Really? There are still things that need to be done for #3?
Umm….
Ok, so you got me thinking, whoever-it-was-who-originally-asked-me-this. As far as actual purchases go, we’re looking into a big boy bed for Benjamin. That’s pretty much it. And he doesn’t even need that until the new baby is old enough to roll over, get on hands and knees, pull-up, etc. For now we have the pack ‘n play set up with the bassinet feature in place in our bedroom. And the railing on the side of our bed has never been taken down.
This is going to be a June baby, and as we have a March boy and a July girl, I think we’re pretty much covered in the clothing department. (NOT THAT FAMILY CAN’T BUY US MORE! :-D)
Both Olivia and Benjamin are in forward facing carseats, freeing up the old infant Graco model for the new baby. We tested it out, and three carseats *do*, in fact, fit in the back of a Ford Taurus.
So, pretty much, the only preparations we need to make are the ones that will make my life easier after the baby comes. And now that I’m forced to think about that (thanks, whoever-you-are! Seriously!), here’s a list I’ve come up with:
- Frozen waffles in bulk in freezer.
- Frozen pancakes in bulk in freezer.
- Bread mixes in bulk in freezer. (Takes up less room than cooked bread, and they taste better fresh, anyway!)
- Pretty much anything I regularly bake (cornbread, banana bread, banana chocolate chip muffins…), whenever I bake then from this point out, I plan to make extra mixes and freeze them.
- Oh, and frozen muffins/quick breads (excluding corn bread). Those taste fine after freezing.
- Pizza dough mixes. It’s a once-a-week thing here.
- Pizza sauce in bulk in freezer.
- Spaghetti sauce in bulk in freezer.
- Cheap meat in bulk in freezer. One of the things that I slack on most after having a baby is sale-shopping for food. It’s time-consuming to search the local fliers and decide which one has better deals. Plus, that attention to detail doesn’t well suit the sleep-deprived. So I’m stocking up on these .77/lb hams and .98/lb pork roasts and what-have-you now, while I can still function at higher levels.
That’s all I can think of right now. Those of you preparing for babies out there: What’s on your list that didn’t make mine?
For baby #2 (also due in June) we got the IKEA Trofast system and a Brother P-Touch label maker. THere is just too much STUFF to put away and we can’t remember all the locations!
We got a sit & stand stroller, although it will be mostly for bags since I’ll wear the baby.
We have a bread machine and a great, easy pizza dough recipe (Twitter daymented if you want it) and the dry ingredients can go in a baggie in the freezer to make it super easy.
We also just bought a small stand freezer from Costco last weekend to free up our small freezer for little things, and we’ll use the stand freezer for meat, with a whiteboard stuck to it listing all the portions of each cut of meat. When you take one out you change it on the whiteboard. Makes grocery listing/meal-planning a lot easier.
Whoops, meant to post a link to the Trofast system:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/departments/childrens_ikea/12018-2
I love it so much I want it all across the living room walls next!!
I do believe I was one of the gals who wanted to know how you were preparing! Yays!
Sounds like when you already have two children, preparations for #3 are a cinch.
I guess I’ll ask another question: How are things coming with getting your kiddos ready for baby? Does Benjamin still consider himself the “baby”?
Thanks for the post. I too am expecting my third baby in July. I am preparing and will need to purchase a big boy bed for my son as well. I am a new blog reader to your blog and I had a few questions for you.
First, what kind of car seats do you have for your kids? I am wondering because I too will have three in carseats, two in forward facing and one in an infant carrier. Right now the car seats that I have do not fit all three in the middle row and it is much cheaper to purchase new car seats than to purchase a new vehicle.
Secondly, I am new to cloth diapering. I am cloth diapering my twenty month old and my three year old (but only during the night). Any advice for cloth diapering an infant?
I hope the rest of your pregnancy goes well. 🙂 I don’t know about your, but I am full nest mode these days. I think it gets earlier and earlier with each baby. 🙂
Jen D. I HIGHLY recommend baby kangas for the newborn. We bought a bunch of different one sized diapers to sample and Baby Kanga’s worked the best for us. There are new one sized diapers out there since my baby was born in September though.
Beth- it is encouraging to know baby #3 needs little to no preparation. Some day (soon?) it will be us preparing. 🙂 I’m trying to convince Tig that we do NOT need to find out the gender. It’s not going well. he he. I still haven’t tried 3 car seats in our back seat yet. we’ve got time. And we don’t have a big freezer so I don’t know if we’ll be able to stock up on food.
And don’t you NEED to buy more diapers? I thought that was ALWAYS needed when you have a baby. 🙂
I had baby #3 in January, and it certainly required a lot less preparation. My baby clothes had rotated to my sister, but they’ve come back now. Pretty much the only things we needed were cloth diapers because this is the first time we’re doing that.