Little Bites

I love all the lessons I'm learning as a new mom. One of the most important things is to alter the expectations I have for myself. I used to spend hours on a task until it was complete, but now I need to work around Zoe's needs and there are definitely not hours in between those. So, I'm trying to take things in little bites, breaking my goals into tasks that are further broken down into tiny nibbles that are easily accomplished during naps. So, instead of "clean the dining room," my to-do list says:

• Remove glasses from dining room table
• Polish table
• Polish sideboard
• Vacuum
• Water plants

It gives me more things to cross of the list everyday and definitely makes me feel more accomplished. I'd say this is one of my greatest challenges so far. I've always been so driven that not getting things done has been really hard for me. I like feeling these little successes everytime I cross something off the list.

A fun book I got a few weeks ago, The Rookie Mom's Handbook, advised new moms to create a "Done" list with things like "Changed 8 dirty diapers," "Dressed and re-dressed baby three times," and "Nursed baby four times for 30 minutes each." I haven't done that yet, but seeing it down in writing would definitely help me see how very much I DO in a day. It may not be the tasks and chores on my chore list, but taking care of Zoe is so much more fun and rewarding that cleaning the dining room is anyhow!   

Exciting Week

This is indeed a very exciting week for me. My mom will be here on Thursday for her annual October birthday visit - her birthday, not mine. She also comes in May for her annual May/June birthday visit - Michele and my birthdays, not her own. So I have been aggressively cleaning the house in preparation for this wonderful visit. It's amazing how dirty EVERY room is not matter how far they are from the room where the construction happened. It's also amazing how much paint I accidently tracked throughout the house. I even got paint on the kitchen wall - the kitchen is through the upstairs hall down a flight of stairs, across a small landing, down another flight of stairs, across another landing, down a few more stairs, through a foyer, and across the side entry way - in other words, it's a LOOONG way from the new bathroom!

My other excitement is that Michele is coming home on Wednesday or Thursday for her very first vacation since starting her trucking career. Oh, so thrilling! I'm off for a week and a half starting Thursday to enjoy my time with these two wonderful ladies! We are going to have SO much fun! When Mum visits we spend copious amounts of time hanging out on the sun porch drinking tea and reading, talking, and napping. We rarely make plans, but this time we have plans for a Saturday morning birthday breakfast to celebrate Mum's and Deb's (my lovely friend Deb) October birthdays and then we're going apple picking. I'd like to then make some apple sauce and apple butter and do some canning. All summer, with the exception of the first batch of barbecue sauce, I've been canning solo, so it will be so much fun to have some canning company!

Well, so far, I only have the upstairs bathroom, workout room, and bedroom clean, so I'd better get busy!