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Jennifer Ketchmark is nesting

Posted at 4:00 AM, May 23, 2016
and last updated 2016-05-23 04:59:40-04

Nesting. According to Urban Dictionary, nesting is a ritual performed by pregnant women in ridding the house, the "nest," from anything potentially harmful to the soon-to-be-born child.

To me, it’s not just about reducing the harmful. It includes a variety of decluttering, organizing, painting, decorating and a general reduction of stuff. My husband calls it my “project” list. God bless him for playing along.

Jennifer's husband, Mitch, putting up a new drying rod in the laundry room. Photo by Jennifer Ketchmark.

I’ll be honest, some of this is mundane stuff I should let go.

Last week, it was going through boxes from our move to the Cincinnati area. Cardboard heads out to recycling and I’m 10 boxes down! A lot of it had me wondering, why did we even pack this? I also found that I have an odd number of travel bags, most of which are damaged or torn. So they met the garbage can.

Over the weekend, it was repairing dings and scrapes in our furniture.

Still on my list: Make a diaper pad changing cover, make burp cloths, pick out paint for the kitchen, look for curtains for the eat-in kitchen area, continue decluttering the guest closet and give old clothing to Goodwill. Then I’m sure more items I never imagined will end up on my list. 

Jennifer has spent lots of time sewing for her son's nursery.

Basically, I’m getting to know the aisles of Lowe's very well as I get my fix-it supplies and organizing solutions.

But I think mentally a clean, organized house will make bringing another child into our home a little smoother.

Granted, there’s nothing easy about a newborn. You don’t sleep, laundry falls behind, you try to sneak in a quick shower and meals don’t get made. Everyone survives at first.

But maybe getting this list out of the way now is a way to calm me and not think too much about the work that’s ahead. But it’s work I’ll take any day!