Ok, so in addition to having your office ready to abandon it, you (if you're me) need to have your house in some semblance of order. First there's the whole "where are we gonna PUT this new person?" question to answer. In our case, the boys will stay in the room they are in (technically The Bug's room) and the toys will stay in the room they are in (The Pirate's room) and the Baby will live in our room. For a while. I expect that we'll keep her in there until Christmas or so, at which point we will hopefully have some bunkbeds for the boys. I'm hoping that a gradual introduction will work better with the Bug, instead of just tossing him out of what he knows when this small loud person appears.
This still leaves the matter of all the baby STUFF. I've spent the past few weeks moving clothing from one dresser to another and moving dressers from one room to another. This gave us more dresser space for the boys and freed up the built-in closet (more or less) for the baby. Most of her clothes will be in there, along with the majority of the blankets and extra stuff. A small basket of clothes, her diapers and wipes, and a handful of receiving blankets will reside in our room. I bought a new l
ittle folding cradle for our bedside (which obviously I have not yet tried, but it looks awesome) and I expect that we'll use our little cosleeper like we did with both boys. (The First Years Close and Secure Sleeper, Colors May Vary, it has a little light on it for middle of the night checks and everything. I *highly* recommend it, even with that ugly link.) I'm not planning on buying bottles at this time, and we already have most of the other baby gear we need. We will need to do something about the current car seat, maybe recover it, maybe replace it. We have a good stock of diapers on hand. If the baby arrived tomorrow, WHICH SHE WON'T, we'll be ready enough.The last part of getting the house ready is the hardest and most ongoing part. I don't want to bring my baby home to a messy house. Worse, I don't want to call someone (Grandpa!?) in the middle of the night to come stay in my messy house while I jaunt off to have a baby. Every day I'm cleaning a small section and trying (haha) to keep on top of the clutter. I figure another couple months and I'll have it under control. (Ignore the fact that I expect a baby in less than a month.) I'd like to have the yard mowed before then, so Mike doesn't have to think about it. It would be nice to have the car all clean and shiny when we bring her home. I need to buy some paper plates so I can avoid dishes for a few days. The list is never ending!
While I haven't quite succumbed to the traditional freak out of nesting (yet) I fully expect to go home one day soon and start scrubbing floors with a toothbrush. With the Pirate, I had to clean out the garage the weekend before his birth. The weekend before the Bug was born I found myself disassembling the hood to the microwave because that grease HAD to go!
If you have kids, did you have a day of full out cleaning panic that signalled the baby's imminent arrival? What household changes did you make to make room for them? Were you prepared or did the baby catch you off guard, as the Bug did to us?
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Since I only had one and he came early, I wasn't ready either, but babies don't care. Don't stress over it.
ReplyDeleteYou expect me to remember that long ago?! I do remember cleaning and cleaning and cleaning before and after. I had one advantage with my second. My first was big enough to quite a few chores for me plus keep his own stuff put away. (He had to; I was supposed to be bedridden.)
ReplyDeleteYou are fully nesting! Sounds like you are doing a great job of getting a little under control at a time. Clutter is so difficult to control at our house as well and I'm not expecting a new baby!!
ReplyDeleteI'm a bit of a nut about clutter but I was even more of a nut right before each of my kids came. I was ready for them weeks before they arrived.
ReplyDeleteBUT,I like what Kathy said. Babies don't care.
Ha, this sounds so much like me! The first I get when I realize I'm pregnant is, "I have to clean the house!" Also, isn't it hilarious how paper plates are on our list of required baby items? I'm pretty sure I didn't think of that the first time around, but it is on my list now for sure. I'm terrible at clutter control, so I have to keep inviting people over to dinner so I clean to neaten up. Sad but true! Also facing the "where will baby go" dilemma, and I know what the answer is, but I am not ready to face that my quilting room will have to go *pout*
ReplyDeleteLisa- I went on a bit of a cleaning spree before all 3 of my babies. I was on a chair cleaning the dust off of the top of my fans with my first. Such a smart move on my part :) But seriously, you've been through this before. Everything will work itself out and you really don't need to worry about everything being perfect. I hope everything goes smoothly for you these last couple of weeks and that you get some sleep while you can. Good luck! And make sure you share lots of pics :)
ReplyDeleteI never got to nest properly (everyone kept screwing up my cleaning), but we did manage to set up a nice baby area in our bedroom, and hopefully one of these days we'll even be able to move into a bigger place so Greyson will have his own space!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the preparations!
With all three of mine, I nest from the time the stick shows the purple lines. We declutter and clean our entire house. It gets worse the closer they get here, though.
ReplyDeleteI have 2.5 months to go with my third and last baby. So, I have to finish the organization projects that are underway soon.
It really is something that takes over. I am not sure why my linen closet HAS to get organized before my boy's arrival. But it just does.
Paper plates. That is so going on my list.
I wasn't ready for the first one since he came early. The second one came early as well, but I was prepared for him to come early. This one I am moving my countdown date to when I expect him to be here. That way, no surprises, right?
Before I had kids, I was a complete clean freak--vacuum lines on the carpet had to be straight kind of neat freak and still I spent the last two months before he was born finding things to clean.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with moving the boys together. Mine were together for almost a year and a half before we moved to a bigger house--in no small part because they would not go to sleep at night. They loved being together and talking...and talking...
I think I was pretty well prepared both times.. I went into full on nesting mode earlier with both boys and had a bit of time in between stressing and having the babies to relax a little. I hope you have that time too :)
ReplyDelete