Recently in Nurturing Calm 2010 Category

Once again I've gone far too long in between blog posts, and I've been completely negligent in posting pictures to show the progress of my baby belly.  I do have some pictures taken, but Flickr Uploader isn't behaving, so I'm going to have to try to wrestle it into submission over the weekend. 

When I wait this long in between posts, a lot of little things happen that seem like good post ideas at the time, but after several days have passed, I feel like I missed the window.  Here's random assortment of what's rumbling around in my head today:

• We're celebrating my grandma's 80th birthday this weekend.  I think it's a surprise party, but I'm not 100% sure...
•  I really need to learn how to use my camera better before the baby comes.  I bought a digital camera book and I'm planning to work through it with my blog-friend Stephanie.  But, that requires that I turn off the TV at some point and actually read a book...
• And if I do that, I should probably be reading my Hypnobabies lesson and finding the time to listen to two 40-minute CD tracks each day.  (My commute time would be perfect, but apparently hypnotizing yourself while driving isn't such a great idea.)
• I guess at some point, I should actually attempt to educate myself on basic infant care, since I am completely clueless when it comes to taking care of a baby.  Feeding 8-12 times a day?  Honestly, I have tried and tried to wrap my head around that, and I really can't fathom how it's possible.  (I mean, to do that and get anything else done, like sleeping for example.)
• My January goals were a bit ambitious... in future months I just need to pick one thing - one EASY thing - and try to do that.  This month, the one goal I've been able to manage pretty regularly is getting to bed by 10:30.  And really, I love sleep so that's barely even a challenge for me.  Daily exercise?  A great idea when the weather is good, but 2 weeks of 10-20 degree temps make it difficult to get outside for a quick walk around the neighborhood.  (I have been going to preggo water aerobics, though!  It's one time in the week that I get to talk baby stuff without fear of boring other people to tears.  Well, that and phone calls with my sister.)
• The quilt top that I started making squares for a couple of weeks ago is all done.  I'm working on the back now - it's going to be stripes of all the leftover fabric from the jelly roll.  It should be pretty cute.

If you've made it this far, you deserve a prize!  (Sorry, I don't have any prizes to give you.)  But I really, really promise this time that I'll get some belly pics posted soon and hopefully I'll get back on a more regular schedule for blogging.  It's the only journal-type thing I have, so I feel like I should post fairly regularly so I have some kind of record of my life right now. 

Have a great weekend!

Galapagos Sea Lions Resting
Originally uploaded by fiznatty

As part of my year-long theme of nurturing calm, I hope to come up with a few practical ways to "live the theme" each month. Since I only have 11 weeks (eek!) before the baby comes, I'm only going to plan through March, and see how things go after that.

For me, a big part of staying calm is having enough energy to deal with the tasks at hand. So, I am going to spend January focusing on feeling energized and making sure I get enough rest - specifically:

1. Going to sleep by 10:30pm (if I have somewhere to be the next morning). If I stay up late, I inevitably abuse the snooze button in the morning, which means I'm late to work and the whole day is off to a bad start.

2. Doing some type of physical activity 3-4 times per week. Exercise really energizes me... I just have to remind myself of that when I'm debating between staying home or heading back out in the cold to go to the gym!

3. Spending 15 minutes per day decluttering. We've got a new person moving into the house soon - we need to make room for him! Decluttering is not necessarily an energizing activity for me, but clutter is very draining, so I am actually really excited about making some progress in this regard.

Looking forward, I hope to spend February focusing on relationships (marriage, family, friendships) and March on preparation (aka CRUNCH TIME).  I'll flesh these out with some specific goals later on, after I see how this first month goes.