One of the many preconceived notions I had about pregnancy was to do with nesting: I had the idea in mind that I would want to spend all my free time during pregnancy cleaning and organizing the house. The image that kept coming back to me was scrubbing baseboards. I don’t think I have ever scrubbed a baseboard in my life, but every pregnancy article or blog post I’ve encountered on the subject of nesting has included the standard trope of the pregnant woman crawling around on the floor scrubbing baseboards.

That’s not happening over here, folks. I also feel a distinctly diminished desire to keep up with laundry and dishes, to make the bed in the morning, or to take the recycling out. Instead of spending my time and energy perfecting state of the house, I’d be happy to let it all fall into disarray while I nap. And shop.

Perhaps shopping is my nesting. Some real shopping, some compulsive window shopping. I can’t tell you how many “twin baby registry” articles I’ve pinned in the last few months, but…it’s a lot. I keep wondering if there’s some magical item I’ll need to feed the babies or help them sleep or keep their little butts clean. So I keep scouring these lists and reading reviews and asking people questions and adding things to the twins’ registry. (Help, am I missing anything?)

It’s not just baby items I think I need, though. I have become a shopping monster. Maternity clothes! Household items! Books! (Surely I’ll need my Kindle app to be fully loaded with reading material, right? Don’t laugh. I’m sure I’ll have plenty of time to read during my maternity leave.)

I think some of this shopping, both the real shopping and the online window shopping, is just my way of dealing with anxiety. In the same vein, I tend to get ready for a new school semester by (doing my necessary course prep work and) over-thinking what I’m going to wear on the first day. If I’m dressed right, I will create a good impression and set the right tone for a good semester, right? Perhaps I am over-shopping for maternity clothes in the hopes that if I’m dressed right for pregnancy, I’ll stay pregnant long enough for the babies to grow and ….oh, I’ll just leave off this lame psychoanalysis. I think we all get the picture — and I’m probably not alone in using shopping as an anxiety coping mechanism. At least a lot of it is just window shopping, aka “research,” which does not actually cost money.

At any rate, yesterday’s nesting/shopping mission involved the purchase of two key items that are sure to make the household more ready for the arrival of two little newborns: a dog bed and a cover for the ironing board. Well, fine. They may not be all that relevant, but see how comfortable Egon is in his spiffy new bed?

NB: I would also like to take this opportunity to suggest that if you are looking for pet beds that you try out places like TJ Maxx. I never would have thought of it, but they apparently carry tons of them at good prices. This type of dog bed seems to cost anywhere from $50-100 in all the other places I have looked, but was only $30 at TJ Maxx. I was psyched, let me tell you.

The ironing board cover was a surprise for my husband, who STRANGELY didn’t seem too excited by it. He irons a shirt for work every night before bed, and the old ironing board cover was all scorched and raggedy and the layer of foam padding was coming out and constantly tearing, bunching up, creating lumps, and getting in the way. It was a nightmare, which I noticed when I did my semi-annual ironing of a shirt last week. (What can I say? I’m a wash-and-wear kind of gal.) So imagine how pleased I was to find a PREMIUM, DELUXE, SUPER FAWNCY ironing board cover for a mere $10. It was the kind with the padding quilted in, scorch protection, and adjustable bands for tightening it to just the right fit. An ironer’s dream. The Cadillac of covers. I hate ironing and only do it twice a year and even I was super excited about this awesome ironing board cover. But yeah. My husband was all like, “When you said you got me a ‘surprise,’ I thought it was going to be something … cool.”

Harrumph. At least the dog was excited!