Another interesting weekend, that’s for sure. I am, at least, single digits away from my due date, although I think everyone around here wishes that number counted hours and not days. I have, for the record, unequivocally learned what a contraction is. And let me tell you, I did not know it when I felt it. All you pregnant ladies out there who are being told “You’ll know it when you feel it,” if you feel confused, it’s ok! You might NOT know it, specifically if you’ve never felt it before. And if you’ve spent the summer having pain from other unidenifieable diseases, that can make you feel confused about pain in general. I needed machines and medical personnel to help me identify what was happening in my body and am hopefully now more equipped to figure things out as they progress. From what I’ve been told, however, my body is doing exactly what it is supposed to. I am dialating, I am about 80% effaced, and Camper is strong and well. So patience. Now what I need is some patience.
I’ve been gearing up for Mommy-life so much that I’m just so anxious for it to start. I’ve had to do some serious mental adjustment to get myself ready (as ready as possible) for staying home from work and school to concentrate on my baby and family- and I’m all set to give this a total go. Taking care of Camper won’t be hard for me to deal with, but it will be the other Mommy-skills that will be an adjustment. I’ve come to see that there are a few types of Mommies. Among them are the kind that just barely get through life subsisting on daytime television and the bare minimum amounts of laundry, and then there are kinds that DO things. All kinds of things. So I’ve picked some things to work on.
I’ve made a list of 31 things I think I can cook. I plan on cooking them. For us. To eat. So we’ll see how that goes. I’ve been threatening to learn to cook for awhile, but I think this might be my best chance as I’ll want to make sure I’m eating healthily to lose the baby weight and provide my baby with nutrients.
And then there’s Camper’s Halloween costume, which I’ve already started. He’s going to be an OWL! Isn’t that seriously, the cutest, the very cutest thing you can think of? Then there’s supporting my husband as he finishes his last semester of school. I’m not sure if I could have gotten through my last semester without him pushing me along and helping me focus, and I want to do the same thing for him. Soon we will both be graduates, and with that comes our other plans. We both need to select a variety of schools to apply to for grad programs, and we both need to take the GRE. Now…that might not fit in with the normal “mommy-skills and activities” arena, but it does to me.
Then there are the household responsibilities, which include regular cleaning and laundry, etc., but I’ll also need to prepare for “the move,” which to me could seriously be a three month long process. It includes investigating and systematizing our belongings so that when it’s time to pack we can do so efficiently and quickly, and selling things we won’t be hauling across the country with us. It also includes doing this in a way that doesn’t drive John prematurely crazy with my obsessive, premature planning needs. Tricky…
Another thing I’ve been wanting to do FOREVER is working through an HTML book John got me months ago. I’ve been saying I was gonna do it for a long time and need to just open it up and start. I’ve already got a bit of an understanding of what’s going on there, but if I want to do the CSS book next I need a much, much more solid grasp of it all. Along with that goal is the ever-present and tempting thought of working some SEO magic on my blog, getting more into social networking. I’ve been reading a lot more blogs lately and gotten a lot of ideas about things I want to do and change with my own.
And finally, the biggest project I want to work on between baby-OUT time and Christmas is…well, me. I want to cultivate and stick to healthier eating patterns. (Self-control, anyone?) I’d like to exercise, both with Camper in tow and without, and I’d like to make sure that I’m doing what I can to be healthy- even healthier than I was before I got pregnant. Cause let’s be honest, there’s some magic age when you just simply can’t eat McDonald’s and Burger Supreme every day and expect to be able to zip your jeans and walk up a hill. And I think that having a baby catapults you into that age. My IDEAL situation is to be able to have a long walk with Camper (either outside, or at the mall when it gets too cold) and then when John is home to be able to either go swimming or do an exercise video or find an aerobics class or something a little more hard core. That way…it’ll be like TWO types of exercise a day. Perhaps Moms everywhere are chuckling to themselves…but we’ll see. We will see.
It all comes down to this- I have a few weeks of nothing but unadulterated Mommyhood ahead of me. Before we move, before I start looking for schools and baby-friendly job, etc. and I want to see this as a challenge, see how much I can do, how many habits I can form to better myself and offspring. And as I’m finishing this post I see myself after a night of a million feedings in dirty PJ’s staring glazingly at the wall wondering what my middle name is. You know, either way.
