Tackling My To-Do List With A Newborn

Is anyone else in the same situation as me? My to-do list is a mile long. I have a notebook version of a to-do list, a list on my fridge and even one in my reminders section on my iPhone.  

The rate at which I accomplish my tasks and errands has really slowed down over the past few months. I see the looming list of things and occasionally get overwhelmed. 

Why haven’t we been able to do these things?

Oh yeah, because we just had a baby!

I forgot how long it takes to get things accomplished when one has a newborn. 

Simple tasks get extended because I need to nurse, or because my baby has to have her diaper changed. Maybe she’s fighting sleep, and I spend 45 minutes rocking her or patting her bum.

In the midst of trying to get day-to-day tasks accomplished, I sometimes forget to even eat or shower.

Please know that we aren’t complete slobs. Some major and urgent household tasks have been accomplished. 

We have updated the electricity, painted all of the rooms in the house, finished the basement into a fantastic playroom for the kids, and fixed up our backyard. To be honest, I feel like we’ve done a pretty good job of making the house our own – at least in regards to the pressing and urgent matters. 

But there are some things that still haven’t gotten done. 

One of the tasks we need to tackle is that the light switches and electrical outlets don’t have any covers on them. I’ve gotten really accustomed to this, and constantly forget that our house looks a little haphazard with uncovered light switches, but whenever I think about whipping out our screwdriver and covers, my baby starts crying! 

I think she actually has a hidden agenda to keep our house looking a little wacky. 

Another task that I need to tackle is to hang up our new medicine cabinet, and fill it up with basic items our family will need. 

I drove to Walgreens and picked up a ton of staple items, like Advil, ThermaCare (Tall Dad’s back has been aching), Children’s Advil, Robitussin, Emergen-C 30ct, Centrum, Caltrate, and Chapstick….because a girl like me can never have too much chapstick!

While in the store, I saw an aisle of back to school items neatly laid out on the shelves. Fresh new pens and lined notebooks just wishing to be used! Granted, my kids aren’t yet school aged, but it made me realize that summer is coming to an end, and that I shouldn’t just tackle my house to-do list, but also my personal to-do list. 

So I came home, and jotted down some things (on yet another to-do list) that I want to do during what’s left of Summer 2015 … but these  NEW TO DO LIST ITEMS would be fun and not just necessary to our home improvements. 

1.  Take my family to the beach (we haven’t been yet – and we live in the OCEAN STATE!)

2.  Find a fitness routine that I enjoy as much as Tall Dad enjoys his P90x yoga DVD. 

3.  Go to the farmers markets a few more times before it gets too cold and it gets moved indoors. 

4. Take more photos of us as a family of four. The one below is the only one we have.

All of this back to school hubbub, even though it makes me sad about summer ending, does get me excited for the fall. 

There will be pumpkins, Halloween, and gorgeous leaves. 

There will also be fall colds and coughs – but now that I picked up a ton of items for our medicine cabinet – my family will be ready for whatever little bugs come our way. 

So cross your fingers for us – that we will not only get to the beach within the next few weeks – but that we may also get some light switch covers or my new medicine cabinet up!