Officially nesting

By Published On: March 7th, 2016

If you’re reading this, you’ve probably heard the term ‘nesting’ before. Whether or not you’ve experienced in it firsthand, however, depends on whether or not you’re almost to your due date, are newly pregnant, or have already had the pleasure of welcoming a newborn into your lives.

It’s all-encompassing—your house, your car, your garage. Nesting takes over your lives as you await your new addition(s), as if they’re going to be either impressed or unimpressed with their surroundings. Shoot, N said the other day that he can’t wait for the “new baby to see where we live, he’s gonna be so impressed.” So I guess it takes a few years for kids to really form an impression on their living situation.

It’s unlikely any newborn in the history of the world has criticized their parents about how neat and tidy or unkempt their abode is. But as parents, it’s our job to make sure our dwelling is clean, that it smells good, that the room is decorated the way you like, the furniture is set up, drawers and shelves are baby-proofed. I mean it’s not exactly something that can be done in a day. It’s a process.

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We clean every weekend (and day, really) because we don’t like living in filth, nor should you. Young lungs are breathing in the air circulating around your house and last time I checked, dusty, stale air isn’t all that great. We have a dog that sheds like an animal (obviously), so vacuuming is pretty much a daily or every other day task. Vacuuming though, that’s pretty far off the nesting spectrum.

I’m not getting nesting confused with spring cleaning despite them intersecting in this instance, as D3 is set to join us April 25. L tends to spearhead the operation while I do what I can and try to stay helpful.

What the heck is nesting, then? The short answer is it’s preparing for childbirth.

  • Sorting through the bins of N and G’s old clothes for items that will fit the newborn, even though 94 percent of the time he’ll be wearing a white onesie that may or may not be disposable.
  • Poring through the drawers throwing out coupons, letters, old toys that are no longer relevant.
  • Clearing old stuff out of the pantry and refrigerator.
  • Washing old bottles that never made their way into the rotation during G’s infant days.
  • I won’t say cooking healthier and avoiding meat six of the seven nights a week because that’s not necessarily a bad thing, it’s just a preference L has had during this pregnancy. During her pregnancy with N, she seemed to want steak at least once a week. Different pregnancy, different cravings.
  • Throwing out or donating toys that have yet to make their way into the house since we moved in two years ago.
  • Talking about hiring someone, likely on Groupon, to come and give the house a once over, something we’ve never done previously.

Those are just a few of the myriad of ways nesting has taken over. We’re basically trying to get ahead of things because N’s birthday is a little over a week before D3 is due while G’s is a few weeks after the due date.

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There’ll be a weekend in April that we’re gonna try getting both kids to my parents’ house, so we can paint the room that N and G will share as well as clean the entire house top to bottom.

Nesting isn’t a bad thing. Some view it as a reaction to the doldrums of winter or boredom, but with two boys under 5, there’s rarely any time to be bored, as at least one (often both) are bouncing around the house. And it’s different for everyone, the things we do are likely different than things others do.

That reminds me, we’ve gotta order invitations to N’s birthday party. He’s loving bounce houses lately. And maybe I’ll start checking out birth announcements, too.

Pregnancy Update

We’ve got eight weeks to go! Unfortunately I’ve only been to a few doctor’s appointments with L during the previous several months and beginning in two weeks, she’ll be going in every week as we lead up to the big day. The next one, however, is an ultrasound that I’m planning on attending.

She’s still feeling great, and the moms picking up their kids at N’s school have said they’re “finally seeing a belly,” which is weird because the dang baby is almost here. I guess winter coats and all can mask things a bit.

We’ve moved on from “The Amazing Race” and have reacquainted ourselves with “Scandal” and “The Bachelor.” (Don’t judge me!)