To-do List

A few days before summer break officially started, I made myself a “to do” list.  I’ve been working on it since Monday and thanks to a Nanny who insists on keeping Baby A in a routine this summer, I’ve gotten some time home without a baby girl underfoot.  I cannot explain the satisfaction I feel every time I get to erase a task from my list (in the notepad on my phone).  Today I got to erase: organize my closet, book our summer vacation, and clean out Baby A’s “too small” clothes.  I also got some cleaning done and made a few new recipes.

I have been really excited about these recipes, so I’ll share a little more detail.  Monday, Baby A and I went to visit Jenilee and her girls for the day.  She had banana breakfast cookies that Baby A really liked and are healthy and a good finger food for her.  I made those yesterday and they’ve been a big hit!  They’re basically bananas, oats, applesauce, raisins and cinnamon. I may or may not have eaten a few of these myself.  Jenilee also shared some “energy bites” with me for “dessert” after lunch and I knew right away I wanted to make those, too.  They’ve apparently been all over Pinterest for a while, but I’d somehow missed them.  They’ve got honey and peanut butter, so they’re not for the baby, but Skip loved them and I do, too. They’re filling and sweet enough to satisfy a sweet tooth, but I don’t feel guilty eating a few.  I’ve also cooked dinner every night this week.  That wasn’t on my list, but it’s something I really enjoy doing and summertime gives me a little more time to prepare.

Organizing my closet was another major accomplishment today.  For one thing, it’s always a major task when I’ve let it go for so long but today, I put out my maternity clothes as I was cleaning out.  This was the second time I’d been into the box of clothes I wore while carrying Levi.  It was a lot easier this time than the last.  I separated them into piles of things I can use this go around and things that won’t work with the seasons.  I even got a little excited about a few things I’d really liked last summer.  There are a few things that made it into the closet that I am not sure, when the time comes, that I’ll actually wear them.  The only thing that I absolutely know I cannot wear is a V-neck purple t-shirt that I wore most frequently last summer.  It’s what I was wearing at my last doctor visit and what I walked over to the hospital in to start what would be the worse days of my life.  It’s really nothing special, but it’s cute and comfy and brings with it too many memories that I can’t walk around wearing.

Once I was done with my closet and feeling all accomplished, I set out to sort Baby A’s clothes.  We’ve had her for 11 weeks (more on my insane love for and attachment to this baby girl later) and she’s already outgrown so many of her clothes.  I’ve always heard moms talk about the pile up of clothes and now I believe it!  We were so blessed to have been given a lot of clothes for Baby A, but we’ve got sizes from 3 months to 18 months!  They were beginning to pile up and I was missing things that fit because they were hidden by wintery pants or shirts that are too small.  We still have all of the baby boy clothe we got for Levi in drawers in the nursery, so there’s a limited amount of space for things we’re not using.  If we indeed find out on Monday what our new baby is, I’ll either keep the baby boy clothes or move more stuff around to make room for more girl stuff, stay tuned!

Probably the most exciting part of my day was booking our summer vacation.  I spent most of my time administering exams the last week of school and looking for vacation spots.  Because of our current circumstances (baby, baby on the way, budget, business etc.) we had to be picky: within driving distance, books partial weeks, beach location, and resort feel were “must haves.” I found a few places that were (barely) within our budget. We decided on Hilton Head Island and I set my heart on this one particular resort (Sontesta is the name, FYI).  A friend of mine was going to try to hook us up with a corporate discount, so I put of booking the resort for a few weeks (that’s how it ended up on the to do list!).  When I didn’t hear back from the discount, I decided we better book something.  Much to my dismay, the resort I had my heart set on was now $60 more A NIGHT!  It was barely in our price range before, and now, there was no way.  I pouted to Skip and looked over and over at travel sites and rates- still $300 a night and not a possibility for us.  So, today in between my cleaning, I Googled the resort and a “vacation deal” site appeared.  I recognized right away that it was a promotion that required a time-share walk through.  I called the resort directly and verified that the deal was legit, and texted Skip (in a business meeting) to see if he thought it was worth it.  His response was humorous and true, “timeshare walk-throughs are kind of our thing.” So, long story short less long, we’re going to the resort I set my heart on and will be saving about $400 bucks in exchange for 90 minutes of our time and a little bit of our dignity.  Totally worth it!

So, as you can tell, my summer is off to a fabulous start!  This post feels a bit like a “How I spent my Summer Vacation” essay, and this is just one day!  There’s a lot wrong with public education but there’s one thing that, in my opinion, is still exactly right: summer vacation!