Getting Ready for Baby #2: Phase 01 Update

I’ve hit a road block that’s holding me up with moving on from Phase 01. Here’s my update:

PHASE ONE: PLANNING

• Take stock: I need to find LB's old things in our attic and go through them. Clean up whatever I want to reuse and donate the rest (this is our FINAL baby). Done! I got all the boxes of LB’s baby stuff from the attic and went through them. I’d say about a quarter of it I donated and the rest I washed and have it waiting to be put away.

• Get Organized: Then I need to organize LB's room to accommodate LB2's stuff. LB2 will be sleeping in our room for at least the first 6 months, but ultimately we plan to have the two kiddos share a room. Here’s the road block! I ordered some cube shelves from Target and it is setting in its box waiting to be assembled but apparently we’ve lost every single screw driver we own. Mr. LL keeps forgetting to bring home one from work and I’m about to just go buy a new one because it is driving me crazy.

• Sleeping Arrangements: Like I said, LB2 will be in our room at first and I need to figure out if a pack-n-play will fit in there or if we need a bassinet. I’ve determined that a pack-n-play will work just fine, BUT ideally I’d like to have a bassinet in our room for space reasons. However, this will just have to be determined closer to the end of my pregnancy when I see how much money I’ve saved up to buy the pieces we “need” for LB2.

I’m hoping that by September, I can move on to Phase 2.

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Getting Ready for Baby #2: Challenge!

This week I will hit the 20 week mark in this pregnancy! Halfway done now! With that said, and with starting back up with the blog, I thought I’d dust off the “challenge” I gave myself last pregnancy. We haven’t really started getting ready for this kiddo yet, aside from the doctor visits and making a registry on Amazon, so I’ve tweaked what I did last time around to fit this pregnancy. (You can read the kick-off post to the original challenge here and the final post here).

There will be four phases. The breakdown is roughly: Phase One - Planning; Phase Two - Gather; Phase Three - Needs; Phase Four - Final Prep. Last time I checked in weekly with my progress, but I’m not going to promise that frequency this go around.

So, let’s get started…

PHASE ONE: PLANNING

• Take stock: I need to find LB's old things in our attic and go through them. Clean up whatever I want to reuse and donate the rest (this is our FINAL baby).

• Get Organized: Then I need to organize LB's room to accommodate LB2's stuff. LB2 will be sleeping in our room for at least the first 6 months, but ultimately we plan to have the two kiddos share a room.

• Sleeping Arrangements: Like I said, LB2 will be in our room at first and I need to figure out if a pack-n-play will fit in there or if we need a bassinet.

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Getting Ready for Baby: Update

It's been almost a month since I moved on to Phase #4 and I haven't progressed much, to be honest. Here's a look at where I'm at:

PHASE #1: COMPLETE

• Get organized. 
• Clean out the crib space. 

PHASE #2: COMPLETE

• Get the crib + changing table assembled. 
• Wash all the baby clothes/blankets/etc. 

PHASE #3: COMPLETE

• Buy a few more maternity pieces.
• Buy a couple of nursing bras.
• Baby showers (I don't have any photos – yet – from the one my friends threw us, but here are some photos from the one Mr. LL's family had for us)

PHASE #4:

• Call pediatrician. I need to pick a different pediatrician. I tried to call the one closest to our house and they don't make you call a different number to talk to anybody.
• Install the car seat. This is done and it almost cost us our marriage. Not really, but tensions were very high during the process.
• Pack hospital bag. Ok, so I started to do this, but I can't figure out what's too much to bring or what will I regret not bringing so I haven't "finished" yet.
• Create a healthier freezer menu plan. I'm changing this to Create freezer meals.
• Get an exercise ball. This isn't going to happen. I've resigned myself to that reality.
• Finish out "baby must haves" list. I'm going to get on this sometime this week.

I plan on doing some freezer cooking to have meals ready to go for after Lazy Baby arrives, but Mr. LL really is eating a lot healthier these days (and so am I by default), so I need to rework my plans. The meals I had planned weren't the healthiest (pastas, not a lot of veggies).

Also, now that we've finished up with the baby showers (unless my work throws me one), I'm ready to hunker down and buy what I have deemed a "must have" based on the numerous blog posts on the internet and in parenting magazines. If you are interested in the list I curated by combining as well as pairing down what I found, let me know in the comments. I'll be happy to share my checklist with you!