As most of you know we are currently building a home and pregnant. Our builder recently told us that in his experienced opinion we'd be able to move in to the new house in 8 weeks from now. I am 15 weeks from my due date so that timeline thrills me. Even if I deliver a little early or it takes him a little longer to finish the odds are still really great that we will be living in the new house when the baby is born. We are currently living in a small 2 bedroom cabin. We have our couch, recliner, 2 beds (just the frames and mattresses not the headboards), a dresser, a small cabinet, and a toy box in here. I brought around 15 towels and only the shoes/clothes that we currently wore. I packed away everything else that survived the purge when we moved and put it into storage. When you have to pack up a 3000 square foot house you quickly realize three things. One, you don't actually use a lot of that space. Two, you have way too much stuff that you don't need. Three, you're cleaning more space than you should be. All of this factored into my choice to purge most of our stuff and to down size a bit on our new house. After living in a very small cabin I'm spoiled to not having to clean a lot of space. This has urged me to utilize our new home for practicality. That starts with getting rid of more stuff before we ever move in. A few days ago I went to check the storage units for a plastic tub of maternity clothes and as I was looking for that tub I realized that even with purging more than half of our things when we moved out of the old house, it wasn't enough. I saw a lot of clothes that hadn't been worn much or were outgrown/out of season and decided to give them all away too. I only saved the brand new or special baby items that were the kids, nice dress shirts and pants of Brian's, and basically nothing of mine because I'm a lot smaller now than those sizes were. Everything else was donated. I also saw decor and furniture that I won't be using in the new place because I changed the themes in most of the rooms so that stuff will be donated too when we move. My goal is for this move to be a totally fresh start. Only the best survives ha. The move will be my spring cleaning for the year and preparing an entire house to be 'home' will definitely satisfy my nesting urges. It will be a very busy time for sure. We will set up the furniture in the bedrooms and play room first then set up the main living area/kitchen furniture while we have everyone there to help. Since we down sized so much on stuff we will be able to move in all of the furniture in one day. From there it'll be me adding decorative touches to each room and organizing/unpacking things and putting them into their new place. Call me crazy but I actually day dream about putting the house together and watching it all unfold. I'm pumped about the moving in process and decorating. It's going to feel so nice to have fresh start especially with us expecting a new baby. I've gotten most of the decor for it so I can picture in my head where everything is going to go. My grandma is the queen of organizing and laundry so she's going to come over to help me pack away the closets and play room. My mom is the queen of decor so she's going to help me hang all of the stuff on the walls. I won't be able to do the nursery fully until the baby is born but I have picked paint colors for both sexes and my mom will pick the right one up while I'm still in the birth center/hospital. She's going to paint the baby's room and put the bedding/changing pad cover on before we come home so at that point I'll only need to get the decor. Knowing me I'll be stopping at Hobby Lobby on my way home from the birth to run in and grab that stuff while Brian sits in the car with baby hahahaha. I've also considered buying decor for both sexes so that mom can set it all up completely before we come home. I'd just take back or resell the stuff that's not the right gender. We will put up the furniture and organize the baby essentials in that room prior to the baby's birth. My mom has ordered the gender specific bedding and changing pad cover already. I didn't want to bring a new baby home and have to worry about finishing the entire nursery so we found the perfect balance to get it finished that first day or two that we are home. I'm so extremely thankful for my mom and all that she does. Planning for this baby without her knowing the sex would have been stressful. She's seriously the best.
I'm going to set up the swing, pack and play, nursing station, wash all of the clothes and blankets, ect around the house as soon as we get moved in. Those items are all gender neutral and brand new in boxes still. We basically started from scratch with this baby and donated all of our previous baby items. I wanted it that way. After 3-5 kids using those things over the last 6 years I decided that starting over was best. Plus trends are so much cuter now and baby gear has stepped up its safety game.
I'll also make sure that I have a stock pile of everything that we could possibly need. Diapers (newborn cloth and disposables), wipes, medicines, nail clippers, a variety of soaps and lotions in case there's any allergies, burp rags, clothes, socks, mittens, blankets (swaddlers, receivers, and thicker blankets), breast pump, milk storage bags, markers to mark the bags, pads for post partum bleeding, heating pads for soreness or upset tummy, ect. For the house I will stock up on food, drinks, snacks for the kids, toilet paper, paper towels, hand sanitizer, essential oils, laundry soap, dish soap, freezer meals, medicines, ect. I don't want to have to worry about needing stuff but even if I do forget something my mom or Brian can pick it up for me. I just like to be as prepared as I possibly can so I will get these things situated as soon as we move in and make sure to always keep the house stocked.
Obviously anything can happen and we might not be moved in before the baby is born. I could deliver way too early or the builders crew could get behind for some abnormal reason. The odds are in our favor that that won't happen but if it does happen though it's not a big deal as far as baby/house prep goes. I'm going to stock up the cabin and set it up for the baby anyways around 30 weeks pregnant which is a month from now. The new house won't be done by then but it won't be a big deal to move that stuff over when it is done. It'll make me feel better to have the cabin prepared in advance just in case there are any surprises in our plan. I know all too well that plans can change in an instant so I do my best to keep all opinions in mind and be prepared for whatever might come.
If you're pregnant and moving or nesting my advice would be to simplify your life by getting rid of things that you don't use or need. I've purged things prior to all of my births and it really does make things feel better after you bring a brand new baby home. Also make sure to stay stocked up on things that you'll need around the house and for the baby. You won't want to be worried about grocery shopping those first few weeks home.
I wish you all the very best of luck. Happy nesting!
Post a Comment