Overwhelmed...by Mary Hazlett

So the other day, I was at one of my million of doctor's appointments that are scheduled for me at this point in my pregnancy....only 3 and a little weeks left... that is if I make it...and foolishly I picked up one of those pregnancy magazines.  On the front there was a beautiful woman with a perfectly round belly with no stretch marks devoid of cellulite and a smile on her face.  Inside the magazine, there was an article titled "Getting ready for baby".... sounded intriguing since I am almost there and this is baby #3 for me and although a pro, I might have forgotten something.  Okay, usual checklist of diapers, clothes, car seat, blah blah blah....and finally "a list of to dos before baby arrives".

Okay, so I decided to take the challenge to make a list of to dos.  I began most enthusiastically knowing the first things on my list were already completed so I could immediately check them off. Then the momentum began to slow to till it hit the wall.  Nearly four pages of to dos later... I began to cry.  "This is ridiculous", I said aloud as my two year old repeated that same phrase.

Let's recap what has happened in the last little bit in my life:  moved in with Dad to give him a retirement,  send husband on a 90 minute commute instead of a 2 minute commute to and from work, max out financially to make space for us with Dad, have a surprise pregnancy (not knowing till I was 10 weeks along and I was really ticked I missed 10 weeks of entitlement), register my kid for preschool (which is quite serious over here...I almost thought that I was trying to get him into college), go to the YMCA to try to keep my sanity, complete my church responsibilities, caulked and sanded trim for many hours while I am in the ninth month of pregnancy, painted the trim and walls for a 600 square foot addition while in the ninth month of pregnancy, catching the flu and peeing my pants with every cough, moving Dad out to live with new wife, moving back in all our things,  and all of this while weathering the awesome comments of "Are you sure there is only one baby in there", "Aren't you like 24 months pregnant", " Do you really think you are gonna make it", and my favorite, "You look miserable"!  (At least I have an excuse, what is yours lady!)

This stupid magazine said that there is usually a list of 43 things that a mom-to-be would have on her list..............Mine was more like 43 million!!!

So, I crumpled up the list, opened the garbage can, and dunked it like Michael Jordan!  Went back to my clean paper and wrote at the top:

1.  Stop taking advice from magazines, especially ones with perfect looking people on them.

That was the beginning and end of my list!  Time for me to be gentle on myself and just be proud of the accomplishments made.  (Which today's number one accomplishment is that I have not yet peed my pants or farted....unintentionally!)


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