The Never-Ending To-Do List

I'm trying not to get overwhelmed, but I can feel the pressure. We have all this baby stuff to do PLUS the holiday stuff PLUS we really don't know how much time we have left.

But, we said we would try to meet our December 25th deadline and we are Damn Close!

Things That Have Been Done in the Last Two Months

• moved every piece of furniture in the apartment at least once--including the rugs
• assembled cribs
• ordered and had delivered an 8-drawer dresser that will also double as a changing table
• ordered and had delivered a new lamp for the baby 'corner' and a new lamp for the newly designed living room
• ordered and had delivered a new Laz.y Boy glider/recliner
• cleaned out and organized 2 walk in closets, the linen closet and a regular closet
• cleaned out and wiped down all kitchen shelves to make room for bottles and kid feeding supplies
• accumulated 6 bags of 'stuff' to go to Goodwill
• purged books no longer holding on to from bookshelves
• created a kid's library (with over 50 books so far!) from an old bookshelf that used to hold photos/knickknacks
• threw away 2 old wooden chairs
• sold a chair and ottoman
• washed all newborn to 6 month old clothing and organized in new dresser
• washed all crib bedding/blankets/hooded towels/bundle me's for car seats/fabric inserts on bouncers, swings, etc
• washed all bottles/pacifiers/teethers and organized in kitchen
• cleaned out a trunk full of clothing that is now a toy chest (full of toys!)
• legally changed last names
• met with lawyer and finalized wills, powers of attorney, living wills
• had 2 baby showers
• went on a babymoon
• had a professional maternity photo shoot at 27 weeks
• booked our CSA organic farm share for next summer in anticipations of feeding the twins some great mushy fruits and vegetables
• went on hospital tour
• pre-registered at hospital
• finished all Holiday shopping
• designed Holiday cards
• decided on a pediatrician
• purchased a great cool mist humidifier that has kept the nosebleeds at bay and will be prefect for the twins as well
• read all of our books on twins and breast feeding books
• watched 3 Laugh and L.earn DVD's in lieu of her specialized classes at $300 (these DVD's are available at Net.flix and were great!)
• attended "Twini.versity" class for how to raise twins in NYC (great class!)
• had bathroom repainted
• had A/C in bedroom replaced
• had all misc repair work in apartment completed
• had child proof bars put on all windows
• acclimated ourselves to sleep in a much cooler bedroom as the temperature for infants should be around 70 degrees
• created a 'stroller parking' section in our apartment to accommodate the double stroller, snap n go and car seats
• cancelled all but one magazine subscription as won't have much time to read magazines!
• did a lot of walking (probably too much
• went swimming (probably not enough)
• saved over $4,000 by getting used baby gear for free or a greatly reduced price from the Twins Moms Club. Yes, 4K. I kept track!

Things Left To Do

• send out Holiday cards
• remove things currently in cribs so that babies can actually sleep there (right now they have become holding spaces for other baby gear we can't decide where to store)
• pack hospital bag
• pack diaper bag
• cancel most of our cable/Fi.os package as we doubt we're going to be watching much mindless TV for a long time
• get all supporting documents for the 2nd parent adoption
• go to Social Security office for cards with new names (do we get a new number, too?)
• go to DMV for new licenses
• go to Passport office to new passports (I think we'll wait to do this until the twins are born so we can get theirs done at the same time)
• change all legal documents and bank cards, health cards, etc to new name (this sounds like the most incredible pain in the ass)
• find and take an infant CPR class
• purchase rest of baby gear once the coupons come in the mail (you get a 10% off coupon for all of your remaining registry items at Buy.BU.yBaby and Babie.sRu.s mailed to you two weeks before your due date--so I changed my due date to January 1st!)
• organize tax receipts now so we don't freak out in April
• get rid of our wooden coffee table and buy a leather ottoman with storage inside (much more kid-friendly and no deadly corners)
• baby-proof the house before social worker comes for 2nd parent adoption
• purge all old papers in files
• hang all artwork in apartment now that everything is organized and in place
• read a book that has nothing to do with baby rearing
• SLEEP

If we can get the purely baby-related stuff on the to-do list done in the next two weeks, I think we'll be golden (of course that's the majority of the list...but still!)

This is Chicken's last week of travel before she's home for 18 days! Yeah! Then, it's only 4 more days of travel in January before she's home working until the twins arrive. I can't believe we've got EIGHT WEEKS MAXIMUM.

Crazy!

I'm still overwhelmed looking at this list, but it was nice to put down what we HAVE accomplished.

I've said it before and I'll say it again--if you are pregnant with twins, try to do everything you can in the 2nd trimester b/c the 3rd trimester is completely unpredictable, you have no idea how much time you have left and your energy level is greatly diminished.

Off to get things done!