All Ready Ready Already?

Well, December is here. I can’t believe it, but it’s here just the same. So, naturally, we flew into a frenzy around here preparing for the baby. Nesting? Me? Perhaps. Regardless of what one calls it, there was so much accomplished this weekend that I cannot help but be pleased.

This time around I have learned a few lessons and find myself asking the question, “What can I do to make things easier after the baby comes?” There are a number of things I put off last time because I thought of them as After-Baby Projects, when really all or most of those projects could be completed in advance, leaving me more time for recovery. I figure if I am a little bit more prepared every time, someday I will have mastered preparing for a baby.

So what did we/I actually do this weekend? For starters, I addressed and stamped the envelopes for the baby announcements. Then, I wrapped the remaining Christmas gifts. As long as there are no surprises {as in, surprise, I forgot to buy a gift for someone!}, then we are ready for Christmas to go off without a hitch. I also bribed a friend of mine into finishing a project I started and then didn’t have the time or desire to finish so that I could get out from under the procrastination {thanks, Jennie!}. I got my Amazon store up and running {see the sidebar for the link if you’re interested–clicking through this blog to Amazon instead of going direct will help us feed the three kids, so keep it in mind, if you please}. Most importantly, Si solved the garage door mystery.

The biggest challenge of the weekend was the exciting combination of baby laundry and the Major Furniture Shuffle. The laundry required five loads. And maybe I am nesting, because I did them all this evening {between 4:30 and 11:30, in case anyone was wondering}. So now baby has clean laundry, clean sheets, clean bumper, clean crib ruffle, clean boppy cover, clean blankets, clean changing pad cover, clean everything anyone could imagine. Don’t worry, I’m throwing an extra sheet over it all so that it doesn’t gather dust if she tarries.

The Furniture Shuffle was also a fun ordeal, though it was mainly Si who did the work {I was too busy laundering and folding and organizing the five loads}. Baby Q. is going to be in our room for at least the first six months. This is standard procedure in our home. But where the crib was going was where I typically have my scrapbooking table. So, I had to pack up all my supplies and put them in a closet in order for Si to be able to work his magic.

A.’s room has become wall-to-wall furniture over the course of the last two months. We’ve also bought a load of a new furniture to keep our house looking modern, like a new wooden coffee table which adds to the pile in A’s. room! First, there was her crib and changing table and plastic tower of drawers to keep things in and hamper and little toy cradle where she rocks her dolls. Then, some friends gave us a daybed with trundle for when A. is mature enough to graduate to a Big Girl Bed. Then, we received a second crib as a shower gift. The second crib happened to match the daybed, while the original crib matches the changing table.

So we did what all people who appreciate matching furniture do. We disassembled A.’s crib and moved it to our room, along with the changing table and plastic tower of drawers. Then, we assembled the new crib for A. to sleep in next to her matching daybed. The “new” crib was actually purchased second-hand {quite a bargain, I might add}, so there weren’t any directions accompanying the piles of strange-looking parts. This added some zing to the challenge for Si.

The Furniture Shuffle took a lot of time, but then again, so did folding all that laundry and making up the two cribs, etc. But it was so worth it! A. has some room to breathe. Our bedroom now has a nursery in it. We are already ready for Baby Q. And good thing, too, because these contractions are getting frighteningly close together…

Did I ever mention both my kids were born early?