Getting ready for baby... What I did to make it easier!

I received the following email from reader Mary:

I found your page. I was trying to figure out how to organize my first
baby's arrival. She is due June 28th and I am trying to get everything done. I
love the way you kept up with everything. Can I please get the pdf for that
page. The one with the feeding and dirty diaper things. I hope to hear from you
soon. Thanks. Mary

First of all, I must address the "kept up with everything" part of this email. Things were a lot smoother than they would have been if I weren't prepared at all, but I spent $60 today to have someone else come in and clean my house. My little one is 7 weeks old and things had finally gotten out of hand enough that we decided it was worth it.

I want to point out to you that every family situation is different. I was blessed to have my husband stay home from work the first week we were home from the hospital. He was able to take care of most things around here. Families from our church brought meals, which helped a lot! Then, my mom came the 3rd week to help take care of things. You may or may not have as much help as I did in the early days.

Now that my newborn is a bit older, my husband is gone most weekends and I'm on my own. In addition, we are gearing up for our busy business season. I think it's fair to say that things have gotten WAY behind. We new something had to be done when DS started wandering around barefoot (because it's so nice and warm) and the bottom of his feet are filthy! Someone needed to mop!

My point is, "kept up with everything" is relative. And when you're talking about what you read on a blog, you never know. Most of the time we bloggers are posting about what works for us... rarely do we post what is definitely not working for us... even though that may happen more often! My recommendation to you is not to compare yourself to anyone else. Do what you can and do your best for the glory of God! He will help you.

That said, there are a number of things we can do to prepare for the coming of a baby. I was very thankful for all that did get done. Truth of the matter is that I got most of my ideas from other bloggers. So instead of making a fresh list here, I thought I'd share the list I got from others:

• Making Thank You notes ahead of time
• Tammy talks about getting ready this time around
• This is a great list of all sorts of things you can do to get ready for baby!
• The comments here are great for Make Ahead Meals
• More detail on making meals ahead can be found here. Just scroll through till you find the 3-4 posts on Stocking her freezer!

I still have 3-4 meals in my freezer. I've been spreading them out in my normal meal planning so that I don't have to cook every night. It's helped tremendously... even 7 weeks later.

In addition to kitchen things, I also try to have all the baby clothes washed and put away, ready to wear! With all the laundry you'll be doing when baby arrives, it's nice to have a jump on this.

I tried to get the house all cleaned up too. Though I didn't get everything done as I would have wanted, I knew that it would be a while before I felt up to doing any heavy cleaning! If you feel up to it, scrub your kitchen floor, do a deep clean on the bathroom and hunt down those cobwebs! You'll be glad you did later. Just be careful what cleaners you use while you are pregnant or around children. :)

Other things can include spending time with your husband, making sure to pack your bags, getting that crib/bassinet put together, and a slew of others.

There are tons of other things I could say I'm sure. I know you all have even more ideas. If you have suggestions for Mary, and others with the same questions, leave me a comment!

And keep us posted Mary! Congratulations on your coming baby!

Oh... and if you're interested in the feeding record Mary was talking about, check it out here and send me an email. I can get you a pdf copy of them for weeks 1-10!

Labels: Getting Ready for Baby

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 2:23 PM