Thursday, February 5, 2009

Sing For The Moment...

Two weeks and 3 days left of my maternity leave. This has been the absolute fastest 6 weeks of my life. Go figure, right? Countless friends (mother type friends) warned me to stop worrying about getting the laundry done and concentrate on bonding with my sweet baby. I tried, I really did! I was even successful some of the time, but I still have this nagging list of items that I really want to accomplish before my maternity leave is done. My reasoning is that these items hanging out on my to do list will prevent me from spending as much quality time as possible with my husband and child when I do finally go back to work.

Most of the to do list involves decluttering and purging. I managed to donate 4 bags of clothing to Big Brothers and Sisters last week. I have WAY less clothing now. This is good - I got rid of things that were out of fashion, or just weren't my style. I figure that if I got it off a hanger now, there is less of an opportunity for me to pull it down, try it on, and in frustration throw it on the floor because I still don't like it, and inevitably have it end up in my dirty laundry pile.

Four 13 gallon bags of clothing is pretty good, but I could have easily filled up 10-12 more and just ran out of time before the pick-up truck arrived.

Other things that still need to be done? Paperwork! I am the queen of keeping bills, statements, and junk mail for ridiculous amounts of time because I'm too lazy to go through it. Oh, and I have mail anxiety. More specifically, bill anxiety. Stupid, but opening bills makes me nervous, and for some reason e-bills have no affect on me, so I pay all our bills online. However, all these statements still come to the house, so I throw them in a corner to be dealt with later. I've been doing this for years now, and have amassed quite a bit of paper. I just need to DEAL with it finally.

I could bore you all with a long list of the things I need to get done in the next 2 weeks, but instead I will leave you with proof that I am also making plenty of time for MPG.

From Mikey 2.4.09


From Mikey 2.4.09


From Mikey's Sleeping Feet


From Mikey's Sleeping Feet

5 comments:

  1. I know just how you feel. My mother always told me something her mother told her. Your laundry and housework will always be there, your children won't. I like that advice. Baby boy is getting so big already.

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  2. I had a HUGE to-do list, especially after being on bedrest for 3 weeks prior to Michael's birth, and not being able to drive for another two weeks after that. I was going crazy not being able to get it done. And one of them was to go through my hubby and my clothes and get rid of it too. It was driving me nuts because my closet was busting at the seams. Everyone I talked to said not to worry about it, just hold your baby and bond with him, but I couldn't relax and really enjoy my baby until I had everything done.

    I kept plugging away at my list, and I finally got to a point where I was ok with the remaining items on the list because they weren't as urgent, and I wasn't stressing about it anymore. I am now able to bond with baby alot more than if they weren't done. Mostly because when I'm "just holding him", I'm not staring at the pile of clothes or the unpainted patches on my walls anymore. I was so anxious about not getting the things done before that I couldn't really relax and enjoy my baby the way I can now.

    I was surprised how little time most of it took once I finally did it. I realized I worried and stressed about it longer than it took to get it done. I'm glad they are done now! Granted, my to-do list is a rotating one, but at least I don't have to stress about it anymore because I chip away at it little by little. It's all about balance to me, and it looks like it will be for as long as I'm a mom.

    Although I understand people's comments about the housework always being there, if you don't do it, it will only get worse!!!

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  3. Daddy/baby pics are so cute! And the one with MPG in the sink with the Dawn right beside him is so funny. "You're washing me with what!?!?"

    Go out and buy yourself a shredder this very second and just shred all that paper in the corner. If they're that old and you pay all your bills online then don't even open them. Just shred. You'll feel really good :)

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  4. Ditto to what Vicki said--first thing I thought was, "Oh, I know they are not using dishwashing liquid on that baby!" And I know you're not. It was just funny.

    Love the pictures--he's getting so big!

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  5. Brooke - It is good advice... but I've learned that it just isn't practical for me. It takes a LOT of effort on my part to keep my house in order. I'm fortunate to have this time off of work to spend time with little guy and get some projects done. I guess it is all about balance, lol.

    Heidi - Thanks for sharing your experience. I think that is what I'm working towards... getting to an acceptable level of items marked off my to do list :)

    Vicki - I have a paper shredder, but with the amount of paperwork we have to shred, that would take a good year. Back when Guinness was a puppy he dug up a big hole in the backyard - we are going to use it as a firepit and burn all the paperwork :)

    Lula - Thanks for stopping by! You and Vicki crack me up... but they should so make Dawn in a "No Tears" formula... just in case someone didn't know better, lol.

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