Fun fact: humans spend about forty weeks gestating a mini-human, meaning pregnancy lasts ten months, not the commonly-believed nine. Right now, I am four months pregnant (actually closer to four months, one week, to be technical), so I have about six months (er, five months three weeks) to go.
I have a whole lot of crap to get accomplished in those six months… and I mean a LOT.
So, here are a few of my goals for the upcoming summer and fall:
- Get into our own apartment
This is one we’ve been working on… well, pretty much since we moved in with my parents. A year ago. And yet we’re still here, because Dan and I can’t seem to be employed at the same time. Hopefully that will change soon, but since I’m never counting on us being overly wealthy, we’re looking into low-income housing at the moment. We’ve applied for several programs in our community, but the waiting lists are loooong, so if we want to be in our own place by December (my goal is actually September, but we’ll see) we’re going to have to do some looking and applying on our own as well.
Our housing requirements include: 1-2 bedroom (two is obviously preferred), parking for two cars, and (hardest of all) pets allowed. Just because we’re adding a new family member doesn’t mean we’re ditching the old ones. I will NOT be giving up my furchildren, and if that makes the home search that much harder, so be it. We’d also love to find a place with good storage, some kind of outdoor space (balcony, yard, porch, etc), a dishwasher, air conditioning, parks/playground nearby, and ensuite laundry (okay this is stretching it, but I can dream, can’t I? Even just hookups would be okay, since we could probably get ahold of a used washer and dryer from family.) Oh, and that extra bedroom. I love kids, but I’d still rather not share a room with a toddler.
- Teach Ripley some manners (and basic training)
So, we’ve had Ripley for nearly a year now, and she has definitely made progress. She’s heartworm-free, spayed, housetrained, and sweet and loving as can be (okay, we didn’t teach her that, but it’s still nice!) She also walks well on a leash, gets along with dogs, cats, and kids, and is under fairly reliable vocal command when off-leash. Unfortunately, that’s where her training ends. Her only command (other than “come”) is “sit”, and if she’s super excited she’ll forget that one.
My goals for Ripley (another set of goals inside my goal list!) are for her to sit consistently, to “lay down” and “stay” on command, and to stop nosing/pawing us when we’re not paying attention to her (the laptop is often the brunt of her frustration!) I’d also like to teach her to walk calmly alongside a stroller, and to not jump into a lap without permission – especially if that lap is full of baby. Finally, I’m working on teaching her “gentle”, which basically translates to “calm the hell down, dog!”
Ripley is very smart, and both food and attention-motivated, so as long as we’re persistent and patient I’m sure she can be trained. I just need to get all other family members to help and not hinder me…
- Go through the PILES AND PILES OF CRAP in the garage
When we moved out of our apartment in the Bay Area, it was hasty. Getting everything into the garage once we were here was even hastier (all the boxes were in the driveway, Dan and I were home alone, and it was about to rain.) As a result, I have no freaking idea where the majority of my stuff is, not to mention how well the boxes were packed in the first place.
This probably won’t get done until we find a new place to live, but when that happens, I don’t want to just move all my crap over there. I’d really like to go through my stuff, get it reorganized, and only keep the things that we need, want, and are going to use. I hate clutter (Hoarders gives me nightmares!), and I don’t want to start life in a new place stuck in the middle of it!
- Get on a workable budget, and stick to it!
I’ve been recording my receipts for years, and (more or less) keeping a budget to go with it. And when I say “keeping”, what I mean is “keeping TRACK of”, not “keeping my spending within that budget”… oops. Recently I’ve made a budget that I’m going to work really, really hard to stick to. It’s a big priority for Dan and me to be able to pay rent, and we’re willing to give up a lot to do so. We’re also going to have all new places for our money to disappear to in the next few months, and we need to budget for that. We no longer have Dan’s college fund to fall back on (it did it’s job, getting him through his college years, but it’s still a little scary) so we have to be that much more careful. Not to mention, we are in several exciting varieties of debt (namely college loans and medical bills; luckily neither of us are too crazy with credit cards.)
In all events, if we ever want to be successful and totally on our own, we need to be better with money, and this is a step in the right direction.
- Be as healthy as I can for the rest of this pregnancy
This includes: doing everything recommended by my doctors, even if it requires millions of appointment (which it seems to…) and shelling out cash, exercising when it’s a gazillion degrees outside, eating non-carb food even when it sounds disgusting, taking my giant horse pills every day (though this seems like the easiest thing on the list, it’s actually something I have a really hard time remembering), and trying my very very hardest to stay positive and not stress out over little things, so I can provide a positive environment for my baby.
- Find some additional source of income for the next few months
This is kind of self-explanatory, but also frustratingly confusing. I know I don’t want to work full-time with an infant, but I do need to work somewhere. I feel confident I could do the work I’ve been doing with a baby in tow… but I don’t know if that’s even a valid option. (I know I can substitute teach, but there’s no predicting whether there will be funds for the tutoring center or not.) I’ve thought about a few other things (petsitting, temporary employment agencies, a more permanent part-time job… I just don’t know.)
(in progress… will probably be updated later!)
