Some Assembly Required

Sorry for the extended absence; we've been very busy! Over the weekend we attended a wedding and had Jack's brother in town to visit. This time, we made him earn his keep. We put his rear end to work putting together baby furniture.

After putting together the crib, Jack was a little burned out on furniture assembly. I was ecstatic about the dresser and changing table; I begged the boys to put them together for me over the weekend. Rob made a huge mistake by telling us that he “kinda likes that sort of thing.”

So first thing Saturday morning, Jack and I went to pick up the furniture. First sign of danger: the box said “easy assembly.” When we got home, Rob was awake and ready for action. I made myself useful by parking it on the couch and pointing helpfully to the tools they needed.

"I've made a HUGE mistake."

Just how he wanted to spend his Saturday. Working hard to be the favorite uncle.

Jack sort of thought his contribution could be taking a nap while Rob worked and I looked on. Since Rob enjoys furniture assembly so very much.

Jack napped with Judah while I saw to it that Rob stayed busy.

We started with the changing table, which actually went together pretty quickly. From my view from the couch, I was surprised at how easy it was. Then we opened the dresser box. I wish I had a picture of the 5,000 pieces it contained. For a moment, we all stood (I sat) in awe of all the tiny pieces that were supposed to fit together to form one giant thing. Then I cracked my whip and put Rob back to work. I offered to help a few times, but ended up going to the kitchen for a snack instead (an RBF, of course).

We all took a short break to go to a wedding that afternoon. Then I went to a garage sale while Jack helped Rob with the rest of the furniture assembly. A long day of hard work, but the finished product...so worth all the time and effort I put into it. Jack was just glad that I wouldn't be hounding him about it anymore like I did when we got the crib. And Rob didn't mind the work either, especially after I told him that I would take lots of pictures and post about it on the blog.

So here's to you, Mr. Baby Furniture Assembly Guy. Thanks to you, Jack and I will never have to change our daughter on the couch, or the floor, or in the crib. Her clothes will be safely stowed away inside a dresser, not hastily hung in the closet or tossed about on the floor. So crack open an ice cold Jones soda, oh sultan of the screwdriver. And rest easy tonight, knowing that no baby will ever have better assembled furniture than SB.

Mr. Baby Furniture Assembly Guy

PS- I should also mention many happy returns of the day to my brother Philip, who helped Jack put the crib together last week. Philip, I found all the extra screws and nails that somehow didn't make it into the crib hidden at the top of SB's closet. I know you threw the instructions away halfway through the project, since you are a professional furniture assemblyman and pen salesman, and who needs directions anyway. If her crib ever falls apart due to lack of screws and/or nails, I'll know who to blame. Otherwise, no harm, no foul.