March's Goals & Intentions

A reflection on February and my goals and intentions for March as we look forward to welcoming our third baby to our family. There's an update on our debt journey including a look back on quite an expensive February, and a request for your favourite books as I romanticise about spending my maternity leave reading stacks of books.

February came and went in a blink of an eye, just like it always does. I don’t really know how it happened, but we’re almost in March and I’m only a few days away from giving birth.

The hospital bags are packed, the car seat is in place and we’re ready to finally meet him any day now.

February also brought a week of half term holidays from school, which was actually quite lovely. Charlie went to his football camp which he does every half term. He told me that the night before he couldn’t sleep because he was so excited!

I don’t know about you, but playing football outside in the cold for 6 hours a day wouldn’t be how I’d choose to spend my half term, but he absolutely loves it. It isn’t Harriet’s idea of fun either, but she is very much my daughter.

Harriet has loved spending time on her own in her room - playing, reading, drawing, writing and generally being creative. She’d appear every now and again and come and chat to me about what’s on her mind, before retreating back to the comfort of her room, taking Izzy the sausage dog with her for (forced) cuddles.

How did you find February? How was the half term for you?

So what are my goals and intentions for March?

Personal Life & Health:

There’ll not be much going on apart from recovering from labour, learning how to look after a newborn (you’d think by my third I’d know what to do, but it seems I’ve forgotten everything!) and soaking up those first few precious weeks.

My husband will be home with me and the baby for 2 weeks, so together we plan on muddling through those early sleep deprived days and surviving as best we can.

I remember when I had the older children that family members came immediately to see them after we arrived home from the hospital. This time, I really want to go slow and savour the first few weeks as we adjust as a family of 5. I think visits can wait until I’m ready.

Establishing breastfeeding again, visits by the different healthcare professionals and trying to get the older children to school on time is really going to take up most of my time anyway.

For those of you who have children, did you wait until you invited visitors over? How did you approach waiting a while to meet the baby with them?

Work Life:

The Simple & Calm course continues whilst I’m on my maternity leave as I’ve bulk written and scheduled lots of lesson posts.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, then you can read all about The Simple & Calm Course here:

Introducing the Simple & Calm course

I still plan on writing my weekly free post that goes out every Sunday at 08:00. We will see how I get on with that with a newborn though. I’m not going to put pressure on myself to get it done, rush it and leave you with a terrible post.

Finances:

• Current debt: £11,781.31 (£1498.41 paid off in February)

• Plan of action: Pay off £800 towards debt in March.

February was the month I was supposed to start my maternity leave, but I haven’t been paid at all yet. This meant that I’ve had to use the credit card for everyday living which has soon added up.

Luckily, we’ve managed to clear the credit card balance again this month out of my husbands wage, but this means that we do have to be super frugal over the next few weeks until my maternity pay comes in.

I can’t tell you how heartbreaking it is to see almost £1.5k being paid out to debt repayments. I’m so looking forward to having that money for ourselves again.

My daughter’s birthday is also in March so this will be a true test of how well we can budget and not go overboard, whilst still giving her a day to remember.

Home Life & Possessions:

Oh gosh, I can’t tell you how much I’m loving being at home right now. I am very much a home bird anyway, but as I get closer to labour, I am finding that the comfort of my home is bringing me some much needed security.

There are disproportionately more ‘things’ than what you would imagine a tiny human would need, but I’m learning not to get stressed at this new clutter, and embrace it instead.

I’ve also found that I’m receiving quite a lot of hand me downs from parents of small children too. Most of it has been very useful and practical, but there’s also a lot that can’t be used and I need to recycle or get rid of.

I need to practice what I preach as a minimalist and say no to anything I don’t truly need or won’t use. I don’t want the house to become overwhelmed with ‘stuff’ and become a stressful place to live, because parenting a newborn is stressful enough.

Technology & Social Media:

One thing I always want more of though is books. I want to read as much as possible after my husband returns to work and I’m alone with the baby.

I remember breastfeeding my older children and being ‘trapped’ under them for what seemed like hours at a time. In this time I’d reach for my phone and start aimlessly scrolling on social media. This is not something I particularly enjoy right now, and so I’ve romanticised spending my maternity leave reading stacks of books whilst effortlessly breastfeeding. We will see how that really goes.

I have quite an extensive ‘to be read’ pile, but I’m going to order some more books too. I’d love to know what books you’ve read recently that you’ve really enjoyed, or a book that you think everyone should read in their lifetime…

Family & Relationships:

My daughter Harriet has become very anxious about the imminent arrival of her new baby brother, and is worried about where he’s going to sleep when he’s older. We live in a 3 bedroom terrace house which is plenty big enough for us as a family of four, but the baby won’t have his own bedroom/nursery and this is causing some anxiety in Harriet.

She’s a sensitive soul anyway, so I think the next few weeks before baby arrives we’ll try and work through these anxieties and face any fears that she has.

Charlie on the other hand couldn’t care less. He speaks about the baby often, but I can’t quite read him and figure out how he’s really feeling.

As a family, we’ve spoken about how different our lives are going to be, but that we’ll make sure that we’re still enjoying the things that we love doing together.

We’ve missed out on our usual hikes and walks as I got further into my pregnancy and pelvic pain meant that I couldn’t walk far. I think this has had a bigger impact than I first realised on us and our mental health. Instead, we’ve been enjoying family movie nights and evenings spent chatting about random things. We’re all very much looking forward to getting out in the fresh air again once I’m back on my feet after the birth.

And so those are my goals and intentions for March. March is mostly going to be spent waiting for the arrival of the baby, or spent soaking him up if he arrives early. We’re going to celebrate Harriet’s birthday and learn to adjust as a family of 5.

I know these posts have become quite pregnancy/ baby focused of late, and I promise to talk about something new when he arrives.

Before I sign off, I just want to remind you that you can sample the Simple & Calm course for free for 7 days. Simply click below to sign up, and feel free to cancel before the 7 days are up to avoid being charged. Although, it would mean a great deal to me if you were able to continue with a paid subscription and support me.

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THE SIMPLE & CALM COURSE:

The Simple & Calm course is open for enrolments! Delivered weekly via a post, you’ll receive a lesson on different topics teaching you how to live a slower, more considered life that brings contentment, not stress. Because everyone deserves to live a simple and calm life.

For more details, including how to enrol, read the following post:

Introducing the Simple & Calm course