Preparing for AFTER the Baby

Because of the program I'm on, I spend a lot of time thinking and talking about all the things I am dong to stay healthy in pregnancy and to make my labor and recovery the best they can be (in fact, I have a post planned, outlining all of these), but recently I got planning all the things I want to do in preparation for after the baby comes. 

I am a planner. I love planning things, it's usually my favorite part of an activity. I also love being prepared. With Ashtyn, I have to admit that I wasn't as prepared for a newborn as I probably would have liked. I think it was because, first, I was focused on preparing for the labor since I had never experienced that before. Secondly, I just didn't understand what it would be like to have a newborn and be taking care of a baby 24/7. 

With Parker, I was a lot more prepared and loved that. I did learn from that experience, however, and now with this baby I will be even more prepared. I have a list scheduled out of all the things I want to do before the baby comes. 

It starts two months out (I wish I could start now, but it's realistically too early). In June, I want to record and edit about ten extra YouTube videos for my channel so that I have them ready to just upload after the baby comes. This will give me more than a month of recovery before I feel like I need to record more videos. 

I also want to begin reading a few books. I have some books on taking care of babies that I would like to read before this baby comes and starting in June seems like a good idea. 

There are also some things that we want to buy for the baby that I will probably buy second hand while visiting near Salt Lake (a baby swing, a van, etc.). 

Then one month out, I will do a deep cleaning (I like to do a deep cleaning about every three months and this fits perfectly in with that timeline). Along with the deep clean, I want to make sure to do a major declutter. I am always decluttering, but when the baby comes, the less stuff we have to take care, the easier it will be to keep our house clean. I feel the most important place to declutter will be the kids' toys. 

I also will be stocking up on a few things, like diapers, onsies, baby socks, pads for me, nursing pads, toilet paper, etc. I will also take stock of our nonfoods and just make sure we have enough of basically everything so I won't need to go to the store for those for at least a month. 

Something else I want to do is go through the baby clothes. I'll make sure they're all clean and stain free, that I have enough of what I feel I'll need (enough pants, pajamas, etc.). I will also move all the baby clothes upstairs so it's easy for me to put them away after the baby comes, but I'll wait until I know what we're having to actually put them in the dresser. 

Sometime in this month, I'll also get a hair cut so that I don't have to worry about that for at least a couple months after the baby comes. 

4 weeks out, I'll start meal planning. I have a separate, very detailed, schedule for all my meal planning plans, but I basically will set aside a day to go buy all the supplies I need, then I have different things to do on each day for two to three weeks, starting with items that will go bad (like meat) or the most important things (for example, doing dinners first, then lunches, then things like desserts or snacks). 

At four weeks, I will also buy any items I need for my birthing kit (because I birth at home, there are quite a few supplies I need) and prepare items for birth (for example, sterilizing towels and sheets). 

At 3 weeks, I'll finish any meal prepping that still needs to be done. I'll also set up the co sleeper with Benjamin and have all the things ready for when the baby comes (the birthing kit supplies organized, wipes and diapers where I need them, nursing supplies in reach of my bed, etc.). I also want to make sure any other baby things (like the swing) are set up. 

I also want to make a list for anyone who wants to help with anything after the baby comes. I had people asking when Parker was born, but I never really knew what to say. I'll just include the main things, like unloading or loading the dishwasher, sweeping (that basically has to happen everyday because, well, kids), and playing with the girls. Then I can stick the list on the fridge and if anyone wants to help, they can just look at the list and see what hasn't been done yet.  

The last thing I want to do here is make sure I have the eye ointment and vitamin k I need for the baby for after the birth. With Parker, we were taking care of this basically while I was in labor and that was stressful, so this time, I want to make sure it's done beforehand. 

At two weeks, we've reached the the-baby-could-come-any-time stage and so most of these things are things that if I didn't do them before the baby came, it wouldn't be as big a deal. 

We'll do things like put the car seat in our van (not as big a deal when you have a home birth ;)). We want to get the girls a new toy for after the baby is here, to help keep them occupied, and we've decided on some simple costumes. This is when I'll start buying those and wrap it up in a big box for the girls. 

I also just want to do a last sweep and make sure everything (especially the toys, because those can become unorganized pretty easily) is organized and clean. 

1 week out, I'll start just making sure the house is clean everyday. Simple things like wiping up spills on the floor, sweeping, doing a clutter sweep in the living room each day. I want to keep it fairly clean so that it's easy to have clean for when I go into labor. 

I also want to be extra diligent in spending one on one time with the girls and giving them lots of attention. I know right after the baby comes can be a tough transition for everyone and I think this will help. 

I also want to find some good books and TV shows to keep me entertained during those first long, tired nights with a newborn. 

The last thing I'll do here is stock up on treats. I'll have already made a few things in the freezer (cookies and ice cream sandwiches), but there are some organic treats from a local store and also some candy (ahem, licorice) that I want to have after the baby comes. I don't want to get this too early, though, or it will be too much of a temptation for me to eat while I'm pregnant (I learned this with Parker). I figure if the baby comes before I have a chance to buy them, I can always send someone to get them for me. 

Then it's just the waiting game. The day I go into labor, if I have time, I'd like to shower and straighten my hair (because I know I won't be jumping up right after the baby comes to shower) and do a quick clean of the house. I'd really like to just clean the bathrooms, sweep and mop the floors, and run a vacuum through everywhere. This is one reason keeping our house fairly clean just everyday leading up is important, so that I can do this cleaning without having to put a ton of stuff away. With Parker, I felt the baby drop and then saw my mucus plug come out, so I'm hoping the same will happen with this labor and give me a heads up so I can do my last minutes things :) 

And that's it! I know we'll have lots of help after the baby comes, but this way, our house will be clean and easy to keep clean, the kids will have things to entertain them, we'll have everything we need for the birth to go smoothly and everything we need to take care of a newborn, I won't need to take a huge break from my YouTube channel, and we'll have plenty of yummy food that's easy to prepare and clean up! 

I think we'll be about as prepared as we could be. 

Books I've Read - February 2018

I already have disregarded my goals for reading certain types of books each month. I think it's great to read a variety and I am often reading those types of books still, but I found it too constraining. 

Here are my new goals (being tracked in my bookish bullet journal, which I may do a post about another time, because I love it!): 

-Read at least 7 books a month, read 90 books total this year 

-Read at least 1 nonfiction book a month (the average millionaire does this) 

That's it! I have lists of books that I'm choosing from for my reading material (for example, I have a list of books I really want to get to this year from my TBR and I have a list of Ebooks I own that I haven't read yet that I want to get quite a bit smaller before the end of the year) and I also want to use the library more often for books for myself, something that I've already started doing! 

And now, here are the books I read this last month! 

Because You Love to Hate Me by Ameriie  ***

This was an anthology about villains that I heard about on BookTube and decided to give a try. I really enjoyed some of the stories and agreed with some of the messages the authors were writing about, but there were other stories I didn't enjoy as much. 

One of the stories was in texting (as in, on a phone) form and was about a teenager being promiscuous, basically, and that one bothered me quite a bit. There was another story that used the f word frequently for no apparent reason (I HATE that) and the last story in the book was all about how we don't get to choose whether we're good or evil, it's just in our nature (which is so false). Many of the stories got you thinking about the world and about how the world can affect our choices, in a good way, and they brought up some important issues that I don't have a lot of experience with (in one story, a girl is raped and the author does it in a very profound, not vulgar way that I thought was a great way to get people thinking about the issue). However, because of the adult themes and some of the less clean aspects of the book, as well as views that I blatantly disagree with, this isn't a book I would ever buy or want my children reading (at least until they were adults and out of my house). 

Princess Academy by Shannon Hale  *****

This was a reread for me (I've actually reread it more than once!). I decided to reread it now because there are two more books in the series that I hadn't read before (they weren't out when I first read Princess Academy) and I bought them, so I wanted to go ahead and read the entire series. 

This book was just as good this time around as it was the first! I love the characters. Miri goes through such a development in how she views herself and the relationships she has with those she loves. She also forms so many friendships that aren't easy to form at first and is so brave and kind. She is a real role model for girls. The romance in the book is sweet and just complicated enough, but not so much that it ever gets annoying. The tradition and community are also beautifully done. One of my favorite parts of the book is how the characters go through this journey of learning why education is important, and as the reader, we get to go on that journey with them. 

Palace of Stone by Shannon Hale  ****

This is the second Princess Academy book. I gave it four stars, rather than five, because I enjoyed it and thought it was well done, but I didn't think it was as well done as the first book. 

This book focuses a lot more on political upheaval and social unrest, which was really interesting to read. Miri finds self confidence in the first book, but in this one she has to come to terms with herself in terms of a larger world than she's ever known and make some really tough choices. The story is well done, until the end, when the ending is a little too easily wrapped up. That was the main thing about the book that I didn't like as much. 

The Forgotten Sisters by Shannon Hale  ****

The third and final Princess Academy book. This one I also gave four stars, though for me it had the opposite reason than the second book. I thought the beginning wasn't as well done. The plot felt forced and random to me at first, until about the third or fourth chapter. Miri goes to a swamp to teach cousins of the king and the characters in the swamp also felt overdone to me. As I got to know them better throughout the book and as they grew, I no longer felt that way about them, but at first, I just thought they didn't feel real. 

I will say, the farther I got in the book, the more I enjoyed it. I loved the new characters, I loved the twists and the problems, and I love how Miri always perseveres and finds answers to problems that everyone else thinks are unsolvable. 

City of Angels by Tracie Peterson  ****

This was an ebook I had on my phone. It is set in the early 1900's in California and follows a young lady who wants to become a lawyer (something that just isn't done by women at that time). I had a harder time getting into the book, I think because it just has a slower start, but once I did, I loved it. It had hideous bad guys that I just despised, a twisting plot, fantastic mystery/law elements, and a strong female lead. It has great character development, even with some of the side characters, and strong themes of faith and endurance. There are more books following this main character that I may give a go at some future point. 

The Art of War by Sun Tzu  ****

This is one that I have been reading a little bit at a time before bed in. I loved it! I am obviously not going to war and am not even that interested in things like strategy games, but I found a lot of the principles applicable to other things in life (and especially in looking at life from a religious standpoint, knowing that we're currently in a war with Satan). I also just found it interesting, even when not applicable. 

Strange the Dreamer by Liani Tayler  ***

I heard about this book on BookTube, so many people there loved it, and decided to pick it up. I really wanted to like it, but it fell short for me. 

So first, I did enjoy the writing. It was beautifully written, almost poetic. There were lines that made you stop and think. I also loved the characters, especially the two main characters--Strange and Sarai. Their parts were my favorites. The plot was interesting and the mystery intriguing. 

There were two main reasons I had a harder time with this book. The first was pacing. I felt there were parts of the book that were too slow, making it hard to want to continue reading in it. It took me almost two months to finish it for this reason (I think the poetic writing contributed to this). The second reason is it just wasn't my kind of book. It was too dark. There were terrible, terrible things that happened to so many people and I didn't like it. 

I will also note that there were some sexual scenes. There wasn't anything in the book explicit enough for me to stop reading, but it was close. The scenes were enough to make me worry about what else I was going to encounter in the book and enough for me to know that I would never buy the book. 

A Hobbit, A Wardrobe, and a Great War by Joseph Laconte  *****

This was a fantastic book! It was a history nonfiction that looked at how WWI affected the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis and it was as interesting as it sounds. I learned so much about both authors, learned a ton about WWI (I didn't know much to begin with), and have found a new appreciation for the these works. I cannot wait to reread them with my new perspective. 

The Sweetest Spell by Suzanne Selfors  *****

This is a book I picked up at DI because it was in really good condition and the cover looked interesting. I'm so glad I did! I loved it! 

This is a fairy tale type book that follows a girl who is born with a bent foot and so can't help on their farm as she should have. The story follows her through her misfortunes and is so full of twists! I never expected what happened next. I loved the main character, she was strong even through terrible hardships, forgiving, and always thinking of others. The love story was sweet and simple and the magic unique but enchanting. 

Avatar: The Promise  ****

This is a graphic novel I got Ben for his birthday. It follows the Last Airbender characters directly after the TV series ends. It was great! The art was beautiful, the authors did a great job remaining true to the characters, and the plot kept me reading. 

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness  *****

I went to the library to find a different book, but couldn't find and saw this one. It was short and I'd heard good things about it, so I brought it home and couldn't put it down once I started! I loved it. It's one of my new favorite books. 

It's about a 13 year old boy whose mom is dying of cancer. There's another plot where he is having a recurring nightmare with a monster and then a monster shows up in his room--but it's a different monster. The two plots weave together so well, we get to work through the boy's grief with him, and the ending made me bawl. I can't say enough good about how well done this book is. 

Real Homeschool by Karen DeBeus  ***

This was an ebook I got for free on Kindle. While I got a lot out of it, I honestly didn't like it that much. I felt that there were a lot of gems all throughout the book--I kept highlighting things she said--but between the gems, it felt repetitive or obvious and I got bored. It was short, quick read, though, and I'm grateful for what I got out of it.