Nesting 101

A first-time mom has all the time in the world to prepare for her new arrival. By this point in my pregnancy with Noelle, we had a freshly-painted nursery, brand new furniture, and coordinating bedding that my best friend Heather and I made together. These photos were taken nearly six weeks before Noelle was born:



TWO showers had been thrown in her honor and every inch of closet and drawer space was packed with brand-new, freshly-laundered baby clothes, bibs, and blankets. A bassinet was set up in our room and my hospital bag was already packed and ready to go. Even though I planned on breastfeeding, our kitchen cabinets were lined with sterilized bottles. The diaper service was ordered and on hold to start on my due date. We literally had everything but the baby.

Preparation for Simon was slightly less coordinated. Two years of Attachment Parenting had taught me that a crib and bottles never get used and a simple sling was my most valuable piece of baby equipment. We had recently moved into a new house and boxes still remained to be unpacked. A co-sleeper was set up in our room to ensure that there would be enough space for a new baby while our toddler still slept between us in our bed. Thanks to generous grandparenting, my little guy still had his share of new things, though many of his clothes were nearly new hand-me-downs from my sister who had her first baby Danny just six months before. My cousin Christi bought us a new carseat which made its way out of the box about a week before I gave birth. I was still working from home and that, coupled with chasing an active 2-year-old and countless trips to the doctor kept me too busy to stress over the details.

Fast-forward two more years. The last three babies born into the family have been boys (my sister had her second son Sam last April) and most of the baby clothes that haven't been passed down to cousins or friends are decidedly boyish. This has not stopped them from all coming back to me as Sam outgrows them, stuffed haphazardly into bins and bags. Those need to be sorted, along with some bins of girly things passed down from Christi's almost one-year-old daughter Alexis. Of course, there is nowhere to put them until the things my own children have outgrown have been packed away. Simon's STILL unfinished bedroom serves as a temporary storage closet for all this and more. Of course, he still sleeps with us. Our Christmas tree and other assorted decorations still need to come down and boxes still need to be unpacked from the time our water heater exploded and all the carpeting downstairs had to be replaced. I have long since quit my job and yet seem to find myself busier each day than I ever was before. Busier and a lot more tired.

Sophie, my dear fetus, if you can hear me, Mommy needs you to stay put for EIGHT MORE WEEKS. You will be welcomed with open arms and joyous hearts no matter when you make your grand entrance.... However, if you'd like a place to sleep and clean clothes to wear, I would make that sometime after March 8th if I were you.