arrived. I am not sure how Brazilian parents deal with that, but for me, a deeper crib was a necessity. After extensive searching we found this crib that is closer to an American style and size. 

This room had no heat/cooling when we looked at the house.  Typically Brazilians only use it in bedrooms for comfortable sleeping, and as this was not a bedroom, there was no unit.  We negotiated with the owner to put a small "split" AC unit in here, since we knew H would be sleeping here.  It is the best functioning unit in the house.  The room is quickly and efficiently cooled in the summer and the unit produces powerful heat as well.  That is handy because of all the windows leaking outside temperatures into the room.

H's room actually has a panoramic view of the city, which is beautiful at night.  Our house is situated on a hill and she has by far the best view in the house.  Unfortunately, when the scene is right, the baby is sleeping, so we rarely enjoy this sight.  Behind the long closed curtains is a 3 sided sunroom that we use just to store empty boxes and suitcases.  The owner told us it's the perfect place to sit and sip a glass of wine.  I guess we're just not at that stage in life!  It's far more important for us to have this little room available for H as a bedroom, and therefore the sunroom is never used.  A shame, maybe, but a compromise we're happy to make.

I put up jungle wall stickers in H's room, just to dress it up a bit, and we use this cute white dressed to hold her clothes and a few toys. Since her room is too small for a guarda ropa, that handy DaddyHealy put a clothes hanging bar in place of the shelves on the right side of the dresser.  Luckily her dresses are short and tiny, it's just enough room.  The brown piece of furniture belongs to the house but has been useful to store all the extras a baby needs.  Making a nursery is one of my favorite things to do at a new house.  It didn't take long for a bare space to feel cozy and sweet for our baby, who is quickly turning into a little girl.