Baby Prepping

As I write this, I’m currently 29 weeks pregnant with baby #4. The baby is due sometime in January, so we will still be actively homeschooling. What am I doing to prepare for this huge event? Actually, I am already prepping so that when the time comes, I will hopefully be “mostly” prepared.

Here’s what I’m doing:

1. Planning meals.
I’m going to prep quite a few meals for the month following delivery. That includes having homemade freezer meals, precooked meats, a good stash of pantry items that cook quickly and easily and somewhat of a meal plan. I also plan on having a stock of healthy soups and stews that reheat quickly. As always, I will be giving my instant pot a workout! (I love that thing!).

2. Making cleanup easier.
Though this goes along with meals, it’s still worth a mention. I’m going to buy a good stock of disposable dishes to make meal cleanup less of a hassle. With 5 people eating 3 meals a day at home, we dirty up a lot of dishes, which equates to lots of washing! After baby is here, I won’t have the energy or the time to deal with that and neither does my husband. And though I plan on cloth diapering, for the first month I’m going to have a good supply of disposable diapers on hand. I don’t need extra laundry right then.

3. Keep the kids occupied.
Since this baby is due during our winter, I am planning activities ahead of time for the kids. I’m going to go the thrift store and pick out new, fun toys and hide them until needed. I’m also going to buy a good selection of entertaining & learning movies for nasty days when they can’t play outside. I think this will reduce the stress level in the house by a huge amount!

4. Stock up on essentials.
We won’t have to go out and buy things like laundry detergent, toilet paper, paper towels, trash bags, and other similar items if we buy a good amount ahead of time. We all know we need these things and usually have a pretty good idea of how much we use, so why not build up a supply to prevent emergency trips to the store?

5. Have extras on hand.
Get enough towels, washcloths, and dishcloths that we reduce the necessity to do the towel laundry as often. I think this will save an enormous amount of time and prevent the dreaded stepping out of the shower to find no clean towels!

6. Reducing expectations.
After the baby arrives, I can’t expect myself or anyone else to not be off balance for a while. So, homeschooling will take on a different appearance than what it is now. It will have to be slower paced and more relaxed and that’s perfectly ok! I just have to prepare myself mentally for that. I’m going to have lots of new audio books and digital learning on hand just for this time!

I’m sure I’ll think of a lot more things between now and then and there will be things I wish I had done differently. How about you? How do you prep for a new baby in your home?

Jenny is a wife to her amazing husband of 17 years and stay-at-home momma to 3 kids with another on the way.  She blogs at https://www.inconvenientfamily.com where she is learning that blessings aren’t always convenient.