I would love some advice from some ladies who are planners and are understanding about this sort of thing! Please, I love your comments and always read them, so send some ideas my way if you have any suggestions.
In preparing for our new little baby, due March 13 - yikes! - I am considering a whole bunch of unusual situations:
My husband works nights, so during the day when he is sleeping I need to keep things reasonably quiet. Also, I try to stay downstairs with our daughter or outside - both of which help tremendously.
The baby's bassinet will be in the master bedroom, upstairs, where the baby will sleep near me and I'll be up several times a night no doubt nursing and changing diapers (and wet pajamas now and then, too!).
The downstairs guest bathroom is where I currently give our daughter baths, and the adjoining office serves as a de facto pseudo changing area because of this. We'll be getting a pack and play with a bassinet attachment so that in theory the new baby can do daytime napping in the office. This way I won't be trekking up and down stairs to the nursery or the master bedroom a lot.
But right now I'm in full-on nesting mode and I have various baby-related articles of clothing and blankets and burp cloths and such that I am ready to put in place, and I am puzzled about where to store things.
Since baths will be taking place in the downstairs bathroom, I'm wondering if I ought to just store the new baby's clothes in the office closet instead of the upstairs nursery closet, since that's where I'll be needing them most.
And I'm wondering if I should just move the existing changing table from the upstairs nursery to the office, since we spend so much of our waking hours downstairs. But my husband hates this idea, and although I feel that he really doesn't understand, I really want to honor his preferences because that's the right thing to do. I'll be setting up a small changing area for the baby in our bedroom on our dresser for night-time use as well.
Sigh. Am I over thinking and overcomplicating this? I'm feeling embarrassed, because when I try to talk this over with my husband he starts to listen, but then sort of glazes over a few sentences into it. Thus, I need some female input, and maybe a little empathy too. I don't like feeling a wee bit crazy.
An alternative plan that I have involves clearing space in the walk-in office closet for the whole changing table, which would hide the table completely between use, and then maybe Jeff wouldn't be so opposed to the idea of having the changing table in the office.
Does anyone else's husband work nights? I'm happy that he's employed and that's what we dwell on, so I don't mean to sound complain-y. The week before our first baby was born he was laid off, and was unemployed for an uncomfortable while before we were blessed with this new and wonderful job of his, so we know what unemployment is like. But right now, it is hard to only see him when one or both of us is completely tired out. And I know babies. Babies are loud, even the sweet ones. Its the way things work. So I am a little intimidated by this new task of mine: learning to mother a 22 month old while mothering a newborn while keeping us all quiet enough so my husband can sleep? whoa, I'll just keep focusing on those stories of God's miracles from the Bible, I guess.
So, I am hoping for some input on any of my aforementioned wonderings. How have any of you dealt with any of this before?
When preparing for my first baby, I just put things in the nursery. This feels a lot more complicated.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
All Systems Go!
Our household is pumping like a steam engine this evening!
The dishwasher is churning, the dryer is thumpety-thumping a load of cloth diapers, the oven is cooling down from a batch of cookies, and my kitchen is smiling back at me.
Heather, are you nutty? Your kitchen is smiling back at you? you ask.
Yes! Today during my daughter's naptime I made a pretty new paper craft garland to adorn my cupboards, and I am so pleased with it.
This week I have been settling our family into our new home with all kinds of prosaic projects: re-organizing closets, hanging up pictures on the walls, installing hooks for aprons and mops & brooms, boxing up various gifts for friends, setting aside cast-off goods for charity, clearing out the garage.
This interdisciplinary art of homemaking has me joyful and exhausted by turn.
Right now I'm 34 weeks along in my current pregnancy, and its becoming a challenge to keep up with my active 20 month old in addition to getting our household all settled/moved in.
Have I mentioned that our movers left us with 49 boxes in the garage which they labeled with only the words "Basement misc."???? I am proud - and tired - to say that I have finished dealing with all but 3 or so of those 49 boxes. That has something to do with why I haven't been blogging much.
I am also incredibly happy to say that my pregnancy-related arthritis is gone! I am only 31 years old, by the way, and never had arthritis before this pregnancy. Wow, that is a side effect that I am happy to bid goodbye. I am so grateful for the blessing of children despite these side-effects, however. We know so many couples who would love to be blessed with children and are not, so I'm especially aware of how blessed we are.
My darling husband has been working nights for several months now, and I am finally used to our wacky household schedule. This is such a good thing!
And, although it sounds like a tiny tiny insignificant thing, I was able to begin sorting out my crafting supplies and moving them into a closet in an orderly fashion. This is a freeing, wonderful, marvelous thing - being able to see at a glance what I have and being able to begin or complete a project at once simply because I know where my supplies are. Ah, order!
I hope you are doing well, too, friends! This isn't a particularly focused entry, I know, but I wanted to check back in and reassure you that all is well and on the verge of running smoothly in our house.
(I need to check in with my husband about some computer complications that are preventing me from posting any photos. Thanks for your patience at my low-tech blog.)
The dishwasher is churning, the dryer is thumpety-thumping a load of cloth diapers, the oven is cooling down from a batch of cookies, and my kitchen is smiling back at me.
Heather, are you nutty? Your kitchen is smiling back at you? you ask.
Yes! Today during my daughter's naptime I made a pretty new paper craft garland to adorn my cupboards, and I am so pleased with it.
This week I have been settling our family into our new home with all kinds of prosaic projects: re-organizing closets, hanging up pictures on the walls, installing hooks for aprons and mops & brooms, boxing up various gifts for friends, setting aside cast-off goods for charity, clearing out the garage.
This interdisciplinary art of homemaking has me joyful and exhausted by turn.
Right now I'm 34 weeks along in my current pregnancy, and its becoming a challenge to keep up with my active 20 month old in addition to getting our household all settled/moved in.
Have I mentioned that our movers left us with 49 boxes in the garage which they labeled with only the words "Basement misc."???? I am proud - and tired - to say that I have finished dealing with all but 3 or so of those 49 boxes. That has something to do with why I haven't been blogging much.
I am also incredibly happy to say that my pregnancy-related arthritis is gone! I am only 31 years old, by the way, and never had arthritis before this pregnancy. Wow, that is a side effect that I am happy to bid goodbye. I am so grateful for the blessing of children despite these side-effects, however. We know so many couples who would love to be blessed with children and are not, so I'm especially aware of how blessed we are.
My darling husband has been working nights for several months now, and I am finally used to our wacky household schedule. This is such a good thing!
And, although it sounds like a tiny tiny insignificant thing, I was able to begin sorting out my crafting supplies and moving them into a closet in an orderly fashion. This is a freeing, wonderful, marvelous thing - being able to see at a glance what I have and being able to begin or complete a project at once simply because I know where my supplies are. Ah, order!
I hope you are doing well, too, friends! This isn't a particularly focused entry, I know, but I wanted to check back in and reassure you that all is well and on the verge of running smoothly in our house.
(I need to check in with my husband about some computer complications that are preventing me from posting any photos. Thanks for your patience at my low-tech blog.)
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