Things I Should Be Doing Instead Of What I’m Doing

This post was hanging around in my drafts for weeks, titled Things I Should Be Doing Instead Of Blogging, but now I’m thinking I should’ve changed the name to Things I Should Be Doing Instead Of Enjoying Sunny Walks. I haven’t been blogging for almost two weeks because – you guessed it! – it’s been sunny here.

Sunny weather – ah, what a treat!

But what about my ever-growing to-do lists? Will they ever stop? How can I tell the laundry pile to take a break because it’s sunny now?! What will we wear if all our clothes are in the laundry bin? Should we walk around in clothes stained with baby food? What will people say!

I actually did that one day last week, unwittingly. It wasn’t until the evening when I had the time to really take a look at myself properly in the mirror, and I noticed a nice little bit of puree on my shoulder, clearly visible against the black fabric. To think that I’d even sold a bagful of old baby clothes to a nice lady I didn’t know, with puree on my dress! Yikes. The old me would be embarrassed. (The current me has too short an attention span for embarrassment. I forget about it in an instant and move on. Now what was I saying again?)

I have a gnawing feeling I’ll never have time to finish all my lists. I have urgent ones, long-term ones, travel dream lists, grocery shopping lists, wish lists and fun lists. I have to finish the urgent ones first, before I can move onto the fun ones. That’s why I’m currently without an editing method for my photos. My iPad broke and the free editing app I’d been using for years is now unavailable to me. I can’t remember its name. I want to buy PhotoShop/Lightroom but there’s no point in paying for it if I don’t have time to use it. I want to create fantasy-like images from my photos, a dreamland. I have ideas. But I have no time for them now.

Sunny days and to-do lists do not mix well. Though “get some fresh air” has been on my list all winter, I never expected to get fresh air this often, so many days in a row! Things that I have managed to nail down, despite the sudden summer, include but are not limited to:

❦ Visited a few nearby daycare centers and finally applied. I’m not going back to work just yet but the applications need to be sent 4 months in advance, latest

❦ Shopped all sorts of new clothes for the twins – new weather brings new needs

❦ Tried to introduce the babies – toddlers actually – to food with more lumps and fruit/veggies they can eat by themselves (finger food) but it didn’t quite go as planned…

❦ Tidied up our balcony – now it’s a nice and cozy place to enjoy the early summer, flowers and all! Only no one has time to sit there. But in theory!

Things I should also be doing:

❦ Look up some high quality second hand stores where I can buy baby clothes inexpensively. (This type of recycling is very popular over here, and it’s no wonder: clothing a growing child for winter can make you bankrupt pretty fast.) People say most of these stores are on Facebook, so I need to reconsider signing up, despite my strong aversion

❦ Do a twin photo shoot! Last summer when the boys were born, we received free framing as a gift… only the photo is missing. Have you guys ever tried to take a photo of two wriggling toddlers?? Holy cow, is it difficult! I have thousands of photos of them, but not a single pro-looking one! We’ll probably end up doing a collage. But then there’s the next problem: how to choose just a few pictures from thousands?!

❦ Lose the baby weight! Despite the extreme efforts of my two personal trainers, aged 11 months, I still need to exercise more. But when in the world will I ever have the time and energy for that? After the twins go to sleep in the evening, I have a good 14 hours of baby-minding behind me and I’m exhausted at that point. Do I really need to force myself to become alert and active when my body just wants rest? Come on people, I’m almost 40!

My in-house personal trainers, very fit and nimble themselves, really have tried to activate me though, I’ll give them that!

Throwing everything I give them on the floor – Mommy, do some squats now!
Carrying the boys around – 10 kg kettlebell training using your core muscles!
Rocking the boys to sleep 3 times a day per baby – Equals 6 series of bicep training while swinging hips!
Trying to have a snack – Mommy, stop eating! they cry
Trying to sit down – Don’t take a break mom, keep on going! You can do it! they cry again

Hopping on to another list, some toddler truths I’ve recently learned:

❦ Little boys are meant to be dirty. Their least favorite thing is when mommy wipes their face clean from puree and milk!

❦ Baby clothes that need to be washed separately at 30°C are quite useless. As are teether toys that can’t be cleansed before and during use! And clothes with a million snap buttons! Who designs these things?

❦ The best toy is whatever toy your brother happens to be holding. Also, the best pacifier is the one in your brother’s mouth – might as well swap! Extra tip: your brother’s socks taste pretty good, too!

How have you been? And, out of curiosity, have you ever managed to completely finish a to-do list? I find I always have something sketchy hanging around there at the bottom, something I know I’m never going to do even as I write it. Forever the optimist!