Preparing for a new baby can be stressful and challenging, particularly if you’ve never done this before. Thankfully, a little phenomenon called “nesting” helps pregnant folks get fired up to do all the strange cleaning tasks they may have never done before (scrubbing baseboards with a toothbrush?), organizing the baby’s room, and completing unfinished home projects to prepare for their little one’s arrival. This mom’s viral video on TikTok shows what we all secretly want to do with our infants once they’re born—show off all of our hard nesting work.

Mom Macee Smith shared a video of her carrying her daughter around the house to show her all the things she did before her arrival, complete with the voiceover of Owen Wilson saying his infamous, “Wow. Wow! Wow.” Quite appropriate.

@maysee93

She obviously was happy this was all completed for her arrival. 😅😂 #extremenesting #nestingmommas #nesting #postpartum #momtok #momsontiktok #newborn

♬ original sound – Movies

The video begins with Smith showing her daughter the baseboards she had to clean while nesting, with the text “POV: Showing my baby all the extreme nesting and things we HAD to get done before she got here.”

Obviously, babies appreciate sparkling clean baseboards right? RIGHT?

Smith then shows her daughter the gorgeous floral “statement wall” in her nursery right above her crib, and the gorgeous light fixture that is just perfect for the room. She also showcases the beautiful freshly painted kitchen cabinets, and newly renovated shower that she completed during her intense nesting phase of pregnancy. All things babies totally will notice and appreciate.

So why in the world do we get these “nesting” urges and why do some of the tasks we have to complete feel totally unnecessary? According to the American Pregnancy Association, the official definition of nesting is “The urge to clean and organize … and the overwhelming desire to get your home ready for your new baby.” Not all women experience this urge, per the website, but apparently, if you do, your desire to “nest” is intensified if you’re having your baby in late spring or early summer. 

As far as the seemingly odd tasks, many women feel this urge to do super deep cleaning, remodeling, and reorganizing because they realize that the baby’s care is going to take up a ton of their time and energy, so they want everything to be clean and ready for when baby gets there and they don’t have time to do it, according to the website. And so they don’t have 1,000 unfinished projects to look at once the baby is here. 

Smith’s home looks beautiful, clean, and freshly remodeled, and I’m sure her infant truly appreciated all the time and effort it took to complete those tasks. At the very least, her daughter will appreciate all the time spent with her instead of scrubbing baseboards and painting cabinets. 

As Smith captioned her video, “She obviously was happy this was all completed for her arrival.”