Resolution Check-In 6

Better late than never, right? 

1) Exercise for 20 minutes per day. This month I only made it 21 out of 30 days, the rest I was either working or we were out doing something as a family that I didn't really think counted as exercise, but I probably wasn't just lying down all day. As of July 1, when this post should have been written I was 159 lbs, just beginning to gain some baby weight.

2) Send one letter per week. I have done miserably at this. I sent one cake the entire month, I think. I definitely need to hop back on the letter writing train.

3) Bake and decorate one thing outside of work per month. In addition to mailing a belated birthday cake, I made an early birthday cake for my mom. I forgot to take pictures of it though, so you'll just have to trust me that it was pretty. 

4) Stop comparing myself to other moms. I've been doing pretty good at this, but I have a harder time with the get-up-and-go part of my mama-personality. In an ideal world, I like to get up, have breakfast, straighten up (dishes, laundry, general upkeep), workout, shower, then head out for the day. On my own, this can all be accomplished by 8:30/9AM. With a little one underfoot, it's usually more like 10:30. Which would be ok, except her preferred nap time is at 11. So if we wait for a nap, then have lunch, and pack up to go, we don't actually get out of the apartment until 2 in the afternoon. On your average summer day, this would be fine. We could go play in a shady park, hop on a bus to a museum, or ride the bike down to the garden to do some work. However, the ridiculous heat we've been having here combined with my pregnancy-induced light-headedness pretty much rules out any outdoor activities in the afternoon. 

I've had to accept that my ideal routine is just not going to work for us for right now. I've had to become comfortable leaving the dishes in the sink, saving the laundry and working out for later, and just getting ready and going. This is really hard for me to do. I don't know what it is about having an untidy home that makes me feel so anxious. Maybe it's because we're renting and I'm terrified the super will come in unannounced and evict us because there's a pile of clean laundry in a basket on the couch. I don't know, I just know that it makes me very uneasy. But for both Lily and my sanity's sake, it has to be done. There is a marked difference in the days we get out and do something and the days we don't. They go faster. We're both less irritable. I'm in a better mood when Joe gets home. I don't think I'll ever be comfortable with this, but the benefits definitely outweigh the negatives. I'm clinging to the fact that fall and winter will be here soon when the afternoon sunshine is a most welcome sight.