If you’ve already started your maternity leave but are just waiting for your baby bundle’s arrival, you have a golden window of opportunity to get some stuff done. But what?
When it was my turn, I lounged around the house getting very bored before my good friend Scott decided he wanted to learn to swim. Anyway, he and I hit all the area pools and I conducted impromptu swim lessons while on-lookers assumed he was the father of my belly. That was a nice few days… but apart from that, I didn’t know what to do with myself.
My best ideas:
- Review our kick-ass registry/shopping list and make sure you have essentials on-hand. Then if you want to shop at Target on Day 8 of your baby’s life, it’s by choice.
- Do a little pre-reconnaissance (pre-con?) mission to some of your favorite locations. You’re looking for a changing table and general baby-friendliness.
- Tackle your own crazy nesting projects — for me it was cooking, freezing, cleaning, shopping (it all seemed to have happened on the Tuesday before my water broke), for you maybe pulling weeds or knitting sweaters
- Eat a pomegranate with your partner — make a wish for the baby with each of the many seeds
- Call all your friends — they’re wondering if you’re giving birth every second they can’t reach you on the phone anyway
- Relax and savor your (uncomfortable) body and life at this very moment
Gotta run… my baby’s crying and he’s the boss of me!
If you are in a cooking/freezing frenzy, might I suggest the mega menu mailer at http://www.savingdinner.com? It is only $9 for instructions on how to prepare and freeze TWENTY TWO meals – and each meal feeds 5 – 6 so you can divide them in half and get 44 meals out of it, if there are just two of you. The recipes are created by a dietician, and are healthy and low-fat. They can be customized to match your preferences. For $9 you get detailed instructions and a shopping list. You’re supposed to be able to complete the entire project (a month’s worth of weekday dinners) in two hours!
http://www.savingdinner.com/mega_menu_mailer/mega_menu_mailer.html
I haven’t tried it yet, but am planning to, as soon as I get my freezer cleaned out. I HAVE tried the weekly menu mailer (same website) and it is wonderful! I subscribed for a year, and archived the e-mails, and now I go back and re-use them based on season. I highly recommend all of the resources on Saving Dinner and http://www.flylady.com!!
Hey, thanks for the tips. Today, I am spending some time washing baby clothes and blankets. Also trying to make a quilt, ha ha, for laughs.
I would add:
1. Go to Dream Dinners or another similar meal-assembly place: http://metropolitanmama.net/2009/04/dream-dinners-a-busy-mamas-dream-come-true/.
2. Make and freeze meals for those first few weeks.
3. Pack your “hospital” bag.
4. Read breastfeeding and parenting books.
5. Read ANY book. It might be awhile before you can do that again… 🙂