[April Update]
Yoga/weight lifting/walking 3x a week. Before the last third of the month left me ridiculously ill, I was good about staying active. I’m slowly getting back into it – but dehydration hangover and blah blah blah.
Work on the pre-baby list. I bought almost everything we’ll ‘need’ – well, a new stroller (our old one is shot – still got a single and used my Christmas money!), newborn cloth diapers (this kit, specifically), a new pail liner and detergent for cloth diapers. And a car seat (old hand-me-down had expired). Still no sound machine, but I figure we’ll be using fans for most of the summer, so that covers that base. Oh! And we need an Ergo infant insert. Went on two hospital tours and gave about half of our donations to Gabe’s school for a rummage sale fundraiser, but we still have a giant donation pile waiting to be extracted from our bedroom. I think we’re hoping we’ll be adding to it, but our decluttering efforts have taken the back burner while we burn the candle at both ends.
Be social (go to one social thing each week). Yes! I did see friends and go to moms club events at least once a week. It was fun.
Work like a madwoman. Indeed. I’ve been working much more, despite being sidelined due to Plague of Much Illness for a solid 5 days (and then being super tired for 5 more days so far), I finished launching 1 of 5 (!!) websites. So. This goal will continue into May!
Practice The Cure for Distraction. Eh. I did okay at this. I often forgot and found myself somehow checking Twitter in the middle of a Pomodoro timer segment. (Right now I’m typing this blog post in Write or Die, which I recommend to really beat all distraction while writing!)
[May Intentions]
Put my phone in another room (or at least across the room) at night. While reading this blog, I came across this link about sleep rituals and was inspired. I wondered what would happen if I left my phone in another room overnight. I hardcore depend on my phone at night. I have used my cellphone as an alarm clock for the past 9 years. I’m not sure if I’ve ever owned a proper alarm clock, in fact. Also, I use it as white noise or a lullaby to help me fall back asleep at night, I use the sleep tracker to see how restless I was (SO depressing lately), as a nightlight for my frequent bathroom trips, and as a clock when Gabe crawls into our bed and I wonder, “Is it late enough to get up already??” I am not sure how I’ll survive without it, but I am hoping my body will be better about falling back asleep if I don’t have a light to look at in the middle of the night? And goodness knows I could do without checking my blasted email while walking to the bathroom at 3 am! So. Gulp. Here goes!
Take Gabe to swim lessons. This is the last opportunity to take him to swim lessons where a parent gets in the water with him, so I signed him up. He’s a bit of a nervous little guy, so I know he’d be so much more reluctant to go alone. Plus also, I figured it would be nice to have a little Gabe-and-Mama time set aside each week and a little pregnant-body-in-the-pool time. And it’s not terribly cold out, so I don’t dread the idea. I’m not big into taking classes with little ones (I figure I have maaaany years in the future of shuttling children to and from various practices, so I’ll keep our life quiet and simple while we can), but I had to take advantage of this!
Attend WordCamp. I’m going to attend a conference that’s all about WordPress. It’s pretty casual, which is good since I’ll be so pregnant I’ll probably scare people. I am, of course, a little nervous about it. But, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity when it’s so relevant to what I do and only 30 minutes away. That never happens. So! Let’s nerd out about theme customization best practices, using Chrome as a dev tool, custom post types, and client admin UX! I’m pretty excited.
Work like a madwoman. Like I said, that goal has to continue this month. Four more websites to launch, a dozen more newspaper ads to design, some business cards to update and order, and more client work that I can’t remember right now. It’s nice to have something focus on aside from just waiting for a baby, but also a leetle nerve-wracking to cram in so much. It’s go time!
There are options to the Ergo insert – like simple receiving blankets! Save that $!
I’m working on the ‘distractions’ as well. Except…here I am? Back to work!
Oooh, I like that! Saving money on something I’ll only use a few months anyway. Any tips?
We used a rolled up hand towel in the bottom of the ergo when we forgot the insert! It was kind of a waste of money to buy one :)
I was actually going to say this! The insert kind of annoyed me actually and I wouldn’t buy it again if I was doing it over :) Max didn’t use it for that long and he was 4 weeks early, so I wouldn’t waste your money personally.
Well, it’s decided! No insert needed. :) Thanks for saving me money, guys!
Also, the link to the newborn diaper kit isn’t working, would you mind relinking? I’m interested… Thanks!
I will! Here it is in full form: http://www.cottonbabies.com/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=148
I really appreciated that article about sleeping, I definitely need to change up some of my sleep habits as they are, currently, more like “non-sleeping” habits. Sigh. I really like the idea of taking a hard-stop at 9:30 every night to go on a walk and then stay off your electronics. Gonna try something like that for a little while and see if it helps.
xox
I think you are rockin’ the goals momma! Keep it up in May and before you know it, it will be June! Yay!!!
One trick I use for me when it comes to bed time/the cell phone: I hide it under my bed. This way it’s there if I need to receive a phone call in the middle of the night (old habit from when I was dealing with my mom in & out of the hospital and I can’t break it for some reason) but out of sight so I don’t really do anything with it. I’m also consciously picking up a book or my nook (which is used for reading only) when I get into bed, rather than picking up my cell phone. It’s a slow work in progress as I regress some days, but I figure it’s progress, right?
I agree about the ergo insert – no need to purchase one. I just used our sling for those few weeks of “tiny-babyness”, and then put the baby in the Ergo once he/she was bigger.