A Good Day's Work

Bruce and I spent the day working to get ready for Segunda today. My hormones have not left me alone lately, urging me to nest, whispering that we're not ready. If I'm honest and realistic, the car seat is the only truly necessary piece of equipment; if we had to bring Segunda home yesterday, it would suck for Bruce because he would have to do all the work that we did today by himself, as well as all that still remains, but it would have been okay. Yet the car seat still required a bit of work; it's been stored in our yucky basement, along with the cats and the various vermin, for the last nearly two years. It had cobwebs on it. It needed some TLC.

And that goes for all the other various baby gear that we still own but which has been relegated to basement, attic, various closets, etc. Not to mention the small things- clothes, bibs, bottles- that Caetlin no longer has any use for but that we'll need for Segunda. Also not to mention the various furniture that needed to be shifted around. You can maybe begin to see why my hormones have been prodding me.

So, we sent Caetlin with a babysitter today for most of the day (after going out to breakfast with her, at which she ate a truly prodigious amount of food. Girl loves her breakfast), and set to work getting these things done.

Here are the things we accomplished today:
- We moved the glider and footrest into Segunda's room. This was harder than it sounds, since the doors in this house are pretty narrow. It meant taking the glider apart and putting it back together.

- We moved one of our big comfy chairs and ottoman into Caetlin's room. We still read to her in the chair, but the rocker was essential for nursing purposes with Caetlin, and Caetlin isn't exactly sitting still to be rocked these days. A stationary chair that is big enough for us to sit side by side really fits her style much better nowadays.

- We finished packing up all the stuff in Segunda's room, which had formerly been the guest bedroom/junk room. There's almost nothing in there now except baby stuff and the guest bed. Bruce heroically lugged a number of boxes of stuff down to the basement.

- We brought up a couple of plastic boxes of baby stuff. Thank goodness I have packed away Caetlin's old things in plastic instead of vermin-susceptible cardboard.

- We also brought up from the basement or down from the attic the following items:
- Bassinet
- Car seat and base
- Bumpo baby seat
- Portable swing
- Full-size swing
- Baby bjorn
- Baby sling
- Nursing pillow
- Bouncy seat
- Snap n go stroller

All of these items need their covers washed and their non-washable parts wiped down.

- We washed all covers that we could remove (the bassinet is stupid and the cover can't be removed, so we're going to try to Woolite it) and wiped down almost all the gear.

- We trekked to Babies R Us for nursery gear for Segunda. We originally agreed on a pink and brown and green set with butterflies on it, but we ended up going with a gender neutral farm animals set that was on clearance for less than half the cost. I now need to see if I can order any of the other accessories online, most specifically the adorable cow-shaped rug that goes with it.

- We set up Segunda's room in terms of placement of crib, guest bed, glider, etc. We also unwrapped the new mattress for Segunda and put it in the crib, ready to be made up with sheets, bumper, etc.

That was a lot of work! Still to do is a substantially shorter list that involves putting various covers back on various pieces of baby gear, getting the car seat installed, and shifting some baby things like receiving blankets, etc. into Segunda's room from Caetlin's. We are at a place where Bruce could conceivably take care of everything that still remains while I'm in the hospital (note to Segunda: this is NOT an invitation to make your appearance at this time Another 6.5 weeks or so, please).

Anyway, the little voice in my head, driven by hormones and my own anal nature, is much quieter now. I'm tired, but incredibly pleased at how much we got done today and how little truly remains to be done. And it being a long weekend, I don't even have to go to work tomorrow! It's win-win all over the place.

Now to settle in and watch the game. Go Steelers!