Nesting

It starts simply with a kitchen cabinet or dresser drawer... ("Hmm...that Tupperware drawer could use reorganizing" or "I have GOT to stop wearing socks with holes!") It's innocent enough - you simply get a sudden urge to clean up, start fresh, and organize. But cabinets lead to closets and dresser drawers lead to entire rooms and pretty soon you have an inexplicable urge to clean and organize EVERYTHING in your house. It's called the "nesting instinct" and it's a domestic urge that strikes most pregnant women at some point, especially in the third trimester. It may be a weird phenomenon, likely triggered by hormones, but it's very real and all female mammals do it - prepare their surroundings for a newborn before birth. It's supposedly natures way of ensuring a safe, warm, and welcoming environment for the baby.

My nesting instinct is intense and it drives my laid-back, easy-going husband crazy. Though, in my defense, his carefree, procrastinating tendencies drive ME crazy sometimes. Normally, our differences make us a very good balance for each other... However, when mine are hormone-driven and reaching their peak due to the constant reminder of my growing belly... it's hard for me to accept anything but "okay, honey, I'll do it right now." :) LOL

I think I started with my sock drawer around Christmas, going through and getting rid of the holey ones and reorganizing the drawer. Then, of course, the pipes froze and we had the bathroom to focus on. Meanwhile, I started washing up baby clothes and needed a place to put them away. Thus beginning a complete organization and cleaning of the kids' bedrooms. (It's so funny to say "kids"... as in plural.) So EVERYTHING got cleaned out, wiped down, washed, scrubbed and put back in a newly organized fashion. Bedding, valances, bed skirts - all clean and ironed. Clothing - also clean, ironed and put away color-coded from short to long sleeves, sweaters to jackets. Walls and floors - wiped down and scrubbed. Things can't get clean enough.

I'm still super excited about my Christmas gift of visits from a cleaning lady, and I'd like to have her come maybe once before Sophia is born. But right now, it would be a waste of my energy! I need these projects - it brings me peace of mind. Mostly, the cleaning lady will be a huge help AFTER the birth.

So, my to-do list still includes the following projects:

1) get out & clean up baby gear (washing up the car seat, swing and bouncer seat liners) and reset the pack 'n play to the bassinet setting in our bedroom
2) get the carpets cleaned
3) go through mine and Craig's closet and take a load to Salvation Army
4) clean out fridge and freezer really well
5) prepare 8+ meals for the new deep freeze for after birth; also do some baking and freezing
6) re-stock our basement overflow shelves with non-perishables, cleaning products and toiletries
7) select and purchase all greeting cards and birthday gifts for April - August so I don't have to think about that while on maternity leave
8) wash windows
9) clean kitchen cabinets
10) wash slip covers on living room furniture
11) pack my hospital bag
12) wipe the wood blinds upstairs
etc. etc. etc.

It's good to have projects. It's part of bonding with the baby because I want everything to be ready and clean for her. When she arrives, I anticipate a good couple months before I feel back on my feet like normal again and I want to be able to focus on my family and my healing self - not my house. But I'm also limiting these projects to Will's nap times and after his bedtime. His world is going to change soon and I want to savor the last bit of him as the baby and make this time special for him.

One major thing I regret after Will's birth was trying to do too much. I felt like I had something to prove about getting out to all these events with my new baby and it was very overwhelming and stressful. I think we attended something like 6 functions (graduation and engagement parties, a wedding an hour away, etc) by the time Will was 3 weeks old. That was foolish of me. I hadn't even given myself a chance to heal and lay low. This time, it will be different. I owe it to myself and my children to worry less about expectations and focus my slowly building energy on what's important - bonding with my new family. If people want to see us, they can come to us. That's the expectation that SHOULD be upheld.