Wish Me Luck

Tomorrow is the big day. October 14th has been a date looming in my mind for weeks now. I have very mixed emotions about returning to work of course. I feel like the first week or two will be a bit rough, but once we get in the routine of things I think I will really enjoy being back! I'm definitely a little stir crazy right now, but I'm also loving every second Beckett and I have together. I have a few things in mind to help working and being a Mom not be too stressful and busy. I want to be able to play with Beckett and enjoy the time we have each day and still be able to maintain a somewhat clean house and cook dinner every night. I also want to be able to play on the weekends and not feel like Saturdays are meant for cleaning and grocery shopping. Some of these things may not end up working, but here's my plan so far:

• Crock pot extravaganza in this house! I've collected a bunch of crock pot recipes and I pretty much don't plan on cooking anything ever again unless it is crockpotable. I don't want to come home from work and worry about cooking dinner. And I definitely don't want to be stopping at the drive through every night!
• Put everything in the crock pot before I go to bed. In the morning I'll just take it out and turn the knob. Wala! Dinner! 
• Basically do everything except get dressed the night before (that's actually not a bad idea). Pack my lunch, pack the diaper bag, and put dinner in the crock pot.
• Try to always do the dishes after Beckett is in bed. This way I won't miss out on time with him, and I want come home to a messy kitchen.
• Do you remember how Danny Tanner had a cleaning schedule for each day of the week? Well I'm going to have one too: Thursday- Clean everything. Every Thursday will be the night of the week we eat out. I'm going to vacuum, clean the bathroom, and do the laundry. Those things don't actually take that long to do, but if I know I have one day each week they get done I won't have to worry about it during the rest of the week. Plus my Mom will be spending each Friday at our house and I won't have to wonder if my house is clean or not!
• I haven't figured out the best way to do grocery shopping. I hate grocery shopping more than anything. Hate it. I would like to go every two weeks, but I generally go once a week because I like fresh produce. This may have to be a weekend thing, but I might try going after dinner one night a week. I don't usually go late at night, but maybe Wal-Mart is a little less hellish during those hours? I really wish there was a grocery delivery service. I don't usually like to pay for things I can do myself, but this is one thing I would definitely consider.
• Say no. I've never had a problem saying no, but I think I will be saying no now more than ever before. Between work, church, family, and friends, there are a lot of things to be attending and participating in! If I don't have time for it, I'm going to politely say no. Even if I do have time for it, but it will make me more stressed than I care to be, I'm going to say no. I think it's important to have down time to just hang out with your family and not always be running around everywhere and trying to do everything.

Beckett will get dropped off at my work at 4:00 and then we will head home. Some days he will even get there at 3:30 and hang out (sleep) for 30 minutes until it's time to leave. I'm really grateful for a full time a job that ends at 4:00 every day! I think this will help me feel like we still have plenty of time to spend together every day and it isn't like I get off of work and it's time for him to go to bed. I'm already planning on some tears tomorrow morning. I won't have the drive from the babysitters house to my work to get it all out though. She will be meeting me at school in the mornings when she drops off her daughter. Hopefully this will be a good thing and not embarrassing for me! Wish me luck!