Pre-baby list

So, now that the surgery has a set date and the side effect of not allowing me to get pregnant for a year, the pregnancy thing has surprisingly become more concrete in my mind. I think it's because before it was like, oh, we'll start trying to get pregnant sometime, maybe in six months or a year or two years. Sometime in the future, whenever, you know?

But now it's like, OK, can't get pregnant for a year so does that mean I will try to get pregnant in a year? Probably. So what does that mean? Well, it means OMG WHAT DO YOU WE WANT TO DO PRE-BABY? Because we have a year to do it in. Plus however long it takes to actually get pregnant and, of course, the whole gestational period. But I figure that part will be more about getting ready for the baby and less about oh shit, we haven't gone on that road trip through Italy yet.

So now I am trying to remind myself of the thing that I also reminded myself of when I was getting married, which is that life does not end after the major event. We can still travel after there's a kid, either with the kid or on our own while it stays with one or the other set of grandparents. Things will be different, yes, mostly in a good way. Traveling will be harder and it will have mostly different goals. Many things in life will be that way. But life will still go on.

Still, there are pre-baby things that we'd like to do. And now that we have a bit of a timeline, we've started thinking of more of them.

1. I'd like to lose a good amount of weight. Surgery will help with this, obviously. But it will also be a lot of hard work, and a slow process. I'd like to get as much of it done as possible before getting pregnant.

2. We do want to go on a road trip through Italy. I'm not sure if this will be possible. We keep telling each other that we'll do that on our next trip to Germany, but on this trip to Germany we're not going anywhere, and on the next trip we'll probably also be going to my French host sister's wedding, and then on the trip after that? Well, there might be a baby already, although whether it's inside or outside of my body at that time is yet to be determined.

3. OMG so much house-related stuff. We want to deal with the yard, and do some room painting, and get a ton of furniture, and get a hot tub, and get some art, and do some deliberate decorating. And then, you know, sit around enjoying it.

4. Sleep late. I mean, I already do this when I want to, but I want to keep doing it. Indefinitely. Not like "sleep now because you won't sleep once the baby's here!" but like, OMG LET ME SLEEP. Because I want to sleep. And generally have time to myself.

5. Go to Japan. And Thailand. And Vietnam. And Kenya. And Tanzania. And South Africa. And Hawaii. And Costa Rica. This is totally feasible in a year, right?

6. Save a ton of money. Like, millions of dollars. This should be no problem to do, like, ever, much less in the next year. RIGHT?

7. Well, maybe we should downgrade our expectations somewhat. Like, instead of doing all the stuff we want to do to the house? Let's just shoot for getting everything unpacked.

8. Also in the downgrading expectations arena, instead of saving millions of dollars, how about just being able to, say, buy a crib? Or maybe we should spend our pennies on a stroller and just let the baby sleep in a dresser drawer.