July Long Weekend Baby Preparations

Happy Monday Morning to you!

It was so hot here this weekend, and the festivities so expensive that we decided to spend time this weekend resting and taking care of some necessary task for baby's arrival, of course the fact that there was no close parade (that did not involve horrid traffic) and Miss Pear does not like the sound of fire works helped a lot.

Plus there were lots of good sales, plus there were some tasks that I could easily be working on with just picking up a couple things, so here is what we got done just this weekend:

Shopping stuff:

1. Thursday night I quickly ran to Target to take advantage of the deal where after coupons you got 3 x 12 packs of drinks and bucket of ice cream for $5, and was thrilled to see the 192 pack of size 1-2 Baby Dry diapers on for $27! So I used my coupon for $5 off when you buy Pampers diapers and wipes and got a 3 pack of wipes for $1. Best price on both that I have seen in a long time! This leaves me fully stocked on diapers except for probably 2 more packages of NB, and then will wait and see until baby is born if 3 packs of NB are enough before moving to the size 1's I already have stashed (I am keeping all the receipts so that I can exchange if need be and bought at the CVS near out house right next to the grocery store, so an exchange will be painless and likely unnecessary. Babies in our families have little tushies.)
   
2. At Babies R Us we found a cute baby book with matching grandparent brag books on clearance, 2 snap down the front Carter's onesies on sale and a new contour change pad and covers that will work with the dresser.
3. Picked up wool to make a baby blanket (another great deal! I could not buy a fleece blanket for what I paid for the wool, and this will be a nice fall weight, not too hot, plus I get to make something special for my baby girl as soon as I finish the something special afghan for my girl! almost done!) More on this in another post....
   
4. Ordered the crib sheets and mattress cover on sale (a deal even with shipping)
5. Ordered a sweet sleeper and matching hat to bring baby home from the hospital in, plus a second hat to wear in the hospital (we really don't like the hospital hats). Even though it will be hotter than blazes, hats are needed for the air conditioning around here! This was all from Gymboree and deeply discounted, and was a better price than the sales at Babies R Us even after shipping! (Both hats and the sleeper will be put in baby's hope chest when she out grows them, along with the afghan I am making.)
   
6. Remembered to pick up cotton balls at CVS, and they were free after coupon.
7. Ordered the hide a bed to replace the futon that was in the baby room. Not the best deal, but as good as we were going to be able to do this summer. Plus it looks great, matches out living room and is scotch guarded.....
   

Other stuff:

1. Sorted through all the 0-3 and 3-6 month clothing that we had from Miss Pear to determine what, if anything, we still needed, and made the very short list that was taken care of with the shopping above. Even though I could lose my mind and buy all the sweet girl stuff I am sticking to just what we NEED. (Miss Pear was a mystery until the delivery room so except for a few things bought after she was born, her 0-3 was all white, yellow and green)
   
2. Got more paint chips and decided on the room color.
3. All but finalized the birth announcement list and decided that I was not ordering more than 60, so if there were any surprises, they would get a lovely thank you note and a 4x6 picture. For some reason this was very complicated either due to lack of sleep, hormones, or family dynamics or some weird combination!
   
4. Reviewed the baby prep shopping list after running all the errands above and realized that aside from some more diapers and minor items, and a few things that are wants and not necessities, and can therefore be left if need be (either until after or all together), we are done shopping (hallelujah!) Although we do still have to order baby's Bible, but that is online and part of the library budget so I think of it separately even though it is very important!
   
5. Washed the carpet in the baby room. (our carpet cleaner has completely paid for itself!)
   
6. Decided on a name. (Praise the Lord, and we love it and the grandparents love it!)
   
7. Tentatively figured out furniture placement.
8. Firmly decided on afghan pattern and how much wool I needed (advanced math if ever there was!) so that I could complete #2 above with the good sales.
9. Mostly figured out the dates of the first grandma's visit to help before and after the delivery (I guess there are some good things about a planned C-section) Final dates will depend on prices as they can easily swing over $200 if you are not careful! Apparently Canada to the US is international.....
   
10. Figured out the last of the stamping supplies I will need to make the thank you cards, plus picked out the basic design. (Just need to review with my stamping friend before Thursday's class)
    
11. Finally took a pregnant tummy picture (I would post it, but I cannot cut out Miss Pear as it is the two of us together, just to make my tummy look bigger...Note to self: Do not take these pictures in the evening...).
    

All this before bed time on Saturday and in amongst general house keeping, meals, and a few loads of laundry. Oh, and getting one unruly tomato plant to stop falling into my carrots (this took all three of us to fix!)!!!

And I made and iced 2 dozen cupcakes for the church picnic.

So there was no reason for me to be completely exhausted Saturday night was there?

While it might seem like we have so much done very early, it is very hot here, and getting hotter as we get into August and September, so it is nice to have the shopping done early and on the good long weekend sales. Also, I think the nesting bug hit me like a ton of bricks after a really bad night sleep Thursday because I could not get comfortable, and that will also get worse, so to have all this done, and now just have mostly around the house preparations to do makes me feel so good, and so on top of things. It is like a huge relief! Especially when I realized how hard it was going to be to find the things I needed in colors etc that I actually liked and get good deals on them, which we were able to do!

Plus, I keep thinking this baby is coming early, don't ask me why, but that motivates me to get moving too.

Plus we have a lot of birthday's and events this month, again. (But one birthday is Mr. Pear's so that is exciting!)

Then again, we are 29 weeks and counting, and I always remember our first Ob/Gyn saying that 4 weeks early or 2 weeks late are considered perfectly on time and saying to myself so it is a due target month, not a due date! Yeah, nothing like children to knock some of that type A+ personality out of you!

But the real reason I am eager to get things done is that I am just so excited. For those of you who have more than one, did you get just as excited the second time around too or am I just nuts?