On The Checklist For Baby? Lose The Checklist.

There are so many things that simply must be ready and prepared when one is planning on bringing a new baby home.

And, as my recently returning sanity is showing me- so many things that do not.

Bassinet, freshly laundered bedding, sterilized parts for anything feeding-related? Yep, we sure need those. Patio furniture, freshly washed windows, sterilized parts for anything belonging in the garage? Those might be able to wait.

Here is my new, Two Weeks Left To Go list of things I shall henceforth thoroughly disregard (until the Chicago February Cabin Fever grips me in its fists):

1. Library Books. Oh, I love the library, and Nora and I make a point to go hang out in our neighborhood branch at least once every other week. But my checklist of books on hold and those currently in my possession can probably chill there for a bit. Granted, I won’t have much time to read a bestseller (or vintage mystery, for example) in the coming weeks, but isn’t that what “renew” is for? Besides, I’m pretty sure the public library will still be around next month. (Right? Right?)

2. Painting The Second Playroom. (God, it even feels ridiculous to type that.) As the owners of a continuously renovated three-flat home, my husband and I have found ourselves with tons of space. Some of it unusable in its current state. But recent water damage/mold concerns forced us to rip out giant sections of what used to be a kitchen on the lower level. Now we’ve got a shiny new room off of Nora’s playroom that would be ideal for a “grownup” rec room, complete with [future] wet bar and [not-yet-found] pool table. (Oh, our imaginary Must Have list is simply stellar. In our minds, we also have staff.) Sadly, half of the space isn’t painted, but it is primed, clean, and perfectly acceptable as-is. Up until a week ago, I needed this place to be painted, furnished, and ready to go. But…for what? Baby’s first martini? All of those raging parties we’ll be holding this winter? See you in the summer, New Room.

Finishing My Novel. This is the story that I’ve been working on since my pregnancy with Nora, over two years ago. But somewhere in my occasionally Type-A brain, I set the goal of completing the thing during my second pregnancy. Apparently my detail-oriented mind completely forgot the facts that a) my first trimesters are full of the sickies, b) the second trimester is when I need to actually get things done (i.e. all that freshly laundered jazz), and c) my third trimesters find me floppy-headed tired and as big as a tugboat. Also, my inability to pound coffee into the wee hours (my writing technique in a former life) has kiboshed late evening writing sessions. And did I mention the floppy-headed tired? Sure, I’ve averaged a few chapters over the course of the past months…but can’t the world wait a few more months to witness my opus? I’m gonna go out on a limb and say yes.

I’d love to hear what other prospective and new parents had on their Must Do List…and how drastically that changed the closer we all came to the reality called Baby.

Which is really the only pivotal detail at this point, anyway.

Image: orcmid