(pre) Nesting Mode

Everyone knows what nesting is all about. You know, the stage in pregnancy where Mama overcomes the tired, the achy, and the blah and decides to get to work and get cracking on things that need to get done to prepare for baby’s arrival. With Evalyn, I nested hard core. I arranged and rearranged her room. And then did it again (times 300). I canned approximately 492898 jars of salsa, peaches, pears, and jam. I cleaned out closets. I froze enough meals to feed my family for the first seven years of my daughter’s life. I nested, like whoa.

But so far in this pregnancy that little ol’ nesting urge has yet to appear. What I have discovered, however, is that there is another instinct that is occurring. Maybe it’s a second pregnancy thing?

This my friends, is the (pre)nesting stage. It is the stage in which you think about nesting. You write lists about the things you are going to do. You tell your husband about the things you are going to do. You plan exactly how you will do these things you are going to do.

And then? You sit on the couch and eat spinach dip.

Up until today, I’ve blamed the lack of nesting urges on the fact that I simply did not have time to nest. I was hoping that I was just pushing them away, knowing that grading and other work related junk had to come first.

And then yesterday? I finished grading my very last papers. (Insert hooray right about here). That meant work was done. It was time to move on. Evalyn was scheduled for daycare this morning since I anticipated that I’d still be working, so I figured I’d get going on all of the things that have been floating around in my head the past few weeks.

You see, although there’s not much to do to get ready for the baby him/herself, since we pretty much have everything waiting in the storage room, there is a lot to do in other areas.

Hello, crazy people who buy a house that needs may-jah renos right at the same time as having a baby.

We get the house May 31. Four weeks before baby is due. We are keeping our apartment until July 31. Four weeks after the baby is due.

Somewhere in there, I have to pack, organize and get things moved. And the husband has to replace the roof, paint the entire main floor and replace all the flooring in the house.

So, yeah. Nesting has got to happen.

My master plan is to have as much as possible packed and moved into the basement of the new house when we get possession on May 31. There is a lot we can survive without for a few weeks before the move is official. That way, I will reduce the amount of work my friends and family who will feel sorry for me I have to do after the baby comes.

But? I feel like it’s still a bit too early to really start.

So this morning? Instead of starting? I thought about starting.

I wrote lists. I made plans. I envisioned garbage bags of clothes to go to Goodwill and boxes of neatly packed and organized possessions to move to the house. I wrote a May list, a June list and a Post-Baby list highlighting all the crap that needs to be done in that time frame. And then I put the lists, all nice and neat with checkboxes beside each ‘to-do’, on the counter.

Where they will stare at me day in and day out. Taunting me to make progress.

But of course, I didn’t actually do any of the things on the list. I just thought about them. And thought about how I could get started when she went down for her nap this afternoon.

Which happened 30 minutes ago. And here I sit. On the couch, with my delicious leftover seafood alfredo, a huge glass of icy cold water, and my laptop open to Pinterest.

Welcome to (pre)nesting mode, my friends.