New Years Resolutions

I won't even say anything about why I'm late with these. Comes with the territory.

I have a hard time with resolutions for a lot of reasons. One is that I lack discipline. (In some areas. In others, I have great discipline. I am a strict rule follower so if it feels like a rule, I have perfect discipline. But if it feels like cleaning my shower, well, not a chance.) The other is that a lot of resolutions seem dumb. Yes, I could resolve to create a life management binder with three months worth of meals planned out and 92 books I want to read and a strict workout regimen and cleaning schedule, but the truth is that is setting myself up for failure so I am not doing that. Although my husband would probably enjoy a bit more organization and home cooked meals around here. The other issue I have is really- who cares?? Life management binders have their place but in the grand scheme of things- who really cares if I stick perfectly to running so many times a week and making a certain number of meals? Apparently I don't care enough to do it, so I'm not. This year, my resolutions look a little different.

1. Have fun. I tend to be a bit of a homebody sometimes. I love to sit by my fireplace with my husband and watch TV or read. And I don't intend to stop doing that. But Patrick likes a little more adventure than that, and we have a child now who probably will too. So in 2013, I'd like to do more fun, dare I say spontaneous even, things. I have no specific plan for this. And I'm ok with that. (And really I feel like I've taken a step in the right direction already by deciding to go to the rodeo even though my first thought was 'Ugh, so many crowds and long lines and you have to take a shuttle, and you are there for so. many. hours. etc etc. See? I'm loads of fun!)

2. Rest more on the weekends. Basically, this is a resolve to get more done during the week because stuff has to be done. But it currently all gets piled up on the weekends and then everyone is tired when it's time to start the week over. Not in 2013!!

3. Clean my shower more often. (See above.) I don't have to work too hard at this due to the fact that I will not even admit here how many times I have ever cleaned our shower and let's just say, you can tell. Yes, it was left in a state of disrepair by the previous owners but either way. I must contribute more to it's cleanliness. Again, no specifics. Just do more.

4. Chill out. Part of me has been forced to chill out some since having a baby because if anything says 'you have no control over this situation', it's often parenthood. But part of me is even more uptight since having a baby. He is on a great schedule, and I absolutely love that. It means he is awake and asleep for the right amount of time during the day and I know what our days look like and he is usually a good night sleeper. (Yes, I realize a lot of that is just the luck of the draw. Some babies just aren't great sleepers.) But because he now sleeps at night, and this sleeping mama is a happy mama, I guard that nighttime sleep with my life. I'm fairly certain that starting a nap 8 minutes early won't result in 18 years of sleepless nights. And also, his father allowing more foam in his bottle than I do won't cause his intestines to spontaneously combust. So while I've learned to simmer down about things like putting on make up and saying in my pajamas for 3 days, there are some other areas in which I could really stand to chill out.

5. Do things with my husband that he enjoys. I almost didn't put this on here because I knew he would read it. It could still be a resolution without me telling him, right? Plus I have zero interest in mountain biking, which is his latest love. So let it be known that this is not a resolve to take up cycling. But if he wants to drive 45 minutes to some dive with great chicken fried steak that he saw on TV, I should be able to get on board with that every now and then. (Success #1: I've already agreed to go to a bike race the weekend of his birthday. Progress, people!)

6. Get out more during the week. Now that my boy lets me sleep, I can carry on true conversations again and there is no reason for me to stay home as much as I do. (See: 'chill out' and 'have fun.') I backed off from most of my responsibilities and quit my job when Everett was born. I think those were all good decisions as I needed that time. But I don't need it anymore. Time to get back out there! (Not in the 'online dating' sort of way.) I'm going to combine this with 'be a better friend.' Like, send some snail mail notes, check on people more often, etc. I feel like I've taken a bit of a hiatus from live since I went on bed rest and it's time for that to end.

7. Find a hobby. Since I quit my job, I have found that I need to have some other purpose in my life besides feeding and tickling a baby. Not that I mean to discount those things in any way because I absolutely love them and I am SO grateful that I get to do them. But I need something else. I was telling Patrick the other day that I haven't loved any of the Advent studies that I've done the last couple years and he said 'Why don't you write your own?' Good question. Maybe I will! Well, maybe I won't do that, but I love to read and write and research (I know, I told you. Loads of fun.) so maybe I will do something along those lines. Either way, I need a hobby.

8. As Everett gets older, be more intentional with our time. I have to be careful with goals like this because I'm such a perfectionist that I need to see results. So I don't mean that I resolve to have the first 6 month old who can read. And even for the rest of 2013, he's young enough that he's not going to remember anything we do later in life. But still, I would like to find a way to be more intentional. (Probably I feel this way because it has rained an average of 99% of the last month and I haven't been able to take him outside much and I'm going a tad bit insane.)

9. Be more consistent with my time with God. Notice I didn't say every single day. I've got to be realistic. I realize that's ideal but right now, I'll just take progress as progress. (Yes this should have been my #1. Let's pretend we are working backwards.)

10. I feel like I need to add a 10th to round it out because 9 resolutions seems weird. So I'm resolving to get rid of some junk. We have already done a lot of that around here in the last couple weeks but it seems like we still just have so much stuff. We have stuff in the garage and all of our closets that we never use. This year, I'd like to go through and find a place for what we do use and get rid of what we don't. We need to do a better job of managing our stuff and our money. (Another thing that slipped through the cracks during pregnancy/ early mommyhood.)

***Oh and I'm adding in a random one here: use gift cards. I have a stack of gift cards coupled with some random fear of running completely out of money and having to purchase Ann Taylor Loft dresses and somehow turn them into food. Also, use candles. I seem to hoard those as well and I LOVE burning candles.

There you have it! Most of the people who read this know me really well and see me living day to day, so you will all know if I succeed at any of these in 2013!