Nesting... care to add to my list?

[Gerty1002]

I'm 33+3 weeks pregnant and just started my maternity leave. We've been 'scraping by' with the housework due to my job being fairly physical and tiring and DP working 50 hours per week. As a very house-proud person it has been killing me!

Now I potentially have 6 weeks to keep myself occupied with keeping my 3 bed, 3 storey former show-hone sparkling. See below my to-do list so far... please feel free to suggest additions! Non-housework suggestions also welcome.

General clean from top to bottom, first and foremost
Get to the bottom of the ironing pile
Clean windows
Polish mirrors (being a former show home means there are A LOT!)
Dust/clean light fittings
Clean/polish all bathroom tiles (3 bathrooms, all pretty much fully tiled!) and kitchen tiles
Clean skirting boards and doors
Clear out and organise wardrobes/drawers
File paperwork/bank statements etc
Take curtains to be dry cleaned
Clean venetian blinds
Clean kitchen cupboards, inside and out
Clean oven (using non-chemical eg bicarbonate of soda ofc)
Hoover matresses and sofa
Clean any marks from carpet (light cream fluffy carpet throughout eek)

Jobs I've already done since yesterday are:
Clean washing machine
Clean dishwasher
Defrost and clean fridge freezer

TIA :)

Also ElQuinto I heard something about not being allowed painted nails too, which is fine - I'm not too bothered about that sort of thing as I'm used to having bare nails and no jewellery for work, as I work with food.

DS is 19mo, I'm STILL in my maternity clothes

Decide how many visitirs you want in one day (two at once, every two days for example) lasting 20mins max, they make tea, you provide biccies, then they bugger off leave.

Non-slip mat for the bath - I was terrified of slipping over and giving myself a fresh episiotomy!
Perhaps buy some stuff you put in bath water to help stitches (cs or episiotomy) stay clean and heal nicely; 'sitz' salts or something? I couldn't find them, so don't remember the name, sorry.
Make sure DP knows where everything is: cotton balls, muslins, clothes, thermometre, wipes, fresh cot sheets etc.

I've not put any weight on anywhere else luckily and bump is all front, so I'm hoping the size bigger clothes I bought in first trimester will do for afterwards.

I was wondering what to buy for after birth, I heard witch hazel is good.

Thankfully DP is quite hands on so knows where everything is

Tea tree oil & Epsom salts.

Arnica pillules-30c from boots, esp in case of cs, (helps bruising internally heal quicker). For an elcs you won't be allowed jewellry or nail polish but for emergency they'll just whip you into Theatre as you ate

For bf decide on a method by how you'll remember which boob you fed from last-I have a thin hair bobble that I switch to the wrist of side I last fed from

Fresh filled ravioli is another quick & easy meal.

If you have good friends & family, make a list of things visitors could do to help. I really want someone to wash our windows but don't want to ask anyone!

Make yourself a cup of tea using one hand only. Then rearrange anything that stopped you doing that (tight lid on tea caddy, kettle that needs 2 hands to fill etc).

Oh, and if you don't online food shop already, might be worth setting up a standard shopping list now?

Have you got a sling? A moby style stretchy wrap is very handy.

Not nesting, but some research required and it'll probably need washing and practicing before baby arrives.

Gerty do a list of things you don't need too :) head and tail bowl for starters

Oliviaaaaaaaaa Thanks for the link, I'd missed the announcement, and twiiiins! Congratulations :) :) :)

Thank you for your suggestions everyone.

DameFanny I successfully made a cup of tea one handed yesterday :)

Also Monty I've read a few comments like that about top and tail bowls... what is so useless about them? Is it just that a normal bowl is cheaper and you can just do top end first? I wasn't really intending on buying one, just curious.

evelyn Are tea tree oil and epsom salts for the bath? Do you use them together or separately?

Gerty you may get one as a pressie, I did buy one and never really used it, amongst numerous items of clothing (that are a pain to launder) and all sorts of acuterments (sp?), always over zealous with aby bath toys and soft toys, stuff like that, I have bags of stuff in the loft still and dc's are teens now.

Save every penny you can, you'll need it later

If you have a big freezer, prepare lots of meals for later too. I had great wee jars that I used for blended food and freeze, later on of course, but they were great and saved a fortune on baby foods.

Yes we have quite a few soft toys already and he isn't even here yet!

Will definitely be making my own baby food, those jars are just full of sugar and preservatives etc and like you say it will save a fortune.

Going to freeze some batches of healthy smoothies too for easy breastfeeding snacks :)

I have used a few drops of tea tree oil into a warm bath and it has seemed to help.

I have never had a top/tail bowl. Bath once a day and a warm face cloth if the face needed a wipe in between. If there was a poo explosion it was always a bath.

Make soup and freezer in portion sizes for you with crusty bread.

For baby I always used lidded ice cube trays to make the purees for the first few months. Once frozen pop out of trays and put in zip lock freezer bags. Meant we could have a variety of things in freezer. Portions were small so minimal waste and defrosted quickly. Later on the Avent breast milk cups with the twist lid were good.

You can wear a sling in the house. Baby happy as it is close to you and often sleep and you can get stuff done.

Just looking back at this very enthusiastic thread I started a few weeks ago. Hands up who thought: 'ah such good intentions, she'll soon learn...' ??

I've done about two things on this list in between napping and eating!