Monday, April 7, 2008

Back in Action

Hello Friends!

I'm feeling much better and I'm back at work. Trying to take it easy. Only about seven weeks left!!!

I have appointed my friend Gary as my "in case of emergency" guest blogger to keep you up to date of any changes.

I am one of those people who finds it really hard to rest and sit still. I have been trying to do lots of reading and watching movies but sometimes I get cabin fever! I just feel like there is so much I need to do to get ready for baby's arrival!

We watched "Dan in Real Life" a few days ago which was really sweet. I think Steve Carrell is best when he does really subtle comedic roles like this one. One thing that really struck me about the movie is all the "together time" this family has. They do things like have men vs. women crossword puzzle challenges, early morning aerobics in the front yard and Charades tournaments in the evening. No one turned on the tv or played video games. I thought that was so great! I know it's not always possible but I would like to be the kind of parents who really encourage creative play and don't use the television as a babysitter. We are really going to try and limit baby's exposure to television for at least the first two years. I hope we will eventually become the kind of family that has lots and lots of "together time!"

6 comments:

Gary said...

I'm intrigued by your comments about "Dan in Real Life." I hope using the example of the movie will keep me from going completely off-topic from your post, but it would be an interesting experiment to brainstorm ideas about how to create in our own lives the things we find and are attracted to movies, books, and so on.

The next step would be to figure out what you would need to do to get to those goals. I think keeping an eye on what the outcome would look like would be real inspiration to trying to make a step-by-step plan.

What I'm proposing is nothing new, but what I like about this approach is that it helps crystallize our life goals and give us each a map to actually reach them. It would be a way to get from simply wishing and hoping for certain things to happen and instead taking real action and saying "OK, let's do it!"

Stating up front that I know nothing about how to raise children, I've wondered before how parents could benefit from developing strategic plans for their family lives. It would be fascinating to start out with something you and your spouse initially created and then continually revise the plan with your children's input as they got older and began to understand what you were doing.

Who knows, maybe it would be the kind of shared project that would make it easier to say, "You know, let's turn off the TV and go out to the front yard and do aerobics."

Amy M. said...

That's not a bad idea, Gary. We are definitely already having talks about how we want to raise the baby. I think I also need family/friends who find the idea of doing dueling crossword puzzles as appealing as I do. But then...I'm a big nerd!!!

Sarah B. B. said...

I loved that movie! It made me want to buy a beach house for my not-yet-existent children & their offspring. :) Something tells me you're going to raise intelligent, thoughtful, creative kids, and that you'll be very adept at developing ideas for what they need when they need it. I'll be thinking of book ideas for you, too...

Amy M. said...

Awww..thanks Sarah!

I agree with you! Don't you want your own getaway house to have big weekend family bonding get-togethers now? I sure do!!

Anonymous said...

Hi Amy! I can't believe it's only 7 more weeks.....before you know it I'm going to pop on here to a picture of a little baby face!

bluemuf said...

What fun to start planning family activities now. There are so many things to do in this life and so little time. We tried to introduce as many different activites as we could afford in time and/or money. Example; organized sports, art, nature. But, the best things were the things we would do together in the evening and weekends, walks, visit the lake, a trip to the library, biking, you get the picture. It a whole new exciting world out there for all of you. Enjoy every moment.

Hugs Karen