I honestly feel like I have been pregnant for two years – no seriously and I’m just so ready to meet our pretty little girl {whose name we still haven’t decided on!}. I think with being in and out of the hospital, attached to IV for 8 weeks at home and now being sick again has taken it’s toll on me both emotionally and physically. But, there’s still so much I need to do to prepare for our little girls big arrival – majority of it is cleaning!

I’m currently 34 weeks and beginning to “nest”. Thankfully, because otherwise I don’t think I’d have the energy or the motivation to clean out the baby’s closet that has turned into a storage area, wipe down all of Mini Me’s toys that I know she’ll be sharing with her Sissy and really just make the house as fresh as possible. I don’t want to worry about wiping down toilets in between changing out my nursing pads or getting the dust bunnies out from under the couch after I’m done pumping…I just want to enjoy the bond that’ll happen between my two girls and not miss a second of it!

Here’s 10 ways I’ve prepared my home for our little ones arrival:

1. Prepared meals and frozen for 2 weeks. That way we save money by not eating out.

2. Mini Me went around the house and picked up all of her toys. We then took Seventh Generation wipes and cleaned all of her toys to ensure any germs that were on them are now gone!

3. Any little toys that baby could easily swallow are put up. Mini Me understands that Sissy isn’t allowed to have them because she could choke.

4. The closet in Sissy’s room is stocked with wipes, diapers {shameless plug – Seventh Generation’s new Free & Clear diapers and wipes} and formula {just incase we need to supplement}. This way I’m not sending the Hubs out at 10 o’clock at night like we did with our first child! Plus we saved about $4 per pack by buying ahead

5. All of Sissy’s clothes, bedding and blankets have been washed and put away.

6. We will be purchasing the car seat and stroller this weekend. I keep having dreams that I’m gonna have the baby and the Hubs is gonna have to run out and get a car seat!

7. Typically I clean with Lysol cleaners because we get them for a great price {like $.50 or less at Meijer}, but, lately I’ve been making my own cleaners. Baking soda and water for tough stains – vinegar, water, a touch of Dawn and rubbing alcohol to wipe down glass, tv’s, etc.

8. If you were to come to my home and open up my hallway closet it would speak to you! This is where majority of my stockpile is and it’s neatly organized – must say I’m really proud of this! Now my husband knows how much body wash and deodorant he has, I can see when we are running low on toilet paper, tissues and have a few cans of disinfectant {because Momma knows someone is bound to get sick} as well as HAND.SANITIZER.

9. The house is already baby proofed thanks in part to Mini Me.

10. Lastly, I took the liberty of going through all of Mini Me’s little clothes and separating them into bins. That way as Sissy grows I can go down stairs and wash the bin that she’s going to be needing. This will again allow me to spend a lot more time with both of my girls!

Now I will admit that I do have a few packages of Seventh Generation wipes and diapers in the baby’s stockpile. I’m excited to use them because I only used Pampers on Mini Me. This time around I’m a lot more frugal and trying to live my life a little greener. So if you have any tips for me I’d love to hear them!

It is great to know that there is a company out there – Seventh Generation – that is tuned in to the needs of new moms and their babies. Seventh Generation offers Free & Clear baby-care products that include diapers, wipes and baby liquid laundry detergent. Seventh Generation Free & Clear diapers are free of chlorine, latex, fragrances and petroleum-based lotions and come in a range of sizes from newborn to stage 6. Moms who have used them on their babies report that the diapers are soft to the touch and have exceptional absorbency. And gentle as its diapers, Seventh Generation’s soft, cloth-like Free & Clear Baby Wipes are free of alcohol, synthetic dyes and fragrances and whitened without chemicals containing chlorine.

“I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Seventh Generation blogging program, for a gift card worth $50. For more information on how you can participate, click here.”