Getting My Life Together

When you have a baby on the way, you get very reflective.  Okay, maybe I should speak for myself. 

I've recently gotten very reflective of how I live my life and a few of the things that make it more difficult to lead.  After thinking about it for several hours, I came up with a few idea of how I can get my life together and make things easier for me and for those around me. 

1//  I unsubscribed to 20+ email lists. 

      Every time I looked at my personal email, I was feeling overwhelmed.  There were 500+ emails and they just kept pouring in.  Just looking at the little red notification on my phone was killing me. 

Over the past few weeks I had been non-noncommittally unsubscribing when I ran into offer emails I didn't care to see all the time, but it really wasn't making a dent. Eventually I set up Unroll Me.

 

What I like about Unroll Me:

A//  You can mass unsubscribe to all those emails you don't care for. 

B//   You can add select emails that you still want to receive to your "Roll Up".  Your roll up will    show all the selected emails in one pretty email that is far less overwhelming that 500+ notifications on your email.

2//  Corey and I started a weekly routine

 

      Friday nights, I make a meal plan for the week. 

      Sunday during the day, Corey and I go grocery shopping. 

      Each weeknight (usually with the exception of Fridays) I make dinner.

      I also do the dishes and clean up dinner...This is  my least favorite part of my evenings. 

      Every Wednesday Corey goes out and plays kick ball.  

...and then we start all over again.

What I like about our routine:

A// I don't get overwhelmed with the "what are we going eat tonight" dilemma over and over again.  It does happen on occasion, but it's a lot less frequently. 

B// My kitchen is usually clean when I go to cook the next night, thus keeping me from feeling stressed out around meal time every night. 

C// We save a lot of money!

3//  I made a plan to pay off my debts faster. 

No one likes knowing that they owe money to someone or an organization.  I am no different.  Over the last few weeks I've been looking at what I owe (it's not a ton, but enough to make me want (read "need") a plan) and I've been formulating a plan to get ride of it.  

What I like about planning to demolish my debts:

A// My current stress level has significantly diminished because I'm not constantly thinking about the daunting number.  I have a plan and I'm ready to deal with it. 

B// Corey and I will only be in this lease until next spring.  Knowing that my debts will be getting smaller and smaller every month makes our goals to purchase a  home or a new car or whatever else we need seem much more attainable. 

Preparing for a baby is a lot of work, but it's really helped put a lot of things in perspective for me.  I think I know what matters now, but I expect things to change a lot once my baby comes.  I guess my best bet is to try my best to be prepared.

 

Since I Wrote Last

So many times I have sat down after work and thought, "Maybe I'll write in my blog tonight"  and so many times I have chosen not to.  I love to blog, but when life gets busy the blog tends to be the first thing to go to the wayside. 
Today, though, I got home from work, put my feet up and thought "how could I seriously have not touched my blog basically my entire pregnancy?!"  So here I am.  Writing. 

Since the last time a wrote, a whole lot has changed.  That tends to happen with me.  I spend a few days (read months)  away from my blog and the world turns completely upside down. 
First things first: 

I'm now 30 week pregnant.  Quite a few times I've look aged my belly and thought, "I just haven't gotten any bigger..."  Then I go through some older pictures are realize that I'm most definitely wrong. 

Over the past few weeks I've been enjoying an extremely active baby.  When I get comfortable, she starts to bounce off the walls of belly.  She seems to love it when I eat breakfast and has recently taken up residence in my rib cage while I'm trying to work. 

Yes.  I did say "she". We found out at 19.5 weeks that we're expecting a baby girl.  We'll name her Clara and her nursery will be decorated with hot air balloons and other pretty things in the sky.  I'm getting impatient.  While I'm very nervous to become a mommy, I'm excited.  Now that I'm so close to the end of this experience, the time has slowed and I'm feeling fat, exhausted, and ready to be done. 

Last week Corey moved in.  That's weird.  Life is better with him in my house.  But it's weird.  This is the first time that I've had to tip toe around in the morning trying not to awaken the dude in my bed.      So we're getting used to it.  Living with your boyfriend changes things.  Then again, so does getting knocked up by him.  I think we're looking pretty good together though.

I don't even want to tell you about work.  Work is so insane I don't even know where to start.  Since I wrote last I've traveled to New York twice, been promoted, got a raise, moved to a new building, and I've also been more stressed than I ever have been in my life.  

I have a lot more I want to share about all of these things, however, if I told you everything now, I'd never write again.  Okay, maybe I'm being dramatic, but for reals, it would be a while.  I swear I'm going to be better about this.  Stick with me and I become a mom and manager.  As I learn to navigate my way through a life I never would have expected...

It's Time

Surprise?

The real reason I've been MIA from the blog is that I've been keeping ^ that a secret.  And it's so hard not to tell.  But it's time now.  I'm 15 weeks.  My belly grows a little bit bigger every day, and I sleep a little less comfortably every night.   Part of me is sightly terrified, but the rest of me is excited beyond belief.  Thinking of myself as a parent of another little human is almost too bizarre for me to wrap my head around.  But I guess it's time for that now too! Now, for a few frequently asked questions: Is it a girl or a boy? We don't know yet! We'll find out at the beginning of April.  Yes, I want to know.  I have to know, or else I'll go crazy.  Do I want a girl or a boy? I really don't care at all.  I think a little boy would be fun and exciting and I think a little girl would be too. Corey, however, will insist every day that it's a boy. I keep telling him, "You know, there is a 5050 chance this little baby is a girl, right? Are you guys getting married? Wouldn't you like to know?  Most common and the most annoying question.     What do your parents think?  I'll admit, at first, everyone was like....um...Really?  And we're like, well, yeah.  But my parents are excited.  They can't wait to have a new grandbaby.  In Corey's family he's the oldest grandchild in his entire family.  So this is the first grandbaby for his parents, and the first great-grandbaby for his grandparents.  Which means it's kind of big deal...so Yeah, I guess you could say everyone is anxious for baby to arrive.   Well, I guess that's all for now!