What do you have left to do? - Page 4

[carriebft]

November:
-pay 500 of homebirth fee 
-begin hypnobabies 

December:
-begin to gather birth supplies
-purchase kit
-pay another 500 of homebirth fee

January:
-deep clean room
-pay last 300 of homebirth fee
-cook freezer meals:


1 tray lasagna- half veggie/ half meat
1 tray enchiladas- half veggie/ half meat
2 pizza doughs
1 container minestrone soup
1 chicken pot pie
1 container tomato soup-- items for grilled cheese in fridge!
2 smaller containers of meatballs- 1 to use for subs, 1 to use for pasta
1 container marinara sauce

first few days of February:
-clean house!
-organize room for new babe and her things!

[OkiMom]

Aideen- with my first when I was about 1 1/2 months post partum I was invited to a pot luck and asked to bring a dessert (I love to bake and I'm quite good at it, so of course everyone knows that), baking a batch of cookies when you are 36 weeks pregnant is a million times easier than when you are 1 1/2 months postpartum. Especially if there is any difficulties (I had problems nursing my first). So now I keep a couple batches frozen in the freezer for anytime i need them..

Just so you know there is two ways that are good to freeze them, one is to make the dough, refrigerate it and make a tube, wrap the tube of dough in freezer/parchment paper and then in something to keep the frost bite out. The other way is to put a piece of parchment paper down on a cookie sheet and preform the cookies, flash freeze them and then drop them into a freezer safe bag. I prefer the second method because then all you have to do is take them out and bake. It also allows you more control in the potions Ive noticed. If you want 6 cookies that's all you have to bake.

Another vehicle update- DH is test driving 2 more cars today. Im praying by next week we should have a car big enough for all 5 of us!!

[OkiMom]

Still no car.. One of DH's co-workers mentioned we should wait until after the 15th or Christmas and get people who buy a new car for Christmas and then have to sell their other one cheap (you can only have one car per licensed driver over here).. I should have probably thought of that but didn't.This week Im concentrating on Christmas projects and working on freezing some of the stuff I have down to freeze.

[OkiMom]

Did some more freezing but man am I exhausted today. Probably won't get what I had planned to do done.. Im thinking a nap sounds like a better idea haha..

Hows everyone else doing?

[LoveLife]

So I still haven't done anything because we're still waiting to find out if we're going to be moving right after Christmas.  DH got his first offer from his 2nd choice company today and its just not at all what we were hoping or need to get out of this area, so they're reavaluating and are going to come back with a different offer within the next day or two.  Another company (Dh's 1st choice) has told us they want to make an offer to us, but the VPs have all been out of town and haven't been able to get together to compile the offer, so we're still waiting.  But now the possible move is getting pushed later, I'm getting anxious about where I'm going to birth this baby and am really starting to feel like I just want to have the baby here, with my current (great) midwives and THEN move sometime after that.  But I have no idea what's going to happen and its making me a bit crazy.

I also haven't even made a list because I've been focusing on my class (final's tomorrow! yay!) and trying to get the house ready to put on the market.  But now I'm beginning to think that I need to get the in-network exceptions done, start freezing meals and mainly act as if we're not going anywhere until after the birth and if something happens, then worry about the moving stuff, getting the house ready to put on the market, finding another HCP, etc, etc, etc....   Okimom, I feel your pain!  Glad you finally sort-of know what's going on.  LOL.

So after my final tomorrow, I will do my best NOT to worry about where I'm going to birth or with whom, but focus on Christmas (at least the decoration are up) and make a to do list for this little one. :-)

[laerhk]

Originally Posted by sweeteleanor 

 As a mom of two I now know that all I really need are boobs, diapers and some clothes.  The rest is a bonus!  LOL!

I need to remember that when I'm feeling overwhelmed, lol!
 

[carriebft]

I have two meals in the freezer plus a batch of sauce. My goal for the weekend is to get one soup in there. I learned that some of my friends are planning on making us meals as well, so I think I am going to cut back my list and just get at least 2 more soups done (1 this weekend) and some pizza doughs.

I did realize that I want a new birth ball, so I have to add that to the list!
 

Originally Posted by OkiMom 

Did some more freezing but man am I exhausted today. Probably won't get what I had planned to do done.. Im thinking a nap sounds like a better idea haha..

Hows everyone else doing?

[carriebft]

Changing freezer meal ideas since friends are also cooking for us plus got my birth ball and a soup made today:

November:
-pay 500 of homebirth fee 
-begin hypnobabies 

December:
-begin to gather birth supplies
-purchase kit

-buy new or clean old birth ball
-pay another 500 of homebirth fee (scheduled to go through Dec 24!- won't cross off yet though!)

January:
-deep clean room
-pay last 300 of homebirth fee
-cook freezer meals:


1 tray lasagna- half veggie/ half meat
1 tray enchiladas- half veggie/ half meat
2 pizza doughs
1 container minestrone soup
1 container sweet potato and carrot soup

1 container tomato soup
1 container marinara sauce

first few days of February:
-clean house!
-organize room for new babe and her things!

[mcs]

today, we finally measured the two beds that we were going to put together for the girls.....and saw how crazy it would be to stick them in the tiny bedroom they share. plus one bed was a little more broken than i knew. i wish i had seen it before b/c i know that fil would have fixed it for us and i could have lived with the giant bed.....but, dh was against it. and, he is probably right. so, we went to a thrift store this am, but didn't have any luck, and ended up driving to ikea and buying a double bed for them...and a baby bed.....and a changing table top to put on our dresser....and some other stuff too. and, i feel much better, like we have finally accomplished something.

i wanted to have everything switched around so that we can decorate for christmas... and it looks like our big day will be tomorrow. i am looking forward to it. but, i am feeling scared too, b/c we are going to be so crammed into this little apartment. we need a bigger house!! i feel like i am so crammed into my belly and that the house will have that same "busting out" feeling after tomorrow...we'll see.

and, dh had the great idea of asking our landlord if we can borrow some freezer space b/c they have a fridge (with a freezer top) that they keep outside in the barn so that they don't have to go inside for cool drinks in the summer- they don't use it in the winter, so we would just have to pay a little for electricity.

i think that starting to freeze things will be a huge relief.

my mom is sending some baby clothes of ours that we had stored, but she warns they are mostly bigger sizes, and i haven't been able to find a time to meet with the woman who offered us baby clothes yet... i wish that would happen soon. but, i have bought more in thrift stores- i took a look at my stash the other day and it isn't too bad, though mostly "boy" stuff b/c i was buying "unisex" at first.

i still need to buy all of the other major things though...but will not worry until after christmas. we have decided to buy a dryer which i am really excited about! how american of me, right?? but, if we are doing cloth again, i can not hang them up to dry. we did this for a while with dd1 when we lived in the catskills, and even with a huge and very warm laundry room for hanging them to dry, it was just too much work. i can't even imagine it....so, for now, getting the bed situation under control is a relief!

[OkiMom]

Lovelife- I hope you get some answers soon! Its really hard to be hanging around and waiting.

Carrie- I'm glad your friends are helping out! Soup is great to freeze by the way, really quick and easy. I freeze it by serving size so we can just grab a bag and heat it up without worrying about waste.

MCS- I'm glad you got some stuff done! Decorating for Christmas always seems to make everything smaller! I remember first year DH and I were married we lived in this little 600 sq ft apartment and tried to put up a tree, couldn't fit it anywhere!! It was funny in a sad sort of way. Luckily a friend of ours asked us to dog sit for Christmas so him and his fiance could visit her children so we got to enjoy their Christmas decorations during the holiday and have a tree to put presents under. Any hope of a move in the future? When I was pregnant with DD1 we went from the 600 sq ft to a 750 sq ft apartment and it seemed huge because of the size difference. We live in a 1000 sq ft apartment now and I sometimes feel its just to darn big.. I don't know what I would do with something bigger than this.. I wish we lived closer, I have a ton of girls clothing I'm looking to re-home because I'm only keeping my favorites since this one is a boy (very obviously a boy, I could tell it without even looking twice it was so obvious haha).

So we got a move date! April.. and a place North Carolina.. I'm excited, scared, nervous and a little bit upset. I actually cried when I heard because all of a sudden as much as I don't want to stay here I don't want to move either. Ive gotten comfortable where we are and the idea of packing everything up, moving to a place Ive never really lived before (I went to training there but that doesn't count), living in a hotel, trying to find a new place to live etc etc is a little bit overwhelming to me. I'm tired and we haven't even started.. I'm redoing my to do list now, reorganizing it, taking stuff off and rearranging things. I want to get a lot of this done before the baby comes because if I have a recovery like the last one I'm not going to be in any shape to do anything afterward. The baby will be around 2-3 months old when the move happens. If I have him on my due date he will be 70 days old, that seems so young to me to be uprooted.. Ok, enough thinking about it, Im on the verge of crying all the time anyway I don't need to think about it and get myself upset again..

Baby's crying, got to go figure out whats wrong. Ill post my new to do list tomorrow.

[Twinklefae]

Okimom We moved when DS was 3 weeks old, I totally get the overwhelming feeling.

We're all decorated for the holidays, tree is up, lights are up.  Now I just need to finish all the gifts and we'll be good to go!  Plus the groceries...

[mcs]

well, no christmas decorations yet....we spent the day clearing out the girls room and getting resettled.....nothing went as planned. we forgot that it is our weekend to clean the kindergarten, and it seems that dd1 might have an ear infection. what she was spreading today, though, was infectious moodiness. lol. she was not a big help. we still didn't get the living room arranged.

we are going to be out of town for my birthday next weekend, so it really all needs to get done! and my dh has thrown the idea of going to his parents for christmas back onto my lap.....he is dealing with the guilt.....i thought we had it covered....but it looks like we might be loading up to drive our presents back and forth three hours. oh-ho-ho-ho! and i wish i could drink rum.

okimom- that is a lot! i can imagine that you are on overload. do rest and cry and mark some things off of your list if you can ---- what i mean, is to ask yourself if there are some things that you don't really need to do, but i think the other reading is good too b/c i know that when i am making progress, i feel more in control, and then better about the situation. but, it is a huge "situation" to tackle.

we won't be moving before next spring. even if we find a house, i know that the paper work will take a long time and we will have to buy a "fixer-upper".  we are having a very hard time finding a house that fits what we need and we could, of course, find a bigger apartment, but i really-really want to be settled and don't want to move everything (especially the kids) twice.

[OkiMom]

I took a bunch of stuff off of the list that just didn't make sense to do since we are leaving so soon and a few I would just have to redo a couple of months later to move out so again it made no sense to do it twice. I also cut the freezing stuff in half since household shipment can be anywhere from mid March to mid April and once the shipment goes we get moved into a hotel. No reason to spend the time freezing just to not eat it. I did add a bunch of crafting/organizing stuff since we will be living in a hotel anywhere from 1-3 months I wanted to make some stuff the kids could have that they 1) haven't seen before, 2) is similar to things they play with anyway and 3) is portable and able to fit into a suitcase. Other than that Im putting off all the move stuff until next month. I can only handle so much in one month and since I can't move the date of Christmas I can move around when I have to worry about the move. Anyway, there is a mandatory move class you have to take before you can do anything else (even book plane tickets ughs!) and there isn't another one until next month so it would be pointless to even try to do anything this month. I did learn a lot from last move so I know things to do (and not to do) this time around.

Oh yea, WE GOT A CAR!!!! We can't pick it up until first week of Jan because that is when the family moves but one of my husband's co-workers is moving and gave us a great deal on his station wagon. Best thing is it just got inspected so I know it runs well.

My redone list.. yea, its gotten longer I took off the items I already had accomplished. Red is what Im working on/doing today

November To Dos left:

Return pan

Fix zipper on couch- the zipper I got doesn't fit (of course) so I have to go find another one

Mail Christmas presents- next week! I promise hahaha.. Im awful at this rate they aren't going to get them until Feb.

Get family addresses I don't have- DH needs to sit down with me and make a list of who we need because I don't remember his family members very well. He comes from a big family. I come from one that I can practically count my relatives on one had. Wait, I can specially since I never had contact with any of my cousins.

Scan old pictures- DH volunteered to help me with this one this weekend or next week when he has more time off.

take family pictures- doing Saturday

Sewing: 3- kimono shoes, 3- kimono shirts

Christmas baking:

2 dozen rolls, cookies for Santa, Christmas Dinner: ham, potatoes, broccoli, rolls, salad, cranberry sauce, pecan pie

Household things to do:

• wrap Christmas presents- doing Sunday when DH can distract the girls from what Im doing
• start massive decluttering-on going
• song list/upload
• plan activities for Jan-Aug
• Type up movie list/labels
• declutter/clean toys
• declutter/organize children books
• declutter/organize adult books
• organize playroom closets
•  

Baby Prep items

• put together kids craft notebook
• put together some activity kids
• put together activity/homeschool binder
• Go through baby clothes and separate O-6 months and 6 months plus (only moving thing Im doing this month and only because Im starting to "pack" the suitcases next month.. Fun fun fun..)

Freezing to do (for this month and next)

1 pot taco soup, meat loaf, open faced pizza burgers, tuna noodle casserole, cheesy chili tops, veg soup, lasagna, baked ziti, chicken tetrazini, chili mac, minestone, chicken pot pie, chicken enchiladas, pizza pasta, stroganoff, mini meat pies, jambalaya, enchilada casserole, 50 waffles, 100 pancakes, 2 batches oatmeal raisin cookies, 2 batches peanut butter, 2 batches oat choc chip, Garlic bread, french bread

Sewing/crafting things:

make shirt stencils, make underwear stencils, babysitter thank you gift, nursing cover, (2) diaper changing kits-1 done, 4 puppets, hospital gown, travel jewelery case,bag for Christmas tree, design memory books, finish red dress, finish purple skirt, alter/mend clothing, tic tac toe board with 5 O beanbags and 5 X beanbags, start on dolls, start on doll clothing, start baby hat/booties, work on Dad's hat/scarf, pictures of Christ book, articles of faith cards, make myself something nice to wear home from the hospital (I always feel really crummy and wearing something nice/pretty helps some)

If time:

stencil shirts, small art kit, make another pair of pants for baby, crayon roll, felt kitchen top, knotty doll

Edited by OkiMom - 12/25/10 at 2:00pm

[OkiMom]

I'm concentrating on the playroom today and then moving onto sewing if I have the energy/time to. I already went through the adult books (they are temporarily residing here since the Christmas tree kicked them out of their normal spot), the kids toys and the kids books. Actually didn't have much to get rid of surprisingly. Of course I'm so picky when it comes to buying toys that the only stuff that ends up getting rid of is the stuff that random people give us for the girls (I get either really good quality plastic toys, wooden toys or cloth toys so they last and they are played with). Now Im going to go work on the closets, pick up the playroom and go eat lunch. All this work is making me hungry (and hurting my poor back).

[mcs]

being "behind" in all areas-- check.

[LSUtwinMama]

Originally Posted by mcs 

being "behind" in all areas-- check.

Yep... this is me.

Still need to:

• clean the house.
• Make sure my mom is comfortable watching my twins while DH and I are at the hospital.
• wrap and mail xmas gifts to family members
• mail xmas cards
• install carseat
• finish a few more freezer meals- pizza dough, chili, lentil soup, waffles/pancakes for the twins
• organize master bedroom and set up packnplay
• pack a hospital bag for myself, one for baby and one for DH

[pixiekisses]

Yay, I can finally say I'm almost done!

I'm washing his stuff now, new clothes, diapers, towels, wash cloths, wraps and such, so that's a work in progress, just 3-4 loads left I think.

And I'm waiting for a few more things that's coming with the mail that'll need washing when they arrive.

Things to do between 27th and 31st:

-Go to a friends house (in another town that we'll be in then) and look at some baby stuff she wanted me to have, including a car seat (and that's a good friend I trust, so I know it hasn't been in a crash or anything)

Things to do in january:

-Get his big sheepskin and a wool-fleece "suit" for outdoors use (done, ordered it online)

-Get one more set of covers for his tiny comforter

-Get the family cradle from his little cousin who's using it now, wash it and the fabrics (and decide what fabric to put on it, there are two sets)

Really though, I think that's it. Or, well, I'm gonna look for a special teddy or something that he can have (we've done that with the other kids too, and they've usually turned into their "lovey").

Edited by pixiekisses - 12/18/10 at 11:57am

[lyterae]

Originally Posted by mcs 

being "behind" in all areas-- check.

 Me too! If I can make it through all of the Christmas gatherings and such we should be ready to start focusing on the fact that a baby is coming sometime in the next 2 months...

[Twinklefae]

A lot.  And less.  And more.

My homebirth is falling apart because of the management at the hospital.

http://mcns.chebucto.org/

So now I need to get through the holidays and find out WTF is going on, and whether I'll have to transfer back to my family doctor at the last second. 

[OkiMom]

Twinkle- that sounds really stressful! I hope you get some answers soon.

pixie- I like to get a special stuffie for them before they are born as well but they have never turned into their favorite animal. DD1s we lost on the trip over here (still upset over that one, it disappeared out of our luggage) and DD2s she has no interest in. Im still debating ordering one for this baby though. I already know which one Id get if I got one.

I think Im behind in some areas and ahead in others. I did pick up a few items at the store this weekend so I don't have to worry about them (namely bottles and formula, I keep a small container in the back of the storage closet just in case something happens to me and DH needs it. I figure if I get sick/injured last thing I want him to worry about is figuring out how to feed the baby.. however I always tend to get rid of it once I get a freezer stash so around 3 months since then he could just use the frozen milk if needed). I went through and separated out the 0-3, 3-6 month clothing from the rest of the clothes and put the bigger cloths in storage bags so thats one less thing to worry about. DH pulled down the Moses basket and bouncy seats so all I have to do is put them where I want them. I got the kits for the girl's dolls this weekend so Im going to try to start them up sometime this week or next. DD1 already saw the pictures and asked about them.

I still don't have a car seat though! DH has changed his mind about the coming home outfit so we still don't have one. We have decided that trying to do cloth would just not work for us since the upcoming move is going to be draining all of my energy/time. I just really don't need one more thing to worry about. So, now I need to stock up on disposables and wipes, as well as diaper cream just in case he gets rashes from the diapers. We aren't picking up the car until Jan 10th so after that Im going to need to get the oil changed, tires checked (ok long story short, a good friend of mine went into labor and on the way to the hospital they ended up with a flat tire and then barely made it to the hospital on time so now she asks me 10 times a day for the last month of pregnancy if Ive had my tires checked ), clean it out well and then put the car seats in. DH's car isn't doing to well so we might be junking it in January before it dies in the middle of his trip to work. I still need to wash the clothing/blankets and pick up some more recieving blankets, set up a changing place to hold all the diapers/misc stuff etc. But I figure I still have anywhere between 7-11 weeks so Im good right??

Edited by OkiMom - 12/19/10 at 6:42pm