[March Update]
Go to sleep earlier. I pretty much failed completely at this. I wanted to be IN bed by 10 pm and read for 30 minutes, but I ended up not turning off the light/my phone until 11 pm or later most nights. 11:30 bedtime + 2-3 hours of insomnia + 7 am Gabe waking up = tiredness.
Plan some sort of pre-baby getaway. Indeed! We drove to Asheville, North Carolina for two nights, then to Atlanta for two nights. It was a lot of driving and a few mishaps, but it was a pretty good final ‘pre-baby’ trip. Mostly because we saw FLOWERS and it was WARM. Babymoon sounds too much like something involving a baby mooning me or something, so I can’t bring myself to use it.
Put down my phone when Gabe is talking to me. Eh, usually. It was hard to remember! And often, I’ll be reading a magazine or book while hanging out with him and wondered if that’s maybe the same thing…but I’d rather him see “reading is important” modeled than “mom’s phone is important.” I want to continue this – turning my body and attention away from my computer or when he’s talking to me (not just NEAR me, little chatterbox that he is).
Read through Zoe’s Learn Web Fonts to learn even more. Done! It was far less confusing than I anticipated – in fact I actually knew most of the material, but it was good to reinforce what I knew. (I usually use web fonts a certain way, but wanted to learn more about considerations in choosing web fonts, how to use @font-face in my CSS if needed, etc)
[April Intentions]
Yoga/weight lifting/walking 3x a week. My hip pain has been unkind to me and yoga cures all. Plus, I remember from being pregnant with Gabe that exercise actually gives me *more* energy, even when I’m too tired to really exercise. (Let’s hope that godforsaken snow stays away and I can get outside and walk!)
Work on the pre-baby list. First up: summer plans. Last summer, Mike and I made a child care/work juggling calendar and it worked really well for me. With preschool ending soon for the summer, job changes for Mike, and about 80 days until my due date, I’d like to have answers to questions about summer and a child care plan for up until my due date. Also to work on: decluttering, donation drop offs, and picking up a few items we’ll need.
Be social. Go to one moms club event, or otherwise plan some friend time, each week. Friends are good. I need to be a better friend and that starts by showing up.
Work like a madwoman. My plan for this year has been to work like crazy until I have the baby, then hopefully get to take two months of maternity leave before jumping back in. I’ve done the baby thing before, but I haven’t done the baby-thing-while-being-solely-self-employed thing before. I started working with clients a few weeks after Gabe was born, but I know that second babies aren’t first babies and EVERYTHING IS DIFFERENT. So, I’d like to give myself a buffer of two months. Though I’m a little concerned about how getting out of practice will feel – I know even when we leave for a few nights, I feel so out of whack with my client communications and work groove that it takes a few days to adjust. So, we shall see what happens there. Regardless – I want to work a lot, earn more, and have that cushion so that I can take time off, then adjust as needed. Plus, we still need to figure out the whole child care piece.
Practice The Cure for Distraction. When I read this post, I knew I needed to bring back some non-multitasking (er, clicking around) into my life. For more effieciency, I’m going to try and practice this method (which is sort of a combo with the Pomodoro technique – a fancy way to talk about using timers while working). I can feel my brain getting frenetic when I start bouncing around between tabs, between work and social media, between checking the weather and blogging, etc.
Alright, let’s get to work! :)
You’re not messing around this month. Lots of goals, serious goals, but goals that will hopefully set the stage for a smooth maternity leave (smooth as in, the business stuff is taken care of, so you can focus on baby). Good luck!
Loved seeing your trip pictures on Instagram. Asheville looks amazing, I really need to get there. I am so glad that you all went on a trip to someplace warm. You deserve it, this winter has just been brutal.
Great goals for April – I’m sure once you get the childcare thing figured out that will be a HUGE weight off your shoulders!
My goal for April is for it to be awesome. Ironically yesterday on the first day of the month I had a really hard day, but I’m trying to scatter enough things around throughout the month for their to be light days too (including blog giveaways every week!)
I don’t like the term “babymoon” either- sounds weird. We went on a big trip and a small trip while I was pregnant but I didn’t call either a babymoon :)
I think 2 months sounds like a good amount of time off from work- like you said you don’t know what this baby will be like and/or what it will be like balancing the new kiddo and Gabe (ps. I almost said he, so I guess I think you are having a boy!)
Confession: I’ve never understood the need for terms like baby moon and then “push gift.” To me having a baby is a gift enough. Anyway.
So glad you were able to get away; I hear amazing things about Asheville! Aand because I love pictures, love the one of you and Gabe. You are such a pretty family.