39 Weeks Pregnant, Fall Cleaning!

I cannot even believe it is almost baby day! Just have to get to next week! I can't wait to share pictures of this little boy, he is already so loved! I have a feeling I will have a stubborn big sister to pry him away from :)

Once things settle down and we are back home I am sure we will quickly get back to our routine! It will be a new and sleep deprived routine, ever changing as baby does.

Until then, even though it's not fall, I did as much of our fall cleaning (inside stuff) as I could between our garage still being pretty full of boxes and being pregnant. No climbing or painting here, hubby's rules. 

Here is the link to previous years FALL CLEANING 

It's about what I used this time, after getting ready to sell our home it was a little different, had much less cabinet stuff to clean out!

I hope to share how we prep for baby once we are home!

It's not all cribs and onesies here. I think with each baby we had less and less, this being our 4th we haven't even picked up a crib yet! 

The prep we do here is more about how we can make family life easier while adjusting with a newborn. Lists are my friend!

4 Things I learned about selling a home (or not)

  We are quickly approaching what should have been our closing date, things fell through this go around and now we are going to be here until after the baby is born for sure. That changes a few things. Some things I have learned from this short experience won't be forgotten and will absolutely change how we do things here!

 1. WE HAVE TOO MUCH STUFF!

I don't think this is really news to anyone who has had to pack stuff. It's amazing the amount of stuff we can collect. Things like sandals, cake pans and clothes!

I think I packed a little more than half of our stuff. It's been in our garage for weeks now. There are very very few things I wish I had out of those boxes. I think that is a good sign that I can let a lot of it go! I am tempted to just take all of the clothes out there to donate. I might need to wait until I am not pregnant and we get over this heat. But having so much of it packed has really made me realize even more than I did before that having so many options is not beneficial. It's just cluttering and wasting time!

2. Nothing is official until things are official

Things were going SO smoothly, maybe too smoothly.

Thankfully, we hadn't found a rental or a house in the area we want to be, so the only thing it has really affected was packing.

3. Some things really just can't be packed away until the day you move! 

 I tried to limit our school supplies, homework stations etc. and now that things are changing and we will be here until after school starts, we neeeeed that space! I am scrambling to get the important stuff back together. I never want homework to be a problem. I want our kids to love school and learning and work and not dread it! Having the things they will likely need at hand, ready to use without a hassle just helps immensely.

4. As much as I thought we were as organized as we could get.
We weren't! Not even close. I think the main part of that is that we have too much stuff.
I know for sure we aren't as organized as I imagined because I still can't find a pair of jeans I know I bought for Finn. It's around here somewhere, probably in a box of clothes he could be using right now! I have just a few weeks until my c-section and I am making it my mission to do as much as I can and getting as much excess out!

  I am working on #4 by taking a Facebook break (I KNOW it's a time suck for me), and I will have some alone time, say WHAT? That rarely happens! But for a few hours a few days a week, for 2 weeks I will have some time alone, where I can sort and organize and hopefully bust through the rest of the stuff inside. Anything in the garage we don't go looking for might just have to go!

#1 Way We Make Mornings Smooth!

Alright, even though I said we were just going to wing things, the anxiety of unknown is getting to me a teeny bit and I feel like our breakfast schedule is something that needs to stick around!

I shared last year (or a few years before) here, and it's not really that different now. Just want to share a little more details about how we start our mornings!

We still use our Good Morning Basket

It has the kids chore packs, granola, brown sugar, and now vitamins along with our devotionals. 

Here is our weekly breakfast schedule!

Monday~Pancakes, fruit and sausage/bacon

I prefer to make our own pancakes, and add some vanilla protein powder to them! We have picky kids who don't really like a whole lot of protein items.

Tuesday~Oatmeal and Toppings

We pretty much always have some fruit for on top, kids occasionally get some peanut butter or chocolate chips on top too!

Wednesday~Yogurt and Fluff
fruit and granola on top. Each of our kids like theirs a little different!

Thursday~Waffles with Nut Butter
Last I shared, we were using a different brand. We are all big fans of Wild Friends Nut Butters!

There are other flavors too! My favorite is the chocolate sunflower seed!

Friday~Cereal and Fruit
By Friday we need an easy breakfast! Sometimes we just have scrambled eggs and toast or a mini bagel and fruit but cereal is the standby. I don't love giving the kids cereal and when we do it's usually boring with no sugar, chocolate or marshmallows. Not hard to convince them to have something else!