Well this was a new one for me. I understand the concept of preparing the house for life with baby, but I have never heard it called nesting. I thought I was ahead of the game after spending the past week and a half remodeling our bathroom. After clearing our house free of all the paint cans, broken tiles and pile of tools my mother-in-law said, “Everything is great! Now you can you start nesting.”
“Nesting? What is that?”
“Nesting,” she said. “You know, like preparing the nest. Getting ready for the baby.”
I had to look back into the bathroom just make to sure the past week and a half wasn’t a dream. “Get started? I guess remodeling our only tub so it is easier to bathe the baby doesn’t count as nesting?”
Apparently it doesn’t. My mother-in-law shook her head then explained to me what nesting entails. I was off. I was way off. This just goes to show how little I know of whats to come. Believe me, this blog is for clueless dads from a clueless dad. Don’t think since I am writing about parenting I have a clue about it. Who does that anyway?
My mother-in-law was a big help. From her I learned about the nesting process. So I simplified her quadrillion suggestions into 5 broader areas that’s easier to remember. If you have a baby on the way, here are 5 things to work on while you build your nest.
The Baby Room: I thought I was done with the baby room. I moved the furniture, built the crib, installed the new light fixture, painted the walls and helped organize my junk that was previously stored in the room. Turns out there is more to it. If you want to do the nesting thing right, you will use your final weeks organizing the baby room. This includes setting up the changing station, making an inventory of what supplies you have and organizing the baby’s clothes (I had no clue beforehand this was done by age, I thought one size would fit all).
The Living Room: This is the room you plan on spending most of your time with the baby. For my wife this will be near the TV with the open floor space for playing with the baby. I plan on spending my time with baby in my man cave (soon to be re-dubbed the clan cave). The goal here is to already have things like a bassinet in place, storage for toys, books and blankets, or the furniture already moved to accommodate your future needs.
The Baby Bag: Go ahead and have your baby bag organized. I have been told it is nice to have everything you will need together in one place that first time out with the baby. When you haven’t been sleeping and it comes time to take the baby out, it is nice to not have to worry about forgetting something.
Chores: Stay on top of things like dishes, bathrooms and the laundry. If the baby decides to come early it will be nice coming home to a clean house.
Set up your get-away-car: In the near future I will have a post e on how to prepare your car for the early trip to the hospital. The nesting time is the time to get this squared away.
The goal here isn’t to have everything together so that you will have a flawless homecoming experience with your baby. Something will come up, plan on it. The goal is to try to relieve some of the stress that comes with being a new parent. For me, learning about nesting has done more for me to be aware of what is going through my wife’s mind. I can almost guarantee everything I have mentioned here she has already thought about. It’s time for me to wash the grout and paint off my hands and start making piles of 0-3 month old clothes.
Have a nesting suggestion? Leave it in the comments section. God Bless.
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