Intensity

Today,

I woke up as usual super cheery, grateful and blissful. But for the last 2 days, that bliss only lasts about 1 hour before the day comes and washes it away. I woke up, looked around, saw the dead balloons STILL litering the floor. I historically am afraid of/agitated by the sound of balloons popping so I couldn't really do anything about it, but annoyed enough, I considered just putting on some big headphones with music and popping them myself. Mark finally noticed THAT agitation and put them out of their misery.

All of a sudden I was irked by all the stuff left undone. Dishes from the shower, balloons, empty boxes, etc. So I started the day off washing dishes and doing errands I haven't been able to do for months. Mark came into the kitchen when he awoke and asked me if I was having the infamous burst of nesting energy that's supposed to predict labor nearby. I didn't think so. I think I'm just tired of letting stuff drag on forever. The kid's coming soon, he's not going to wait until it's convenient to do laundry or clean up or build furniture. We've got to get on it. I can't put together either of the two Ikea wardrobe thingies we bought - although I DID try to put one together and fell short when it reached the two man portion.

So on to what I CAN do. I started laundry. Yesterday I started the large task of piling all the clothes I've been giving in size piles. I was horrified to find that several of the onesies I have that say newborn are made for Barbie dolls and are super small. It's looking like anything that's 5-8lbs isn't going to get worn. He's probably 8 lbs already! He was 5 lbs 14 oz at week 34 I believe and they put on 1/3 to 1/2 a pound each week and that was 3 weeks ago! So I didn't wash the tiny Gerber onesies. I'm still on the fence about which other stuff I think he'll be able to wear and what's too small likely. So I skipped washing clothes and moved on to blankets, lap pads, burp cloths, socks and mittens.

Why was I totally frightened and intimidated by laundry? So many questions. Things you take for granted that you know how to do suddenly become foreign when you have a baby. Of course, I could just be casual and unschooled and do whatever. A lot of people do. But after discovering shocking things about babies that you wouldn't know by common sense like not eating lunch meats and unpasteurized cheeses while pregnant or the fact that you can't feed a baby water until it's about 6 months old (you can drown its cell and throw off the balance of electrolytes), I realized that I don't know jack about babies.

So you can't use normal detergent and shouldn't use fabric softener. If you do use softener, it needs to be the liquid kind in the wash and not dryer sheets. Good luck finding softener that doesn't have perfume. Dreft costs a billion dollars and apparently isn't necessary, so our All-free will work fine for the baby. So one down - google research on detergent done. I washed the first load and no problem. I was partially scared of taking things out of the wrap that actually tells you what's what. How am I supposed to remember the difference between a lap pad and a burp pad? What's the difference anyhow? Aren't they all square. Okay are lap pads different than lap cloths? Aren't lap pads supposed to be for changing diapers and waterproof? If they are waterproof, how can they be washed. What the heck are these little stiff things over here? Uggh! Confident that I now would be able to identify a receiving blanket from a lap cloth, I did the load and had no problems.

Second load however, I decided to get jiggy and wash more stuff like socks, mittens and bibs. I have one word for you: VELCRO. So the velcro on the bibs decides to catch on all the terry cloth loops on the baby socks, so I pull the sodden mass out of the washer and attempt to separate them.

A new worry: if I can't keep up with ADULT socks in the washer (somebody gets orphaned every so often), they how oh how am I supposed to keep up with teeny socks that are an inch big? If I drop one, I know it's history. The dogs will find it before me and it'll be buried in the backyard. Panic sets in and then I realized the futility of worrying and just go for it. Vowing to match them immediately after drying. Vowing also to check the dryer at different intervals, assuming that those waterproofed fleece lap pads are going to dry at a different pace than the normal cloth things, and not trusting the little stiff things not to contain something that melts, despite the 'tumble dry low' marking on the label.

I did 2 whole loads of baby laundry clothes and no one was harmed-yet. Wow. I also set up the little dresser-top Diaper Depot Auntie Lolo got us, and put in the teeny newborn diapers and baby wipes on top. The sides hold stuff too, so I raided Pam's diaper cake and took the Dessitin packets and miniature baby powder and put it in, alongside the A&D ointment that Michelle sent me. Her youngest baby just had his fourth birthday party yesterday. Wow. Time flies. That's the youngest baby in my inner circle. Our generation sucks at having babies apparently. We're all sort of late on that.

OKAY UPDATE: No socks lost, but...I just folded all the laundry and I've ALREADY lost a mitten! Brand new. It didn't last ONE HOUR. I went into the washer from the original packaging, and didn't come out. I've flapped out everything, looked inside of other clothing, stuck my head inside both the washer and dryer and spun the drums and NO mitten. I'm fairly disgusted. I can't even blame the dog, it never left the laundry room!

It'll show up eventually but the baby only needs the mitten for the first couple of weeks maybe, so I hope it literally shakes out before then.