my new lists

I am a list lover. Have been for a lo-o-o-n-g time. Let me tell you why:

1. You can cross things off and get a wonderful sense of accomplishment.
2. You can color code them (and I do love making things pretty).
3. It helps me keep track of what I need to do.
4. I'm a visual person and a word person - so writing things down and looking at them really helps me.

Anyway - since I became a Mama, lists have taken on new meaning -

• more important than ever (because pregnancy brain/mama-to-a-baby-or-toddler brain/brain hampered by BOTH conditions... that brain is prone to forgetting and being otherwise very FULL).
• more frustrating than ever - lists never quite seem to end these days, and I'm unable to cross things off in the timely, efficient manner I had grown accustomed to in my pre-Mama days

So I have developed a way to save myself from the overwhelmitude (not a word, but it conveys the meaning appropriately, I think) of the To-Do-List. In addition (because let's face it, I could never really get by without the all-powerful TDL) I now like to make a Have-Done-List. Not every day - that would be far too cumbersome, and would ADD things to my TDL, which is NOT the point. But when I'm feeling a little beat up, a little discouraged, a little behind my game - it helps me to sit down and make my HDL.

Here is today's HDL (as of 10:28am):

• up at 5:40am
• showered
• had a good 1/2 hour devotional time before the Nut woke up
• changed a diaper, got Hazel dressed for the day
• made breakfast for us both
  
• Ate breakfast/fed Hazel
• grocery shopping
• took a walk & played outside
• had a morning snack
• changed another diaper
• talked to Kim on the phone
• put HazelNut down for her morning nap
• started a load of diaper laundry
• emptied the dishwasher and hand-washed the dishes in the sink
• got out stuff for lunch
• answered a few emails, did some Facebook-ing, "window shopped" online a little
• am now writing this blog

See how wonderfully productive that could make an exhausted Mama feel? Even if "changed diaper" is on your list 17 times a day (which may well be the case for me in a few months...) you still DID it.

My HDLs save my sanity a wee bit on the long days (days like today when Mark is out of town and I don't get a reprieve at 5:00 like I'm so used to...) I can look down at my list and KNOW that I did things today -things that may not matter much in the grand scheme of the universe - but things that matter VERY much to my daughter, to my household, and to my Jesus. To take seriously the role He has called me to - as a Mama and a maker of our family's home... every once in awhile I just need the reminder that my days are full of things... perhaps small things, but valuable nonetheless.