The official "Got to get it done" Thread

[MissAnnThrope]

After reading the other thread I figure there are some mamas like me that need to get their butts into action and do what we need to do before the baby gets here.

We avg. 16 weeks to go at this point, so I'm thinking we each make a list for our selves on what we need to get done. And then plan out what needs to be done first, and what should wait until closer for babe to be born. Save yourself a week or 2 before the birth for you to rest and tie up loose ends or get the finer details.

So for me I have 16 weeks to go so I'll plan out 14 weeks of things I need to get done. One or two things a week (according to how much you need to do and how big each task is) Then 2 weeks to keep things the way I want them and just incase I go 2 weeks early it will all be done.

I'll work on my lists and post it when I'm done make it out.

Lets use this thread to encourage each other and ourselves to get what we need/want done before the babes arrive with out killing ourselves in the process.

[ishereal]

Great Thread, 1st on my list is DIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPERS! I think I have that under control, I am suppose to be getting tutorials (compliments of ORGANICAVOCADO !) on the different kinds in Jan!

[sapientia]

Great idea...Here's what I need to do:

1. declutter the bedroom-since that is also the baby area. I need to have some sort of (workable) baby area set up-would love to get a changing table, but that's on the back burner right now.
2. Wash all the baby stuff I have. Get it ready to use.

3. I need to pick up some baby stuff-little outfits, a few more blankets, some socks-diapers organized-really need to get a sling and a car seat, I've given myself to the first of march to have that done.

4. Get the birth center bag packed. Have an emergency birth kit handy for the house.

I'm just a bit overwhelmed right now!

[thomlynn]

I have to wash/organize baby clothes and infant diapers.

Figure out what I want to use to waterproof my bed and buy two of "it"

Make a bunch of freezer meals that are easy and healthy.

[MissAnnThrope]

Oh wow... I already have one heck of a list... and you guys just reminded me of other stuff...

I'm going to be busy busy...

[MissAnnThrope]

My list... (Can you tell I have OCD?)

Week 1: 24 Weeks
De-clutter bathroom #1
De-clutter bathroom #2 (dh's job!)
Catch up on Laundry

Week 2: 25 weeks
Find new place for cat box
Start putting unwanted clothes aside for Goodwill
Clean out cabinets and organize into bins
De-clutter kitchen
Get storage Bins w/ lids


Week 3: 26 weeks
Reorganize/ De-clutter our bedroom
Paint our bedroom and bathroom


Week 4: 27 weeks
Start putting unwanted stuff aside for Goodwill
Start putting unwanted junk aside for the curb


Week 5: 28 weeks
Clean/ De-clutter Daylen’s room
Clean carpet in Daylen’s room
Make sure caught up on laundry

Week 6: 29 weeks Daylen’s birthday!
Get down Co-sleeper
Clean and air out
Set up

Week 7: 30 weeks
De-clutter and Clean Kyja’s room
Pack away unused toys(pass down out grown toys)


Week 8: 31 weeks
Clean Ds's old car seat for the baby.
Clean out/organize closets with bins (art supplies, tools, surplus)

Week 9: 32 weeks My birthday!
Get new blinds for bedrooms
Start reorganizing garage (Keep, toss, give away)

Week 10: 33 weeks
Make sure laundry is caught up
De-clutter living room and dinning room

Week 11: 34 weeks
Finish up Goodwill boxes
Drop off Goodwill boxes
Get diapers for baby

Week 12: 35 weeks
Weed flower beds
Trim bushes
Mow lawn (Steve’s job!)

Week 13: 36 weeks
Wash windows (inside and out)
Put Carpet down in Garage
Turn garage into spring/summer play area

Week 14: 37 weeks
Give whole house a deep cleaning from one end to the other
Pack bag for Hospital
Finish Birth Plan

Week 15-16: 38-39 weeks
Keep things in order
Rest
Make dinners for after baby is born.

[Alpaca Wacka]

1. Move (OMG-yes-I said move! but DH is having abdominal surgery tomorrow and the new duplex won't be ready for at least two months-we'll be cutting it close and I'll probably be a sobbing, overwhelmed and emotional mess lying there like a beached whale surrounded by cardboard boxes-but at least it's just across town)
2. More diapers
3. Knit soakers
4. inventory baby clothes to see if there is anything else we need
5. Buy a few blankets?

[MissAnnThrope]

Originally Posted by Alpaca Wacka

1. Move (OMG-yes-I said move! but DH is having abdominal surgery tomorrow and the new duplex won't be ready for at least two months-we'll be cutting it close and I'll probably be a sobbing, overwhelmed and emotional mess lying there like a beached whale surrounded by cardboard boxes-but at least it's just across town)
2. More diapers
3. Knit soakers
4. inventory baby clothes to see if there is anything else we need
5. Buy a few blankets?

You'll get it done. I hope your Dh's surgery goes well and he is back on his feet i no time.

[riverside knitter]

I'm currently in a state of "HOLY CRAP! WE'RE HAVING A BABY IN 3 MONTHS" panic. In no particular order, here is the start of our to-do list:

1. Purge vast quantities of crap - papers, random junk, clothes that no longer fit and never will again, furniture we have no need for, etc.
2. Have a yard sale, or see #1.
3. Get crib and set up nursery corner of our bedroom (hubby's sleeping style is not conducive to co-sleeping).
4. Build diaper stash
5. KNIT! I have not knit the first thing for this little one thanks to the holiday rush and I need to get in gear. I'll probably cast on for a pair of soakers or a blanket tonight just so I can feel like I'm not neglecting her!

I did accomplish something this weekend by sorting through all of our hand-me-down clothes and bagging them up by size for easy storage and retrieval. That took a few hours that were well worth it since I was able to get an idea of exactly what we have.

[Dreamy]

In order of soonest to latest:

- Visit the daycare that confirmed me on their waiting list
- Get on the waiting list of a couple more daycares, just in case
- Get crib and dresser
- Pick out a playpen, and then buy it if don't receive at shower
- Buy cloth diapers, onesies, washclothes, other miscellaneous items
- Start reading my Hypnobirthing book
- Visit the hospital (this may be covered in my prenatal course, not sure)
- Pack bag for hospital
- Prepare some meals to freeze

[~NewMa~]

OH good GOd am I so behind!!!
I've always been a procrstinator who gets it all together in the end, but you ladies are making me nervous!
I still haven't done 1 thing yet!!! I'm going on 26 weeks here!
Just talked to hubby yesterday about how we have to get started on creating the nursery, not this weekend cause I work, but the following weekend.... ( I promise!)
We're moving the office into the attic- so there'll be alot of paperwork to organize
Moving the guest room to where the office was
and making a nursery out of what is currently the guest room.
Still have to create a registry
haven't bought 1 thing for baby yet (except a really cute stuffed moose that we sleep with every night so it'll smell like us )
So I have to get my ass in gear!!!
I just don't know what I should start buying myself and what I should hold off on to see if we get off the registry.
First baby and totally clueless!

[milosmomma]

You know, reading this thread I'm starting to panic about not panicking. I'm a big procrastinator too....everything WILL get done, it's just a matter of when. Unfortunately, a lot of what needs to be done depends on other factors that are beyond my personal control. Here's what I need to do (just to have it written out and organized)......

- Go through the bins of Amelia's clothes and pick out what we'll be able to re-use for a boy. Bag the rest up for my friend and/or SIL (depending on what she has)

- Same for dipes. Repair the dipes that need repair. Throw out/pass on the ones that we won't use again.

- Make a list of what I need for Z since we already have a lot of things from Amelia.

- Clear out the freezer. Then cook and freeze meals. (and maybe try to convice DP that we REALLY need a chest freezer).

- Clear all the junk out of the closet in Amelia's room.


DP is finishing the basement at the moment. When that's done, the guest room will move down there, Amelia will move to the current guest room & Z will be set up in her current room (although he'll be sleeping in our room for a while). So, until the basement is finished, nothing else can be set up.

A good friend is sending me her newborn dipes when her other friend returns them to her.

Another friend offered up her 'baby bucket' car seat when her daughter has outgrown it (soon). I still need to confirm that.

That's all I can think of now. I'm sure I'll be adding soon......

[mama_ani]

Okay, here is mine. Next week is insane but I start doing full-time childcare for my nephew on January 7th so I need to get the spare room ready for him to nap in by then. This past week I got about 90% of it done so I'm glad that's almost finished.

December 30-January 5 - 26 weeks
make spare bedroom usable for naps for A - done
-buy bedrail - done
-install gate - done
-buy/install closet lock - done
-donate/give away piano bench & table - done
-move games to homeschool cupboard - done
clean out cupboard above fridge - done
move pantry food to cupboard above fridge - done
clean out/re-organize can cupboard - done

January 6-12 - 27 weeks (A starts full time)
clean out/re-organize baking cupboard - done
clean out/re-organize under kitchen sink - done

January 13-19 - 28 weeks
clean out/re-organize/sort/de-junk our bedroom closet - done
clean off our dresser - done
clean off/re-organize desk - done
move filing cabinet & dh's figure drawer - done

January 20-26 - 29 weeks
clean off/re-organize upstairs bookcase - done
clean out/re-organize/de-junk homeschool cupboard - done
clean out/re-organize/de-junk DD2 & DD3's room - done

January 27-February 2 - 30 weeks
clean out/re-organize linen closet - done
wash windows/patio door downstairs - done
deep clean ds's room - done
clean out/re-organize/de-junk dining room - done

February 3-9 - 31 weeks
clean out/re-organize side kitchen cupboards - done
deep clean kitchen
clean out/re-organize/de-junk DD1's room - done

February 10-16 - 32 weeks
clean out/re-organize upstairs bathroom cupboard - done
clean out/re-organize downstairs bathroom cupboard - done
deep clean upstairs bathroom
deep clean downstairs bathroom

February 17-23 - 33 weeks
clean off/re-organize desk - done
clean out/de-junk/sort video, dvd & cd cupboards - done
deep clean living room

February 24-March 1 - 34 weeks
freeze meals for after baby
deep clean DD#1's room
deep clean DD#2&3's room
deep clean our room

March 2-8 - 35 weeks
deep clean dining room
deep clean upstairs halls
freeze meals for after baby
assemble birth supplies

March 9-15 - 36 weeks
maintain house
freeze meals for after baby
pack 'just in case' bag

March 16-22 - 37 weeks
maintain house
freeze meals for after baby

March 23-29, March 30-April - 38 weeks
maintain house
freeze meals for after baby

March 30-April 5 - 39 weeks
maintain house
freeze meals for after baby

This takes me right up to my due date (April 5th) I really hope I can stick to it!

[ORLY?]

Hooray for To Do Lists!

Okay, so, I finally started organizing the bedroom. We have to move around a lot of stuff in preparation for the babe as well as get rid of stuff before the big move in May. (On a side note: Anyone ever been to Boston?)
I managed to clean out everything from under the bed. Reorganize the hope chest and moved it out of the bedroom into the living room. We live in a one bedroom apartment, ladies, we need the room.

I STILL HAVE TO... :
-clean out the bedroom closet
-clean out the livingroom closet
-rearrange the bedroom
-put away Christmas stuff
-register for baby stuff (doing this on Monday for FHE, hopefully)
-look for a diaper service that works not only in AZ but MA and can move with me
- find a birthing class
-begin a recipe and ingredent list for OAMC

[Meche]

You all are freaking me out. I usually love to make lists, but this pregnancy I feel so unmotivated to do anything. I will probably end up cramming a bunch of stuff into my to-do time during the girls' spring break in March. Holy cow!

[sarahmck]

Okay, lots of you guys are WAY too organized. MissAnnThrope, this means you!

I need to do the following:

--1/17 DONE: Get out all of my baby clothes, which are in a garbage bag and maybe two boxes, and wash/organize them.

--Measure some spots in my closet so I can turn some current hanging space, which we have an excess of, into shelf space. This will allow me to be more organized in general and also have more room for storage of small person clothing. I keep my kid's (kids' soon!) clothes in my closet since she co-sleeps.

--1/28 ORDERED, 2/4 RECEIVED: Buy a new infant car seat.

--Delegated to DH: Perhaps buy a new bakfiets, which is a special bike that you can put the car seat in. We already have one, but it isn't big enough for my DD to sit in it and also put a car seat in.

--Do a trial run with our new birth pool and make sure that the attachments that go from the tub faucet to fill up the pool will work with our strange designer taps (that we hate).

--Knit at least one pair of longies.

--Ensure that I can find all the bits of the infant part of our stroller, which we never use anyway.

--Wash and air out the Amby, in case we want to use it.

--Buy a woven wrap sling and also sign up for a class with a local woman who is very good with wraps. I used a wrap tons with DD, but I mostly used the cradle hold. I didn't breastfeed in any sling but I want to be sure to master that early this time around.

--1/25 SIGNED UP: Investigate/sign up for prenatal yoga or similar.

--2/3 DONE: Pre-wash all my new diapers.

--2/5 ON HOLD: Figure out how we're going to keep two kids in our bed without one falling out. DD currently sleeps in the middle/on top of me. I know that I can't have two in the middle since DD would end up giving the new one black eyes and smothering it. So the new one needs to be on the outside. our mattress is insanely thick and I have yet to find a bed rail that will come up significantly above it. I'm really not sure how we'll handle this. I may need to get a co-sleeper, even though that's not really ideal. The other option is to push our bed up against the wall. The wall isn't a wall, though, it's a built-in storage unit thing. It's up to about mid-thigh height and has drawers and cabinets under it. I really don't use it for anything. So we could theoretically push the bed up against it and then put some sort of mattress on top of it to try to make it and the bed the same height and then stick the baby there. That would block the storage and also make a couple of light switches inaccessible. But that wouldn't be the end of the world.
**Update 1/28: Leaning towards an IKEA toddler bed with natural mattress next to my side of our family bed. Still figuring out how realistic it is to hope that DD will sleep in this.
**Update 2/5: We don't think DD is ready for the big girl bed. I told her that she could nurse but that I would leave the room before she is totally asleep and that if she could do that one night in the big bed, we would order her big girl bed the next day. She agreed. But then when we got in there and I told her that I would leave soon, she cried and clung so I told her I wouldn't leave but that we wouldn't get the big girl bed. Now I ask her every night if she wants to try that night and she says that she's not quite ready. So now we're just going to push an old couch up against my side of the bed and I'm going to try to get DD to be the one to sleep on the outside so the baby can be in the middle.

--2/2 DONE: Daytime potty train DD.
**Update 1/15: DD wore underpants all day today, including to pre-school. She's still wearing the same pair at 7:45pm! Hopefully she'll make it through the very end of the day with success.
**Update 1/16: DD was successful all day yesterday and even overnight! She wore a diaper to bed but it was dry in the morning, some 13 hours later. She's been dry all day today, too. It just can't stay this easy, can it?
**Update 1/18: Still no accidents. I'm amazed.
**Update 1/28: One accident on the 26th. Other than that, totally dry. Even the nighttime diapers are sometimes dry.
**Update 2/2: I'm going to tentatively mark this item as done, since we've had only the accident mentioned above and one other, several days later. In just shy of three weeks, that seems like success to me. We'll see if it holds.

--2/6 DONE: Do my taxes. Ugh. DH isn't American, so I'm the only one who has to do them, and I can't pawn them off onto him because he's clueless.

--De-clutter and organize DD's toys, and also dig out the ones that are suitable for little babies.
**Update 1/25: The toys have been partially organized. Enough so that if I don't do any more until after the baby comes, it will be okay.

--Pick out names. Super ugh. Mh DH is an absolute bear to deal with on this topic. He is totally obsessive.

--Figure out what we're going to do about birth announcements, which are a very big deal in this country.
**Update 1/28: Went to the print shop today. Got some ideas. Need to ask my graphic designer brother if he has time to help me create the right sort of file to give to the printer once the baby is born and photographed and named.

That's the main stuff I can think of. I guess it's not such a huge list. I only just ordered all my diaper stuff about a week ago, so that was a big item crossed off. A lot of thinking and research went into that decision.

Thanks for the thread.

[MissAnnThrope]

Originally Posted by Meche

You all are freaking me out. I usually love to make lists, but this pregnancy I feel so unmotivated to do anything. I will probably end up cramming a bunch of stuff into my to-do time during the girls' spring break in March. Holy cow!

This is why I started a list and this Thread... Unmotivated is a perfect way to describe me right now.

I am far from Organized right now. I can write it out and make me seem that way.. but when you really get to know me and see my house you will think/know differently

[3for3hb]

I'll start a list but it's not conclusive. I remember doing this for my last ddc
I'd mark the stuff done by highlighting it red. It kept me on track. I've already started the nesting so I am doing pretty good in terms of getting the big stuff done and out of the way before I am to big to care anymore .

I got rid of over 300 items this past month (which has been replaced by other stuff this past week with Christmas )

here's my list:

-rearrange bedroom :furniture, flow, make space for baby and figure out cosleeping arrangement possibilities (all five of us won't fit in a full size bed).
-above includes bringing shelves from LR into bedroom and buying more canvas totes to go on shelves (will be baby's store all: dresser, diaper storage, etc etc.
-go through what little baby stuff I have, make a list of what I need.
-start filling those baby shelves!!!
-get more prefolds
-knit soakers, longies, and a couple newborn cotton cardigans.
-buy a freezer and fill it with at least twenty different meals (anything from soups to casseroles to skillet type meals).
-stock up pantry so I don't have to go grocery shopping for months!!! (I do a local co-op for grains and beans and such, am planning on buying a share in a CSA, and also on buying some organic meet straight from the farmer in advance)... so it's feasible that I won't be in the supermarket much this next year!!!
-go through birthing supply box and write a list of what else might be needed
-write my list of birthing/labor support needs/wants etc for midwife and dh
-take my friend who will be here with the kids during the birth out to lunch a couple of times, give her a book or some websites to look at to get her in the birthing spirit
-prepare bulletin boards for the office for the next 5 months. Complete with directions for dh on how to assemble the last couple.
-continue decluttering as I have been and... we should be fine.

I've moved once while pregnant and three times right after baby was born (10 days, three months and three and a half months) so a big fat to everyone moving!!!!!!!!!!

oh, here's another few:
-wash the lambskin for the bassinet that we also need to acquire
-find/buy a new area rug for living room
-paint living room (can start with ceiling only but I really want the whole thing painted... it's dark brick red and a dark (daylight wise) room to begin with and the ceiling is the same as the walls so very constricting).
-get dh to paint the ceilings in the boys room and in our room (they only have had their first coat over the periwinkle blue that used to be there)
-set up worm composter for kitchen scraps, buy red worms
-set up water crock at the office

[treehuggermama]

Originally Posted by thomlynn

I have to wash/organize baby clothes and infant diapers.

Figure out what I want to use to waterproof my bed and buy two of "it"

Make a bunch of freezer meals that are easy and healthy.

We co sleep with our kiddos and to protect our mattress we bought some awesome waterproof mattress pads from overstock.com They were pretty reasonable (like $40 each for king size) and they have washed extremely well.
If that is what you meant by waterproofing your bed

[treehuggermama]

I am finding this time around I am so freakin' tired chasing around 2 kids under 4 that I don't know where I will get the energy to nest...I am normally a list person so I will just have to sit down and get 'er done. You ladies are motivating me