Even though I’d been having *some* preterm labor at the beginning of November, I didn’t dream that I would be on full-time bed rest by the end, with the hope that the baby could at least stay put until December at the very least.
With that change in plans, many of my goals went on the back burner (as they should, really). I still am setting some goals for December, mostly just to have something to focus on beyond just hoping the baby will stay put for one more day, but I don’t anticipate that this will be a particularly productive month, either. And I’m okay with that! After all, what better season to be forced to slow down a little (okay, a lot), and enjoy my family?
And by the end of this month, I should be cuddling my newborn son in my arms, which is especially fitting as I think of another Babe that we celebrate at this special time of the year. Bed rest might drive me crazy in many respects, but one thing it HAS done is offer me a huge dose of perspective—about what’s most important, about sacrifice and service, and about the goodness of God. I feel very blessed.
So, even though November didn’t shake out as planned, I really am just grateful that anything got done at all, and that the most important things (which are not listed) got their due.
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November Goals
Do majority of Christmas shopping- I got about 75% done, which isn’t *quite* as much as I was hoping for, but which is still a big load off my mind. Of course, WRAPPING it all should be interesting in this state…
Put up all Christmas decorations (including outside lights)- I’m counting this as done, even though we’re not at 100%. We actually did get our outside lights up for the first time this year, but…we didn’t test them before we hung them and a strand is not working. (I mean, I figured they were brand new so we didn’t need to, but…now we know.) So unfortunately, we might not really be enjoying all of Matt’s hard work to get them up this year. But we’ve definitely learned from our mistake! (And if the snow ever melts–doubtful for this month, but possible–Matt will get up there again and have one last go at them.)
Host Friendsgiving- With how much I was hit with preterm labor right before this happened (a couple days before is when I was basically put on full-time bed rest), I was SO happy this happened at all. And this year, it was SO FUN. I mean, every year it’s fun, but this year the kids were all basically old enough to kind of entertain and watch out for each other, so we adults even got a game in! (Play Nine, in case you’re interested—it’s one of our new favorites.)
Buy fresh flowers- I bought some orange chrysanthemums for our Friendsgiving table, which meant that I completed my 101 in 1001 goal of buying fresh flowers every month for 6 months. Such a small thing, but I’ve just loved how they’ve perked up our kitchen this past half year! I plan to continue this.
- Go on day adventure
- This didn’t happen, largely because I ended up not really able to do much or go anywhere for the majority of the month. We did make an unexpected family reunion on Matt’s side though, which was a lot of fun.
- Go to chiropractor
- I’d planned to do this for sure, but then when I was put on bed rest, I was worried that ANY tweaks to my body might send me into active labor, so I’m planning on going this month after the baby is here.
Get haircut- I got this one done at the very end of the month while my mom was home to watch the kids. I only cut off about 2-3 inches, but she cut out a TON of the bulk (my hair is super thick), so I feel like I lost a pound or two. Really glad I was able to fit this in before baby’s arrival.
- Start hypnobirthing practice
- I didn’t want anything that encouraged the labor process, so I decided against this one (since many of the hypnobirthing meditations involve visualization of the labor process and the body’s preparation for labor). (If you want to read more about my previous experiences with hypnobirthing though, you can check out this post.)
- Order + install new hardware for mud bench
- I was able to order all the hardware, but the screws that came with it are just a tad too long for the mud bench, so we need to buy some shorter ones. I’m hoping my mom can help us do this in the next couple weeks, since she’ll be at our house helping out a lot. (FYI, we get our hardware online through D. Lawless Hardware because their selection is huge and their prices are awesome.)
Finish organizing garage + install hooks- Once again, this isn’t 100% done–we still need to install the bike rack on the ceiling and one more hook for our reusable grocery bags, but I’m counting this as done since we can now both park easily in the garage. We got a tool/yard utensil rack (similar to this one) that got a bunch of stuff off the floor and then just used basic $1 hooks from the hardware store to hang up things like our lawn chairs. It’s made a huge difference to have most everything off the floor!
- Winterize chicken coop
- The more we researched this, the more we realized we don’t really have a ton to do, especially as we purposely bought winter-hardy breeds of hens. We did put in some extra wood shavings as bedding and Matt put in a roost that wasn’t there before, but we ended up deciding they didn’t need a heat lamp like we thought (after doing much research), and the only thing we really have left to do is buy a heated water dispenser, since theirs keeps freezing. So I’ll count this as partially done.
Install new baby gate- My sister gave us their old baby gate (which permanently hooks into the wall), and it’s been SO GREAT. It was getting really hard for me to continually step over the other one (especially while holding Mathias), so having one that we can just open has been a lifesaver, especially since it allows Raven to go up and down at will now, too.
- Wash comforter
- Nope. I might see if I or my mom can do this one of the times she’s up here (since it involves going to a laundromat).
- List Mazda
- Ah, the perma-goal that’s such a thorn in my side right now. We finally gave up looking for the title and sent in for a new one. The trouble was, because we didn’t have the old one, we didn’t know the exact phrasing of some of the information, so now we have to try again. Oh, and we need to get a statement from the bank saying there’s no lien on it. Also, we need to get my father-in-law’s signature, who currently lives in Hawaii. I know that all in all, it’s probably only an hour’s worth of work left on my end, but it’s just getting annoying. Rollover goal (sigh).
- Make 5 new Food Nanny recipes
- I made one. Cooking new recipes somehow just didn’t make the top of the list this month, for some reason…
- Finish studying April General Conference talks
- I only have one left, so this one’s *basically* done, which is why you’ll notice I’m not rolling over the goal to December.
- Read 4 books towards Backlist Blowout Challenge
- I got a tad overambitious with this, methinks. I did read one book that officially fulfills one of the slots (Parnassus on Wheels) and have gotten several others from the library and pulled some of my own off the shelf, but I wasn’t even close on this. (For more info on what this backlist challenge entails, check out this post.)
Other Accomplishments:
- We sold the old van!
- Oh man, this one was such a relief! We used the money to pay off the rest of what was on our credit card (which we’d used to put down the original down payment on our new minivan), and we put the rest towards the principal of that new van. Our goal to pay off our new (to us) minivan by June will be a stretch, but at least we’re now making visible progress!
December Goals
It’s a little hard planning out a month when the baby could come tonight or possibly as late as Christmas, but I decided to set goals anyway just to give me something to focus all my restless energy on (not that I’m able to move around much to complete all these, but we can pretend).
- Set up car seats
- This is the #1 priority for the month, and seeing as they won’t let us bring the baby home from the hospital otherwise, I’m pretty sure this one will get done no matter what. Nice to give myself an easy win!
- Meet with chiropractor
- Once I’m no longer pregnant, I want to see if a visit to a chiropractor can fix the back issues I’ve been having for over a year. I’d like to eventually start exercising again (since I haven’t been able to since last November), and once I’m 6-8 weeks postpartum, I think that would be a natural time to start up again as long as my back issue is better.
- Install hardware on mud bench
- Rollover goal. I seriously can’t wait for this to be done because it will make a HUGE difference in how much clutter is by our side entrance. (We splurged a bit and got these hooks, FYI)
- Install hooks in downstairs bathroom
- I was just shy of the minimum order for free shipping from D. Lawless Hardware, so I decided to upgrade the hardware in the basement bathroom, too. Matt already switched out the cabinet hardware, and now we just need to put up the towel hooks. (We got these ones, in case you’re curious.)
- Wash comforter
- Eternal rollover goal.
- Get Mazda title
- Maybe if I break this goal into two parts, I’ll at least be able to cross off one of them?
- List Mazda
- The forever goal.
- Celebrate Winter Solstice
- One of my 101 in 1001 goals is to celebrate a holiday I normally don’t. Since we’re basically stuck at home this Christmas season (after this weekend, we virtually have no parties to go to until the very end of the month, just because of my bed rest status), I wanted to do something kind of special. Since I’ve always looked forward to the Winter Solstice (since it means that we’re gradually starting to get more daylight at that point), I thought it would be fun to do something to celebrate it this year. I haven’t quite decided what we’ll do yet, but I’m hoping we’ll be able to figure something out.
- Write thank you cards
- I have been stunned (often to tears) over and over again at the amount of help and care and service we’ve received since I’ve been put on bed rest. I’m starting to keep a running list of thank-you cards to write, and the list is already getting pretty long!
- Read two books for Backlist Blowout Challenge
- Four was a little ambitious last month, so we’ll try going for two. I have plenty of options checked out right now from the library (or that I own already), so the problem will really be narrowing it down and finding the energy to read.
I hope that no matter what this month brings for you that you have a wonderful holiday season! Thank you so much for coming to my little corner of the Internet—I wouldn’t keep doing this if it weren’t for you lovely readers!
