Non-baby things to do before you have a baby - ideas for the list?

[Charingcrossbun]

Hi ladies,

I am 13weeks pg and find I have lost all my tolerance for little people: the whiney, whinging, walking slowly and general loudness of children is grating on me. I'm fully aware this is completely unreasonable. i'm sure these children are as endearing and charming as their doting parents think they are but i'm struggling to see it at the moment. I'm blaming hormones and my deep seated terror that this pregnancy (whilst being something I really really want) is something I cannot control, nothing will be the same again.....

Anyway I figured I would channel this unnerving horribleness into something more positive and am creating a list of things to do before we have a baby:

1. Put headphones on and ignore children on public transport - I am childless and uncaring.
2. Carry a small handbag which only contains things to amuse me
3. Take on some night shifts for volunteering I do (see I am a nice person honest!) on the basis that I can wake DP at 0230 and he will not cry for hours
4. Lay in at the weekends

5...... Any ideas - a list for the last months?

Well yep dirty weekends but without sounding too icky, what i really could do with doing is nipping in Ann Summers, you will fancy some one day again and couldnt possibly venture in there with a pushchair it just seems wrong, but yes I know I could shop online yada yada...

Clean the house. Marvel at how long it stays clean for. Promise to never allow sticker books into the house or you will spend all day, every day, picking up discarded stickers from the floor

Oh and wear tops with zero boob access (appreciate this might get in the way of the spontaneous sex however): no choosing outfits based on whether you'll need to BF whilst wearing them!

definitely the 5-7 pm thing. sit in a bar having a g&t after work. no rush.

that sounds amazing!

Sleep obviously

have a really hot cup of tea, put it on the carpet by your feet-enjoy

Sit down on the sofa and do nothing bar flick through a magazine or watch the news between the hours of 5-8pm.

Go out for a day trip where you can leave before 8.30am and don't have to get back before 3.30pm.

Go to cinema without having to take annual leave.

Go out for weekend with friends, sit having cocktails until late.

(should have said day trip during the week in termtime!)

Agree totally with the 5-7 thing, my DCs are 9 and 7 now and it's still almost impossible to go out straight from work or v. early evening (without them anyway). Our house looks out over a green with a pub, I used to be so envious of all the people strolling across while I got DS fed and put to bed, then as they got a bit bigger it was bathtime/storytime, now they are older it's Cubs, Brownies, football practice etc. Almost impossible to get babysitting or other childcare for that slot.

Also, go swimming and actually swim. Or lie by a pool and read a book, solidly, without having to keep one eye constantly on the children.

Go to shops, markets etc and browse to your hearts content. You will be able to do this with a very small baby, but it becomes much harder fairly quickly. Appreciate the fact that you can use the stairs in shopping centres and not have to queue up for the lifts with the pushchair.

Talk to other adults while can can still finish a sentence without being interrupted. That's it. And just because you're pregnant doesn't mean you have to like children. You'll almost certainly love the very bones of your own but you can still hate everyone else's. I usually do.

OP why did you put vomit on the beach on your list?

Why would you want to vomit on the beach? i don't get it?!?!?

On my list i would say get your flat stomach out and flaunt it while you can. before I get pregnant again I am going to wear a bikini as much as possible just to enjoy my flat stomach.

overmy I think OP is regaling us with her "preggo list" of things that happened in week 13, this is not the same as the preggo "things to achieve" list". HTH :)

Oh! That makes more sense! I was so confused

I would enjoy not feeling guilty about everything.

Enjoy going to work without guilt, enjoy watching what you want on the telly when you want to watch it and without guilt, enjoy a night out without guilt, enjoy well enjoy your guilt free life because ime once baby turns up so does the guilt

I wouldn't worry about it all too much though, I have two DCs and I get two lie ins a week (DH gets two as well, on our days off) we go to the cinema once a month, I don't keep any kid stuff in my living room at all so it's not full of crazy plastic....I BF in pretty much anything I can possibly contort a boob out of (basically anything but shifts), wear underwire, frequent cafes, and have a nice, small handbag (OK it has a nappy in it if I'm going out for longer than an hour ) but you don't really have to give much up if you don't want to - that's the thing about being a parent, you make the rules!

It's great really, you'll love it.

Make and then drink a cup of tea, while it is still hot. Sleeeeeeep as much as you can!

Savour every bite of food and every sip of tea or coffee. Really feel those flavours roll around your tongue.

Give yourself a facial and watch all the episodes of Buffy on box set in one go during the weekend without any interruptions.

Sleep until 1pm and have breakfast for lunch.

Oh and yy to drinking tea and putting the mug on the floor by your feet! Haven't done that in donkeys of years!

Sex on Sundays mornings. We had lots of it when I was pregnant with DD1 but haven't had sex in the morning since, the kids are up far too early to contemplate it.

Everything cloudkitten said, what a fab post :-P

On Facebook you know me so well - I have the box set of Buffy!!

Thank you cloudkitten, you are absolutely right the list is things I have done not necessarily burning desires to have done.