Why is it easier for us to get to the chores, the responsibilities, the daily grind? Why is it so easy to check off the everyday to-do list than it is to check off the feeling good to-do list? Why do we procrastinate the good stuff?
At our last baby doctor’s appointment, our doctor informed us that Baby Boy Bumb is breeched which would explain the stomping on my pelvic floor and the fist in my ribs. According to her suggestion, swimming would help him to move into ready to go position (since it elongates my body and gives Baby Boy more room) and would also be good exercise for me. Because of her advice and (mostly) the fear of having to move Baby Boy into positioning by unnatural ways that could break my water in the process and cause labor 3 weeks early, I decided to start swimming.
Everyday since I’ve been “suiting up” and heading to Fiesta, the pool where we’re members.
It’s not a bad way to start the day.
Okay. Okay. It’s an amazing way to start the day. So why did it take doctor’s orders for me to start this?
I am in a place both by location and fortune that I could enjoy free time, warm weather, and a pool membership. It seems like an easy equation? Doesn’t it? I’ve even had husbandal support. Meeks has been telling me for months to take it easy. To go to Fiesta and get some back relief and, while I’m at it, down time. Why haven’t I listened? I have enough time during the day.
- Wake up with Rafa
- Feed Rafa
- Make breakfast with Rafa
- Eat breakfast with Rafa
- Get dressed with Rafa
- Pack up
- Head out to coffeeshop for writing
- Head to school for lunch with Husband
- Finish lunch
- Work
- Go home and climb the four flights of stairs that are right now my enemy
- Spend time with Rafa and Husband
- Start Nightly Routine (see Nightly Routine)
- Put Rafa in high chair for videos
- Get rid of proof that a baby runs the house by cleaning up toys and setting house for adult time while Husband makes Rafa’s bottles.
- Rafa’s bath
- Take shower as Husband puts Rafa to sleep
- Drop dead. At this point my feet, back, and who ha area are exhausted.
- Eat dinner
- Talk to Husband. Finally we have a moment alone.
So the thing about this “having time” thing is that, I don’t. I’m so invested in my routine, my daily grind, that it’s hard to make time for anything else. It’s so much easier to say YES to my routine than it is to say YES to sitting in or by a pool and enjoying a little bit of R&R and much needed back relief.
Even my first few days at the pool were hard.
I gave myself a time limit. I’m here for an hour and then I’ll get dressed, put on my makeup, drive to school, rush to meet Husband for lunch. I even brought my laptop because maybe I could work on something.
It took some mental manipulation but I allowed myself to stop and take advantage of the opportunity in front of me. One day, one of the staff members said to me that this baby is going to be a helluva swimmer. And as I was swimming, an amazing thought doggy paddled into my mind. What if I looked at this as something not selfish for me but needed for us?
I am close to 35 weeks pregos with Baby Boy Bump and carrying him has been getting increasingly more difficult than it was with his sister, Rafaella. The last month of my pregnancy with Rafa I spent salsa dancing at more than one party. Right now, I am using both hands to help cross my legs. But maybe that’s because in the last month with Rafa I wasn’t doing what I’m doing now. I wasn’t carrying around and taking care of another 16 month old baby. She had my full attention. Maybe that’s why he’s nudging all of the time.
Hey, Ma! Remember I’m in here too!
When I changed my outlook, I changed how I viewed my alone time. Truth is, it’s not alone time. It’s time with Baby Bump. We listen to music through my headphones, we breathe, we swim. I rub my belly and he kicks me in the gut.
And that, I can gladly put into my daily grind.
What good stuff do you put off?
