The minor fall and the major lift

I didn't think it would happen, but I have just submitted my grades, officially ending my semester responsibilities, exactly 1 hour and 21 minutes before they were due! Huzzah! And now I can breathe much easier (metaphorically speaking: the baby likes to wedge his behind up under my right rib cage and that has put a perpetual damper on breathing easily or at all in some cases. But the point remains!) and get on with the many many things I have to do with my life that should have been done much earlier. Like....

--actually unpacking all our boxes that have yet to get unpacked since we moved in (gasp!) October!

--setting up the nursery, which is currently just a pile of boxes and storage containers (see above) covered with tiny baby clothes right now.

--hanging curtains. We did this in our bedroom and the guest bedroom...and nowhere else, so our house is very, umm, visible right now. We actually love the light from our many windows and tell this to folks who (unsuspectingly) come over, but really, the truth is, no time!

--writing thank-you notes. I am half done with these but half is not enough, so must get them back by Sunday or will seem ungrateful in the extreme.

--packing the "hospital bag." I found multiple lists of recommended items, sorted through them, and came up with my own tailored list in a fit of productivity one day last month, but that's as far as it's gotten. So we need to make some progress there.

--mailing Christmas packages to the husband's family. I managed to get mine out already, largely because I was paranoid about getting one to Japan on time, but his family's offerings sit in piles on my dining room table reproaching me every time I walk through.

--sleeping. I can't seem to get enough naps so I plan to devote as much time as possible to them...in the midst of doing all the rest of this stuff, of course!