Since we are all getting so close to our Labor Days, I thought it might be fun to reflect on our nesting habits :) I came up with some questions to get started. Add your own, or get sidetracked!
Strangest nesting urge?
What have you done the last week to prepare for baby?
What have you done that you were surprised became important to complete?
Any nesting that you found particularly useful?
Strangest nesting urge? Completely repainting and rearranging the kitchen, spontaneously. We decided to do it in the morning, talked about a color briefly and 30 min later I was back with paint and rollers.
What have you done the last week to prepare for baby? The kitchen. We are still working on the cabinets now but the walls look amazing. I also have been particularly diligent keeping the lower part of the house tidy and vacuumed.
What have you done that you were surprised became important to complete? The Kitchen. I am surprised because we have other tasks that need to get done...like our bedroom full of stacks and bins of clean clothes that need to be put away or the spare room that is cluttered with office supplies and baby stuff we just tossed in.
Any nesting that you found particularly useful? Making A LOT of freezer meals. It is helpful for DH although he loves to cook, it is hard to do so with my nearly 2 yo who wants to help and winds up pouring out the spices into a water cup and mixing it with whatever else he can find on the countertops.
Writermama - Congrats on getting the kitchen! It's funny how your momentum can shift so quickly, but if the energy to get it done is there, how quickly it can happen. The freezer food is starting to become important to me, and I'm sure that'll be my next kick once I finish these other ones!
Strangest nesting urge?
Definately backing up our laptops. I sprung on DH that I wanted to buy an external hard drive NOW! He was a little stunned since it really came out of nowhere. But he was really sweet, and said that was actually something he'd been wanting to do for a year or so.
I dunno what happened. I've just become paranoid about losing all our photos if our laptops die. I also have been working on reimaging each laptop so we can squeeze a bit more life out of it.
What have you done the last week to prepare for baby?
Had a night where I couldn't sleep at 2 am. So what's a pregnant momma to do? Find bulk deals on Toilet paper of course! So yeah, I have toothpaste, toilet paper, peanut butter, Tums, prenatals, and vitamin D supplements on the way. I ALMOST bought an 1800 pack of q-tips, and then I came to my senses. It was a good deal though. Thanks amazon subscribe and save!
What have you done that you were surprised became important to complete?
DH has been doing 80 hour work weeks recently for med school. Normally he takes care of his own appointments, but I asked if he wouldn't mind if I set some things up for him. I felt like a bossy wife, but I was really getting antsy that I take care of him as much as I can before this little lovey comes along. Optomitrist, Life and Disability insurance exams. Whew, nice to have those taken care of!
Any nesting that you found particularly useful?
I really loved doing the birth beads! I was just able to finish mine the other day! I had become a bit more nervous about labor, but I felt much more calm and sense of power after reading all your messages. I love that I have a physical reminder that other women in my position are going into birth confident and excited.
Ooooo!!!!!!!! You guys are inspiring me! DH brought down the crib from my parents' attic and assembled it this week. He also loaded in the changing table, bookshelf, and rocking chair. I say loaded in because we cleared the room so he could paint and install a new light fixture (which I love!!!). So, I really can't take credit for any of that. I'm thinking tomorrow I will start to organize her room and trim it out with the toys and books we saved from ds and organize her closet. I'll have to post pics of it all when it's done. The stuff my mom sewed is beautiful and the perfect mix of modern and this Victorian Fairy Painting thing I was going for. Honestly, I'd love to indulge my nesting side more, but I feel that if I don't hurry up and finish getting my stuff ready to take my leave from work, I'll wind up having to create sub plans from my hospital bed. :(
Maybe tomorrow I'll work on the fun stuff and Sunday I'll spend working. That seems like a fair compromise. :)
Scarletsmiles, I am laughing out loud at the Amazon thing...
Strangest nesting urge?
I haven't had the nesting energy up until the last week or two, but I've had the nesting urge since after we got back from visiting my parents for New Year's (I was about 30 weeks). Only I have been on partial bed rest for most of my 3rd tri, so I couldn't clean anything or cook anything. So I compensated by... LOTS AND LOTS OF CRAFTS. I just about singlehandedly decorated the baby's nursery in that time. The funniest part, though, was that I met my nesting Waterloo last week. Even though the house had been driving me crazy (my sweet husband, bless him, is not as OCD about housekeeping as I am so when it falls to his watch things are done differently), I had been able to resist... but last week I literally became obsessed with filling my freezer with meals and snacks. I could not stop. It is now literally packed to the gills (it's just a fridge/freezer combo, so didn't have that much room) and my husband told me tonight that I am not allowed to freeze anything else! It cracked me up, though, that that was the point at which all my careful staying on the couch failed. (Plus, after last week I got to basically graduate from couch-arrest, yay!)
What have you done the last week to prepare for baby?
Freezer meals and snacks, finishing touches in the nursery, ordering the last few random supplies we needed (bassinet sheets, Bac-out for cloth diapers, etc.), a little sewing, doing the dusting that hadn't gotten done in my weeks of couch-arrest....
What have you done that you were surprised became important to complete?
The freezer meals - they were important to me all along (I have lots of chronic health probs so I am anticipating a tough postpartum period), but I didn't expect that level of obsession to spring up.
Any nesting that you found particularly useful?
Filling the freezer... we now have a solid week's worth of freezer meals for when we most need them! And a few different kinds of healthy snacks (muffins, granola bars, etc.), after I heard a bunch of women talking about intense postpartum hunger.
Those family toilet seats are awesome. :) My midwife has one in her bathroom at her office and it really is sooo convenient with little ones!
I'm presently cleaning out our bathroom closet. Nuf said!!! I'm waiting for DD and DP to wake up from a nap so that I can head out and buy clear bins to organise everything in.
I need to not read this thread because it's giving me more ideas! ha! ha! Not sure about cleaning our washer/dryer however!!! I may draw the line there!!!!
But seriously, so far, however, I'm pretty satisfied that what truly needs to be done is done; DD's big girl room is set up and her stuff is out of the baby's room (she's been sleeping there all week with mostly success!), and I've sorted our baby clothes and newborn sized diapers. That is enough to make me feel like if this baby arrived today, we could manage ok.
Cooking is my next project!!
Those family toilet seats are awesome. :) My midwife has one in her bathroom at her office and it really is sooo convenient with little ones!
another vote on those seats! Definitly the best 40$ we spent! (well, ok..maybe that's a tad bit of an exageration, but you get my point!!!!)
We are still working on our new master bedroom. Got a lot done this morning (we hired out some help for a few hours) but there is still more to do: new floors, walk in closet, renovate the bathroom, put up new drywall, paint... Most of my other nesting projects are on hold until this is done. Trying very hard to not stress about it! (I'm 36.5 weeks).
I do need to finish sewing my mama cloth and make some curtains for the new room. I need to order some things to finish my birth kit, too. I need to go through the garage and pull out all the baby gear, but that has to wait until the bedroom is done and I actually have a place to put that stuff!
The birth tub arrives March 9, so I'm hoping the room is finished by then!
As I type, DH and I are in the throes of the final master bedroom/bath fix-up (baby will be with us as long as we're in this house, which will be between 14 and 26 months). It's taking longer than expected... which is fine, since we're not feeling the need to rush around and I'm sure it will be done today or tomorrow. I am just getting a little cranky/frustrated despite my belly support band and many computer/sit breaks, because I am just SO easily exhausted (mainly my lower back). The mind is willing-- the body is weak! Okay, I'm over 39 weeks, but just a couple weeks ago, I could do 5 times this amount of physical work (it's really nothing) before getting tired. 
Blah.
The closet is basically done, though-- I need to pick up one little thing at the drugstore to finish it. The white shelving unit is totally organized. DH is almost done with the bathroom. I still need to do a couple things to the diaper dresser... Maybe organize under the crib, after DH finishes putting one more rail on it and sidecars it. Umm... I need to install the "hat rack," which we are using to hang the slings/carriers. My bedside table needs some reorganizing and we need to put up the little shelf that will go behind the crib...
I'm just afraid of tiring myself out and then going into labor all sore... Not that it's particularly likely, but I'm getting cranky thinking about it, because the other big thing I want/need to do (besides baby prep) is finish taking inventory photos for my business-- NOT a terribly physical thing normally, but seems daunting now (a bit of dressing and undressing mannequins, being on my feet and bending a bit, etc.)
Okay, DH just took a toothbrush to the bathroom windowsill. I guess he's officially nesting. 
SlimP - I absolutely understand. My lease ran out 12/31 and he wanted a decision by the end of January. We couldn't find anything with 3 bedrooms so we talked him into letting us stay until at least the end of March. Hopefully, he'll let us stay in April as well while we hunt and I finish healing and then we can move the last bit of April while I'm still on leave.
Strangest nesting urge?
I wouldn't say any of my nesting urges have been particularly strange although I did rearrange the kitchen cabinets. But there was reason for that since we bought new glasses and they didn't fit the way the cabinets were organized.
What have you done the last week to prepare for baby?
Oh gosh, nearly everything? I bought a mop and vacuumed and mopped/scrubbed all the floors. We built and sidecarred the bassinet co sleeper. Diaper and clothing prepping. Organized and cleaned the kitchen/pantry. Next up is cleaning out the dressers and donating the old clothes, putting away Oliver's clothes, and cleaning out/reorganzing our closet.
What have you done that you were surprised became important to complete?
I'm OCD, so to be honest nothing was a surprise that it was important!
Any nesting that you found particularly useful?
Organizing is always useful!!!
I really wish all my nesting urges fit better with my to-do list. 
Strangest nesting urge?
Probably a tie between tightening all the doorknobs in the house, and having my husband wipe down the tops of all the doorways and windowsills. I've been a bit obsessed with dealing with dust (which is probably a good thing, from a health standpoint!).
What have you done the last week to prepare for baby?
Sorted through all of the hand-me-down baby clothes we've received, and put all the newborn and 0-3 months stuff organized in a dresser, and all the later stuff (and non-gender neutral stuff) organized in bags/tubs to be pulled out as needed. My cousin was here to help, which was great! And we also realized that we have so many clothes that we'll probably only need to do laundry once a month... Heh. Also, had a baby shower so acquired several useful things, husband went and bought a bunch of the supplies we needed for the home birth, and stocked away some good spaghetti sauce in the freezer!
What have you done that you were surprised became important to complete?
I had to sort through our books and CDs and decide what could be gotten rid of. I'm also determined to get both my husband and I to go through all our clothes to see what we can purge, so that we have more closet space in the guest room for baby stuff. Purging stuff out of the house seems to feel super good!
Any nesting that you found particularly useful?
Well, the organizing and the decluttering do help!
Chocolate chip - it was awesome to go through our closets and clear out old clothes. I totally agree it's nice to free up the space. DH had some sentimental shirts he never wears, but that he wore in high school. Perhaps the realization that he is going to be a FATHER was enough for him to be "huh, I really don't need this striped tommy hilfiger shirt anymore :)
Chapsie and Buko, good luck with finishing your respective room overhauls!
You all are blowin my mind with this family toilet seat. Never heard of it before and I googled it. Seems realllllly useful for EC and toddlers.
chocolate chip- My dust spidey senses have been much more hyperactive recently too. Strange the places we notice it now. Pregnancy powers = growing a human, producing colostrum, and uncanny ability to notice dust.
DH installed our seat last night when he thoroughly cleaned the bathrooms (YAY). It's really nice and he loves the "quiet close" feature:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004CT50UA/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Strangest nesting urge?
I want to paint everything!! I look around and think, oh that would be a great color in here! All of our walls are currently white, since we rent. But I called the landlord a few months ago and asked if I could paint. He said no problem, as long as it wasn't crazy and bright colors. So I have been day dreaming about colors ever since. Unfortunately DP is not really enthused about painting anything, so if it gets painted I will be doing it, and I guess that seems like a pain right now.
I also have been obsessed with dust choc chip! I have cleaned the top of just about everything in the house to get the dust... Picture frames, door and window frames, it's all gotten cleaned, yay!
What have you done the last week to prepare for baby?
I got the dresser my dad made for her into our bedroom (thats where she will be, her crib is in our room, although we will be co-sleeping 90% of the time) and I organized all of her clothes, socks, tights, hats, etc... It was all in the crib so now it is finally empty! I also organized all of the birth kit and supplies into a big basket, and now it's all in one place. That makes me feel much better!
What have you done that you were surprised became important to complete?
Being dust obsessed! Must. Get. It. All!!
Any nesting that you found particularly useful?
haha!! It's all useful isn't it?
Follow Mothering