How I Prepped Our House for Baby Nº2

Leading up to Baby Nº2, I was more relaxed in general since it wasn’t my first time having a baby. I followed a lot of my previous nesting tips and pre-planned what I could for work, pulled out comfortable loungewear that I knew I’d be living in, prepped the nursery, and got the house “baby ready”. Which TBH isn’t anything dramatic but I definitely did a few things to make Walker’s arrival as smooth as possible. Because let me tell you, when you’re sleep-deprived and stressed as a new parent, the last thing you want to be doing is cleaning the house or putting baby sh*t together.

+ Deep cleaned the house

About a week before my due date, I made sure our house was deep cleaned so that it was one less thing to stress about when Walker came home. I like to do this a couple of times a year anyway, and it includes big things like dry cleaning our curtains and scrubbing baseboards to smaller things like cleaning out the fridge and washing the couch cushions.

+ Washed baby’s clothes / blankets / etc.

I suggest doing this a couple of weeks before your due date because if you do it any earlier (like I learned with Capri), everything will sit around gathering dust…and then you’ll feel like you need to do it again. Only wash what they’ll wear as newborns too because again, if you wash clothes for when they’re older, you’ll need to re-wash anyways!

+ Organized baby’s closet

After everything was clean, I organized the nursery closet. I mainly focused on newborn-3 month’s clothing and labeled everything accordingly. I made sure I had enough swaddles, burp cloths, etc. ready as well. You can see my full organization situation and the clothes I bought him.

+ Cleaned out Capri’s room and closet

We packed up what no longer fit her, organized her closet / dresser, and all that normal stuff. Just knowing that she was set for whoever was helping with her when we were at the hospital made me feel more at ease and I knew it’d made life with a newborn + toddler easier.

+ Sanitized bottles and organized them

Pretty self-explanatory! We also pulled out the bottle drying rack and all the random kitchen sh*t that comes with a newborn.

+ Prepped the nursery

I washed the sheets on the guest bed for our night nurse and generally prepped the area for her (and for my family who I knew would be staying over with Capri while we were at the hospital). I also got the baby’s dresser + changing table set with the essentials. For all my year-one essentials, head to this post and for what I’m skipping this time around, read this.

+ Cleaned out my closet

Again, I organized everything. I got rid of a lot of my maternity clothes (thank god!!!), pulled out pajamas and loungewear I knew I’d live in, etc.

+ Got the basics out

No surprise here, as much as I love my babies, I hate all the clutter that comes with them. As we learned with Capri, kids acquire a lot of stuff and a lot of colorful stuff…which I’ve obviously learned to live with. But I do think people go overboard with what you actually need for a newborn. We’re using the same aesthetically-pleasing and easy-to-move bassinet which I got ready, and I also ordered this Babybjorn bouncer for Walker to sit in. Other than those two things, a dockatot for the couch, and a few newborn toys, I left the other baby toys in a box for now. I plan to pull out little by little so it doesn’t overrun even more of our house.

+ Ordered food in bulk

I pre-ordered food basics that we go through quickly – especially things like snacks for Capri, cereal, etc – so it was one less thing to do once the baby came. As for dinners lately, I finally cooked over the weekend, and other than that, we’ve been relying on family / friends and takeout to survive the first few weeks. Beyond grateful for my support system right now…and also for things like Door Dash and InstaCart (even though I usually like picking out our own produce, this is when I’m more lax).