Reflection & Rejuvenation: March
Ah, March. Welcome!
This year is divided into chunks for me: Jan. and Feb. were all about finishing up the charter application. March-June are more about stasis (still working on the school, still doing my other part-time job, enjoying our family of three before it expands), July-September are about the new baby and adjusting to our new life, Oct.-Dec. will hopefully be about getting back into work as the superintendent/principal of a new charter school (fingers crossed), while parenting a young child.
Our house is moving along slowly. They’ve still only built the foundation. I’m not letting myself get stressed about it in any way.
I finally decided to make a list of everything that needs to get done before the new baby arrives:
- Make and freeze meals (P.S. I picked up the book at the library, and it’s awesome!)
- Organize our recipe binder
- Finalize Henry’s baby binder
- Make a binder for the new baby
- Update our scrapbook for the year
- Organize our garage
- Organize Henry’s clothes for the new baby
- Find summer daycare for Henry
- Plan our baby shower party
- Organize our closet
- Organize our bathroom
- Purge our bookshelves (again)
- Prepare for the birth (the midwife gives us a checklist of things to purchase and set-up)
- Make frozen comfrey tea compresses to promote vaginal healing after the birth
- Write thank you cards
- Make a baby blanket
- Continue to write the baby letters
It’s a little overwhelming to see everything listed like that, but when I broke it up over four months, it’s much less intimidating.
So here are my goals for this month:
- Fully immerse myself in this round of Purposeful Conception.
- Work on the publicity I need to do for 2000 Dollar Wedding.
- Organize our recipe binder.
- Finalize Henry’s baby binder.
- Make a binder for the new baby.
- Organize Henry’s clothes.
- Find summer daycare.
- Enjoy our vacation.
Keep up my cumulative resolutions:
- Drink Enough Water: Yes!
- Read Before Bed: Yes!
- Practice Gratitude Every Night: Yes!
And add a new one in:
- Let Matt parent his way as much as possible. I definitely have strong opinions about how to talk to Henry, how to parent, etc. Although I still want to talk through these ideas with Matt, I don’t want to offer suggestions or comments in the moment when he’s parenting (to the greatest extent possible). I want to step back and give him space to parent his way.
Photo Courtesy of the Nikki McClure Calendar
2 Comments
Anonymous
I admire your new resolution! Stepping back and letting others work, without adding comments or criticism, is a big challenge for me and my husband. It's remarkable how debilitating/discouraging the constant hovering and criticizing can be, but it's also remarkable how hard it is to stop!!
Elizabeth Rafert
Your last goal reminds me of a Montessori adage: teach by teaching, not by correcting. It's so hard to step back and keep your mouth shut, though! This is one of my goals for when our baby gets here, too. 🙂