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Here is my official Pre-Baby Bucket List.
I’ll be updating this as I check items off my list, so make sure to check back! (And I will likely also be updating this as I ADD items to my list!) I am putting this out there for thousands of you to see so that maybe, JUST MAYBE, someone will hold me accountable. ;-)
✓1. Find out if our new peanut is a boy or girl before our 20 week appointment. ~ Luckily, Baby To Be Images pulled through for us and was able to let us know we were having a BOY at 17 weeks! Such a fantastic experience and the owner has graciously offered $10 off to Macaroni Kid Annapolis readers!
2. Go on a fancy dinner date with Matt.
✓3. See a movie in a theater with Matt. ~ We checked this one off the list this weekend! My mom was in town visiting and in true Grandma form, jumped at the chance to take Nick off our hands for a few hours while we went on a movie date. We saw Get Hard (better than I thought it'd be!), complete with popcorn, soda and pretzel bites!
✓4. Get at least one prenatal massage. ~ Although I've only gotten one, it was the most glorious 60 minutes of my pregnancy so far! ;-)
✓5. Get a pedicure at least once/month with a friend! ~ Donezo. Still going, but I'm right on track with this!
✓6. Go on a weekend trip (maybe even just overnight) as a family. ~ Matt and I took Nick to Sesame Place in Langhorne, PA for a special overnight trip this past weekend! We stayed Radisson Hotel Philadelphia Northeast.
7. Go on a weekend trip (maybe even just overnight) with just Matt.
✓8. Research and purchase a double stroller. ~ After many months of research and suggestions, we finally decided on the Contours Options Elite stroller!
✓9. Research and purchase a new diaper bag. ~ Well guess what. Didn't really end up having to do this one because my good friend Megan gave me a FANTASTIC diaper bag that should hold everything I need for two kids without being too gigantic and bulky. Score!... and thank you, Megan!
✓10. Move Nick to a big boy bed in his new big boy room. ~ Nick has been in his big boy room in his big boy bed for almost 3 weeks now and he is rocking it!
11. Paint and decorate the baby's nursery. ~ To save time, stress and pressure, we decided to keep our current gender-neutral peachy-brown-tanish color on the walls in the nursery and update the theme with new bedding, wall hangings and decals. I ordered some adorable decals from Etsy and am currently trying to find some bedding to match! Work in progress, but at least there's SOME progress being made!
✓12. Speaking of his big boy room: clean out our guest room to make room for Nick’s big boy room. ~ Nick's room is done! He's sleeping in there and LOVES that he has a new big boy room!
✓13. Buy Nick a big boy bed and furniture and decorate that room! ~ Nick's room is done! He's sleeping in there and LOVES that he has a new big boy room!
✓14. Purge and organize our whole house. ~ Work in progress, I swear!
✓15. Have a yard sale! ~ We had our yard sale on 5/23 and rocked it! We got rid of a BOAT LOAD of "stuff" from our house, plus still had a car load to donate to Goodwill. I'm mostly just happy it's out of my house... and a little concerned we had that much "junk" in here to begin with!
16. Potty train Nick. ~ Weeelllllll, I suppose there's somewhat progress here. He went in the potty. Once. That counts for something, right? ** Update 5/14: We're up to four times in the potty. Progress, people!! ** Update 5/28: He's almost created his own routine in that he tries the potty before bath time. But, other than that, no cigar. Womp womp. ** Update 6/11: Mission basically aborted. He'll go right before his bath and that's it. Once we introduced his big boy room, the potty stuff went down the drain (no pun intended). Womp womp.
✓17. Get all yard work completed! ~ I guess technically, this is still in progress, but I am super excited to have CMR Property Services back to my home to help with this item! CMRPS, if you remember, put our holiday lights on our house this past Christmas season. This Spring and Summer, Chris will be helping us out with spring cleanup of our yard, mulching our gigantic flower beds, fertilizing and lime application and lawn mowing. We've always done our own yard work (every last thing), so it'll be a nice relief to have some help with it this year, especially from someone who is honest, knows what he's doing and pays such close attention to detail!
We've also signed on with Mosquito Squad Annapolis to handle mosquito control barrier protection for our yard. I must have the sweetest blood mosquitos have ever tasted because even stepping foot in our backyard at 7am for 5 minutes or less gets me at least 3 bites! With Mosquito Squad taking care of them for us this year, I plan to go bite-free, and to be able to work in my vegetable garden without jeans and a long sleeved shirt!
✓18. Research and purchase new nuring bras. ~ Done! I am sticking with the tried and true Bravados that I found late in the nursing game with my son. They can get a little pricy, but boyyyy is it worth it!
✓19. Get maternity family photos taken. ~ Mike McEwen Photography captured my maternity photos for my family and me! Stay tuned for an article featuring his work and the photos he got!
✓20. Get newborn family photos taken. (OK, this is post-baby. But it counts.) ~ Mike from Smile on Life Photography will be photographing our bundle when he arrives! Mike does awesome newborn photography and has been a good friend of Macaroni Kid Annapolis since last year, even donating his time and services to photograph events like our Sofia the First party! Given his easy going personality and willingness to capture what you want, I have no doubt our newborn photos are going to be amazing!
✓21. Get my house cleaned professionally! ~ I am so thrilled and excited that I found an amazing cleaning company, Clean Team Cleaning Services, to take this on for me. Because I'm getting bigger, more tired (lazy?) and feel like I have barely any spare time during the day, we decided to start now! I can't even wait to have an amazingly clean home (at least twice a month, anyway!). And to top it off, Rachel (the owner) is so fantastic to work with! Can't beat that.
22. Stock my freezer with freezer meals. ~ My mom is coming down for the weekend next weekend and I hope to have my freezer stocked by the time she leaves!
If you are a local business who would like to help me check any of these off my list by sponsoring an item, please contact me at nicoledonnelly@macaronikid.com!
