Yay--you’re expecting! Congratulations! 9 months feels like a really long time while also feeling like no time at all. There’s so much to get done before the baby comes and you have to squeeze all of those tasks in between morning sickness, doctors appointments, 2 hour naps, and daycare shopping. I have recently had a baby girl of my own and LET ME TELL YOU that those nesting hormones are very real. So if you’re prepping while pregnant, let me help!
I was cleaning out, purging, donating, organizing, updating, decorating, and prepping the whole house as if the Queen herself would be visiting my home after the birth of my daughter. My social algorithms were hyper focused on baby-prep videos and I did as much research as I could to prepare my house for every baby scenario imaginable. (BIG TIP: purge your house to make room for the new baby stuff coming your way!)
All of that to say, I have done my research on prepping 5 certain zones in your house and I want to share these simple lists to get your house ready for a new baby and all of the guests that will be coming to meet your bundle of joy!
ZONE 1: Primary Bedroom
You will spend your first days out of the hospital in this room. I followed the 5-5-5 Rule in my first month as a new mom so I made sure my bedroom was ready first. However long you plan on staying in your room, make sure you have everything you need within reach if possible.
Baby Station - Postnatal care, changing pad, diapers, wipes, burp cloths
Bathroom Station for Mommy- basket of adult diapers, angled spout water bottle, pain relief spray, etc.
Nursing Station - cart that holds your pumping machine and parts, burp cloths, nipple cream, phone charger, coconut waters and lots of snacks. (Click HERE for the 3-tiered cart that I used)
ZONE 2: Living Room
Guests will be spending time here with your new baby and will want to help with tasks if they can. I made extra stations in the Living Room in order to keep guests contained to this part of the house while I was still healing/ resting upstairs.
Diaper Changing Station - Extra changing pad, wipes, diapers, diaper cream
Guest Station - Surface to lay their purse/ gifts, antibacterial gel, and water bottles
Basket of Baby Essentials - Extra diapers and wipes, change of clothes, burp cloths, diaper cream (Kept under the coffee table or in corner of the room so it’s out of the way but easily accessible)
Nursing Station - Can be the same nursing cart from your bedroom, but I live in a multi-level home and did not want to carry that cart up and down the stairs. Still storing the same nursing items as stated above. Don't forget the Snacks!
Toy Basket - Rattles, Mirrors, High Contrast Picture Books, anything that I could use to “play” during wake times to keep within reach but easily clean up and set aside if needed.
ZONE 3: Bathroom/ Laundry/ Hall Closet
MAKE ROOM WHILE YOU CAN. You are going to get gifts and gently loved hand-me-downs that you don’t have room for. Prepping empty spaces ahead of time saved me so much headache when I was struggling with keeping things put away. Babies grow up so fast and the items needed for each stage changes along with them, I needed everything to have a home. to keep my sanity.
Bath Tub Stuff - Cart that holds a draining basket for bath toys, baby towel and washcloths, the bath soap and shampoo
Baby Medicine - Keep it all in one container that can easily be carried to whatever room the baby is in.
Empty 1 Shelf space in the laundry room for future baby stuff.
Empty 1 Shelf space in hall closet for future baby stuff.
ZONE 4: Kitchen/ Dining
Again, make room while you can! We have limited countertop space and as we were trying to find the best bottles that our baby liked, we accumulated so many extra bottles. It was nice to have somewhere out of the way to keep all of the extra parts to our baby items. Once we started on solid foods that cabinet filled up pretty quickly.
Open 1 FULL Cabinet - yes a full 3 shelf cabinet. You will need it.
Wash & Dry EVERYTHING before you store it.
Plan ahead for your high chair placement - You won’t need it yet but keep in mind where it will feel most convenient to place the high chair so go ahead and empty that spot because that time will come SO FAST.
ZONE 5: Nursery
Yes, I saved this room for last. We had baby gifts from showers and registries coming in intervals so it was hard to fully prep this room until the end anyway. We waited until right before the baby came to purchase anything left on our registries using the vendor discount codes to finish out this space. The baby didn’t even sleep in her nursery until after 6 months, but I was so glad to have finished this room before she came since I didn’t have a ton of free time to work on it after her arrival. It made a huge difference getting her closet done first so I had somewhere to put her gifts.
Wash & Store clothes by size. They will grow out of the so fast so it’s best to organize by smallest size first to make sure they get to wear everything at least once before moving up to the next size. (I tried to remember to get quick photos of certain outfits that I know were sentimental gifts)
Diaper Changing/ Clothes Changing Station - Everything you needed in the above changing station. I kept the foldable onesies and sleepers in the dresser under the main changing pad since this is where we would be getting ready for the day or getting ready for bed.
Storage for Backstock - Find a space to store your surplus items such as diapers, wipes, changing pad covers, crib sheets, bassinet sheets, hand-me-downs for future ages.
I hope that this list helps you to prep your home for your baby’s arrival and eases your hormonal mind a little bit. Pregnancy is wild! If you need help getting your house ready in more ways than just these stations, let us know! We have designed, installed, and decorated so many nurseries for expecting mamas and you could be next! Let us take the stress out of nesting your house by calling Kelley Kolettis Designs today.
-KK
Comments