Having moved into our second home, I’m incredibly excited to make this house ours over the next few years. For a bit of context, we left our home in London behind after we had Sonny, as we were both itching to get out of the city, ultimately to get much more for our money and life quality.
Our home in London is now being rented out, and we were fortunate enough to secure a home up in Stoke-on-Trent earlier on in April of last year. Now comes the project of making this house into our home. To be honest, it already feels like home, but there’s quite a lengthy list of things I want to do to it, which I’ll probably cover in a separate list. For now, though, I want to cover the nesting tasks that need to be done for our home in order to prepare for the little one’s arrival in June.
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1. Get some ways to complete the nursery
For me, the nursery isn’t a priority that needs to be done before the baby arrives. The nursery ends up being relatively unused and empty in my experience, for at least the first six months of the baby being here.
With that being said, I do want to try and get some ways to complete the nursery, but I’m not stressed about it if it’s not done by the time the baby arrives. If it is done by the time the baby gets here, then that’s just a bonus.
For the nursery this time around, I want to have it similar to Sonny’s, with a wallpapered wall and then the rest painted. I’d like a compact nursing chair and plenty of clothes storage this time around, so probably a wardrobe and drawer set if it’ll fit.
2. Put up lots of family photos and memories around the home
One thing we’re really lacking around the home at the moment is family photos and memories around the home. So I definitely want to spend some time over the next few months getting some frames and printing off some more photos. I did start before Christmas, but I’ve not even got them onto the wall, so that’s not really progress, is it?
I need to actually sit down and collate some photos so that we’re covering a lot of life over the years, from weddings to babies, and that distant time when it was just the two of us, young and free together.
3. Baby-proof everywhere
Whilst this home is somewhat relatively proofed for a toddler, it’s definitely not baby-proofed for a child under one. So with that being said, we’ve got a bit of baby-proofing to do around the home. I’d also like to possibly replace our bottom stair gate with a more secure option, as the one that we have isn’t secure and isn’t holding up when drilled into the wall.
Other baby-proofing basics like covering up wires and removing any choking hazards in the way of toys and decor will also be something we need to tackle, too.
4. Do a deep clean and get the rooms tidy
A deep clean and sorting out all the rooms around the home is definitely something that’ll need to be tackled before our little one arrives. Each room needs a bit more work done on it, whether it be painting or replacing broken furniture left behind by the previous owners.
I’ve done a fairly deep clean and declutter, but there are still spots around the home that I’d like to tackle. We have a lot of wooden window sills and surfaces around the home that I’d also like to get restained and sealed at some point, too.
5. Hire a cleaner
We’ve been saying we need to do this for a while, and I’m hopefully going to get one by the end of this month. I know it’s super privileged to be able to hire a cleaner, but both my husbands are in jobs that are time-demanding, and we just don’t always have the time to clean, especially if we’re busy on weekends.
Therefore, I would like to get a cleaner on a twice-monthly basis to just tackle the parts of the home that I can’t always get around to doing myself. From dusting and wiping down surfaces, to doing the hoovering and mopping. I’d ideally like to get this to a once-a-week situation, but for now, twice-monthly will be just fine and a great help, especially with a newborn and a toddler running around.
6. Buy a double pram
A double pram is certainly something that we need, but I’m really against spending upwards of a thousand pounds on a pram. We also want to use this pram when going away, so I think we need something fairly durable but lightweight. There are several options that I’ve seen already, including the following:
Joie Evalite™ Duo Stroller – Pebble
Thankfully, we’ve got a single pram and a car seat for the newborn on those days when I want to go out with our dog and whilst our toddler is in nursery.
7. Stock up on baby supplies
Baby supplies are certainly something to stock up on. I’m planning to do reusable nappies and wipes as I did with Sonny for around about the first year of his life. However, I will want to get some nappies just for when we go out, as reusable nappies can often be a pain to deal with when on-the-go.
We’ll also need all of the baby essentials in terms of new bottles for when I’m not breastfeeding from the boob, and other things that we relied on when we had Sonny.
8. Go shopping for baby clothes
Going shopping for baby clothes isn’t something I plan to do a lot of, as we have a lot of the essentials like body suits and vests. I’ve also found that during those first few months, putting them in full outfits isn’t always practical or necessary.
However, I would like to get some outfits for occasions and also plenty of zipped babysuits as the zipped option is so much easier than having to close a thousand and one poppers – particularly in the middle of the night during a nappy change.
9. Clean and prepare all baby clothes and tools
At some point closer to the time, I’ll need to make sure all the baby clothes are out of the vacuum packs, and I’m planning to wash and iron a year’s worth of clothing so it’s all in the wardrobes ready to go. The same goes for anything we used before with Sonny, as there will certainly be things that need a wipe down or a wash in general.
10. Prep the hospital bag by 36 weeks
Finally, the hospital bag. I was pretty good last time and packed the hospital bag, I think, by 37 weeks. I’d like to do it this time around a little earlier, just so it’s ready, and because having a toddler leaves you with very little time to actually do stuff outside of a daily routine.
I think I put in just about everything we needed last time, but I’ll probably put some more snacks and drinks in, as well as a few additional comfies for Sam.
What nesting tips do you have to offer? Let me know in the comments below what worked for you.
