The Countdown Begins

I got my weekly e-mail update from the What To Expect website letting me know I'm 30 weeks pregnant. This made me realize that if this baby follows the trend of my previous three he will be born in 7 or 8 weeks from now. Four paydays from now I'll probably have a newborn baby. Four paydays.

The four paydays is the part where I started really feeling a little stressed. There's so much to do here at home, lots of "little things" I need to buy, bags to prepare, a babysitter to locate for my other three kids.

Thankfully my list of absolute must-haves before the baby comes home isn't too long:

10-12 newborn cloth diapers
baby washcloths
wet bags to store diapers before washing
flushable inserts for the cloth diapers
extra laundry detergent and stain remover
paper plates and cups and plastic cutlery (so I don't have to do dishes right away)
easy fix meals and snacks
D batteries for the swing and bouncer, AA batteries for my breast pump (provided I can find it and it still works)
overlarge, lightweight blankets (double as nursing covers)
extra crib sheets and pack n play sheets
a Boppy pillow and covers
summer clothes for a newborn

I'm sure I'll think of more to add to that list, but those are the basic essentials to ensure I can be as much of a hermit as possible after bringing the new baby home. I think the most expensive thing will be the diapers, which is why I was hoping to find some to add to a baby registry. Unfortunately I don't expect to get much support from anyone about cloth diapering, and our usual gifts are packages of disposables. We'll probably use both.

Fortunately there are several things on my list I can pick up at my local Dollar Tree, and if I'm lucky I'll be able to sell some things at a garage sale this weekend. We have a ton of newborn boy clothes for a winter baby that I'm hoping I can turn into a decent stash of cloth diapers.

Now if this nesting will kick into full gear I can get my house clean. I hope.