DIYers w/ Kids come in

[wawa]

Can we talk about what how you deal with kids and pregancy if you like to DIY house stuff?

Starting with being KU'd - how long were you able to get stuff done?

Given that our bedroom currently looks like this:
and our futurebaby is the size of the raspberry you see in my sig, we've got time, but we're now officially in all house, all the time mode.

What are your must-do's before a kid arrives?
What is feasible to work on during nap times and can wait till after?

We're hoping to have the bathrooms done by the end of the summer, and then we'll get the floor guys in to refinish our hardwoods, so that'll round out the big things. But we'll still be missing doors, paint, trim and light fixtures through most of the house (temp bare bulbs are installed in most rooms), and the floors will still be bare slab on one level. (guest room, laundry room, office, pantry) The laundry room will still need cabinets and countertops. None of the closets will have any guts (no hanging thingies, shelves, etc).

And I think it goes without saying that absolutelying nothing will be decorated. Curtains/blinds, decor, etc. The guest room probably won't have any furniture beyond a bed. (planning to thrift and refinish some items since budget is nearly gone) Our bedroom will still be a total mishmash of ugly hammidowns.

So what would be your priority items? What can I really not help with once I have a big belly? What can you really not do with a baby in the house so has to be done before it arrives? Like...is it reasonable to think that I could install closet systems in bits and pieces during baby nap times while I'm on maternity leave? Or is that insane?

My doc gave me the go ahead and paint as long as I ventilate really well...but is that a no go once it's an outside baby? What about furniture refinishing?

I know this is a giant mishmash of questions. Mostly - if you have dealt with home renovations either while pregnant or with small children, just talk to me about. What worked and what didn't? Tell me stories.

[FoxInFiji]

OMG yay congrats!!!

...now going back to read your post

[emoflamingo]

CONGRATS!!!

Honestly, as long as you aren't lifting anything excessively heavy (no moving furniture), you can do a lot. As long as the belly isn't in the way. I'm big enough now that I couldn't really do a lot of painting without getting it on my shirt, but I have specific paint shirts. Well, I couldn't fit them now, but I'd Goodwill a shirt for painting purposes if I had to start again.

And yes, probably insane to try and do a lot on maternity leave. For the first few weeks, you will want to sleep when baby sleeps just to catch up, even though laundry is piling up. If you feel up to it, you could probably get some of the closet stuff done while baby is in a swing/PNP/bassinett, but I wouldn't completely count on it.

[FoxInFiji]

OK I read you post and I'm no help sorry. But I need the answers to all of these questions myself.

[emoflamingo]

I don't recommend redoing flooring after they're mobile. That's the only big DIY project we had and it was difficult keeping DS off the tack strips they had for our new carpet. Oh, and if you do anything to your kitchen, make sure you have a sink lol. We were without for about a day when we got new counters & sink in our kitchen. That was rough enough for me.

[bunnymendelbaum]

Congratulations!!
My answer: It depends.
With my daughter I did a lot while pregnant. I had energy and felt pretty good.
With this pregnancy I can't do a dang thing. I'm 15 weeks and my ms is so bad I can barely make it through the day.
My daughter was a great sleeper so I got a ton done on maternity leave and during her 2 daily naps on weekends through 18 months. Now she is down to one 2-2.5 hr nap so it is a little tougher.
We never have tried to do much while she was awake honestly because we like to hang with her.

[emjacobs]

Jul 16, 2012 16:17:38 GMT -5 FoxInFiji said:

OK I read you post and I'm no help sorry. But I need the answers to all of these questions myself.

Are you trying to say you are with fruit as well?

[Deleted]

Jul 16, 2012 16:21:30 GMT -5 emjacobs said:

Jul 16, 2012 16:17:38 GMT -5 FoxInFiji said:

OK I read you post and I'm no help sorry. But I need the answers to all of these questions myself.

Are you trying to say you are with fruit as well?

Yeah this!

Now to answer the original questions. In both my pregnancies I was able to do a lot. I felt pretty good most of the time, I was strong and healthy. I honestly carried on like normal.

As for work during nap time..ha! My child naps like 45 minutes a day so I'm no help. She does go to bed early, but by that time I'm too tired from work/house/kid to start a project. If you get an "avg" kid, you'll be fine to work during nap. I mean even with the 45 minutes I get I can manage laundry and floor mopping or a quick project.

For priorities...anything you would not want your kid in when they're mobile..and the areas you use the most so you have space for stuff.

[InBetweenDays]

I agree with the PP in that it really depends on your pregancy and your baby. I had very easy pregnancies with both DD and DS, so that didn't really slow me down in terms of working on projects. But once they were born things became VERY difficult.

Both DD and DS were horrible sleepers at night and cat nappers during the day. So getting anything significant done while they were sleeping was pretty much non-existant until they were close to a year.

[InBetweenDays]

Oh, and congrats!!

[jenjen]

Congrats!

While pregnant I didn't do much during 1st tri because of exhaustion. I did paint throughout my whole pregnancy with no voc paint. I had painting projects during all 3 trimesters and I just took more breaks and it took a little longer to do it but completely doable. I do have a large paint spot on the butt of my shorts and a shirt that I wore while painting- apparently I didn't know how big my ass was and backed into a door I had painted

I did yardwork/weeding/mulching until 34 weeks. At that point I was uncomfortable bending over and it was 100 degree outside and I was miserable so I quit.

For mat leave- how long are you off? I've been off 4 weeks and only managed to do laundry and dishes. I've been feeding the baby every 2-3 hours and that usually takes 30-60 minutes and for a while I had to pump before or after feedings so it took longer. There really wasn't any time during the day that I wasn't feeding/showering/eating or sleeping. I think maybe in a few weeks - if you had more than 8 weeks you might be able to do closet organizers.

You can really do almost everything you'd normally do (except heavy lifting) but just take breaks and know it will take you longer than normal.

[FoxInFiji]

Jul 16, 2012 16:21:30 GMT -5 emjacobs said:

Jul 16, 2012 16:17:38 GMT -5 FoxInFiji said:

OK I read you post and I'm no help sorry. But I need the answers to all of these questions myself.

Are you trying to say you are with fruit as well?

No but now that I have my PE we're going to start TTC after the majority of the master bathroom remodel and HW floors are done. Once those two things are done then we can move back into our master bedroom, unpack all of the boxes and disassembled furniture that is taking up the DR, and convert the room we're currently living in it into a nursery. But we still have a very long list of projects to work on after that. It would be nice to just put it all on hold for a few years but we know it will never get done if we don't keep working on them even if it's an extremely slow pace. I have some co-workers who are telling me that I should just forget about ever being able to do any remodeling ever again after we have kids. Just hire it all out. But they also find the remodels we're working on/finished mind boggling and couldn't ever imagine DIYing them so I need to take their advice with a grain of salt.

My issue is not so much the pregnancy but how much time can we realistically spend on house projects when we have a little one?

[wawa]

Jul 16, 2012 17:24:59 GMT -5 FoxInFiji said:

Jul 16, 2012 16:21:30 GMT -5 emjacobs said:

Are you trying to say you are with fruit as well?

No but now that I have my PE we're going to start TTC after the majority of the master bathroom remodel and HW floors are done. Once those two things are done then we can move back into our master bedroom, unpack all of the boxes and disassembled furniture that is taking up the DR, and convert the room we're currently living in it into a nursery. But we still have a very long list of projects to work on after that. It would be nice to just put it all on hold for a few years but we know it will never get done if we don't keep working on them even if it's an extremely slow pace. I have some co-workers who are telling me that I should just forget about ever being able to do any remodeling ever again after we have kids. Just hire it all out. But they also find the remodels we're working on/finished mind boggling and couldn't ever imagine DIYing them so I need to take their advice with a grain of salt.

My issue is not so much the pregnancy but what how much time can we realistically spend on house projects when we have a little one?

I'm with 'ya fox.

Right now the pregancy is foremost on my mind because we HAVE to be moved back upstairs by the time I pop out this kid and there is still so much to do. But there is no way I'm bringing a baby home to our current squatters lifestyle in the basement. But really there is going to be tons to get done after that, and it'll be interesting to see what happens to our already glacial reno pace.

Our friends have a basement reno that we helped with when she was pregnant with their 2nd (it was building a 3rd BR in their 2 BR house), and they got it to the point where the bedroom was usable, but they never actually finished it. No trim. No ceiling. No bathroom. That kid 2 years old now. MH recently made a comment about how it's never going to get done because the wife doesn't help anymore...but they've got a 3 year old and a 2 year old. Without packing the kids off for the day, it's not like they can both be down in the basement working for very long. I can definitely see the juggling being much harder once there is a kid in the picture, but I can't imagine just not getting ANYTHING done. (I mean, at least after the first few months of solid no-sleep zombie insanity)
.

[InBetweenDays]

Jul 16, 2012 17:24:59 GMT -5 FoxInFiji said:

Jul 16, 2012 16:21:30 GMT -5 emjacobs said:

Are you trying to say you are with fruit as well?

No but now that I have my PE we're going to start TTC after the majority of the master bathroom remodel and HW floors are done. Once those two things are done then we can move back into our master bedroom, unpack all of the boxes and disassembled furniture that is taking up the DR, and convert the room we're currently living in it into a nursery. But we still have a very long list of projects to work on after that. It would be nice to just put it all on hold for a few years but we know it will never get done if we don't keep working on them even if it's an extremely slow pace. I have some co-workers who are telling me that I should just forget about ever being able to do any remodeling ever again after we have kids. Just hire it all out. But they also find the remodels we're working on/finished mind boggling and couldn't ever imagine DIYing them so I need to take their advice with a grain of salt.

My issue is not so much the pregnancy but what how much time can we realistically spend on house projects when we have a little one?

It's hard, but doable, and just takes a lot longer. We just finished our basement with 2 kids (DD just turned 6, DS is 3.5). One of the first things we did was to make a nook under the stairs and painted it with chalkboard paint so they could play while we worked.

We also have them "help" us whenever we can. They helped to paint some of the walls, DD has helped me use the use the cordless drill/screwdriver to build our garden beds, and she helped me measure our trim work and our bathroom floor to lay the Marmoleum tiles. I love getting the kids involved, and having them learn from a young age the need to be safe with tools. But of course their attention span doesn't last long and beyond them helping you're relegated to either turning on the tv for them (which we don't like to do), waiting until they go to bed, or having one person work while the other plays with the kid(s).

We love DIY but after that we decided we were done for awhile (for any big projects) because it really does eat up most of your free time.

[FoxInFiji]

Jul 16, 2012 17:33:37 GMT -5 wawa said:

Our friends have a basement reno that we helped with when she was pregnant with their 2nd (it was building a 3rd BR in their 2 BR house), and they got it to the point where the bedroom was usable, but they never actually finished it. No trim. No ceiling. No bathroom. That kid 2 years old now. MH recently made a comment about how it's never going to get done because the wife doesn't help anymore...but they've got a 3 year old and a 2 year old. Without packing the kids off for the day, it's not like they can both be down in the basement working for very long. I can definitely see the juggling being much harder once there is a kid in the picture, but I can't imagine just not getting ANYTHING done. (I mean, at least after the first few months of solid no-sleep zombie insanity)
.

YES this is the kind of stuff I hear that scares the crap out of me! Not trying to sound mean but I hope it's more due to lack of ambition/drive that such simple things still aren't done after two years.

I help out a lot during our remodel but the majority of the heavy lifting and carpentry work is done by DH & my FIL. DH has an amazing work ethic and can be very motivated to get a project done as is my FIL. So we're hoping that between the two of them we can keep me on kid duty while they do most of the work. I'll still be doing all of the design, material selection, finding the best prices, and drawing everything in CAD like I currently do though. We also have family close by that hopefully can babysit on days we need all hands on deck. It's still very hard for me to wrap my head around how this is all going to play out when we have a kid.

[thewop]

Congratulations! We didn't do hardly any Reno while I was pg so I'm not much help. I can say though that now that we have dd I don't know how we will find the time to do the kitchen (which is still ina few years). We both work full time so all the time we have before she goes to bed is spent playing with her and its totally worth it so get done what you can now!

[ohjessica]

Hmmmm. I will say that for me, it was easier to get things accomplished while preggo as opposed to post-pregnancy.

We moved into our house when I was 8 months pregnant with my son. It doesn't seem we had as big of a job as you do, but I will say that the bulk of what I accomplished took place in that small time before I had my son. After he was born any progress slowed significantly. Then when I got pregnant with my daughter, forget it, I didn't even begin to accomplish anything again until recently.

We didn't have to redo the flooring (well, I did remove the carpet our second year in the house) or anything like that, but that's not to say that we don't need to do some reno, just that things were usable as is. I did make the nursery as my first room of focus. I know most people would say that's stupid, but here is my reasoning: I knew I would have my son spend the first months or so in our room, but I also knew that I eventually wanted him out of our room and into a crib. I also knew that my ability to set up and decorate would majorly be halted once he was born. I figured, bang out the nursery and I wouldn't have to deal with trying to set that up while tending to a newborn and it would be done and ready so I wouldn't have to worry about it when I wanted my room back.

Kids means that I get things done late at night when they are in bed or that DH and I have to trade off tending to the kids while the other one gets work done. This has unfortunately made for sloooooooow progress. 4.5 years later and we still have lots to do.

[ktzmoh]

Congratulations!!

I'd say think long and hard about what is on your super-priority list and try to get that done before the baby comes. If you let the baby sleep with you or in your room, you can hold of on the nursery for a bit.

I'd get the floors done earlier - those fumes were nasty and it's easier for you to go away somewhere for a long weekend while pregnant than for you to take a baby somewhere for a long weekend.

I'd say just be flexible and roll with whatever happens. Take it easy and make sure you rest when your body needs to rest. Pregnancies can be easy and you may be able to DIY house stuff right up until your due date. On the other hand - they can be hard and you may need bedrest or just be really sick for a while. Also, you have no idea who is going to hop out of your hooha. Maybe a super easy baby that sleeps well and doesn't mind the sound of a drill? - or maybe a very sensitive baby?

I had taxing pregnancies and was puking 6 times a day for months and months. But i got two very easy babies that napped easily. You never know, so stay flexible.

Congratulations!

[tcsbride]

The most honest answer I can give is, it depends, on A LOT! I'm an old Nestor so you may not know, but I now have a newly turned 5 yr old, 3 yr old and 19 mo old (hence why I'm not here much anymore). We bought our current house when I was 6 mo pregnant with my first a d it was a total remodel. During the pregnancy I could do everything I felt comfortable doing which was pretty much anything but move furniture.

He was 4 wks early so a super sleeper curled up in a sling on me. I couldn't do everything I wanted just because he was there and I was afraid (cook, paint, lift things, reach). I put him in the swing sometimes but didn't want to loose the bond. Remodeling slowed Saturn down because I just wanted to spend time with him and bond. At 4 mo we started the major part that included pretty much gutting the kitchen, family room, dining room and living room. It was really really tough, especially washing bottle in a bathtub! We had to hurry up and get the floors done because he started crawling at 6 mo and I couldn't keep him safe since he was a wild man.

Fast forward 4 years.....honestly, we've gotten very few projects done, and usually only because one of us takes the kids somewhere so the other has peace and quiet to work. We hate spending our weekends that way though. My mom stays home with our 3 and they destroy my house. I did put away is out of style now and what I didn't is broken. My furniture is pretty much all ruined and we need new floors everywhere. At this point I'm redoing everything and it sucks.....mostly from a money point though, as redecorating is the fun part of course.

Good luck! Have fun remodeling but don't work away your baby's first year just worrying about fitting in all the projects. The ti e will go by so quickly and I promise you'll regret not spending more time just cuddling with them.

[mrsemilys]

Congrats! I won't repeat what everyone else is saying but I definitely agree it depends on your pregnancy and how your child naps. I did a log in my last trimester as we had just moved into our house. Now I have a great napper so I get 3-4 hours to my self each day, which is how I tackle DIY projects.

[wawa]

Thanks for all the input and congrats ladies!

Fox - don't worry - those friends totally have a general motivation issue. it's not all the kids, though they are easy to blame from the change between "some progress" and "no progress". He's a lazy turd and she's really easily frazzled and can't focus on more than one task at a time. (not that she can't multitask in a minute to minute way. More of a macro thing. She can't make decisions about bathroom layout if she's also in the middle of a job hunt. Stuff like that.) Anyway - you are not them. By a loooooooong shot.