Monday, July 16, 2012

Baby Bucket List Courtesy of One of My Personal Favorites!

 Hello lovelies! Since I am out of town, visiting my sister in Atlanta right now, I have a fabulous week of guest bloggers lined up for your reading pleasure, and I couldn't be more excited about it!

Today's post comes from one of my very favorite bloggers, and by far, one of my absolutely sweetest internet friends! Courtney and I 'met' recently, and we are definitely in the same 'season' of life right now. We connected instantly, and I am honored to have her here to share part of her journey today!
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Hello all! Let me first introduce myself before jumping right in for this guest post. My name is Courtney and I’m coming over here from my blog “With Gratitude.” I’ve been married to my college sweetheart, Jeremy, for 3 ½ years and I’m amazed the way our marriage has continued to grow and strengthen since the beginning of our relationship almost 8 years ago. He really is my best friend and I couldn’t imagine going through life without him.


I have been keeping my blog for a little over three years and it’s the best form of journaling I’ve ever had. Not to mention the community blogging brings with it and the amazing women you can find who are in similar places of life as yourself, which is how I first met the sweet owner of this blog.


The first time I “met” Pamela was when she stopped by after reading a post I had written about starting our family after being married for 3 years. She was so sweet about it and said she could relate to me since they were also on their own track and trying for a baby as well. When she asked me to guest post for this week, I knew right away what I wanted to write about: the list I had started a few months ago to help me stay positive during this time of waiting… a bucket list if you will.  


If you follow me, you will know that it has not been the bed of roses I was expecting when we first made the decision that we were finally “ready.” We have been trying for almost 10 months now with some complications along the way and it has been a very tiring and difficult journey for us at times.


It’s hard to stay upbeat about it, especially when you see other girls around you who blink and get pregnant, but I’ve been trying my hardest to see the silver lining and keep a positive spirit up even when I’m having bad days.


Every month when I see yet another stick with only one pink line, I force a smile on my face and tell my husband that it’s probably for the best we didn’t get pregnant that month. And then I go on to explain why it wouldn’t have been an optimum time for us and now we can go and do this thing, or this, or something else we’ve been talking about where a baby would have interrupted the plans. I’m very aware it’s a form of self-preservation but I need to do it in order to cope with the continuing bad news.


Another thing that helps with each failed cycle is the reminder of things I can still do while not being pregnant or things we want to get accomplished before a baby comes along. When I’m having an especially hard day, I will sit and look at the list I started {and keep adding to} in order to pep myself up and make me feel better about not yet being with child. I figured there are other girls out there like Pamela and myself who are going through similar things and it might help to post my list on here and they can add their own ideas to it. After all, we are only going to have this time of no children once in our lives and we need to enjoy it while we still can.



So without further ado:



My Baby Bucket List/Pre-Bump Enjoyment

 

·         Start doubling what we put into our savings accounts each month for emergencies or rainy days. We have been building a nest egg from the beginning of our marriage before preparing for a family but I always feel more comfortable with extra padding in it for those “just in case” times.


·         Get healthier! I've done really well at keeping up with my work-outs at the gym but I need to adjust my diet to help get this body ready for a healthier environment once a bambino decides to grace us with his/her presence.


·         Get in my girl time. Hanging out with girlfriends and meeting for random dinner or movie dates won’t be as easy once I’m a mommy so I’m trying to fit in as much as I can now. Stay out late, drink glasses of wine or margaritas at our favorite Mexican restaurants, and enjoy my carefree, young days.


·         More traveling. We are blessed to have seen a lot of amazing places like Mexico, New York, a Caribbean cruise, Hawaii and so on but I also know this is literally going to be one of the only times in our lives we can just take off on a whim. We’re DINK’s {Double Income- No Kids} and we need to take advantage of that while we can! We have another Mexican vacation planned for later this year and I can’t wait to sit on a beach and do nothing but sleep and read in the sun again. We also have several friends of ours that are scattered throughout the country and wish to visit them for short weekend trips and get caught up in their new places.


 

·         Enjoy all the sushi, wine, beer, deli meats and coffee while I can. I’m going to savor every sip of my favorite Riesling on the weekend nights when we’re out with friends and every sip of my Starbucks lattes. I am going to really miss those once we’re finally pregnant.


·         Appreciate my teeth whitening. I have an awesome dentist who gives free teeth whitening with every 6 month visit but he has already made it clear to me that is a BIG no-no once I have a bun in the oven.


·         Buying clothes in small sizes before I gain 100 pounds in 9 months. I’m well aware that my body will probably never be quite the same once I go through the pregnancy process and I’m sure I will someday mourn my pre-baby body so I want to dress it up in my favorite styles and fashions before they are inappropriate for a mom to wear. Not to mention, I’m enjoying my highest heels and stilettos to walk around in.


·         Random camping jaunts up in the mountains for a night or two with my guy and the pup. We live in Colorado and have the ability to take advantage of our gorgeous Rockies this summer.


·         Date nights where we plan anything we want- sky’s the limit! We don’t have to worry about a babysitter or curfew and can live free as birds without too much responsibility holding us back. Overnight dates in Denver at a fancy restaurant and sweet hotel? Sounds good to me!


·         Sleep in. Even though I’m not a great sleeper to begin with and I have an internal clock that goes off at 6:00 a.m. every morning, I have been forcing myself to lay in bed as long as possible on the weekends and relish the quiet in our house.


·         Be  more adventurous! Boating, hiking, wakeboarding, and other things I’m usually too chicken to try are on my agenda this summer. I only live once right?


·         I also want to encourage Jeremy to be more selfish during this time as well. I’m going to keep my mouth shut when he plays another hour of video games or spends time with his friends.


These are all I have come up with so far but if you think of any others, please don’t hesitate to share. I can use all of the encouragement and inspiration I can get right now to help me keep a positive attitude.


And hopefully come December we will be turning our Mexican vacation into a more appropriate “Babymoon” to start of the new year.



Please Lord, let it be so!

7 comments:

Darby Hawley said...

Pam thank you so much for inviting Courtney to post today! I needed to read this list so badly, today especially after another BFN! Thanks for the awesome encouragement, and praying for y'all's Babymoon!!

Not So Newlyweds said...

LOVE THIS!! We are in the same phase of our life. It's so hard to decide how/when to take the next step. We have so many things we want to do but we really have to decide what is it that we really want to do before we start a family and what can wait. I think it may be time to narrow things down to a baby bucket list!

Jessica Hudson said...

This is such a great list. I love you both and know you'll be such AMAZING moms one day. You're both in my prayers and I know a few years down the road this will seem like a blip on your timeline of life. In the mean time, keep doing all the things I wish I could do! Your list made me drool just thinking about doing those things!

Desiree Lynn said...

This is such a wonderful way to look at things. You could add get as many mani/pedis as possible onto the list because it's been nearly impossible for me to get one. I've even painted them myself on my work lunch break ha!

LWLH said...

Love this list...we're at that season in our life too. Best of luck my love.

I know it's been hard on you but I think it's great that you're trying to stay positive.

Lauren said...

So cute! New follower to your blog! :)

xo

Unknown said...

What a great idea! Thank you for sharing your list! My husband & I are walking down this same path, so I understand how exhausting it can be to remain hopeful & positive month after month. However, in this season when our faith is tested it is an opportunity for it to grow...
Prayers to you & yours :)