38 weeks & babbling / by Christina Rosalie

So you guessed anywhere from next Wednesday to the following Friday, huh? I'm totally for the 20th. I also kind of hate anyone who even dared mention a date beyond the 25th, because seriously, if I have to wait until the 27th or 28th, I will gradually begin banging my head on the wall and forget my name. I am so ready. Bags packed. House cleaned. Baby clothes washed. Oh, and have I mentioned? Really ready to have my body belong to just me again.

Tonight it dawned on me that holy shit, there's an entire body in my belly. A baby. Okay, 'dawned on me' might be a titch dramatic. But really, something about being pregnant has never quite fully saturated my brain. It is such a bizarre state of being.

Some people take to it, I imagine, like platypuses to water. Or whatever. But I just don't.

There's a bit of that surreal-ness that has lingered too in becoming somebody's mama. It's not an identity that I've just slipped into. I still never have the coolest snacks at the playground, or know what to say to Bean's teachers when I pick him up at preschool. I love him beyond the stars and moon, of course. I love hanging out with him, listening to the way he puts ideas together, to the way he giggles. I love everything about having this kid in my life--and can imagine how amazed and thrilled I will be to get to know this second little person who has so determinedly picked me, now. But still. Sometimes it just feels so utterly weird that he's totally dependent on me. That he's my kid. Mine.

Sometimes when this feeling strikes it's like I'm watching myself from somewhere else.

Me. 38 weeks pregnant. Waiting.

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On a completely unrelated topic I've begun to notice that I expend a lot of useless energy doing things twice--rather than just following through on the first go round. I take the laundry out of the dryer and leave it sitting on the couch instead of folding it right then and there. I bring in the to-go cup from the car, but skip putting it in the dish washer. Little stuff. But then later I'm playing catch up, putting stuff away where it should be. Do you ever find yourself doing this? It's some sort of weird head game I play with myself. But it's got to change.

There is no way I'm going to survive having two if I don't become more efficient.

So. What I want to know from you is: how are you efficient? What are your top 2-3 time and effort saving daily tactics? How do you get your life done without feeling like your life is doing you? And especially, how do you do this with more than one kid?