The Baby Bucket List

I want to share what's on my mind. Can I do that? I've had several people recently question why Ozzie and I have decided to hold off on having a baby right now. When I explain that we want to wait until we're more financially stable, I've heard more than once, "Well, you'll never be financially stable. So why put it off?"

At this point, I just take a breath and smile. I really do love that you are excited for us to have kids and am assured that one day we'll have a very supportive network of family and friends to help us when the time comes. But, as much as we will love our babies when they come, that time is not quite here yet. We are so happy living in this period of being just us as a couple. This is the only time in our lives (well, until we're empty-nesters) that we can just focus on each other - building and strengthening our relationship, working on personal projects all evening just because we want to, walking around Walmart for fun in the middle of the night, going out to a diner for breakfast at 3am and deciding to leave right then and there for Indiana... These are moments and memories that I'm treasuring. We are storing up experiences and love now for the future.

To be honest with you, I would love a baby. It gets to me when I least expect it. I could be having a fine day, and then I look out the window and see a couple moms walking past with babies snuggled to their bodies, in adorable pink and green strollers, or tiny tots trailing behind them. To say that seeing mommies and babies together tugs at my heart is an understatement. But I know in my heart that the best way I can love our future children is to prepare for them now to provide the best life possible for them. Ozzie and I have talked many times about what we would like to do before we have children. So I've put together a "Baby Bucket List" that includes some practical, real life things we want to accomplish and some wish list items that would be fun to experience as a couple before we have kids. Overall, it is important to note that this list is not extensive or restraining in any way. It helps us focus and makes the preparation season fun. We do understand that God's plans are ultimate, and that no checklist really fully prepares you to be a parent.

So have fun with us and enjoy our list! I'll add to it and update what we've completed as we go. Look for the most updated version under the Snuggles and Giggles page!

The Baby Bucket List

Seriously, We Need To Do This

1. Become more focused on The Lord and dedicated to daily habits of Scripture-reading and quiet time.
2. Continue learning and discuss how we would like to raise our children. (We are excited for this life-long process!)
3. Ozzie graduate from college
4. Ozzie get a good full time job he is happy in
5. Buy a second car
6. Get to and maintain my goal weight and fitness level. (It is very important to me to be fit and strong during pregnancy and as a mom. I want to be energized and able to enjoy the adventures God throws our way.)
7. Eat clean, healthy and home-cooked regularly. (We already do this for the most part, but I still want to get on a better schedule of clean eating for lunches and during snacking.)
8. Cut down on coffee, so I don't need it every day. (Taking one week/month to be entirely off coffee would help. I know, they say you can have some coffee now while pregnant, but why not go above and beyond to make sure everything goes as right as possible?)
8. Be comfortable cooking daily meals. (I've improved on this since we've been married, but I want to get to a point where I have ideas, energy, and skills to cook a good, healthy meal every night.)
9. Get into a consistent cleaning schedule.
10. Pay down most of our debt.
11. Have a sturdy amount of savings set aside.
12. Work on managing stress and emotions - Find and get in the habit of utilizing a sure-fire stress relief method.

We Would Prefer To Do

1. Buy our first home
2. Stay at an adventure resort (summer or winter)
3. Cultivate my friendships with my girl friends (I want to have a strong circle of friends when I am a mom. More on friends later.)
4. Develop my online homemade business into a solid income source that is enjoyable and fulfilling.
5. Sew our baby's supplies in a style that will be cute for either boy or girl: Reusable diapers with diaper covers, diaper bag, changing pads, crib set, and other nursery items.
6. Have family and friend's children/babies overnight and all day a few times.
7. Be able to hold a conversation in Spanish and understand Spanish children's books/music. (Ozzie's got this covered, but I have more to work on. We want to be able to teach our children Spanish in the home as they're learning to talk.)
8. Enjoy full nights of sleep now!

It Would Be Nice To Do

1. Have a couple's photo shoot (before the maternity shoot!)
2. Get snowed in at a cabin around Christmas time
3. Go on a cruise or fancy romantic tropical vacation
4. Continue building up my stash of adorable various-sized baby clothes, for boy or girl. (It's important to me to really love everything my baby wears, since they're only wearing those sweet tiny things for a very short time. Between yard sales and what I make, I have time to really pick out the best. That way, too, it won't cost an arm and a leg to buy baby clothes when the time comes.)
5. Take photos of our life pre-baby (Favorite places to go, location of first date, where we met, where he proposed, etc.)


So let me know what you think! Leave a comment and share what items you have/had on your to-do list before having a baby. If you already have kids, is there anything you wish you would've done before having children?

Traditions & Activities - Apple Baking Day

When we went to the pumpkin patch last week, we also bought quite a few pounds of apples for an apple baking day with my mom. So yesterday, my mom and two little brothers spent Saturday at our house baking. Mmm... the house smelled so good! We made apple pies, apple dumplings, and yummy applesauce. Thankfully, we had enough apples to freeze a few pies, dumplings, and containers of apple sauce to eat throughout the fall and winter. But of course, we just had to bake a few right away, because who wants to peel, cut, and season apples all day without tasting some warm, gooey deliciousness?

My little brothers were such a huge help. I don't know how my mom and I would have done it all without just collapsing on the couch half way through (which we did at the end anyway). They were so excited to help that they even volunteered to peel the apples while mom and I walked down to Market to buy a few more apples for the applesauce. Now when I say a few, I mean a whole box! The shop owners at Market were very generous, though, and gave us a a great price. It was fun showing mom Market, as she had never been there before. There are rows and rows of stands with fresh produce, mostly local or organic, baked goods, ethnic foods, flowers, and all kinds of handcrafted items. I love going to Market for the energy, community atmosphere, and refreshing anticipation of life that seems to pervade the place. It was such a beautiful, crisp fall day to walk through the city, too. It brings such peace into my being to step outside and breathe in the cool air, feeling the sun on my skin. I'm such a sucker for scarves, a flannel shirt and puffer vest, too. Just a perfect combination for a memory-full day with my mom and brothers.

With flour and sugar all over ourselves and the floor, gashes in our fingers, the freezer stocked, and the house smelling like apples and cinnamon, we popped The Grinch (the new one!) in the Playstation and cuddled up on the couch while the pies were baking for a warm-fuzzy inducing Christmas movie. I am so thankful for days when we can gather with family to enjoy a cozy day of baking, activities or whatever brings us together. We need each other. That's why we were given family, and I don't want to forget that. It can be so easy for us to go about our daily schedules, staying inward, doing what needs done and what we want to do on our own. It's easy to forget about those who love us and who we love because we're so wrapped up in our struggles or whatever we're trying to figure out. Days like yesterday remind me that without our loved ones being around us, our lives are really in vain. I'm so thankful that God gave us two wonderful families that are now our whole family. 

After working all day, my husband was so excited to come home to an apple dumpling baking in the oven, just for him. I love when I have the opportunity to do special things like that for him. He works so hard and is so loving to me; it warms my heart when I can express my love for him by showing him that I was thinking about him and went out of my way to have something ready in the oven for him just when he came home. The anticipation of this small gesture was on my mind all day as we were baking. He loves apple pie and I just smiled as I was putting the pies together, knowing he would be bouncing around the kitchen, all excited if he were there.