I've been terribly lax about posting, though ideas a-plenty have been cycling through my head. I've got a number of posts cooking in outline mode, and I work on them casually during the waiting. It's about time, after all - time for kiddo to be born - and that's where most of my focus is.
But I thought I'd check in and give a brief update on my goals.
- Write and publish more. Obviously, I've not been religious with the posting. But I have been participating more - engaging with interesting folks on Twitter, participating extensively via blog comments, and most of all, ignoring the doubt-filled voice in my head that leads me to abandon half-written thoughts as trivial or unworthy.
- Eat more home-cooked meals. Near the beginning of the year, I thought carefully about what I wanted the days after the baby is born to look like. One of the things I really strongly desire is to eat well, at home, and eat food we've made. I couldn't imagine, however, that I'd find myself more capable and willing to cook immediately after the birth than in the weeks before, so I decided that banking meals in the freezer was the best solution. Freezer cooking became a subject of study for a few weeks, then Sam and I put together a menu, then a grocery list. I plan to write something more extensive on this experience shortly - I'd like to reserve full judgement until we've used some of the banked meals - but I'm pleased to report that we've got about 20 dinners-for-two in the freezer now. Based on the servings we set aside for eating (rather than freezing), we're absolutely smitten with the recipes we chose, as well as the methods for producing them at scale. Time will tell if they hold up.
- Finances. Aside from a thorough review to ensure that the baby's arrival will not throw our immediate financial situation out of whack, this is unfinished. There are a number of changes coming for us, and there are simply too many variables to do the precise kind of review that I wanted at this moment. For now, I'm handling our taxes, and I plan to look more comprehensively at our budget in late spring.
- Get what we need; keep what works; purge what doesn't. We've been really good about this. The amount of stuff we've Freecycled or otherwise handed off to better homes has definitely facilitated having room for the baby and all the requisite baby stuff. On the other side of the give-and-take, we've gotten a solid 80% of everything we absolutely need for the baby from second-hand sources, either for very little money or for free. We have essentially everything we need for the birth on hand, though we're planning on picking up ingredients for a meal to share with our midwives and drinks throughout labor. (Should be fun times; virgin margaritas during the birth started as a joke, but turned into a 'why the hell not?'.)
Otherwise, I'm generally healthy, generally happy, and generally ready. Kiddo can arrive any time; we're into week 38 as of yesterday, and ready (or almost ready) with a few knitted items complete or on needles. Newborns! They are so tiny, and so quick to knit for. There will, of course, be photos post-birth.
And that's me, for now!
