Syracuse Parent and CNY Family

Brittney Fiorini Jerred is an award-winning columnist and the editor of "Syracuse Parent." You can leave comments below. She may also be reached at editor@syracuseparent.net

Only my new one can unravel my to-do list
Posted on Thu, March 5th, 2009
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As I write this column, I am 15 months pregnant. Well, OK, it just feels like that. Seriously, this last bit has felt like I’m rivaling an elephant’s gestational cycle. It didn’t start to feel like this until last week when I realized I had just one more week of work and then, of course, I got a cold and the rest of what I had to do seemed daunting.

I have a list of tasks that looks similar to a short book. I don’t remember the nesting phase being so prominent with my first one. But with this pregnancy, the nesting phase began after Christmas and I haven’t stopped “getting things ready” since. It started with me scouring the house and then, I got to what I consider the more challenging aspects.

Part of that list included putting away the rest of the Christmas ornaments. I’m proud to say that this was checked off of my list by mid-February. Though the decorations are still situated in a box on the stairs ready to be put away in the attic, I no longer have to worry about my new baby spotting an errant holiday ornament.

Another task I completed was cleaning out the corner of our bedroom. Luckily, this pile wasn’t as scary as I thought it wasn’t going to be and instead, was mostly a bag of to-be-filed-in-the-filing-cabinet papers. I placed the bag downstairs in my office area in front of the filing cabinet, where it still sits today. So far, I’ve had the energy to file about 10 percent.

Oh, you ask, is the baby’s room ready? Of course, except for it’s missing a crib, a changing table and the wall décor. What it does have are elements only a baby needs like stacks of books waiting to be redistributed throughout the house and old love letters and some weird-looking wooden boxes, old cds and some clothes I’m saving for some reason. These are what we call baby essentials.

So while the nesting urge has been strong, the actual nest still has some missing connecting strings and a liner. As my maternity leave begins 72 hours from the time I write this column, I am beginning to accept that there will be corners still cluttered after the baby is born. There may even be a changing table still in my grandmother’s attic but I’m realizing that there is more to nesting than the physical surroundings the baby will be placed within.

What’s slowly becoming clear to me is something I learned the first time—I can’t imagine what’s in store. My very large belly and these strong kicks indicate new life but if it’s anything like the first time, my feeble mind cannot imagine the miracle that awaits.

Therefore, I won’t abandon the ever-present, extra ambitious list. It’s somehow keeping me anchored because its contents are imaginable. I can imagine the alphabet along the west wall of the baby’s room. I can imagine a bare floor in the once spare room. I can imagine our taxes being filed before my due date. I can imagine a cleaner refrigerator without extra yogurt containers from 2008.

No, I won’t let go of this list until we make our trek to the hospital. This list is attached to the imminent birth in ways only my unborn will reveal.

Kaitlyn poses for her babysitter who took this image of her playing outside.