20. Write lists of Christmas presents for everyone

Bit of a fail today - only Day 3 and I'm already breaking into the 'easy' list items. In my defence, I was out of the house until lunchtime, with a doctor's appointment first thing followed by a play date at a lovely soft play centre complete with song time with an entirely fake Peppa Pig. J-cub showed me up by refusing to clap along to 'If you're happy and you know it...' which he's been doing in the privacy of our own home for about a week now, but as soon as Peppa started singing it, J-cub just sat there with no attempt to join in. He also had a go on a slide and a little wheely bike thing, so he was happy.

After lunch (and lunch with a baby-led weaned baby takes much longer than your average baby-fed lunch), I had to clear up from lunch, then try and get him down for a nap, all your usual motherly type activities. My sister-in-law was due to arrive this evening (and, indeed, has now arrived) so I had all kinds of frantic tidying to do, then felt guilty for neglecting the baby, so played with him for a while, then it was time for tea ... it just went on and on until I realised that I hadn't done anything listy.

So I have now compiled lists of presents I'm buying or making for all my nearest and dearest, which I obviously won't be posting here or Christmas won't be a surprise. And let's face it, Christmas isn't Christmas without surprises.

Instead, let me provide you with a picture of J-cub with the dodgiest Peppa Pig I've ever seen (I haven't actually seen another Peppa Pig, but I can imagine what a real Peppa Pig would look like).

Day 3 - mission complete.

26. Change J-cub's carseat

Received nice congratulations and a link from the Day Two post on hundreddays.net, big thanks to them. I've also persuaded three other people to join up and get going, one of whom is drawing a picture every day.

The mention on the hundreddays blog made me realise that I haven't made it clear that I'm not going to be doing the items in order. For some of the items (like #7), that would prove impossible, as I have yet to interview anyone so would find it difficult to offer someone a job next Monday.

So today's item was the relatively easy move from a rear-facing car seat to one which faces forward. At just under 9 months, and on the 98th centile for weight and height, J-cub is more than ready. I've been researching a lot recently about which carseat to have. Recent research has shown that it is far safer to keep babies and young children rear-facing until they reach 4 years old. Rear-facing carseats up to this age/weight limit are not readily available in this country though, although a few specialist companies do stock them. They are more expensive than forward-facing ones, and need more room in order to accommodate the child's legs.

We got a new car shortly after J-cub was born, and it became evident that the back seat is much less deep than your average back seat, as his (old) car seat would barely fit. Having taken various measurements and compared them against manufacturers' and specialists' specifications, we realised that there was no chance we were going to get a larger rear-facing seat in there.

So we're sucking it up and going forward-facing as we don't really have any other choice. If anyone reading this is interested in finding out more, there is plenty of information at http://www.rearfacing.co.uk/.

We spent an hour this afternoon in Halfords, we chose the seat, a nice man fitted it, then took it out and got one in a box rather than one that had been on the shop floor, fitted that one, then took it out so I could fit it. J-cub gave it his seal of approval by falling asleep about 5 seconds after we left. It was too dark to get a good photo, so here's a blurry one for now and I'll update it when it's light.

Day 2 - mission complete.

1. Write a list

1. Write a list

2. Replace TV table with something that has doors

3. Write Christmas cards

4. Start paperwork filing system

5. Finish Christmas present shopping

6. Post Christmas cards and presents

7. Hire someone to jobshare with me

8. Put up curtain rail in study

9. Buy and put up curtains in study

10. Put up Christmas decorations

11. Get study ready for family visits

12. Replace bookshelf in lounge with Billy bookcase and cupboard with doors

13. Organise books on bookshelves in study

14. Fix broken kitchen cabinet door

15. Make cables in lounge baby-safe

16. Take videos to charity shop

17. Sell car

18. Finish crocheted mobile for J-cub's room

19. Clean dust from bathrooms walls

20. Write lists of Christmas presents for everyone

21. Clean out and reorganise cat-corner-cupboard

22. Make J-cub cord trousers

23. Sell outgrown baby clothes on ebay

24. Wrap Christmas presents

25. Take J-cub to see Santa

25. Finish making nursery curtains

26. Change J-cub's carseat

27. Turn kitchen shelf into useful baby-area

28. Put up shelf in nursery

28. Make functional stereo area

29. Clean out junk-box in recycling unit, turn into something useful

30. Go through baking cupboard, clean and throw away out of date products

31. Put away oscillating fan

32. Get J-cub measured for shoes

33. Baby-proof kitchen

34. Frame and put up baby photos

35. Start laundry system

36. Fix lounge door handle

36. Clean mildew from shower curtain

37. Sand and paint skirting board in hall

38. Clean radiator and below in lounge

39. Find J-cub a nursery place

40. Bleed radiators

41. De-clutter and tidy downstairs toilet

42. Chuck out rubbish from garden

43. Put up border in nursery

44. Fix curtain rail in lounge

45. Put curtains back up in lounge

46. Pack maternity clothes away

47. Weed patio

48. Sand and paint wooden edge to back door

48. Prune Flamingo Tree

49. Cut back the garden

50. Clean drain in garden

51. Put up pictures in nursery

52. Make photo albums

53. Give J-cub the best 1st Christmas

54. Make stock of healthy food for freezer

55. Empty out and clean wardrobe

56. Put some sort of shelving into wardrobe

57. Organise current clothes into drawers/wardrobe

58. Organise too-small clothes into boxes labelled with size

59. Start baby book

60. Make hearth baby-safe

61. Sort out big kitchen cupboards

62. Weed and remove moss from drive

63. Sort out books from bedroom for charity

64. Put up pictures in study

65. Contact HR about return to work

66. Take cardboard from garage to tip

67. Take all other unused stuff from garage to tip

68. Weed gravelly garden bits, replace stones

69. Clean window, curtain and ledge on landing

70. Clean out cupboard under sink

71. Clean decking

71. Go away overnight (without J-cub, obvs)

72. Mulch borders

73. Decorate hallway

74. Put up pictures in hallway

75. Defer student loans

76. Tidy garden

77. Scrub patio

77. Celebrate Valentine's Day

78. Clean mirror in lounge

79. Get my hair cut ready to return to work

80. Put away all Christmas presents

81. Cut grass

82. Write Christmas thank-you cards

83. Put up shelves in study

84. Sort out work-clothes

85. Water, repot and tidy houseplants

86. Clean and seal around French windows in kitchen

87. Clean and seal around front door

88. Spend a day on my own (without J-cub)

89. Clean and sort out laundry/phone corner in hall

90. Take down Christmas decorations

91. Repaint garage door

92. Prune plants in front garden so we can see out the window

93. Arrange J-cub's birthday party

94. Do Christmas baking

95. Reseal around bath

96. Put up hooks on back of door in hallway cupboard

97. Put up stair-gates

98. Go out for an evening (without J-cub, obvs)

99. Update baby book for J-cub's first year

100. Give J-cub the best 1st birthday

So that's the list. I've tried to build in some leeway so that I'm not up a ladder painting on Christmas Day or weeding the garden when my parents come to visit. The hundred days start today, and finish (rather neatly) on J-cub's birthday.

I'll also be supplementing my challenge by providing an appropriate photo for each list item number, and I may also be blogging about the more mundane aspects of my life (like reorganising my life isn't mundane enough).

Day 1 - mission complete.

One Hundred Days To Make Me A Better Person

9 months ago, my life changed. I had a baby who tipped my life (and my house) upside-down. If everything had been bolted down in the first place, we would have been survived. But the house (and my life) had accumulated 7 years worth of clutter and nonsense, and now it's just out of control.

Various rooms in the house are able, on demand, to be tidy when required. However, the clutter just gets moved around, so if the downstairs is tidy, then the spare bedroom is jammed full of boxes of stuff. The garden, once beautiful and enjoyable, is overgrown and smells distinctly like a bog. There's an unsold car sitting on the drive, undriven for 8 months. My son has nowhere to go when I return to work. I have no-one to jobshare with when I return to work. The list goes on and on.

So, for the next one hundred days, I'm going to write a list, a big list, a proper list, which targets those areas of my life which are out of control, and I'm going to rein them in. I will do one thing off the list each day, unless I add anything to the list, in which case I'll do as many things extra as required to maintain the list at the appropriate number for that day.

This list is in addition to daily household living, which I'm also going to try and get better at.

I'm also going to attempt some sort of numerical photography project to illustrate the passing of the days.

In 100 days time, I want to be living in a house I'm proud of, that is well organised and safe for a toddler, and that I enjoy coming home to.

I'm just trying to be a better mum.

My name is Beth.