Resolutions

The ringing in of a new year always inspires me makes some New Year's Resolutions, but come February or March, if I am being diligent, my so called "resolutions" usually fall to the wayside. Be that as it may, I still have some goals/resolutions for this upcoming year and maybe, just maybe, I will be able to follow through with slightly more vigor this year.

Some of these are goals and some of them are resolutions and some of them are just themes I (or we as a family) would like to embrace more in my day to day life...

1. Breathe - If you know me well, you know I have a bit of a temper. I can get fired up pretty quick. Having a very active toddler does not bring out the best of me and my temper. So, when I am frustrated (with Ollie, with Mylo, with anything or anyone), I am trying to just take a deep breath before I react, yell, make a snappish comment, or otherwise react in a less than mature fashion.
2. Be More Creative - I want to create more, be more crafty, nurture that very small creative part of my mostly analytical brain. I learned to knit last year, so now I want to actually knit some projects. I want to bust out my sewing machine from time to time. Do some craft projects. Make family silhouettes. The list goes on and on.
3. Make Our "New" Home Ours - We moved in September 2010, but most of our decor was still at our old house for "staging" purposes until recently. I want to get all the pictures framed/hung, decor strategically placed, furniture arranged to my liking, painting done (preferably before baby #2 arrives).
4. Budget Better - I think this is always an ongoing goal of mine, but Mylo and I are taking this really seriously this year. We bought YNAB budgeting software for our new computer and have already put it to good use - we created a monthly budget and have inputed all our transactions so far this year (we are doing this together on a monthly basis). This way we both know where all our money (every last cent) is going and we can actually save for some bigger ticket items - like bedroom furniture. It is a little scary for me to be this accountable for my spending, but overall I think it will help us to do what we actually want with our money (instead of instant gratification spending on crap) and achieve some long term monetary goals. I just need to remember that "budget" isn't a bad word, but a very good word.
5. Be More Active - Usually I am quite physically active, but this pregnancy has kicked my butt. All that puking the first trimester really put a kink in my physical fitness. I am essentially completely out of aerobic shape at this point - which is tough for me because so much of my identity is tied to my physical activity - running, etc. Over the past few weeks, I have been trying to be more active (within my pregnancy limits), but with my pelvic pain/swelling issues, if I overdo it I pay for it later with lots of pain and discomfort. Walking for extended amounts of time seems to really aggravate my poor pelvis. I am going to continue to try to stay as active as I can for the remainder of this pregnancy, but really, this goal won't start until post baby. I have two family weddings this summer, one of which I am in, so the pressure (self-imposed of course) is on. I am going to try to be forgiving with myself and based on my last experience (with Ollie), I need to recognize that it took me a bit longer than I had anticipated to "bounce back."
6. Print Pictures/Make Picture Albums - We take tons of pictures and I am pretty good at family journaling ala blogging, but I need to do something with all these electronic memories. I am terrible at getting pictures printed and getting picture albums made. Don't even mention Ollie's baby book, which I utterly failed at completing with any degree of consistency/accuracy. I think I retroactively filled it in up to month eight or so. I plan to redeem myself with some photo albums, getting the blog made into a book (there are websites that do that for you people!!), and having professional family photographs taken (hopefully in the next month or so before I am more blimpish).
7. Work On Us - Don't get me wrong, I have very few complaints about my marriage. Of course, Mylo and I annoy each other from time to time, but that is just life. I am very happy with Mylo - he is my best friend, a great father, and an understanding/compassionate/supportive partner. We will have been married for five years this summer (time flies). That being said, I know that marriages take work and you can't just put in all work when it starts to fail. You have to pay it forward. Also, our marriage is the foundation of our family and it is very important for both us (both coming from divorced families) to maintain that foundation as best we can. Since having Ollie, we don't do as many "fun" things together. Our "date nights" revolve around getting non-fun things done, like shopping for furniture, etc. We have decided to have at least one real date night a month, do more fun stuff together (Ollie can come too), and work on us a little more. I want to be more patient with Mylo, be more thoughtful and do nice things for him, communicate more clearly, be more supportive, and nit-pick less.
8. Family Time - I also want to make a concerted effort to have more fun family time, not just dragging Ollie with us to run errands, which let's face it, have to get done too. I want to get outside as a family more. We live in an amazing place with so, so many outdoor offerings. We need to take advantage of those offerings more. So we are dedicating Sunday mornings (until nap-time) to fun family time. I want to create memories with Ollie. Some of my fondest childhood memories are camping and going to catch frogs at the park. I want Ollie to have those kind of memories.

I tried to limit myself to half a dozen goals/resolutions, but I just couldn't do it. So there it is. I will try to do a quarterly review on my progress to date, so I can see what I am achieving and where I need to adjust my expectations. Wish me luck!