Resolutions, already.

My house and the bodies within it are still recovering from the Christmas flu bug. We've had only one decent night's sleep all week, and it wasn't last night. Gingerbread cookie dough remains in the fridge from Christmas Eve, hopeful that someone will want to bake it before the New Year makes it obsolete. Phone calls need to be returned. Thank you notes need to be written.

It's only the fifth day of Christmas, and yet my excitement over Christmas activities and decorations is already waning. I'm making To-Do lists and New Year's Resolutions in my head, and wishing I had some energy to finally clean this place. I did manage to scrub my nasty bathtub, and soak by candlelight for a little while this evening. I laid there trying to remember how many times I've done that this year, and decided that this must have been the first -- and most likely last -- time for 2005.

Resolution #1: More candlit baths for Mommy.

The last couple days I've spent mostly on the couch at my mom's, watching HGTV, knitting and/or holding a feverish Grouper on my lap so he could sleep. I'm hoping we saw the last of the fevers today. Pray tonight goes well, or I might not make it to 2006.

I'm almost done with the final Christmas gift hat. I have two scarves to make next. Then I have to decide if I'm going to make a felted diaper bag or not. Or just jump right into baby clothes and diaper covers.

The Martha rerun today was all about baby stuff, with an audience full of pregnant women. Got me thinking about preparing for this next baby, and how I always get these grand ideas of how I might do things differently, and then I turn out to be as lazy as always. Or, at least, too busy making new plans to follow through with the last ones.

There was this couple on who had twins, and then SEXTUPLETS. The mom had charts, and diagrams and color-coordinated feeding schedules, and she was talking about how staying organized is the only thing that keeps her alive. I used to imagine myself as a mom of six, with everything perfectly organized just like that. I don't know where that came from. I'm not sure it's ever actually been in my nature to stay that on top of physical things. I did have an extremely balanced bank account before I got married. But throw one more actual, not imaginary, person into that equation, and I'm toast.

I do get a surge of organizational energy in January. When the holidays are over, and everything has to be packed away again, I start wanting to declutter every closet and cranny and clean behind all the crevices. I want to declutter and prioritize everything else about our daily lives, too. Housekeeping routines, social calendar, diet, especially diet. Mine needs a major rehaul.

I think I only had ate well the first two weeks I was actually pregnant. Then morning sickness took over, and I ate mostly toast, applesauce and string cheese -- when I wasn't scarfing down cheeseburgers and french fries. I do eat well at Knitting Night and Vegand.o.m, but I've gotten lazy at home. Besides wanting to give this baby all the right nutrients, I'm still fighting the Candidas Monster. Though I've tried to avoid sugar, this flu bug somehow KICKED MY BUTT. Literally. I can hardly sit on it. It's driving me INSANE.

Resolution #2: Make a healthful meal plan, and stick to it.

Other things on the To-Do list to prioritize:
Find a dresser and make space for baby's things.
Scrapbook the boys' first years before I have yet another album to work on.
Finish painting the woodwork project I started in July.
Hang pictures in the living and dining room that have been on the boy's top bunk for five months.
Host the Birth Junkie movie night I promised to have in January.
Prep for and line up next childbirth education class for couples due in April and May.
Clean up the mess in the backyard and plant spring bulbs.

I'm sure there's more, but my next resolution is to:

#3: Get enough sleep.

That could prove to be the most challenging goal of 2006.