A couple of months ago, I posted about nesting at the onset of each trimester, as well as that big crazy push at the end (no pun intended…really). Rather than spazzing out mid-fall, I’d intended to map out the summer, accomplishing cleaning and decluttering tasks that I knew would bother me and distract from all of the sewing and knitting that I actually wanted to do once 3rd trimester insomnia hit.
Not only did I make a spreadsheet, no… I made a Google calendar. And I shared it with my husband. And emailed it to his work email. And kept our weekends busy for more than a month.
All of this reminded me just how blessed I am. One weekend, he actually spent a full day scrubbing walls, door facings and windowsills with me. He may not go on all of my hoped-for craving runs, but I’ll take scrubbing fingerprints and (gag) poop over that any day. At least any day that I’m not craving cheddar peppers.
Despite what the picture looks like, I’d say this summer has been a success. We still have a few things on the list- cleaning out the van, clearing the fridge and some of the cabinets, and tackling the dreaded catch-all office room- but we are making it. The trick was not to just clean, but to think ahead. We now have 2 little canvas boxes in the living room. One is for toys, the other for books. The blocks box just stays in the living room, since that’s where they are played with most. The boys are learning to put things away before we move on. As a result, most of our major cleaning has stayed up to date, even over the course of a couple of months and a few trips.
So, what is that disaster in the picture?
That, my friends, is my cause for early onset arthritis, I am sure.
Thanks to the generosity of friends and family, I have been turning hand me down fabrics- shirts, sheets, pants, sweaters- into diapers, maternity clothes and hopefully post partum cloth pads. This weekend, I tackled the shirts, cutting nearly 50 TShirts into fitted diapers for Little Bean. Mom just called this morning and said more are coming, so it’ll be fun to start giving them away. They might just be uncut, though, because at this point the idea of cutting that pattern again makes me want to throw up a little. They are separated by size into piles stacks on the bed, so whenever I get a chance to sew I can just grab a stack and move through it. I’m looking forward to another sewing night or two with Christen to help motivate a bit.
Also in that bed-turned-fabric-cabinet are sweaters ready to be turned into longies, loose tshirts for diapering extras, sheets for just about everything and…yarn! Another generous mama sent me a huge box of yarns in blues, pinks and whites, so I’ll be making more sweaters and hats here and there, as well.
All in all, I am still freaking out a bit about baby coming, but a little less now that so much has been accomplished. September is for sewing, October and November are for cooking. Soon, Little Bean, soon!
