what will stay / what will go?

March 13, 2012

martha’s back
not really. but for the first time since i cooked through her entire cookbook, i finally brought it back out to make dinner on sunday night.


now i remember why i loved this book and chose to cook through it in the first place!

cooking is something i am absolutely determined to keep up with post-baby. i’m not saying that every night will feature an elaborate spread, but i would love to continue making a REAL dinner at least 3 times/week. leftovers + easy solutions — and yes, some take-out — can fill in the gaps. REAL, by the way, doesn’t have to mean fancy or time-consuming. this meal took less than 30 minutes to prepare — it’s basically just a few ingredients exposed to a simple marinade and then stir-fried in a pan.

i’m not sure whether i’ll ever attempt to make an entire cookbook of recipes ever again . . .

but i have to admit sometimes it’s tempting!
ahh well. if i could do it through residency + marathon training, this next challenge shouldn’t be that much harder . . . right??

this gets me thinking
in somewhat practical terms of things i am willing to let go of vs things i am determined to cling to in the now not-so-far-flung future.

ready to let go
housecleaning duties. well, the major stuff [bathrooms, floors, etc]. as long as our savings can withstand it [and i THINK we’ll be okay] we are going to keep our every-other-week cleaning service. we have loved it so far.

leisurely mornings. i realize that these will become a thing of the past — and that’s okay. i can take it! it will be like back-in-the-day when i had to be in the NICU by 6. or earlier.

sleeping through the night. come on, i let that one go when i decided to go to med school! but kidding aside, i am sure it will be difficult. if i go in with LOW expectations, i think that’s for the best!

lots of eating out. lately we’ve actually fallen into a weekend pattern of going out for brunch and doing a lot of takeout otherwise [often one other dinner out, too]. i think the casual brunches are great with a baby [our neighborhood joint parker & otis is usually chock-full with strollers and moby-wrapped babies]. dinners though . . . honestly, i’d rather get takeout [or make something] at home than worry about a mid-meal meltdown.

hugely productive weekend days. i think i am going to have to severely restrict my lists to what is TRULY necessary. anything that gets done in addition to caring for our baby is really just a bonus!


working at home. i am going to make every effort to be incredibly efficient when i am at work to avoid having to bring anything home, whether it’s a presentation / patient phone calls / notes / etc. in fact, i’d even like to add some study time in AT WORK – it’s unrealistic to think that i’ll be able to do this once i pick up from day care. maybe i’ll be surprised and find out that i’m wrong, but based on what i’ve heard from other medical moms, i think it’s doubtful.

lots of travel. after all, i will have exactly zero vacation days after the end of my maternity leave, anyway!

regularly scheduled blogging. as i wrote about previously, i definitely want to continue writing but i think the regularity of my posts will change.

not giving up without a fight
cooking. as detailed above.

running/workouts in some form. i don’t necessarily need [or even want] to get back to full-fledged racing shape, but i really, REALLY want to keep some running in my life — and i’m pretty sure my sanity will depend on it. i would love to get some speed back again [5K training perhaps?] and even build up to some longer weekend runs [though no full marathons are in my future for a LONG time — probably not until all of our future kids are in school 🙂 ]. i’d also love to make it to an occasional yoga class [i want my headstand back!], or perhaps i’ll just rely on home podcasts for a while.

the occasional date night. i believe in babysitters! i would love to aim for a monthly dinner out.

one brief note
some of you may have noticed that the sponsored post from yesterday on my maternity wear experiences is gone.

the case of the disappearing bumps
since i knew i would be writing lots of pregnancy/baby-themed posts anyway, i was really excited to be selected for a huggies ad campaign that involved nothing other than writing posts on my pre- and post-partum experiences, with no special ad-specific or branded content required from me. in all honesty, the extra compensation is nice and makes me feel like the blogging effort is worth it [and day care is $$$$$, yo]. i think of it sort of like writing for babble, except i’m happy that the pieces i write get to remain on my own blog.

apparently, there was some issue with the official launch and all of the involved bloggers were asked to remove their posts. i think the post [and its future successors] will go back up soon, but i just wanted to clarify a) why there was a logo at the top of yesterday’s page, and b) why the whole thing disappeared.

3 Comments

  • Reply elgee March 10, 2019 at 7:19 pm

    What adjustments will Josh be making to his routine? What’s he going to give up? I honestly don’t know how you can possibly do everything you imagine you’ll be able to do without some serious commitment from Josh. It’s not about "helping." It’s about responsibility. I hope you’ve discussed it and set some expectations.

  • Reply Lee March 10, 2019 at 7:19 pm

    I didn’t even notice that it was a sponsored post! Although I did wonder why the font was different but I thought that was the graphic designer in me.

    How do people get chosen to write for Babble anyway? I think that would be so cool.

  • Reply Christi March 10, 2019 at 7:19 pm

    On a random note, while I’m thinking about it: as a list-making person myself, it drove me nuts not to be hacking through my lists while I was caring for my newborn. At the end of my rope, I decided to write a reverse-list, and I wrote down everything I had done that day (changed batteries in a pesky but necessary toy, changed countless diapers, feedings, walked dog, ate breakfast, etc) and that helped both reinforce that I was being productive AND that my lists are just different now.

    You’ve got a great perspective heading into this and I’m sure you’ll have your own strategies and I’m looking forward to reading about them! Good luck!

  • Leave a Reply

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.