Baby Changes

Suddenly, with a baby on the way, I have many ideas of what I need to adjust and change to both accommodate baby and to make our home a safe and secure place for all three of us. I've already found myself being much more intentional about what I eat, and I hope this new found discipline will carry over into other parts of my life also.

The biggest change I can see is the need to cut out much of the TV/movies I watch. I love just having something on while I do mundane activities, like wash dishes, cook, fold laundry, knit, grade and any number of other things. But, I know from 0 to 2 years, baby shouldn't watch any TV. Both common sense and research shows it messes with development that isn't made up later in life. I've considered cutting back on TV slowly over the next 6 months, or just going cold turkey in 6 months. Going cold turkey sounds appealing right now, with no changes to be made at the moment. But I think it is a wiser choice to cut back over the next 6 months and replace this habit with other habits. Perhaps I need to turn the radio on more, or put on CDs of music, radio drama, books on CD, or lectures. Over the past few days, I've made a point to not turn on the TV until later in the evening and for only 2 hours, and the silence is nice, but the mind-emptying activities are driving me near bonkers.  I know I'll figure it out. I grew up with very little TV and I don't remember being bored all that much as a child. I'm creative enough that something will occur to me (I hope!).

I do want to add in reading more books. I've stopped reading all that much lately (last few years), I feel like I just don't have the time. I'm outside working in the garden, or knitting and watching TV, things that aren't compatible with book reading. But I think its worth it to give some time each day to reading, even though it seems so generally unproductive. There are plenty of good non-fiction books to read and some excellent fiction books that are worth the time. I can't just replace TV with books, b/c I don't JUST watch TV -- I'm always doing something else (unless I'm sick or exhausted). But, both books and TV have their place, I just need to figure out what that place is in my home.

I'm sure I will find more things that need adjusting and changing before baby comes. There are plenty of more mundane things, like door latches and corner guards that should make an appearance not long after baby is born. I'm a list making woman, maybe I should start a list. I'd love to hear how others have done these things and what kind of habits you and your children have when it comes to occupying your time, please leave a comment, or a link to a blog post or some such with your thoughts, ideas and advice.

I'm off to try and make good use of this Friday off. Wish me luck!