Before the Baby

I had nearly two months off between turning in my Army greens and giving birth. I got so much accomplished. My advice- make a 'To Do' list, get things done before D-Day. Here are some things that I crossed off my list, and so glad that I got completed before Autumn-Skye decided to make her debut:

GET ORGANIZED I had this entire house organized. You will be thankful for the organization once baby arrives. I don't know about you but my mind is always at peace with a clean house and organization... it will be the only thing 'peaceful' once you bring him/her home.

CATCH UP with all of your current crafts and projects. ALL of my scrapbooking projects were up-to-date by the time my due date came around...that's right, I said "ALL". Be jealous. Also, I have been wanting to scan all of my childhood photos for years now. I did it. 1,500 pictures scanned. So, any big, time-consuming projects you have - do it before baby ...unless it can wait several years.

APPOINTMENTS Get all of your appointments out of the way. If you are overdue for your eye exam...call and get it done.

CLEAN Not that I need to tell you this because you will already have your 'nesting' instinct. But clean and then keep it clean. I created a daily chore list for myself part of my organization habit so that I could KEEP my house clean. This also included picking up after myself when I left the room and making sure everything was just right before I went to bed at night. You don't want to walk into a mess when you get home...like dishes in the sink from the night you went into labor. You will not feel like cleaning once you bring the little one home... just make it easier on yourself.  


There are several things that I wish I would have done before I gave birth to our daughter... but I can't turn back time now. However, blogging about it may speak to an expecting Mom. Who knows?

SLEEP! I can't tell you how many people gave me this advice- the list is endless. I just thought to myself "all babies do is sleep...I will have plenty of time to sleep!" right? ...wrong! Yes, our daughter sleeps A LOT but not when I want her to. She is on no one's schedule but her own. My advice before baby comes is to sleep as much as you can and be well rested before going into labor. Once the baby arrives, my advice is to sleep when the baby sleeps. While little one is taking a nap, do the same. You may want to clean, watch some TV, blog ...thinking that you will get rest while she sleeps tonight. hmm.. well, you just might be in for an awakening once night time comes and she is up every hour.

BATTERIES We were so busy stocking up on diapers and wipes. By the way- get size 1 and 2 before baby comes, no newborn. Born at 9lbs, 2 oz, our daughter was into size 1 on day one. I wish I would have thought about stocking up on batteries. Everything 'baby' is powered by batteries except the baby herself! Batteries in your remote seem to last FOREVER but not in the bouncy chair, the mobile, the swing...you get the picture.  And batteries are just as expensive as diapers...so start stocking up now...and in every size!

MEAL PREPARATION There are so many crock pot recipes that you can prep ahead of time and store in your freezer. Luckily, my mom was actually here for me and cooked and cleaned up for every meal the first couple of weeks after my daughter. If you don't have anyone to help out with meals, I suggest looking up some pre-made recipes. There are A LOT on Pinterest.

I hope you find this helpful. These are just a few things off the top of my head...if you have something to share, please comment below!