My name is Katie and I am thrilled to be the newest contributing blogger to DC Metro Mom. I’m also one of the newest moms in DC - so new that my baby is not actually out yet! (Out, as in “of my womb”, not the other kind of out.) So obviously my posts here at DC Metro Mom will focus on issues related to pregnancy, birth, figuring out parenting and finding my place in the awesome community of moms here in DC.
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As Alanis quipped, “Isn’t it ironic?” I learn of the existence of National Simplify Your Life Week for the first time while I am just over 20 weeks pregnant with my first baby. My life seems the opposite of simplified right now. Monthly prenatal appointments, interviewing pediatricians, making sense of maternity leave, and measuring out our one-bedroom apartment to figure out the best way to arrange space for a crib feel anything but simple. I said as much to my husband last night, and his reply surprised me.
“We are doing a lot to simplify our lives right now!” He was mainly referring to our progress in purging unneeded items from the apartment to make space for our baby and its various necessary items. (That’s right, “it”, we don’t know what gender we’re expecting! More on that in another post.) As I looked around at the work we were doing, (presently, rearranging the bedroom) I realized we were aiming to create space. Space seems to me the essence of simplicity. Space between the pieces of furniture in our bedroom. Space in the drawers and closets. Space in my schedule for more naps, prenatal appointments and yoga classes. Space in our budget to take on new responsibilities. Simplifying is often about cutting out what is not needed, respecting our limits (of time, of mind, of physical room) and leaving some “space” around them. I guess we are simplifying!
