Life, Lawn and Garden Updates
Since the weather has finally improved we have been able to do some work outside the house. In the fall we had a large evergreen tree removed from the front of our house. It was covering the whole front picture window and growing too close to the house. Since then the front flower bed has just been a big sad empty space.
The previous owners didn’t do us any favors either. The backyard was mostly overgrown, and the front was lacking any plants. But our house has a sprinkler system installed and flower beds that are nicely laid out so someone at some point put some time and money into the yard. Now it was our turn to bring it back. That included buying lots of new plants and splitting and moving some existing plants. Oh, and replacing an expensive part on the sprinkler system that was leaking (add another home expense to the budget…).
We had some help from family with planting and putting down much because being 7 months pregnant, I wasn’t going to be helpful moving heavy plants or lifting bags of much. However, I am a very good supervisor! Thank goodness for family help! I’m so glad we were able to get this done now because I anticipate lots of visitors this summer with the new baby and want the yard and house to look good.
I’m sure those of you with little kids right now are thinking, “oh, how she dreams”. I don’t anticipate being able to do a lot of upkeep on the yard or the house with a newborn, but I feel better having put in the effort now. And for the inside of the house, I’ll just keep some Clorox wipes handy to make things look like they were really scrubbed.
How We Are Preparing for Baby
This weather change and the rapidly growing baby bump has us realizing that baby will be here sooner than we think. I personally have gotten a little complacent with baby prep because it felt like it was still winter, and baby wasn’t coming until summer. But May is here, and July will creep up on us fast.
In this post, I want to share what we have been doing and would like to do to prep for baby. I’ve read all sorts of articles like this one from CNBC and this one from Dreaming of Baby and made lists because I love a good list! So here we go:
Things To Do for Our Financial Life
- Top off cash reserve.
We always keep a decent cash reserve on hand, especially this year with the house and baby expenses, but now is a good time to make sure we are set for a while. Once baby is here, I don’t want to have to worry about making sure we have enough cash on hand to pay for all the bills. - Automate payments.
We did a lot of this when we moved into our house for things like water, gas, electricity, mortgage, etc. Now is the time we are making sure all those are running fine and coming from the right accounts or being charged to the right credit card (we like to build points for some bills if possible). Life will only get busier, so not having to worry about paying some bills is a weight off our shoulders. We just make sure to check our bank account on our phone apps (because, you know, #Millennials) and see that all the payments have shown up. - Update the budget.
Yes, we are still keeping track of expenses and in June I will do a big update post on that (spoiler, April was a negative month with taxes, eeek). We are also starting to look ahead at what things will look like when we add in child care.There has also been talk of when to buy a second car. Currently, we share one car because we didn’t have one when we lived in the city and both usually have the same commute so it’s easy to share. But with a child, we figure at some point, one car may become an issue. There isn’t money in the budget for that right now, but it is a financial goal in our near future.
Things To Do for Baby
- Prep for the hospital.
I am working on filling out the hospital registration forms so that it’s one less thing for us to do when we arrive for delivery. We also scheduled a one-day class about the birth process, what to bring to the hospital and tour of the Labor and Delivery floor.I’m a type A person that likes to be prepared so I think this will calm some of my nerves about having a baby. I’ve also started looking at lists of what to pack in the hospital bag. I’m not there yet, but come June, I’ll want that bag packed and ready. - Get updated on health insurance related items.
This includes making sure we know if we have to ask questions at the hospital about things like is the anesthesiologists covered and getting up to date on bills. I can just see the bills piling up on the kitchen counter in our sleep deprived state. - Finish the baby room.
This is an obvious one. I have baby showers in May so can’t really go buying everything I need until after those, but come June, I will be making sure we are ready to go when the time comes. - Make decisions about rules around the hospital, family and baby.
This is a tough one, but it is something Andrew and I will for sure be discussing in the coming weeks. Family will obviously want to see the baby as soon as they can, but we want to make sure who is around and when is right for us as the new parents. We don’t want to be overwhelmed with having tons of people around and learning how to take care of our new baby.We will also talk about who can be where and when at the hospital. I’m sure there will be a point when I don’t want a bunch of people around or in the room when I’m getting ready to have the child or right after so establishing our rules in advance will be helpful. It also feels like a good communication decision so that both of us are on the same page before we get to the hospital. The last thing I want to do is be arguing over what happens when we are there. We will also want to talk about extended family and who to share the news with when and who can visit when.
Things To Do For Our Personal Lives
- Have some date nights.
A neighbor advised us to go out on some date nights before the baby arrives because it will get more difficult once he is here. Then it will be planning with a babysitter once we even get to the point where we feel comfortable leaving him with someone other than our immediate family. Our lives have been busy lately with more obligatory things, so we haven’t done this, but maybe soon we will make time for it. It also seems like a good thing to do to help us stay bonded as a couple. - Review the calendar.
Between work schedules and events, family engagements and just regular things to get done, we are going to sit down and go over the calendar for the summer and early fall before baby arrives to make sure we are aware of what is going on and when. Life is going to get crazy so if we can plan, it should help a little.We also try to set calendar reminders on our phones and invite the other spouse to things they should know about. For example, making sure Jeter gets his flea and tick medicine and heartworm medicine on the right days is a calendar item. As are which weeks the recycling gets picked up. They are small things but ones that can be easily forgotten. Pregnancy brain is real y’all!
This is a lengthy list of things that needs to get done in the coming months, but I’m a list person so even just writing it down makes me feel better. I don’t go with the flow very well, so I prepare as much as I can. This will also be something I work on when the baby is here because I know I won’t be able to plan as much or stick to a plan with a newborn.
In the meantime, we are just trying to enjoy the process of having a baby (although not without its road bumps). As much as we are looking forward to the baby, I hope Andrew and I can enjoy these last few months as just the two of us (and Jeter) before the baby arrives. It is a big life change and one that I think we are becoming more ready for each day.
Ready to take the next step?