August: Reflection & Rejuvenation

From the Nikki McClure Calendar

I missed a month of this! We went on our two-week summer vacation right at the start of July, so I didn’t have a chance to reflect on June and set my intentions for July. It’s probably better that way because July has basically been 2 weeks of vacation + 2 weeks of busting my butt to finish early-August deadlines. My first book deadline is August 1, and then I’m traveling to Austin to do some reading professional development for a charter school there. I’m actually really looking forward to getting past those deadlines and settling into a slower, yet still constant, stream of work.

Let me see how I did in June:

• Be the best mother and teacher I can be for my son, Henry. I have to remember that all the time and energy I put into parenting now is an investment in our future together. Specifically, I want to help Henry learn how to take naps on a bed instead of in a carrier or wrap. I also want to practice asking open-ended questions (e.g., “What did you think about that book?) instead of closed-ended questions (e.g., “Did you like the book?”). Yes! Henry now takes naps on my bed instead of in a carrier. Plus, I’ve been working on my question-asking.
• Maintain consistent posting on my two blogs: After I wrote this sad post, my dear friend, Marisa, called me for some heart-to-heart life coaching. She convinced me that I needed to put 2000 Dollar Wedding on a brief hiatus while I finished other major deadlines. Thanks, Marisa!
• Actively participate in Purposeful Conception: Preparing Your Mind, Body, and Life for Pregnancy: Yep! And now I’m getting e-mails from participants (and kindred spirits) who took the course and have since delivered babies. I love it!
• Send printed photos to the grandparents, like I promised to do every month for their Christmas presents last year: I did it late, but I did it!
• Study Spanish for 20 minutes every weekday (I do this while breast feeding): I am bombing on this one. Argh! I really need to figure this out.
• Attend a Montessori class with Henry and learn as much as I can: Yes!
• Plan a fun potluck picnic for the next silent film at Discovery Green: Yes!
• Make a video about implementing Montessori in the home: I decided not to do this. Our video footage isn’t really good, and it requires collaborating with Matt and commandeering some of his free time. Our free time is so sparse these days; I can’t really justify taking up some of his to work on my projects.
• Go on a date with Matt: Yes!
• Write the first chapter of my book: Um, I’m working on this. It will be done by my August 1st deadline!
• Travel to Florida with Henry for my brother’s graduation: Yes!
• Wrap up the end of the school year with my students: Yes!
• Read a self-development book and a parenting book: Yes!
• Create a new header for my Feeding the Soil blog: No, but I’m sponsoring a contest to get this done!
• Declutter our house: Yep!
• Plan a fun Father’s Day surprise: Yep!

And here are my intentions for the month of August:

• Be the best mother and teacher I can be for my son, Henry. I have to remember that all the time and energy I put into parenting now is an investment in our future together. Specifically, I want to help Henry learn how to take naps on his bed. I also want to help him learn how to sleep through the night. I also want to take him on daily outings. He’s starting to get very bored at home.
• Recruit participants for the next Purposeful Conception: Preparing Your Mind, Body, and Life for Pregnancy.
• Send printed photos to the grandparents, like I promised to do every month for their Christmas presents last year
• Study Spanish for 20 minutes every weekday
• Work on my 2000 Dollar Wedding book
• Work on the book that I am co-authoring about Montessori
• Get our house ready to go on the market at the beginning of September
• Find a rental house in Austin
• Update the look of this blog
• Sew a dress
• Travel to Austin to observe the charter school application interviews
• Plan something fun with friends (maybe a potluck at the drive-in?)

There’s one more project I really want to take on, but I don’t think I should. I need to stop packing my schedule so tightly. Henry naps twice during the day when we’re home together, so I get approximately three hours of work time, which never feels like enough.

I’ll be happy if I can tackle these!

What’s something you really hope to accomplish this month?