I've always thought that the term "nesting" was a myth. You know, that experience where women go crazy preparing for the arrival of a child. Everyone knows you have to prepare for a child. You have furniture to put together, clothes to wash, baby bottles to wash, other necessities to unpack. You HAVE to do it, there's no way around it, but going crazy over it? They were just items on a to-do list. What's the big deal? I never got that.
Until lately. I've had to alter my definition of what I thought nesting was. I've discovered that nesting isn't the act of preparing basic necessities for the arrival of a child. Nesting is the act of going above and beyond, overboard, doing irrational things that really have no bearing on the arrival of said child.
The nursery has been painted, baby furniture is put together, the baby bottles are washed, and diapers and formula are hoarded. The basic necessities of MB are covered and have been for awhile now. But this last week? It's been a flurry of activity in the W household of ESSENTIAL things that must be DONE.RIGHT.NOW.NO.MATTER.WHAT.TIME.OF.DAY.OR.NIGHT.IT.IS.
Some examples: The refrigerator got a good scrub inside and out when I just get back from grocery shopping. The baseboards have been wiped down at least twice this past week as I'm walking down the hall to go to the bathroom. The mirrors in the bathroom get wiped down daily. The linen closet was totally cleaned and reorganized in the middle of a Blockbuster movie date with Sweet Husband.
Yes, how romantic! But the first scene in the movie was so intense it threw me into a contraction and it dawned on me that I couldn't put the towels in the dryer into such a messy closet if I had to go to the hospital that night!
The pet closet was totally reorganized. The bathrugs have been washed and dried immediately after a shower. The shower is getting scrubbed a little at a time everytime I take a shower.
Talk about multi-tasking!
None of this stuff has to do with MB or will affect the quality of his coming home experience. But like my friend Jessica says, I got a "burr up my butt" to do these things at the most random and odd moments. And what's stranger is the surge of energy I have when the moment hits me!
Most of you know that this pregnancy has exhausted me beyond any other experience. Most days I take a nap in a conference room at lunch and then take another nap when I get home (from 5 - 7) and then collapse in a heap at 10 or 10:30. I have barely had energy to fix my sweet husband a sandwich in the evenings, let alone normal household chores on a regular basis. But this past week has been a little different. I am still easily tired. I still have to put my feet up and rest.
If you haven't seen my feet lately, take a look at Princess Fiona's feet from Shrek. They don't look that different, other than mine aren't green.
But when an idea to clean something hits me, I have to do it RIGHT THEN. It doesn't matter that it's 6:30 and dinner could be burning on the stove, or that it's midnight and I've been sleeping for two hours. If I remember seeing a speck of dust somewhere in the house, it is about to get nailed. And RIGHT THEN!
I think even DH is having sympathy nesting syndrome. He's gone crazy lately with his own list of must-do-it-right-now chores: fertilizing the yard, mowing, tearing up weeds in a flower bed, watering, washing the front of the house with a power sprayer, scrubbing windows, washing the dog. Like all of my nesting to-dos, his feeling is that these are things that MUST be done to make MB's entrance to this household a livable one or it just won't be good enough.
So. I've been proven wrong about this nesting thing. I don't mind. I'm humble enough to know and admit when I'm incorrect about something. Besides, my house is cleaner than it's ever been. The yard and front of the house is looking pretty spectacular. My dog smells like baby shampoo. I just wish I didn't have to experience this phenomenon for the first time at 36 years old. I mean...at this rate...my house won't look this good again until I'm 72 and I'm pretty sure that at that point I'll be too senile to really care.
Is my hope that MB will appreciate all this work a little too ambitious?
14 years ago
1 comment:
I had forgotten about this blog last year....talk about two peas in a pod. You and are exactly alike in so many ways as you can tell from my nesting blog as well before Gavin got here. Steve never understood why the closet had to be completely emptied, vacuumed, dusted and reorganized at 12 midnight. And I couldn't sleep until it was done. Finally! Someone who tells me I'm not insane.
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