My best and dearest and oldest friend has six kids. That means she’s spent over four and a half years of her life pregnant, and for ten years she’s been either pregnant or nursing. She recently said, “I don’t nest. I hibernate.”

We don’t agree on everything; she thinks I’m super human because I run while pregnant, and I think she’s superhuman because just four weeks after having her fifth child, she put on clothes, makeup, and brought me a roasted chicken when David was born. But we agree on the nesting thing: nesting is for the birds.

When I was pregnant with David, I didn’t start my nursery until, at 36 weeks, my mom drove me to Target because, um, maybe we should think about getting ready for the baby? When I was about 38 weeks I did a huge grocery shopping trip and stocked up on non-perishables and essentials. But then I blew past my due date and we ate through all the groceries and I refused to go back to the grocery store because I was so angry at my situation of needing groceries, so I boycotted any other preparation. Then when we got home from the hospital with David we didn’t have any food in the house until my friend brought me that roasted chicken.

This time I’ve put a few dinner leftovers in the freezer rather than packing them up for Tom’s lunches, and I’ve picked out some alcoholic beverages I plan to consume as soon as I’m no longer sharing with an infant.

Then last weekend, Memorial Day weekend, Tom was home and just like magic, things started getting done around the house.

I’m not calling it nesting, though. It’s not nesting because these are things that needed to be done. These are normal home maintenance items that happen in normal homes that aren’t expecting babies.

While David napped, Tom mowed the grass and weeded the garden and spread some mulch. I cleaned both of our bathrooms, did two loads of laundry, washed a bunch of newborn diapers, and packed two overflowing bags for Goodwill. Then I organized my bedside drawer:

See my retainer? I still wear my retainer every night.

This is the before photo. I didn’t take an after because the difference didn’t look huge, but I threw away a lot and made room to stash some things I’ll need handy when I’m nursing, and whatever book I’m reading at the time.

The bassinet is ready for a sweet baby. This is the “baby corner” of our room.

A diaper caddy, a basket of newborn clothes, extra diapers, a camera with a fully-charged battery, and my hospital bag. The bassinet has the cover on because we have a dirty cat who can’t control himself around a bassinet.

Then I started cleaning our fridge. We haven’t cleaned our fridge in the two years we’ve lived here, and it was gross. The tipping point came when a Tupperware of egg yolks spilled and dripped down the back wall. Gross. I cleaned about 1/4 of it, then I gave up because I couldn’t figure out how to get the shelves out. Then David woke up from his nap.

The next day I woke up and David was happily eating breakfast while Tom, who had no problem removing the shelves, was wiping down the fridge.

There are pins on Pinterest about how every woman dreams of a husband who does things like clean the fridge without being asked.

It’s funny how posting a photo of my open fridge made me worry about being judged. I almost styled my fridge to make us look a little more, what’s the word? Unrealistic? But then I decided that if I can’t clean my fridge more regularly, then I have no choice but to submit myself to ridicule for whatever you would never let in your house. And tell you that I ate some of that frosting with pretzels while writing this post.

After breakfast we hopped in the car and went to Crate and Barrel to get some shelves. We’ve needed a bigger bookcase for a while (most of our books have been under our bed since we moved).

The shelf isn’t styled yet, we need to anchor it to the wall first.

We also got a new, smaller computer desk. We’re planning to move our desktop computer out of our current guest room/office which will, temporarily, be a guest room/nursery (eventually we hope to put both kids in the same room).

I think this desk is so cool. It saves so much space, creates vertical storage, and was a great price.

Then I finished something I’ve been meaning to do for a long time. Years? A decade?
I finally created an Etsy shop for my knitting.

Check it out: http://www.etsy.com/shop/AmandaLeighKnits

There are only a few items, general listings for custom hats, then a few completed knitting projects. I hope to grow the shop soon, but picking a shop name and posting a few items is a start, and I’m excited.

Then I made a long list of other things that I’d like to get done before the baby gets here. But if they don’t get finished, that’s ok, too. Ok, baby? You can come any time.

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