Our Christmas decorations are still up. We only put up a few things, but the tree and stockings are kind of conspicuous. We have a plumber/bathroom remodeler person coming to our house tomorrow because our shower has a hairline crack in it. This means I should be cleaning the bathroom right now. But I guess dirty bathroom goes with the Christmas-decorations-still-up theme.
You are all picturing me living in a house like on Hoarders, aren’t you? It’s not that bad. It’s not even close to anything like that. But I feel like everything (washing machine, dishwasher, shower, window shades/blinds) are all breaking right now, and I do not have the energy to get everything taken care of.
I tend to go for months at a time where I’m on top of the household stuff and the bills, and then months where I procrastinate and fall further and further behind. I mean, I still pay the bills, but things fall through the cracks. And then I get so frustrated with the results of my procrastination that I pull it all together and make everything work again.
Right now I feel like I’m really behind on preparation for the new baby. Her room right now is a mess of boxes that need to be moved to the basement. We don’t have a crib yet. The room needs to be painted. I don’t have frames for any of the things I want to hang up in her room. We need to clean all the bottles in case we end up bottle feeding. We need a dresser or at least some kind of drawers so I can put clothes away. She doesn’t have crib sheets or a changing pad or diapers or a mobile or ANYTHING.
But I have gone through all B’s old clothes and organized the ones that she can wear. I have donated a whole trunk full of stuff to Goodwill to make room for baby stuff. I have a car seat for her, and we have two bases- one for each of our cars. I ordered a twin bed for B so that we can transition him to a big bed and use his crib mattress for the new baby. (We can’t reuse his crib because it’s been recalled.) She has plenty of blankets. We bought a sit and stand stroller we can use when we need to take both B and the new baby out. We have chosen a pediatrician. And we chose a date for the birth!
It is so freaky to choose your kid’s birthdate! How do you make that decision?! My doctor said it should be between Date X and Date Y, so we chose the date that will allow H to be with me and the new baby the most while taking off the least amount of time from work. And then I said to the doctor, “I’m selfish! I chose the date that works best for me, not what’s best for the baby!” And the doctor was like, “You are a crazy person! Any date between Date X and Date Y is a good date for the baby. Choosing what works best for your family is not selfish!” And I am like, “Aaaa! I am choosing a bad birthday for my baby! I have no idea what I’m doing!” And now you know that even though I generally act like a mellow person, I am still crazy.
We are now trying to figure out who is going to watch B while we are at the hospital with the new baby. I just want everything to be ready and all the decisions to be made. I am tired of having everything up in the air/nothing done.
And now I must go clean the bathroom. One thing at a time, right? (Except no, I’m still freaking out about everything else.)
Choosing the date that works best for your family IS best for the baby, because the baby is part of the family! Of course if I’d had to schedule Piglet’s birthday I would have picked it based solely on the actual birthday… but that’s just because I think that 1-11-11 would probably have been in the doctor’s window, and how cool would that have been?
What can I do to help? I know that cycle of getting it all done just to let it all slide far too well (for example, the fact that I’ve been totally MIA since…October?).
If you need help with B, just let us know. We’d be happy to watch him.
I can imagine that it is stressful choosing a birthdate for your baby! I never would have imagined that!
Hang in there. I know exactly what you mean about feeling on top of things sometimes, and then not at other times. I think this is normal human behavior. You’re still entirely amazing!!!
My room was a mess (like on my way to Hoarders, mess) until my roommate kindly/gently helped me organize and clean it. Now I won’t have to put my baby in a laundry hamper on a pile of clothes and craft supplies, yay. Now to get the bassinet and changing table here so I can buy little crates for his clothes.
Crap! I keep forgetting about the pediatrician. Need to get on that!
Meh, I feel so not on top of things right now. I think that’s just part of pregnancy though…or at least that’s what I keep telling myself.
With my second I was trying for a vbac, and I spent so much mental energy preparing for that when I was asked if everything was ready for baby at my 36 week appointment I had an “oh crap” moment. No clothes, no diapers, nothing. That was a busy weekend.
With my third, I had a scheduled cs. The doctor I really liked (and the entire reason I had picked that practice) only had hospital privileges one day a week….so I picked the day she was on. I felt very weird about picking her birthday. I kept hoping for at least a contraction or two the morning of, but no dice.
We did practically nothing to prepare for her—I bought diapers, but she was born June 30th and we sold our house on July 30th, so she came home to a house full of cardboard boxes. We had two boys, so after she was born my mother and mother in law went out shopping and got her tons of little girly clothes.
I am still kind of sad I haven’t been able to do a girly nursery. She’s been in our bedroom since we moved here, and now I’m moving her in with the boys (we use our third bedroom as a playroom). Next house.
It will all work out! Delegate, I say.
I know you’ll be ready….and I don’t picture Hoarders in my head
hang in there. You’ll get it ready and pick the date and then you’ll feel better. Of course…I have no real idea what I’m saying since even the idea of a second baby sends my heart rate up 
If I could choose my baby’s birthday, that poor thing would suffer, because I would be obsessed with it being a cool date, if that meant holding it in for two extra weeks or letting it go a month early.
I’m mostly kidding about that. I think.
Gonna go make sure I have enough birth control now, and do other kinds of procrastination things that I like to do, because I hear you on that.
Yeah, we’ve pretty much done nothing for this baby yet. He’s getting the shaft already.
Dude I would TOTALLY stress about picking a date. It’s the BIRTHDAY! For the rest of her life! Almost as stressful as the NAME!
But I have to say, the thing I stressed most about with #2 was who was going to watch the older one and if it would all work out. And if I could have picked a day and planned it all out ahead of time, that would have been SO NICE. So that’s a bonus, yes?
We just took down our Christmas decorations on Saturday. So you are well within the normal range for de-Christmas-ifying. SO DECREE I.
The date thing would stress me out too, but you’ll have a great story for her about how you got to choose her birthday. (And it’s not like you chose Christmas Day or something that she would HATE.)
I think the best date for you and H IS the best birthday for the baby. Good luck getting all your stuff done!