What have you been thinking about getting ready for baby?
For me it is way to soon to start doing anything, but I am a total planner and have been scheming.
Iggy (my husband insisted on naming this one Wigglesworth), will need a car seat and a quilt (I always make them a crib quilt) so that has been my focus. I also pulled out the tiny newborn fitted diapers that just got returned.
Also, in great news, my boss decided to add playing on Pintrest to my job description.
Hahaha. Glad I'm not the only one already thinking about this stuff. I have an entire word document with categories like, "Decide", "Acquire", "Birth Plan", etc. I'm making myself wait until 13 weeks to buy the blanket I buy all my kiddos (http://www.organicquiltcompany.com/products/essential-organic-baby-blanket-brights-collection), but I think I've already decided on the green edges. My daughter has pink (I so knew she was a girl!), and my son has purple (apparently I also knew that he would love purple). I haven't told my sister about this baby, but did manage to just recently get my newborn dipes back from her. Gave my friend a heads up about wanting our kanoe back, etc, etc. We still have some big decisions to make though, like birthplace, birth attendant(s), girls names, anatomy scan, etc, etc. Oh, and my husband has to build a little bed for the crib mattress (we co-sleep, but not for naps, and typically put the kids down in their own beds, and then bring them to ours when they wake up after we're in bed), and then we have to move our son's bed into our daughter's room, so that the new baby will have his own room until he is old enough to not wake up a sibling 18 times a night. My dd is determined that she will share with the new baby, but I don't think she understands the ramifications! We also need a new carseat. Our kids have radians, and we don't do bucket seats, but I'm thinking we can get the R100 instead of the RXTs we already have, and move dd (she'll be 4) into the R100. I hear that, since it doesn't have the "wings", you can get more height out of it for the kid. We also have to decide where to put the new baby in the van. We can only put one seat rf in the middle row, which is where my ds is. dd is currently ff in the back row. Thinking of putting new babe rf in the middle, putting dd ff next to him in the middle, and then putting ds rf in the back row. But, that back row is pretty cramped, and if he's rf back there, he's going to feel pretty isolated! But, if we keep dd back there with him, it will be hellish to get everyone buckled. Holy. I need to stop myself! Not even 7 weeks until Monday!
I'm intrigued by "build a little bed for the crib mattress" part, do elaborate. :) We side-carred the crib last time and it worked well, but I can't count on having another one that wasn't interested in rolling after naptime. I lucked out there...so I'd like to have an alternative solution. We may just get a pack n play or something, I don't know...
Our 2-year-old still sleeps in our bedroom so our main thing to get ready is his room and get him moved into it! We have some work to do on it first, mainly painting and replacing the old carpet with hardwood. We've been waiting on the hardwood, not impressed with the shipper who failed to deliver it two weeks in a row (they only come to our area once a week).
Leigh, love the nickname Iggy!
We also need a new carseat. Our kids have radians, and we don't do bucket seats, but I'm thinking we can get the R100 instead of the RXTs we already have, and move dd (she'll be 4) into the R100. I hear that, since it doesn't have the "wings", you can get more height out of it for the kid. We also have to decide where to put the new baby in the van. We can only put one seat rf in the middle row, which is where my ds is. dd is currently ff in the back row. Thinking of putting new babe rf in the middle, putting dd ff next to him in the middle, and then putting ds rf in the back row. But, that back row is pretty cramped, and if he's rf back there, he's going to feel pretty isolated! But, if we keep dd back there with him, it will be hellish to get everyone buckled. Holy. I need to stop myself! Not even 7 weeks until Monday! I have a thread on family safety on this. My added fun is there we are car free, so seats are used in my friends van (with her two), or a zipcar. We have a Radian and a Combi Coccoro (narrow, compact, super light weight), but this time part of me wants a bucket so when we do use a car they are easier to carry in asleep.
We have had lots of luck with an older child 3+ ff next to rf baby to help baby feel better, plug, singing etc. I would keep the middle in the middle and put the others in the back.
I have two different charm packs for the quilts and want to look for flannel this weekend for the back. but no sewing until second trimester (like I have the energy/time before that)
I am also thinking how the summer will go, camp for my preschooler, pool passes etc.
I told my friend/neighbor and am conflicted, the plan is she watches the kids, but she would also like to be there. My Mum will likely come out and so she would likely be there (if she wants). I know in the moment I will not care how many nice people are there (just no mean/interfering/bummy ones) and I do want someone with a camera there this time. Ah, months to figure it out. If my dad comes out too, I know he would much rather to do kid duty.
@quantumleap I want to see you list now. I love lists. But like you, #3 with a boy and a girl, I really don't need much stuff.
My son is in love with our five year old neighbor and when she wanted to see his bed turn over into a fort (the Ikea Kuna) we had to do it right then, so that is one job done. He was dreading it. Bee is now sleeping under it, instead of the nursery/closet (when not sleeping on my husband's pillow). So that transition is done. Now I just need more waterproof mattress pads so I can set up her twin.
I also have been thinking about car seats. We have a convertible seat that we've used since birth with DD (true fit) and it's been great. DD was 9lb7oz and didn't seem too small in it. I'm not sure if we should switch her into a booster when baby is born and use the true fit for the baby.
Our DD only recently has a bed set up in her own room - she'd been asking for months. She has a toddler bed in our room that she was sleeping in 90% of the time until we got the big bed. Now she's back in our bed 90% of the time 
It's ok though, I'm not too concerned at this point. Our bed is big so if we have to squeeze everyone in we'll figure it out!
I find my mind wandering to every day things like "how the heck do I get out of the house with 2 kids?" lol
But mostly I'm just hoping my u/s next Thursday brings good news.
I also have been thinking about car seats. We have a convertible seat that we've used since birth with DD (true fit) and it's been great. DD was 9lb7oz and didn't seem too small in it. I'm not sure if we should switch her into a booster when baby is born and use the true fit for the baby.
Our DD only recently has a bed set up in her own room - she'd been asking for months. She has a toddler bed in our room that she was sleeping in 90% of the time until we got the big bed. Now she's back in our bed 90% of the time It's ok though, I'm not too concerned at this point. Our bed is big so if we have to squeeze everyone in we'll figure it out!
I find my mind wandering to every day things like "how the heck do I get out of the house with 2 kids?" lol
But mostly I'm just hoping my u/s next Thursday brings good news.
How old is your DD? Sounds like she might be too young for a booster seat? I try to keep mine RF as long as poss (DS2 is 19mo and will still be in his for ages yet) and in a FF 5 pt harness as long as poss too (DS1 is 6yo and in a FF 5pt harness, DD only moved to a booster seat at 8yo) because they're a lot safer.
We have a van with captains chairs in the middle row. Currently DS 1 & 2 are in the middle row and DD is in the back row. When the next one arrives, DS1 will move to the back row (still in his FF 5pt harness) and we'll put the new one in his spot in the middle row next to DS2 who will still be RF. We will DS2's bucket seat for the new addition - I loved it because it sucks waking them up to transfer them. DS2 was in it until about 15 months when he outgrew it.
We need to move our 19mo DS to my DD's room before this new one arrives. He used to sleep in his crib (in our room) and then co-sleep with us the rest of his night. A couple of months ago we decided to night wean him (I'd had enough of the frequent wake ups and thought night weaning would help). So we moved him to a toddler bed and put our mattress on the floor next to it. I moved out (temporarily) and my DH stayed with him. The night weaning was successful but he still wakes up! Not as often but usually 2-3 times on average (if he's not sick which he often is). So currently he sleeps part of the night in his toddler bed and then hops in with my DH. I'm sleeping on my DD's bottom bunk :) Sooooo... we need to move DS into DD's room (with his toddler bed) sometime in the next little while. I just hope he doesn't wake up DD during the night (she's nearly 9). Eventually, we'll get my 6yo DS bunks, he'll move to the top bunk and DS2 will move to the bottom bunk. But DS2 is too young for a big bed - he falls out of his toddler bed!
How old is your DD? Sounds like she might be too young for a booster seat? I try to keep mine RF as long as poss (DS2 is 19mo and will still be in his for ages yet) and in a FF 5 pt harness as long as poss too (DS1 is 6yo and in a FF 5pt harness, DD only moved to a booster seat at 8yo) because they're a lot safer.
She will be 3 1/2 when this baby would be born. I didn't realize the boosters don't have the 5 point harness! Maybe I'm thinking of just a forward facing seat rather than the convertible one. We just flipped her forward facing this summer and she hit the 35lb weight limit. I like the bucket seats because they seem cozy but I don't like the idea of carrying him or her around in a car seat wherever we go. I think if this baby is smaller I'd consider one though.
I had the Graco Snugride last time, but it felt flimsy to me, so I got rid of it. I will go for the chicco keyfit this time. Or maybe we'll skip the infant seat and go straight to a Britax Roundabout. Not sure yet. Wish I had a minivan!
I have a Radian 65 and they do RF for a really long time. 35 or 40 lb I think. Check their sight. They update the weight from the manual after more testing.
I'm just glad we have a really good playgroup for the littles and people seem to pass around clothes a lot since there really aren't any thrift shops or anything else around here. We live in BFE. I might be able to talk MIL into going to the consignment shop where I had a couple things at and get some stuff I need. Some newborn to 9months clothes after we find out the sex. I have absolutely nothing after getting rid of everything last summer. Bummer. I need newborn and small diaper covers.
Feeling ok today. Just worn out I guess. Other than watching movies I've had an aversion to being on-line. 
I guess that's an ok thing to have an aversion to.
I'm amused that everyone is thinking about carseats. It's fun to know there are other people who get preoccupied with these things. DH thinks I'm a little crazy when I talk about it, I think.
The little bed for the crib mattress will likely just be a wooden frame about 1.5' off the ground, with really low rails around the edges. More like a lip, I guess? Just so the kid will have to work to roll off. S/he won't really sleep in it for a few months because we use the kanoe, but I like to have an actual bed too. We had a crib for dd, but it was so old (for real, it was a 20+ year old cast off from a church nursery. I'm sure it broke just about every safety standard in existence.). It broke when ds was a newborn, so I just took the broken side off, put the mattress on the lowest setting, and put my 4 month old to sleep in the equivalent to a toddler bed. Not a single problem with it, so we plan to essentially re-create something similar. 40$ worth of wood vs buying a crib that will hardly be used? No brainer, for us, anyway. The kid is going to be in it for a few years, 'cause I don't see us buying a new mattress any time soon!
Carmen - after my ds was born, I somehow wound up in the car with both of them. I think I had dropped DH off somewhere, and on the way home, I saw a store we needed to stop at and thought, "Hunh. We'll just stop and run in.". I parked the car, got out, went to get dd out of her seat and then seriously had a panic attack. I had *completely* forgotten about the fact that there were now TWO children to deal with. I seriously considered just buckling her back in and going home, but I realized that was a little dumb, so I tucked ds in the sling, took 24 month old dd's hand, and talked about how I needed her help to stay close to mama and find what we were looking for. And, it was totally fine. Totally. You get out with two because you still have a life, and even though the first few times are a little scary, it's totally ok. You do it, and it's no big deal! I recently met someone who almost fell over when I mentioned something about the grocery store. Her kids are the same ages as mine (not quite 2 and not quite 4), and she has NEVER gone grocery shopping with both of them. I do it at least once a week, and don't even think about it, because it really is *that* simple. You can do it! I will admit though, that the intimidation factor at the beginning is considerable. ;)
I have to go to my dh's staff Christmas party tonight. We're supposed to bring an appetizer, and that is all the information my very typically male partner has gleaned. No idea if this is a jeans and nice shirt event, or if it's a little black dress event, or what. I guess I'll go with the black dress (thank goodness it's stretchy!), and dress it down a little bit. Also, he is in charge of the appetizer. I can barely deal with dinner most days. We've had a store bought frozen lasagna, pasta from a box, frozen pizza, and soup for dinner this week. It's pretty sad - we always make our own pasta dough and pasta sauce, etc, etc! I'm not so much nauseated by the food, or even the thought of food, I just can't bring myself to deal with it. At all.
DH has been pretty good about meals too. We ate hot dogs for lunch, though there was only 4 left and poor dh only got one since me and dd had 3. He was a good sport about it.
We have our baby trend bucket seat from my dd so we will use that until babe outgrows which doesn't seem to take long. I think dd was 10 months when she out grew the height and we are average sized people. Anyway, we'll get another britax unless there is something else we could put dd in that will last her even longer than the convertible britax. We'll see, that's pretty far away to think about.
I just got back from the fabric store and got the rest of the material I needed for the crib quilts. the boy one will have tiny Godzilla's on the back and the girl on fairies. I went with my friend/neighbour and she wants me to find out the gender so she can sew cute things (the only reason that tempts me too)
It took me until Monkey to realize that most people don't like running errands with kids because of the getting them in and out of car seats and holding on to them. We always walk with the stroller and they just stay in there, fall asleep, snack etc.
I just got back from the fabric store and got the rest of the material I needed for the crib quilts. the boy one will have tiny Godzilla's on the back and the girl on fairies. I went with my friend/neighbour and she wants me to find out the gender so she can sew cute things (the only reason that tempts me too)
It took me until Monkey to realize that most people don't like running errands with kids because of the getting them in and out of car seats and holding on to them. We always walk with the stroller and they just stay in there, fall asleep, snack etc.
I love taking my littles grocery shopping, though I usually go to a natural health food store or co-op to do so, so there really isn't a lot of stuff I would say no to. They usually pick out fruit and stuff. I guess it depends on how you view it. It might be harder with closer in age babes. I think it will be fine at first at least when dd can ride in the cart and baby will be in a carrier. I think I want to try a moby for the newborn stage this time. Oh getting so excited and I think dd will be in love with this new little one. She is really getting into taking care of her dolls and I just got her a doll for Christmas that is more her size and I might try to make a mei tei for her baby so she has a baby to carry too. Aw.
I was really crafty last time, don't think I will be as much this time, but want a make a blanket for this babe like I did for dd with my ds. DS really loved putting together a blanket for his sister.
Trader Joe's is on our walk home from school and Monkey loves to push their little carts. I just push Bee in the stroller and it is easy. Plus TJs is a tiny grocery store, since they only carry one brand of ketchup, I love the food and the prices. Plus we go three + times a week and the staff all know us. And they have snacks.
Trader Joe's is on our walk home from school and Monkey loves to push their little carts. I just push Bee in the stroller and it is easy. Plus TJs is a tiny grocery store, since they only carry one brand of ketchup, I love the food and the prices. Plus we go three + times a week and the staff all know us. And they have snacks.
Oh, I miss TJ's. My DS loved going there. I am glad they stopped giving out balloons. My ds would end up letting it go every time and it felt like littering.
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