nesting – Baby KERF

39 Weeks: Grown Up Nesting

The baby’s space is nested. The house is organized. But there were more things I knew I should clear from the calendar when I had time to do them: all the boring grown-up stuff lurking in the early fall. I wanted to have as much of these things complete before the baby came so I can devote all of my time to him and not worry about running a household. The only drawback: lots of costs + fees to pay!

-Paid estimated taxes in advance. They were due right after his birth!

-Met with our lawyer and completed wills, guardianship docs, advanced medical directives and power of attorneys. This cost $550 total but we should be set for many, many years.

-Renewed my passport which was set to expire in September. I had to go to CVS and get a photo taken, mail in my old passport with a form, write a check for $110 and send it all secured mail at the post office. Not a fun afternoon, but now it’s done!

-I originally scheduled a dentist appointment for late September thinking I should wait until after he was born so I could have x-rays. Instead, I rescheduled the appt. for before – just to get my teeth checked and cleaned – x-rays can wait. I knew there was no way I would want to go to the dentist after he was here!

-Virginia requires car inspections every year, and ours were up for renewal in September. I took both cars to be inspected early and got both oils changed as well. We’re set for 6 months!

-I paid a few bills in advance and made sure we had money transferred from savings to pay our insurance/hospital bills all ready to go. I also have nearly all of our bills – mortgage, water + electricity, insurances and more – all set up for auto draft so the only one I have to think about every month is our credit card bill.

-Since we moved last September, lots of house-related things came due around this time. Our cars are parked on the street and require permits, so I renewed those and put the decals on the cars already.

-More car stuff!! August is time to renew registration on both cars, so we got that process taken care of. And our annual car insurance payment – also due in September and paid.

-I’m starting a new long-term freelance job very soon and had a pile of paperwork for that as well. All set to go!

-Bought Karen a birthday gift!

-I went ahead and requested the form to add baby to our health insurance so all we have to do is fill it out and send it in upon his arrival.

SO much paperwork – but now it’s all behind us and we can focus on baby!

Previous 39 week posts

Snapshots: Nursery Through 9 Months

previous WEEKS

35 Weeks: Wet Nipples

[And I don’t mean mine!!!!!]

I mean the ones that came with my BreastFlow bottle set

I washed all of the new bottles last week and found a spot in our kitchen to put them.

I considered relocating a lot of our barwear, but I decided that up high was not an ideal place to reach for a bottle if I have a baby on my hip. If I’m reaching for a wine glass, I’m probably hands free!

So I started looking low – and decided this “catch anything” drawer didn’t really need to be full.

I moved our baking basket to the pantry – how often do I bake anyways!?

And in its place, added a basket with our most used kitchen tools (grater, funnels, rolling pin, food scale) I put the Cuisinart attachments down in the basement with the appliance and moved the knife sharpener to the top shelf (since only Matt uses it anyways).

In a very short time – I had an empty drawer!

And inside went the nipples (in an IKEA pop-up box), the lids (in the basket) and the bottles.

I really have no idea how much I will use bottles. I guess my goal now is to pump a little bit for babysitters/nights out after the first month, but as we all know, you just never know. I wanted to have a stock of bottles ready just in case I have to rent an electric pump and do it a lot or if we have to supplement with formula for whatever reason.

I imagine in time this drawer will fill will sippy cups and baby things – and perhaps some plastic kitchen toys that can be his “mom’s cooking dinner” play toys!

In other nesting news, I completely organized the tool area!! Because the baby is going to care how neat our tools are Winking smile

Really though, what I have learned about nesting is that it’s not so much about preparing the house for the baby (although parts of the instinct definitely are) but the whole “organize every drawer and clean the baseboards” craving is manifesting in my brain as “I MIGHT NEVER GET A CHANCE TO DO THIS AGAIN!” Better organize the tools now because my life is about to change.

I bought 6 of my favorite $6 bins at Target (in a fun color!) and sorted our supplies by topic: Lightbulbs, Cords, Paint Supplies, Batteries + Tape

Plus the drill, Nuts and Bolts and one to grow into!

Our most used tools are in a tool box that is within easy reach for measuring tape, hammer, duct tape, etc.

Matt was VERY pleased with the transformation.

Now if only his nesting instinct would kick in on his brew shelves… I have offered a handful of times to buy big baskets and more to make them look neater and help him sort it out. He has yet to take me up on that offer Winking smile

PREVIOUS 35 WEEK POSTS

Snapshots

Nesting Projects

WEEKS

35 Weeks: Nesting Projects

Up until now, I hadn’t had much of an urge to clean my baseboards. It was all about decorating and making sure all of our little projects were complete. Then 35 weeks kicked in and I found myself….cleaning baseboards!! Craziness that one day I just looked down, saw dirt and was living a stereotype!

As you saw in the baby central post, earlier I was working on the basement. I wanted to create a cozy space to enjoy with the baby, and the black shelves we had down there felt outdated and old. I don’t know why I bought so much black furniture in 2005!?

So step one was to buy a bunch of spray paint at Lowes. Luckily spray paint is SUPER CHEAP! $3.98 for a bottle of Valspar – and it comes in so many awesome modern colors!

I learned when I painted the nursery fan and then the yellow box in our house the following tips: 1) wear gloves 2) wear a mask 3) sanding wasn’t necessary for nicely polished furniture 4) use a drop cloth that is not plastic that blows in breezes (learned in part II of this project) and 5) wait for a cool day – do not attempt at noon on a 100* one!

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Step one was primer! The shelves took 2 coats. I loved it so much more already!

I didn’t bother with the undersides – mostly because I am lazy and ran out of paint! Only crawling babies will see it anyways : )

I also neglected the back – the wall won’t care. [Note the terrible drop cloth idea – I ended up using an old curtain later on that worked so much better with summer breezes!]

After a few hours of drying, I sprayed on the beautiful teal color!

All was well until I started in with can #2 to finish and start on a second coat. Suddenly everything was splotchy green and dark – nothing like the first coat!!

Same color, same day purchased, same user, same technique = different result

I think I just got a bad can because not only was the color different (like it hadn’t mixed well?) but the spray was so splotchy and uneven. The shelf looked tie-dyed!

So, so sad. I really didn’t want to go back and buy more paint! I ended up using the “new color” to turn the whole shelf greenish and let it sit on the porch for a few days to mull over what to do.

I actually started to like the color alright, but the splotches were still bothersome.

Final decision: repaint:

And yay yay yay – the final coat went on perfectly!

The shelf feels brand new and now resides in the basement – covered in bright, cheerful colored baskets!

I had one more spray paint nesting project to note – a rocking chair that Karen had given us needed a modern color as well:

And I turned it avocado green!!

This was so much easier to paint than the shelves – and I love the fresh color!

It matches our other porch furniture perfectly. And is cleaned up for indoor use if we need it for baby rocking.

Spray paint for the win!

[SO glad to be finished with painting projects though – they were not the most fun!]

PREVIOUS 35 week posts

Snapshots

WEEKS

34 Weeks: Baby Central

In anticipation of it becoming baby central, I’ve been working on the basement! It’s so dark and dreary, I wanted to bring in a bunch of bright colors and functional storage, seating and toys.

It used to look like this – an empty corner with a bookcase and a printer. The lamp went to the nursery, the books to our upstairs bookshelves and the printer to our hidden closet shelves.

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Now with some updates, it looks like this! [The colors should give you an idea of how dark it is down there with just one window on the other side of the room!]

On the left side is TV central. I’m sure I’ll spend a good amount of time on this couch, but it’s also really hard to get into because it’s so big and sunken, so I think the chair is actually going to make a better nursing spot.

But the ottoman might become my downstairs changing table (I just need a pad to put on to protect it)

Improvements included:

Moving the arm chair to the corner. I never knew what to do with this corner and kept putting things in it that I didn’t like. I like the chair! It fills up the corner space well.

We could have bought a glider for this room, but I just didn’t want to spend the money since we have this great (comfortable + stylish) arm chair. Plus, I hear exercise balls are great for soothing babies – so our friends with a 2 month old tell us! We have one of those down here and ready to go.

Pretty comfy with a view of the TV

And tucked nearby – a foot stool to prop up feet and recline (also the huge couch if that turns out to be more comfortable). ALSO a rocking chair on the porch I can bring down if needed. OR I can lie sideways on the ottoman.

Next to the chair is mom’s station – a spot for water bottles, snacks, computers, phones, books, etc. The drawers are empty and ready to receive items!

Next to that is a toy basket – which currently houses our hand-me-down boppy pillow. Hopefully the downstairs nursing support. (I also have a My Breast Friend that might become the priority downstairs – don’t know yet)

Underfoot is a new rug I found at Pier 1 for $25 bucks! I wanted a play rug for the baby to lounge on and play with toys and things.

I researched all kinds of bigger rugs, round rugs, and expensive rugs and decided that until I need an expensive rug, this inexpensive fluffy guy will be fine – at least until he’s ready to need 10 feet of crawling space. I almost went with red, as white seemed impractical, but then I remembered spit up and breast-fed baby poop is white/beige and I actually think it will blend better in this than a darker color. If I have to toss it after 6 months I will – another reason to go cheap.

Perhaps my favorite change is the newly painted shelves!! We bought these at Pier 1 for our first apartment and black was cool then. But now they just seemed to make the space so dark. So I brightened them up! Details on the transformation coming next week : )

The baskets I found at World Market – for a great price! $6.99 for the silver ones and $3 for the small ones. The yellow box was another spray paint project. I planned to put it in our bedroom, but it just didn’t match well (it was TOO bright!) but I think it works well here : )

I love the bright colors, and they are ready to store diapers, wipes, toys, and more.

Look, one already has some toys from Baby Raffi!

There is also lots of floor space for the swing, bouncy seats, pack n plays and more. I think the majority of our baby stuff will end up down here – which means the upstairs will hopefully be a neat retreat.

PREVIOUS 34 WEEK POSTS

PREVIOUS WEEKS

31 Weeks: Stuff

Anyone remember this Diamond Rio song, “Stuff”? This post has it playing in the background

I know you’re probably thinking: “Kath this is sooooooo not important right now!”

However, houses, home organization, decluttering and sorting stuff is one of my favorite pastimes. I’m actually looking forward to the challenge of finding ways to organize toys.

I know you’re also thinking: “You can organize them but they will be all over the house 5 minutes later.”

That’s ok – I’m still going to make some effort though! I’ve babysat kids enough in my life to know that putting all the toys back in the bins can be fun.

Here are a selection of my favorites (can you tell I love Land of Nod!?)

1) Land of Nod Wire Basket
2) Land of Nod Canvas Bin
3) Land of Nod Gingham Cube
4) Land of Nod Grey Bin
5) Land of Nod Zig Zag Baskets
6) Land of Nod Rattan Basket
7) Etsy Fabric Bin

(I’m there are TONS of cool options at stores like Homegoods, TJ Maxx, Target and more too!
These were just my fancy favorites)

So where will all the STUFF go!? Well I have some ideas….and empty corners….and plans for lots of cute baskets and bins.

First the living room….

It’s on the “stuffy” side (haha) because we don’t really use it that much. Mostly for entertaining and reading. But it’s the closest living space to the kitchen, so I can see it becoming kid play area – although I wouldn’t be able to have my eye on him so safety is a concern. I now understand why all the women on House Hunters want the open kitchen so they can see their kids playing!

I know there is a nice open spot for the swing though1 Can you leave your baby out of eye’s reach in a swing?

There is room behind this chair for a nice bench or bin for toys

And an open corner here for something slim

One thing about our living room rug. I absolutely love the texture and feel….until you put a knee on it. It’s probably the worst surface for baby crawling ever!! I hate to get rid of it, but we will see what happens and where we end up doing most of the playing.

I can see this area of the entry way becoming something built-in with hooks and a shelf or two for hats n things

Oh and clearly…the linens can be relocated

I imagine our downstairs family room will become Play Central. There is less to break and lots and lots of space for toys, pack n play, swing, etc. It’s just so dark down there! But I realistically see myself spending the most time here both once the baby is born and when he is much older too. Plus the rug is plush!

There are plenty of empty walls for shelves, toy baskets or bins to go

These shelves are pretty much empty

This basket just has a blanket in it – nothing more

This entire corner is empty!

More skinny space

Under the stairs – hideout or big toy storage

And of course..

Up in the dining room, we have several corners that would work for the high chair – I’m hoping to get a modern green one to match the green lamp shade!

In the kitchen, we have several spots that can be reorganized for baby/toddler bottles, cups and things.

The poor wine glasses really could go elsewhere.. and this could become the bottle cabinet!

We also might play on the porch! I have been debating getting an outdoor rug for the porch, but I just love the rich red floors so much I hate to cover them up. But once the baby crawls…

And someday…

PREVIOUS 31 week posts

Snapshots

Previous WEEKS

17 Weeks: Lollipop Shop

We have a few great baby + kid sales here in Charlottesville, and this week I ventured to my first. BOY was it overwhelming!

The former Whole Foods warehouse was just filled with clothes and gear.

I really had no idea what I was looking for. I was hoping to find perhaps a used B.O.B. stroller, baby carriers, cribs, dressers, and maybe a cute outfit for two. Unfortunately most of the stuff there was way more than gently used, too expensive or covered in primary colors and plastic.

I found this changing table in a pretty color, but I don’t really want a changing table (I’m doing a dresser with a changer on top) and the owners were asking $130 for this, which was more than I would have wanted to spend.

I never found any of the specific “modern” items I was hunting for – I think they must be Craigslisted or still being used. But I also just felt unprepared for the event. I really had no idea what I needed!! Even in the clothes world, I just didn’t know what was a good deal and what was overpriced or what I would need. So I ended up leaving empty handed, but I think this sale will be GREAT the next time it comes around and I have specific things on a list to look for.

I decided before I could really know what to buy used, I had to go look at the new stuff and make a list of what I need before I can hunt for bargains. [I did find My Breast Friend pillow on Craigslist for $15!]

Is it too soon for me to be parking in this spot!? I felt awkward without much of a bump, so I went a few spots up a regular one!

Babies R Us was overwhelming too, but at least I got a better idea of what’s out there. I’m hoping to bring a mom friend of mine back to help me consider some of the smaller stuff I might not even know I need.

I’ve also been browsing blog posts for “ Baby Must Haves.” They have been SO helpful! If you have a baby gear “must haves” blog post – please share!!