Erin Akin Carroll

There is a wacky phenomenon that is associated with pregnancy. A woman is preparing to grow her family and there’s a switch inside that gets turned on and causes her to go around her house changing things, tidying up, getting rid of stuff. This phenomenon is known as nesting.

This happened to me when I was pregnant with Hudson, but I had the urge to do some crazy things like shave Boudreaux bald because I wanted to protect our baby from all the dog hair. I didn’t do it and that’s mostly thanks to TC and his level-headed way of thinking.

With this pregnancy, I’m not really doing anything much to prepare a room for our baby. But I am starting to think about getting all of the baby boy clothes out of storage to wash them, organize them by size, and hang them in the closet. I know that as soon as I see all of those soft Kissy Kissy gowns and sweet little footed pajamas that I’ll feel like a baby is going to be sleeping in that room.

To make up for my lack of nesting in the nursery department, I’ve gone a little wild with the purging of the stuff. In a random moment, I began emptying out our pantry and tossing anything that we didn’t need. I know this seems wasteful, but there was a time when I would prepare my weekly menu and put some random dish on there that called for a random ingredient. So that ingredient got used once and that just took up space in my pantry. And then it expired. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I filled up 4 large trash bags full of expired dry pantry products. Sick!

I cleaned out my closet, which is not a great idea when you’re stuck to a strict maternity clothes wardrobe. But I took some stuff to be donated and have a pile of stuff that I’m going to sell on my blog. These are nicer things that I wore to wedding showers or other people’s weddings. But I just know that keeping them as a reminder of the size I used to be isn’t a great idea.

I’m an impulsive person. So when I get it in my head that a piece of furniture needs to be moved or a pantry needs to be cleaned out, I do it right then. I could wait a while for some help, but in my mind, no one else is operating on my timeline. I mean, hello? I have a ticking time bomb growing inside of me! I only have 13 weeks to clean out the pantry! If no one is going to help me right now, I’m just going to do it myself.

When I was pregnant with Hudson and our rocking chair was delivered, the UPS man wouldn’t bring it inside. And it was about to rain. So I moved the crazy thing inside like the insane pregnant person that I was. And I moved a chair in our bedroom yesterday. And at the time I was proud of myself for getting it done. (When I look back at those two wacky moments, I know that it was probably the stupidest thing I could have done.)

I was cleaning out one of the catch-all junk baskets in our house the other day that tends to hold things like magazines, birthday cards, fabric swatches, etc. I came across the notebook I used to write everything down when I was pregnant with Hudson. It was my to-do list notebook. But while looking in it, I found my hospital packing list! What a gem! I saved that sucker and put it in a safe place. I’ll be needing it in a few weeks.

After I found my notebook, I tore out the old pages and made a new list of things I would like to get done before baby #2 arrives in May. Want to see the list?

• Get baby clothes out of storage. Wash, organize, and put in closet.
• Finish cleaning out my closet and t-shirt drawer.
• Print out all of the pictures of Hudson from January 2010 to date.
• Order more photo albums from Exposures for Hudson’s photos.
• Make a “best of Hudson for 6 months-1 year” and another “best of Hudson for 1 year-2 years” digital photo album.
• Order a baby book and keepsake box for baby #2
• Clean out the guest bedroom closet and the closet in Hudson’s new room
• Have a garage sale

Some of these things aren’t time-sensitive, but a lot of them are things I’ve been putting off as long as possible. And they are all things that I won’t want to do when I’m busy playing with my babies!

What kinds of things did you do to get ready for a new baby? If you’re not pregnant, what wacky habits do you have when it comes to tidying up and purging stuff?

Also, I’m craving a bucket of fried chicken. I know what’s for dinner tonight!

Last night, I hosted our girls Bible study at our house. There are about eight of us that get together on Tuesday nights and we’re currently reading Crazy Love together. We all agreed it would be easier to rotate houses so that Bible study can be held in different parts of town and so that one person doesn’t have the pressure to host every week.

I asked my dear TC if he and Hudson could go on a little field trip while Bible study was going on. Our house isn’t all that big and toddler voices aren’t all that quiet. I originally suggested that he just take Hudson to his parents’ house and they could all hang out. But he said that he wanted to take Hudson out to eat– all by himself.

I’m not sure that I’ve ever taken Hudson out to eat all by myself. I’m not kidding. I can’t think of a single time when I’ve done it alone.

But TC wanted to. So I packed Hudson’s bag full of fun books and some snacks to entertain Hudson while he waited on his food.

They chose to go to the Original Pancake House– a personal favorite that TC and I frequented when we were dating and he worked until 9:00 p.m. and we didn’t care what time it was when we finally got to see each other and get to a restaurant.

So my boys drove off to the Original Pancake House and my girl friends came over for some great discussion.

TC and Hudson got back home and after everyone left, TC said to me, “I am so proud of our son. He did so great at dinner and I can’t believe how much fun we had.”

I know I’m hormonal. But that just melts me.

And I know that most women agree with me that men should be able to handle their children alone in public and should want to. But not all men want to and not all men do. So I’m proud of my husband and my son. I’m proud that they had a night out alone and neither of them got impatient with the other. I’m proud that I have two guys who love each other so much.

I love that they have a special relationship that is completely different than the one that Hudson and I have, but just as wonderful. And I love that I didn’t have to convince him to have this dinner outing.

Thanks, TC, for braving it on your own last night. I got to have a great evening with some great girls, but was so happy to see you and Hudson both come through the door at the end of the night.

I didn’t take a single picture this weekend, but it was a great weekend and I’ll have to help you use your imagination.

1. I’m almost  finished with The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. I’m a huge dog lover and this book has made me laugh and cry already. I have deviated from my reading schedule, but I’m sticking to the list, so that’s an accomplishment. I finished The Glass Castle last week and loved it.

2. TC and I got Winter’s Bone on Netflix and enjoyed watching it on Friday night. Then on Saturday night, we met a few friends to eat at Moe’s and see The King’s Speech. It was such a great movie. Our group was definitely the youngest in the theater– by far.

3. Sunday was gorgeous here in Columbia! Absolutely gorgeous. We got to play outside on Hudson’s swing set then we loaded him up in his wagon and walked down to the park with Boudreaux. It was a nice little teaser for spring, but it’s cold and wet again today.

4. We test-drove strollers this weekend and I’m so glad we did! I am going with my first choice after seeing all of your recommendations in person and getting to push them (with Hudson in them) around Buy Buy Baby. We’re going to get the Baby Jogger City Select! It was such a smooth stroll and I love that Hudson can sit and face out and see what’s going on.

We also will have to pick up a second video monitor since Hudson will need one now more than ever when he moves to his big bed and we’ll definitely continue to use one in the nursery.

5. My sweet little boy is getting so big! His 2T longalls are barely snapping and today one of the shoulder buttons popped off. I hate to go ahead and buy more winter clothes to fit when Spring is just around the corner. But I also hate to preorder Spring clothes because I really have no idea what size he’ll need. How do you anticipate what size you’ll need for the next season?

6. Even though it’s only (almost) the beginning of February, I’m starting to think of Hudson’s birthday party. He’ll turn 2 about 3 weeks after the baby is born and I’d like to have everything taken care of before the baby is born, so we just have to show up to Hudson’s party. Right after his first birthday, I knew we wanted to do his second birthday at The Little Gym. We love The Little Gym and their staff– and it’s very toddler friendly. I’ll do my best to put fun details into the party, but I’m going for fun and simple. And I want Hudson to be surrounded by his friends and family.

How was your weekend?