The Official Pre-Baby Bucket List

I somewhat introduced you to the concept of a "Pre-Baby Bucket List" back in December when I posted about Saving Today to Splurge Tomorrow and our goal to head to Europe this summer. Basically, the idea is that we have a list of things we want to do before having a baby and we will work our way through the list... Once the list is complete, then we'll start our journey to become parents!

Quite honestly, our list was made somewhat selfishly... It's simply about doing things that we want to do! We believe that we should treasure our time as "just the two of us." We understand that once we have a baby, our priorities will change... never again will it be all about us... and we wouldn't want it any other way! When the time comes for us to have children we fully intend for every decision that we make and every dime that we spend to be made with a "what's best for the kids" mentality. But today, today we are going to celebrate us!!

So, Brandon and I sat down last weekend and wrote out our official list!

This was much harder to do than I expected! We decided it would be best to just throw out things we want to do and then once we had listed everything we could think of, start weighing out whether or not it was necessary to do before baby.  For example, I really, really, really want to attend the Kentucky Derby... I swore I would go while in college but every year the Derby falls on finals week so it's been delayed about seven years. Point being, I put it on the list but then when it came down to it, I decided going to the Kentucky Derby could wait... It was something that a baby wouldn't necessarily keep us from. (I feel as though all mothers out there are reading this and laughing... "You have no clue what all baby will keep you from" and you're right, obviously I don't but I'm trying here!)

So, here we go...

Our Pre-Baby Bucket List

1. Buy Bedroom Furniture

We want to spend some money on outfitting our home... So much of what we have is hand-me-downs from college and while those things do serve their purpose, we would like to spruce things up a bit by investing in some furniture! We decided to start with bedroom furniture... We made our first big purchase as a married couple on December 30th! I will share photos of our new pretty bedroom as soon as I get something hung on the walls... hopefully that will happen soon! But until then, here is a sneak peek:

2. Spend the Night on a Boat in the Middle of the Lake

I realize that this seems super random becauses, well, it is... BUT growing up on Lake Tenkiller, I have always enjoyed being on the water after dark. There is something so peaceful about the sound of the water hitting the side of the boat as it gently rocks you back and forth, the pitch dark being illuminated by a huge beautiful moon, and the fact that there aren't any bugs in the middle of the lake! For as long as I can remember I've just wanted to spend the night in boat... Sooo random, but we're going to knock it out! Woohoo!

3. Learn to Dance

Let me sum this one up for you - I am a white, baptist, former cheerleader... Dancing was clearly never in my future. Well, guess what? We are sick and tired of sitting on the sidelines! We are going to learn to dance... We were inspired by B's dad and stepmom who signed up for dance classes and loved every minute of it! We hope to be tearing it up on the dance floor with them soon!

See, this picture looks sweet but in reality Brandon was whispering,
"If you hadn't insisted on wearing that white dress, nobody would be staring at our terrible dancing."

4. Take Brandon to Europe

As I've mentioned before, B has never been over the pond so we have got to fix that! I'm in the process of booking our flight to Austria and Switzerland!! Now if I can just get American Airlines to open us up some frequent flier seats... Seriously guys, it's starting to make me nervous! We would really love to get to fly for free so cross your fingers that something opens up! We plan on marking this one off the list in late May!

5. Watch the Cubs Play

He wanted to watch some baseball and I wanted to visit a city in the US... Chicago was an easy compromise! Plus, I'll get to visit some great friends who migrated North! He also really wants to go to Fenway and I would LOVE to visit Boston, but B decided he wanted to wait to see the Red Sox until we had a little slugger of our own... So, Go Cubs!

6. Do Something Outrageously Generous

We don't know what this will entail but we are praying for a grand opportunity to bless someone!

7. Go on a Real Life Road Trip

We don't really care where to! As I've mentioned half a million times we love riding in the car together and we felt that road trips seemed to be becoming a thing of the past... So it seemed like the practical thing to do!

Our mini-road trips to the lake are typically prime quality time! Ha!

8. Go Snow Skiing Together

We put this one on our list because we both love to ski, but have never gone together. Turns out, we got invited to tag along with some of B's family in the end of February! We can't wait to race down some snow covered mountains!!

**UPDATE: You can read all about our snow skiing trip here!

9. Spend One Day with Each Set of Grandparents

In addition to just wanting to hang out, we believe that our grandparents are full of wisdom and we would be completely missing out if we didn't designate time to sit down and just listen. We have started a list of questions we would like to ask them - some questions are serious, some just for fun. We want to know our grandparents' stories - how they met, their first jobs, etc. So we are going to send the questions in advance for them to think over and then go visit and take a big notepad and lots of sharpened pencils!

Brandon's Parents & Grandparents

My Parents & Grandparents

10. Have at least X amount of dollars in savings

Guess who was all over this one... Yep, my sweet husband. He always wants to be prepared!

11. Go Scuba Diving Together

Pretty much the same story as #8. We both love to dive but we've never done it together. Even though this won't be a new thing for either of us, we want to get to experience a few of our favorite adventures as a couple!

12. **OPEN TO SUGGESTIONS

We decided to leave two openings in case we thought of something spectacular later!! We didn't want to be too tied down... Flexibility is key!

13. **OPEN TO SUGGESTIONS

14. Explore Italy

I have never had the desire to go back to a place I've already been... In my opinion, there are wayyyyy too many amazing places in the world to see the same thing twice. Italy is the exception to my rule. I was truly mesmorized by this little country! The people are so incredibly kind, the art is phenomenal, the land and oceans are stunning, the food is divine, and I visited this place called Cinque Terra... it's the only place on earth, other than my hometown, that I thought "Oh this is heaven." I can't imagine NOT taking Brandon there.

Vernazza, Cinque Terra, Italy

15. BABY KING!

**DISCLAIMER: We make absolutely zero promises to stick to this list... It is simply a self-imposed guideline. If God decides to give us a surprise miracle baby tomorrow, we will be beyond thrilled and won't have a single second of sadness about not finishing this silly list. It's a bucket list and nothing more.

What do you think? Did we leave something crucial off? Did you have a Pre-Baby Bucket List? Is there something that you wish you had done? Parents please, please, please share your wisdom with us! Or if you're working on your own Pre-Baby Bucket list, what are we missing out on? Thanks to each one of you for listening to my wild ranting every day!! Please know that you are loved and appreciated and you make one little blogger very, very happy!

Be Blessed!

Raegan