What do you have left to do? « Back to Group Discussions

[finnegansmom]

I like to try to get some of the 'hard stuff' done with before I'm too big (like crawling around in the attic looking for 0-3 clothes!).

Just thought it might be fun to have a thread of what we have left to do.

I have left:

Wash car seat cover/install base (which means add another seat to the mini van, yikes).

Figure out how to fold and unfold graco double stroller I got at church fair without instructions and wash

bring up glider to nursery

order new bed rail for bed

assemble new bassinett

order ergo insert

locate/wash nursing bras (it's been a TREAT to wear normal bras the last few months since my toddler weaned....back to the industrial and unsightly boulder holders.....)

break it to my (crummy) boss at my freelance job that I'm taking 2 weeks off after the birth - oh the horror.

prep one size diapers (washed newborn diapers today!)

That's it I think!

[Bmorefarmgirl]

Get the car seat out of the attic.
Figure out how to take care of two kids at once.

[babychak]

My baby shower was this weekend and then I went through a flurry of ordering stuff online, so what I have left is:

-Buy a few more things, including all his clothes (we barely got any clothes for gifts - luckily there's a Just Between Friends consignment sale next weekend, so we'll be hitting that up!)

-Organize, wash (as applicable), and set everything up once it all arrives

-Pack our hospital bags

-Write thank you notes for gifts

-Install carseat and get it inspected

-Make and freeze food

I also want to complete the pregnancy part of his baby book but that's not a "must do" before he comes.

[QMtwins]

wow...read that title and thought, "what don't I have to do?" Then, gently remninded myself that these little ones will come into the world whether I am "ready or not!" 

On the to do list:

finish unpacking our new house (moved in over the weekend), find that one box of newborn clothes so they can be washed, purchase a vehicle large enough for all six of us, load up the freezer now that its in its new home too!, set up the babies' room, get my 2 year old girls to fall asleep without one of us there, etc., etc.

Its not all going to happen, but again, not all of those things need to occur for the new ones to be born.  And, I too, will be OK, if they are not all accomplished/checked off the list!

Good luck to all!

[wendelberry]

In some ways I feel like the only thing I really need to do is get the birth supplies together-- other than that, it's not going to make a lot of difference.  Baby will come, baby will be here, stuff will get done next year.  I got some long-sleeved onesies over the weekend, and the diapers are ready, so that should be good.  Except, oh yeah, we need to buy a car seat.  (My sister gave ours away after I told her I didn't need it back....oops.)

Things that would be nice to do:

-get a real bed (as opposed to a mattress on the floor)

-paint bedroom a soothing light brown

-get crib set up in our room (this involves major furniture rearrangement, as the gun cabinet is currently in the only place the crib fits, and we want that to stay in our room)

-cut and split enough firewood to keep the house REALLY warm for the birth

-make some food to freeze 

-buy a nursing bra (any recommendations?  I hated my last one)

-cancel upcoming road trip halfway across the country (not going to happen...but it would be nice)

-PICK A NAME!!!  (Also open to suggestions!!-- traditional, Biblical, and/or nature-y are all good but we just can't decide!)

Happy preparing, everyone!

[kateaton]

I love to-do lists and I love being able to cross things off on them.  We've gotten a ton done since this summer.  We had to rearrange our house to make room- we're kind of maxed out on space.

Still needs to be done:

-purchase remainder of cloth diapers/diaper covers- prep all diapers

- put finishing touches on baby room

-buy baby swing (this was an absolute, cannot live without, with my previous babies- in fact my last daughter burnt out the motor in our last swing!)

- make cloth wipe solution

- purchase birth supplies

- compile some cd's of music for labor

- deep clean our bedroom

- touch up paint on various trimwork throughout the house

-  clean windows and steam clean carpets/mop floors

- continue to prepare and freeze as many meals as possible

- clean car and install car seat

- buy a few odds and ends that were put on registry that no one has paid attention to

[finnegansmom]

Oh yes, we need to decide on a name!  I keep forgetting that one.

and it would be nice to have my toddler at least sleep naps in his toddler bed.  I need to bring up the glider to their nursery so I can sit there while he falls asleep (which will take forever and getting up from the floor is not so graceful for me at this point).

[katelove]

There is heaps I want to do but not much that I have to do. This is what I want to do...

- wash baby clothes and put away in baby's room
- give whole house a good clean (blinds, behind furniture etc)
- hang pictures in baby's room, set up lamp, generally make it look nice ( even though she will sleep with us and it is basically a changing room and storage room for her clothes)
- fill freezer with meals
- buy and install car seat ( this is the only essential really)
- do our tax returns (must be done by end of October so I guess this is another essential)
- tidy up garden, prune everything back, clear palm fronds etc

I would love to have our shed all unpacked ( we left some things unpacked when we moved because we were planning a renovation, which is now complete) but that is probably not realistic.

Lots to do but we'll see. We did manage to get heaps done on DH's last days off. We moved J's things to her new room and set her old room up as a guest room as well as taking some big boxes of books to the charity shop and a few other smaller things. Maybe I need to pick one big job for each set of days off.

Nice to see everyone else's lists. I love To Do lists too.

[poema304]

Originally Posted by kateaton 

I love to-do lists and I love being able to cross things off on them.  We've gotten a ton done since this summer.  We had to rearrange our house to make room- we're kind of maxed out on space.

Still needs to be done:

-purchase remainder of cloth diapers/diaper covers- prep all diapers
- put finishing touches on baby room
-buy baby swing (this was an absolute, cannot live without, with my previous babies- in fact my last daughter burnt out the motor in our last swing!)
- make cloth wipe solution
- purchase birth supplies
- compile some cd's of music for labor
- deep clean our bedroom
- touch up paint on various trimwork throughout the house
-  clean windows and steam clean carpets/mop floors
- continue to prepare and freeze as many meals as possible
- clean car and install car seat
- buy a few odds and ends that were put on registry that no one has paid attention to

Haha... your list looks almost exactly the same as mine! I would add:
-buy a diaper sprayer
-sew a boppy cover
-order a "born at home" onesie
-buy a few other basic clothes... we are starting from scratch again and don't know the gender, lol, makes it challenging!
-start visualizing my birth and mentally preparing

[sunmamma]

i need to gather my birth supplies. other than that, i think i have enough tiny diapers and newborn clothes for now, and a trusty moby. sweet mama friend bringing over a newborn car seat in two weeks. i'm trying to keep it simple and just get anything else i need as i need it. it's my third and i have a huge aversion to clutter!

[fayebond]

The things I have left to do, today alone....

laundry

packing for vacation

clean the floors

organize the desk

bring all the kitchen stuff into the kitchen and out of the upstairs guest room where it is now

Paint the bathroom (light blue)

The list of baby to dos is too long to start on, although I did finish making the dolls I wanted to sew up and the dining room is done at least.  We too don't have a name picked out

[marmo]

Among the things like pack a hospital bag, put the cosleeper up, install the infant seat, I need to send in my absentee ballot application!  I'm due Nov 5th and while the chances are slim that I won't be able to vote on the 6th, I'm gonna go ahead and vote absentee.  It will give me time to really look over the ballot, too, I think.  Anyone else decided to vote absentee this time around because they may possibly be otherwise occupied with labor/delivery/baby?

[Carinthia]

Ok ..here it goes...

...finish sewing hanging cradle (almost done!)

...keep cooking double batches of food and baking bread to freeze

...get baby toiletries (Weleda stuff)

...find a great nursing bra (which one?)

...clean the car and the house and wash the dog and treat for fleas (again!)

...renew green card ($ 450!!)

...get birthday gifts for DS and bake and freeze the cake without frosting

...encourage DH to keep working on his "honey-do"...

...spend some quality time with DS

wow.. i feel much more organized having typed this out! Thanks!

[abouttobe5]

Oooh....

*baking and making double dishes of food for freezing. (in case this is a section I'm also acutely aware of the fact that my DH will be back and forth from the hospital, taking care of the kids, and running our office for four days while I'm in there so I want to make sure there is plenty of food for him to not think about prior to baby arriving!)

*stocking my pantry

*organize closet in baby's room (we've put all my older DD's stuff in there and it needs to be organized into age specific storage bins for future)

*spend quality time with older kids

*get Hallowe'en stuff ready

*get DD's birthday stuff ready

*get baby things like diapers, shampoo, etc. 

*make list of thing for my mom, who if I do have a section, will be at the house to help with getting DD to school and DS to daycare (packing lunch, bus schedule, etc. etc.)

*buy infant car seat

Thanks for the reminder!

[sere234]

Originally Posted by marmo 

Among the things like pack a hospital bag, put the cosleeper up, install the infant seat, I need to send in my absentee ballot application!  I'm due Nov 5th and while the chances are slim that I won't be able to vote on the 6th, I'm gonna go ahead and vote absentee.  It will give me time to really look over the ballot, too, I think.  Anyone else decided to vote absentee this time around because they may possibly be otherwise occupied with labor/delivery/baby?

I just got my ballot in the mail a couple of days ago! I'm due the 10 (or is it the 9th?....) so I just wanted to be safe!

Here's my list for October:

Paint the trim in the master and DS's bedrooms
Paint the walls in the master bedroom. And put up some sort of artwork.

Have 20-30 meals in the freezer
Have all canning and freezing done
Schedule family help for the first month
Send in absentee voting ballots
Sidecar the crib
Test run of pool

Pack hospital bag, explain to DH

Freeze pads
Discuss emergency plans with DH

Prep activity boxes for DS for after birth

DH has his own list of projects too... Hoping they all get done by the end of this month!! 

[faithsstuff]

Woohoo! I can take carseat off the list.

[MrsKoehn]

Let's see, I have a ton to do actually. What's totally necessary? Not a lot. But like I told my Mom the other day when she said, "Honey, not everything needs done right now. Things can wait till after the baby comes."  TRUE, but like I said, "Ya, but canning, processing the deer, school, clean clothes, food on the table, that stuff has to happen NOW."

So my hopeful things to do in the next 5 weeks or so:

~Double check I have all my birth supplies,

~Organize that unsightly pile under the sink where there's more room

~Get a bowl for the placenta from my MIL's junk stacks. Hubby will NOT let me use anything we have here bc the idea of placenta and fluids grosses him out. Yes, the same husband that just shot, dressed and mostly processed a deer.

~Check out the sewing machine my Mom just sent me for Christmas and my bday... yes, early but she said it was a deal not to pass up. It only has like a week and a half left to return it if there's issues with it since it was reconditioned.

~Do a bunch of sewing that I would love to do and need to do

~Finish crocheting the baby blanket, have just less than half left plus the border. Doubt I get it done.

~Crochet Christmas gifts for the kids and some extra to try to sell locally. Don't see that one getting done either.

~Sterilize what needs sterilized before labor and store it

~Wash the little diapers, though I won't need them till after the meconium comes out so someone else could always do that later.

~Wash the car seat cover again, I had it in my spare room with the window open. Wouldn't you know, a dust storm came up from that direction before I remembered the window? : (

~Get hubby to CLEAN the inside of the car. It's nasty. Then install the car seat.

~I really have to get the spare room clean. BUT I have to wait on hubby. He's got to finish his shed off enough to get some of his shop stuff moved out there so he can get rid of some of his junk (like a huge door and frame, carpet and padding, etc) that's in my junk room so I can move stuff around so I can fit my Mom in there when she comes.

~I wanted to get the file cabinet set up before baby's born. Don't see it happening. Maybe my Mom can do it. Hehe

~Finish all I can with canning and prep the garden for winter if it's frosted too hard by then.

~Get the girls school totally autonomous by then so I don't have to worry that they didn't do bla bla bla and have a ton to catch up on when they get back over here after I'm up to it again

~Be sure to have enough food in the house all the time. Maybe I should go shopping weekly till baby comes, though I hate doing that, it makes me tired. That's over an hour drive time plus fighting the crowds.

I know there's more. That's just what I'm thinking at the moment.....

[eggsandpancakes]

welp. I've got a home visit by  the midwife on monday, and the house is in complete shambles. hubby's mom died, so we inherited a free place to live. Unfortunately, she had the whole depression era frugality mindset, so we have been hauling things out of the house as fast as i can work. stacks of newspaper, old mail, empty containers of cleaning products. . . .we've got it down to most of the stuff, but now we have two 1500 sq ft houses worth of stuff crammed into one 1300 sq ft house. the two older kids are at their dad's this weekend, so we are taking the house apart and putting it back together!

I've got to make it out to cousin-in-law's house to get the carseat, swing, high chair, etc. it's about a 90 minute drive, so I need to find time for that while the older ones are in school, or on a weekend so they can all play together. I'm lucky enough to have two showers coming up, although nobody has old me dates yet. 

Hubby has got to finish renovation the bathroom and get a new fence put up in the backyard. 

Sigh. somedays i just want to go back to bed.

[MrsKoehn]

Originally Posted by eggsandpancakes 

welp. I've got a home visit by  the midwife on monday, and the house is in complete shambles. hubby's mom died, so we inherited a free place to live. Unfortunately, she had the whole depression era frugality mindset, so we have been hauling things out of the house as fast as i can work. stacks of newspaper, old mail, empty containers of cleaning products. . . .we've got it down to most of the stuff, but now we have two 1500 sq ft houses worth of stuff crammed into one 1300 sq ft house. the two older kids are at their dad's this weekend, so we are taking the house apart and putting it back together!

Arg! I hear that. My Mom has inherited that mentality from her mother who just died this past spring. She inherited her "Craft Stuff". She does NOT need all that junk at all. Esp when there's a lot she doesn't want to get rid of... Like old underwear bands, magazines, and empty toilet paper rolls (I think she did get rid of those rolls, at least something).

[fayebond]

depression era frugality meets modern binge collecting, that's how my mom describes it.  My grandma would totally still have the house y'all inherited, except, my mom has been weaning it down.  Every summer, we'd trip up there, and Mom would ask gramma for a box or two of craft stuff that she "isn't working on right now" for use girls to "use up."  And we'd go home with like six boxes of books to trade in at Powell's and two boxes of fabric, or whatever.  Next summer, same routine.  We couldn't always use it all up in the year, and if it was left when we got back from the next summer's trip, out it went (okay, alot of things went out when we got back from that summer trip, we all got the depacking bug, its enough to make a person throw out everything but their clothes!).  Her house still has more collectibles than some antique stores, but at least its at a managable level.  Its bittersweet for me, since as a kid, it was fun to sleep on a bed propped up by boxes of unknown treasures, or be unable to open a closet without stuff falling out, so I kinda miss the clutter when we visit with DD now.  But, my aunts are so relieved by the improved situation, especially as the conversations turn to inheritance and cleaning out the place, its really nice to see them enjoying their old home again.  We have four or five boxes of fabric still at our house, and I admit I kept all the embriodery thread and towels, so we got a tiny bit of the collecting thing too I guess.  I try to remember the dramatic improvement at gramma's when I look at my piles of baby stuff.  One box (or six) at a time...