Months 9-12

Oh Everett. I could spend some time here explaining how the last few months were craziness around here due to your super pregnant mommy and there was plenty of mommy guilt to go around. But I won't. 

Here are your 12 month stats:

Height 29 in, 18th percentile 

Weight 22 lb 13 oz, 74th percentile 

Head 19 in, 96th percentile 

About a month ago we ditched the bottle for the sippy cup. The plan was to switch to milk in the sippy cup from formula in the bottle. But you had some tummy issues that may or may not have been related so we are backing off milk for a couple weeks. You get juice after your naps and water at meals. 

You actually lost some weight this month (you were up to 24 lb) as you've gotten more and more active. You can take about 10 or so steps in a row. You love it and are constantly grabbing our hands to help you walk. You've been 'cruising' along furniture for a few months now but in the last couple weeks you've really taken off with walking. You're definitely still crawling a lot as that gets you places much faster. But it shouldn't be too much longer before walking is your preferred mode of transportation. 

You are into absolutely everything. You pull all the Tupperware out of the cabinets a hundred times a day. You love to empty my t-shirt drawer. You love to flush the toilet and turn on any faucets you can reach. You are so very very busy. 

Ever since May, you haven't really gotten sick until this last month. And when it rains, it pours. About 3 weeks ago, you had a 2 week period where you regurgitated food every time you ate. Eventually I decided it must be reflux again and we made an appt with a GI specialist and then cancelled it because you just stopped doing it one day and haven't done it since. The week after that you got some virus that was just a fever and made you super clingy. Then last week you got something that have you crazy diarrhea constantly all day long for most of the week. (Which is why we backed off the dairy.) You seem to be doing ok with dairy right now so maybe it was just another virus? Who knows. 

I am happy to say that for several months now you have been sleeping just like a big boy in your crib. I had started to wonder if we would ever get there but the truth is that very much like every other transition you've had, it was much worse in my head than in reality. 

You have 8 teeth, 4 on top and 4 on bottom. You got them all around the same time. And teething hasn't been bad for us at all.

You still take 2 naps a day. Usually you nap at 9:30 or 10 am for 1.5 to 2 hours and then at 2:30 or 3 pm for 1.5 to 2 hours. Give or take. Every day is a little different. You still go to sleep between 7:30 or 8 pm (on an ideal day- this gets changed up frequently) and sleep until 

about 7 am. 

You do a little talking. (Well you 'talk' all the time, but you have a few real words.) you say Dada alllll the time. Anytime my phone rings it's Dada. When you hear him walk in the door in the evening, Dada. And you pretty much just say it all day. You just in the last week or two started saying Mama and never on command. Usually if you want something. You say 'duh' for duck and dog. You say 'nuh nuh' for no no and night night. You sign all done and please. You give tons and tons of kisses. (You'll just walk over and kiss our legs.) You wave hi and bye-bye, give hi fives, do touchdown, and clap. You also love to switch light switches on and off.  Oh and you've started grinding your teeth. Ugh! There doesn't seem to be anything we can do so hopefully you stop soon!

We had lots of fun celebrating your 1st birthday with friends and family! Good thing we did it early. 2 days after your real birthday- your baby sister made her debut a month early! More on that later. 

We can't believe you are a year old. We just love you so much and love watching you learn new things and grow up. You're starting to understand how to really 'play'. You love for us to chase you. You're so so much fun. Can't wait to see how you'll grow and change in the coming months! 

7 and 8 months

I am WAY behind!!

No standard doctor's appointments to give me stats.  But we did have a number of sick baby doctor appointments so I can say that around 8 months, you were 21 pounds and about 26.5 inches.  Chunky and short.  :-)

You still take bottles about 4 times a day.  Around 7 am, 11 am, 4 pm, and 7:30 pm.  You also eat some form of breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Usually cereal or oatmeal for breakfast, fruit for lunch, and a veggie for dinner.  However, Mommy has been slacking in the baby food department and you've been pretty much eating fruits.  I had been making the veggie baby food myself, and when we went on vacation, I tried getting you to eat the jarred stuff and you wouldn't have any part of it.  Dang it.  So now I need to catch up and make some more.  You also eat random food off our plates when we go out- breads, potatoes, etc.  Anything that seems pretty bland and that we can mash enough for you to eat.  Restaurants are getting tricky since you would rather eat what we eat than what I'm feeding you.

You are back on track taking two good naps a day.  I took us about 6 weeks after we changed you from two naps to three for you to start napping again.  Goodness.  But now you nap from about 9 or 9:30 to 11 or 11:30 and then 2 or 2:30 to 4 or 4:30.  You sleep from around 8 pm or whenever you finish eating your 7:30 bottle and get all ready for bed to somewhere between 6:30 and 7 am usually.

You didn't really get sick at all in your 7th month, but 8- goodness gracious.  You got some sort of virus that was quick and just involved a fever.  And then a week later, while I was out of town with you for two weeks, you got something else (possibly RSV) which turned into bronchiolitis again which landed us at 3 urgent care visits and eventually the emergency room.  You had to take steroids in the hospital since the breathing treatments weren't doing the trick, and ahhhh the effects of steroids.  Which including projectile vomit and you waking up with a tummy ache at night which would cause you to scream for hours, and these terrible diaper rashes that also caused out of control screaming.  It was terrible, and I felt terrible for you, and we weren't home in our own house with our own doctors.  Thankfully, we are past that part now.  We've been doing breathing treatments for almost 3 weeks now and you still can't seem to kick the coughing and wheezing so it's back to the doctor for us again tomorrow.  I'm never leaving town without your father again.  Lesson learned.

You can crawl!  But you mostly won't.  :-)  You are such a stubborn little thing.  If there's something you must have (usually an iphone), you will crawl to it.  Otherwise, you'll find something closer that you can roll to.  You would still much prefer that we hold your hands and help you walk.  If you do crawl, you will only do the exact number of steps it takes to get to whatever you want.  Typically, you'll go about 3 steps, stretch out as far as you can and grunt, trying to reach for what you want.  If you absolutely still can't get it, you'll go one step further.  You're starting to pull up on things.  There really isn't anything in our house short enough for you to pull up on, so I've been saying every day for weeks that we need to get you a toy or something you can use.  Soon!  I promise.

Still not going to elaborate on the crib situation.  I like you a lot more when I don't think about it.  Once you get over this sickness, your little bed is going to disappear and it's the crib 100% of the time.  I can't believe I've caved as long as I have.

You got your first tooth on your 8 month birthday!  It's a top tooth and boy does it hurt when you bite our fingers now!

You still just love other people.  It's gotten to the point that you lean towards strangers when we are out in public and make all kinds of noises to get them to notice you.  If they don't, you get upset.  I see this causing your mother, who really doesn't talk to strangers, to go WAY out of her comfort zone in the future when you can talk and think everyone is your friend.

You had your first pool day! You're so stinking cute.

The last few months have been challenging for us with a new baby on the way and lots of sickness here recently for you and for me.  But we wouldn't trade any of it for anything in the world.  We love you Everett Charles Gilgour!  Every single month we say 'this one is our favorite!'  :-) And then it gets better!!

Look at you grow!

6 months!

I'm going to skip the 'time flies' blurb to spare everyone else this time. Suffice it to say, it does.


Stats:

Height 25.75 in, 16%
Weight 17 lb 11.8 oz, 57%
Head 17.75 in, 93%

Everett at 6 months, you:

Have now reached a level of chubby that gets a lot of comments out in public. :) You eat 4x a day now. Around 7 am, 11 am, 3:30 pm, and 7:30 pm. You also eat rice cereal and oatmeal. (Since I'm almost 2 weeks late in doing your 6 month update, you've eaten other foods now. But I'll update those next time.) You would like to be able to hold the spoon and feed yourself because we aren't quite fast enough for you. Unfortunately, you're just a tad too young. :)

You started going to bed around 7:30. Which is awesome and you still sleep great at night. But for some reason, this has really put a damper in your napping. You're getting better at it each week, but for awhile you weren't napping for more than 30-45 minutes twice a day. Which wasn't enough and you were so, so grumpy by late afternoon/evening. In theory, you nap for 2 hours in the morning (9-11ish) and 2 in the afternoon (1:30-3:30ish). But I get really excited about a rare 1.5 hour nap these days so we will see.

This was the month of the sick. You got a virus (possibly RSV), which turned into bronchiolitis, which lead to an ear infection. We did breathing treatments and antibiotics and lots of waking up at night and sadness during the day. But you're all better! Yay.

We weaned off the Prevacid this month but it didn't go well. We are back on it.

You've decided crawling isn't your thing. You sit great (although you eventually topple over, either in an attempt to reach something or because you threw yourself backwards to try to stand up or because you think it's a fun game). However, you absolutely will not stay I your belly. I'm sure crawling will come eventually but for now, one second on your belly and you roll over in protest. You'd really rather someone held your hands and helped you walk all day long.

I'm not even going to get started on the crib situation. It's not going well.

You're definitely teething. You've been cutting the same tooth in the front for awhile now. You love to chew on ice cubes.

You're really good at holding your bottle now and can get it back in yourself. If I try to help you, you grab it away from me. (You're really, really independent.) And usually wind up spraying milk all over your face.

You're such a people person. People love you when we go out because you smile at everyone who will look at you. You'll lean toward/ go to anyone. You absolutely love when people stand around and talk to you and tell you how cute you are. You soak it up. You have to be in the middle of the action all the time. You can no longer be held facing toward me, you will just wiggle yourself around until you can face out.

You are so independent, so full of personality, so strong-willed and SO much fun. You greet us with huge grins every time we go get you from your bed or when one of us gets home. We are crazy about you, little man!

You seem more and more grown up every day. Look at you go!

Currently

I've needed to get out of my head a little bit recently, so I've been spending more time on my guilty pleasure - reading blogs. :-)

 And today, in a continued effort to distract myself, I'm linking up to Moriah's blog with my own 'Currently' post.

Currently, I am:

Watching: my sweet Everett and his chubby cheeks on the video monitor.  I can be found doing this pretty often when he's sleeping.  And I'm super grateful that he's napping at the moment.  We're working on changing up the schedule a bit this week so he can go to bed earlier, and he's been a champ at the nighttime sleep but he's having trouble adjusting to the daytime nap changes. Oh and he's teething.  So much crying in my house this week.  But good grief, I just really like him.  (Annnnd in the 10 minutes it took me to write this post, he's awake, 40 minutes into his 2 hour nap.  Sigh!)

Listening: I'm listening to the Passion 2013 album on Spotify right now.  Currently Matt Redman's Jesus, Only Jesus. We believe that He has saved us, from sin and death once and for all...

Planning: Something to celebrate Patrick's birthday in the very near future.  The beginning of this month and the end of last month brought with it a number of challenges in our household and his birthday basically got skipped over.  I'll be making up for that very soon.

Thinking about: How much time I've been spending thinking about things.  Ugh.  On a lighter note, thinking about how we've been planning to go see Spamalot at the theater this summer with friends and that should be lots of fun.  Oh, also thinking about how badly I need to update the pictures on my blog to include our little man.  Just a tad bit behind...

Looking forward to: May.  It includes my birthday, lots of time with family, trips, and hopefully a little overnight getaway with Patrick that I'm really really excited about.  And looking forward to Easter.  Cuz who doesn't look forward to Easter?

Reading: The She Reads Truth Songs of Ascent reading plan and the ebook Be Quiet and Say Something by Jessi Connolly.  And Arms of Deliverance by Tricia Goyer.

Making me happy: Popsicles.  Beautiful weather.  A hint of summer that will bring with it lots of days at the pool.  Hallelujah.  Bring on the pool!

February photo dump!

I figured I might as well post these for the 5 of you to see instead of letting them stay all lonely on my phone!

5 months old!

My goodness. Although I'm certain it's only been a matter of weeks, the calendar says Everett is 5 months old! I know I say this every time, but we could not be more crazy about him.


Stats (guessing on these since we won't be back at the dr. until 6 months):

Height around 25 inches, per my attempt at measuring
Weight around 15 or so pounds
Head not a clue. Still big.

Everett at 5 months, you:

Still love to eat. You now eat 5x a day. Around 7 am, 11:00 am, 2:45 pm, 6 pm and 8:30 pm.

You're definitely not fighting any of your naps this month. I have to wake you from at least one of them every day.

No sickness this month! Hallelujah.

You have discovered shrieking. You do it allllll day. It's a lot of shrieking. It's especially fun in public. You learned how to blow bubbles this month which was so cute. But you've now given it up in favor of shrieking.

Still have reflux. Looks like you may just not grow out of it. We will see!

You don't roll very often anymore these days but you're making good progress on scooting on your belly. You'd still much rather we never forced you on your tummy.

Still not sleeping exclusively in the crib. You've taken some successful naps there though.

You're definitely teething. You've been cutting the same tooth in the front for awhile now. You're a little fussier than usual but not too bad so far.

You started holding your own bottle this month. You can't maneuver it back in if you drop it (mostly because you are shaking with anticipation to get it back in. See: loves to eat) but you can hold it up on your own.

You've started putting your hands on our faces. This is both adorable and concerning in that its hard to tell when you're going to do it sweetly and when you're going to dig in with your fingernails. Either way, we love it.

We just love you!!! You're so precious and so full of personality and so fun. We can't get enough.

Look how you've changed!

January resolutions update

(Fancy new running shoes!)

1. Have fun:
Purchased rodeo tickets.


2. Rest more on the weekends (aka get more done during the week):
I've made a conscious effort to clean my house more during the week so that it doesn't pile up to hours of cleaning on a weekend. And bonus, the house stays clean and this makes me happy happy.

3. Clean my shower more often:
Cleaned twice in January!

4. Chill out:
I can't think of any specific examples of this, but I find myself almost every day asking myself in my head 'Does this really matter?' Sometimes I fail and still get frustrated but sometimes I don't!

5. Do things with my husband that he enjoys:
Signed up for the warrior dash in March together, ran together several times, and went for chicken fried steak on our last date night.

6. Get out more during the week:
I've reconsidered this many times this month because I'm definitely doing more of this and I'm exhausted. So we will see how that goes from here on. But I am absolutely getting out more during the day.

7. Find a hobby:
I have been consistently running since the end of 2012, training for a 5k. This is not what I had in mind in the form of a hobby but it really is one, so I'm counting it for January. Also, I've started doing some part time work from home. Just on a trial basis for now but it's something. I'd still like to take up a hobby that's not either of these things, but this is progress for now.

8. As Everett gets older, be more intentional with our time:
Yeah I still don't really have anywhere to go with this one. It does help that we get our more and he's not just staring at me all day.

9. Be more consistent with my time with God:
Have been pretty consistent in the church wide study we are doing.

10. Get rid of some junk:
Cleaned out under my sink last week.

***Bonus: use gift cards and candles:
I used 2 gift cards this month and burned several candles. I discovered I have some candles that I don't really like. However I kept them. Dang it. Two steps back on resolution 10.

All in all, feeling good about January! I guess most people continue their resolutions in January (as evidenced by the massive crowds when we went to get me new running shoes) so hopefully I keep it up!!

4 months!

Feeling a tad bit like my eyes are going to bulge out of my head from this cold I've been fighting, but here goes my attempt at making sense....

Everett is 4 months old. At least that's what one can assume from the details on his birth certificate. In my mind it doesn't seem possible.

Stats:

Height 24 in, 8th percentile
Weight 14 lb 3 oz, 22nd percentile
Head 16 3/4 in, 78th percentile

(I can assure you the 22nd percentile in weight is a deceitful little statistic. Ohh the rolls. Apparently he's chubbier cuz he's short.)

Everett at 4 months, you:

Eat. My word do you eat. Should any of us get between you and your milk when it's time to eat, WATCH OUT. 6 ounces, 5x a day, a mix of beast milk and formula. And I think 90% of it goes to your cheeks. And maybe the rest to your love handles. :) so cute.

Are really a great sleeper. You typically eat for the last time around 8:30 and then sleep until at least 7, sometimes a little earlier, sometimes later. You still take 3 naps a day, although this week you've started fighting it. But I let you cry for awhile (judge if you must, folks) and you'll go back to sleep. If I get you up, you're tired and grumpy all day and neither of us finds that particularly enjoyable.

Got sick for the first time. :( The doctor said croup but I'm not so sure. You did not have the croup cough. You had a few days of not sleeping during the day and waking up at night. But you're over that part now, although you're still kinda raspy sounding, even on day 11 of sickness. Ugh. Poor guy.

You've started waking up so happy. This is a thrilling change from waking up screaming bloody murder until you were fed. Every morning you wake up talking. You will often talk for 10 minutes or so until you start to get frustrated, and it is a perfect start to my day.

Still have reflux. It's been pretty bad this week while you've been sick. Boo.

Roll easily from tummy to back. You can roll from back to tummy, but the only time you do it is in an attempt to escape a diaper change.

Can officially get out of your little bed. This was a fun discovery. You didn't cry or make any noise, but I happened to look at the video monitor during one of your naps and you had rolled over on your tummy (still with one arm and both legs swaddled. You talented thing you) and scooted yourself down so that your head was all the way at the bottom of your bed and your legs were dangling precariously off the side. I made a mad dash to get you before you plummeted, and you've been harnessed during sleep ever since. Not ideal, but you hate the crib and I thought transitioning while you were sick and not sleeping well already wasn't good either. Very soon though. Your sleeper days are numbered.

You are all boy all the time. No time for kisses and cuddles. You will put your head on my shoulder only if you're about to fall asleep. You must be up and looking around and bouncing (while standing) always. You go nuts in the jumparoo and throw yourself all over the place. I'm mildly concerned about your brain jostling around in your head that hard. If you're laying down, you kick your feet the whole time and throw your arms up and down. You love to 'ride the horsey' and you stick your chest out and look so proud of yourself the whole time. When you get to be mobile, I am in serious trouble.

Speaking of mobile, you've got the legs part of crawling down but not so much the arms. You can scoot forward with your legs but your arms just won't follow yet.

Pretty sure teething is in our near future. You're drooling a lot and you gnaw on my fingers all day long. (You're not partial, it's just that they are always there. You will chew on anything you can get near your face.) I can feel your teeth under your gums.

You've gotten pretty good at grabbing things. You'll hold onto toys we hand you. I think you may be left handed. You suck mostly on your left thumb and you're better at grabbing with your left hand.

You belly laughed for the first time this week. At Aunt Raine. Who is obviously much more funny than we are since she's the only one you've laughed at real hard like that.

You've gotten into a favorite sleep position. You turn your head to the left, stick your left thumb in your mouth and stick your right hand on your right ear, then you just suck away until you fall asleep. You prefer sleeping on your left side but the harness is preventing that at the moment.

Your little personality is showing so much these days and we just love it. You definitely won't be our calm, quiet, reserved little guy. Can't wait to see it more and more. We love you so much!!!


Look how you have changed in 4 months!

Exhibit of constant movement, making it hard to take pictures that aren't blurry, below:

And then a sleepy photo, just for the sake of cuteness. Excuse me while I stop typing this to squeeze those cheeks.

And so I never forget how adorable it is that you always sleep with your left thumb in your mouth, even if I have to catch it on the monitor because you refuse to sleep with me holding you (except for after your shots and I have to be honest, it makes my heart so happy to cuddle, even if it is because of shots)

The Lord Has Done Great Things For Us

And we are filled with joy.

I put that verse on our Christmas card this year and it has come to my mind so often in the past year. We found out we were expecting almost exactly a year ago, and what a journey it has been. I could not be more grateful for the love and support of friends and family through this process. We have been loved so well by them. We have been showered with gifts, brought meals, encouraged with words and emails and texts and on Facebook ... Oh my.

One of the best things I have experienced through this is other moms, who I respect, that don't pretend to be parenting and living perfectly. Who don't look at me like an insane person when I'm honest about how hard this is. Who constantly check up on me and admit their own struggles. I think Facebook photos are great, and they have their place, and I love to be able to stay in touch and connected that way. But no one posts pictures of their screaming baby at 3 am, or of themselves crying at 3 am because they have a screaming baby. Or of the argument they got in with their spouse at 3 am while all this was going on. So sometimes when you are really struggling, it's easy to look at other people's Facebook lives and feel like an utter failure. And I'm so grateful for people in my life who share the messy, sometimes ugly, scary parts of life that aren't Facebook photo worthy. And yes, often when 3 am passes and it's daylight again, you can laugh at your crazy sleep- deprived self. But sometimes in those crazy moments, it makes all the difference to know there are other people with the same crazy. So for that knowledge, I'm so grateful.

Also, I can't go without saying that I absolutely would not have made it through this without Patrick. To say that he is supportive doesn't begin to do him justice. When I completely lost my cool with our 6 day old baby and had to go sit out on the back porch (in just a t shirt), he did not look at me like I was nuts. In the moments when I really didn't think I could do this, he had perfectly encouraging words every single time. When I mourned the way our marriage had changed overnight (even though it's a GOOD change, it was a hard one), he agreed with me and encouraged me and told me how important I was to him at all the right times. When I looked at him when we got home from the hospital and said 'Why did we do this again?' he did not tell me I was a terrible mom for saying that. And when I cried pretty much every day for at least 2 weeks, he hugged me and told me he thought it was hard too and that I was doing so great and that Everett was so lucky to have me as his mom. (Which in that moment may not have been completely true, but it was exactly what I needed.) :)

I think things that are really hard, even if they are things that are so good, tend to magnify what you already have. It turns out I have a solid marriage, and extremely awesome family and friends. And until this, I probably wouldn't have known how awesome.

The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. Even at 3 am. Which, you my have noticed, is when this is being posted. :)

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!