A Surprise For Daddy

Figuring out how to ride toys!

I've found a new system that has really been helping me feel accomplished at the end of my days.  I used it Monday, Wednesday and Today of this week (Tuesday is more of a focus more on Ayden day and Thursdays we run errands all day which has its own set of lists). Here's how it goes down: Each night, before I go to bed, I think of all of the things that need to get done the next day and write them down.  Next, I think of a few things that I'd *like* to get done. Once I have a pretty good list going, on I start a new piece of paper by numbering it down the left side, 7-11 (wake up to bed time).  Then I fill in the things that are usually pretty consistent with times; When Ayden wakes up, his nap time, our meals and snacks, play time etc.

Once all of the regular daily events are penciled in, I fill in the rest of the "schedule" with everything from my list.  The challenges that I face everyday are 1) keeping an eye on the clock and 2) remembering to refer back to the list regularly, which is what keeps me on task.  Obviously, the schedule that I make for myself is very loose and flexible but crossing things off all day feels really good.  Today, I got every item but one marked off of my list.  I wanted to vacuum out my car but Ayden took a TWO hour nap so I wasn't able to do that.  No big deal, I'll just put it on my calendar for next Friday. 

 Even though I didn't vacuum the car, I did surprise David by unpacking the rest of the boxes that had been shoved along the back wall of our temporary "apartment."  We didn't know exactly what we'd want here with us so the things that we brought and didn't end up really needing were put back in boxes.  The clutter of the boxes, though out of the way, was still weighing on us so I finally made it a priority to knock it out.  It made me feel good and when David got home, he came up and hugged me so hard and thanked me over and over for doing it.  It felt good to cross it of my list but felt even better that it made David feel so good to boot.

The morning started out pretty rough today.  Ayden was fussy all through breakfast and spit up all over himself RIGHT after I got him ready for the day.  Maybe his tummy was uneasy and that's why he was fussy?

Got on the bed too.  Awesome.

But after his monster nap, he woke up snuggly then got happy so the rest of the day was pretty stellar, as evidenced by my productivity!  For some reason it feels like Saturday night so having two more full days of the weekend will feel wonderful!

Tomorrow, I go to a 4 hour "bee school" and I am so excited!  I haven't been apart from Ayden for 5 hours since he was about 4 months old or so. I pumped tonight so he'll have some milk for tomorrow but I have no idea if he'll even take a bottle.  He hasn't had a bottle since October and I feel like we've shifted more to comfort nursing rather than for nutritional reasons. We shall see! I plan to take my manual pump to use during the lunch break if I need to.  

Do you use to do lists, schedules or other systems?  Do you stick to them throughout your days?  

~Sarah