Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Some New Year Goals

Many of my friends have posted on their blogs about some resolutions or goals that they have for the new year. I am a goal oriented person, so I usually always have a few goals that I am trying to achieve. Here are some that I have for this year:

*Setting aside time to be in God’s Word and pray. For me it is so easy to let this area slide. It is so easy to get caught up in the demands of the day or my agenda, and not get to reading and praying. Living in the here and the now rather than focusing on eternals things is a constant struggle in my life.

*Keep our home clutter free and organized. After spending some time organizing and donating a lot of unused items to Goodwill, I hope to maintain the organization.

*Adjust to life with THREE kiddos. It took me a while to adjust to life with two kids, so I am expecting the same. I am really hard on myself after I have a baby. I think that I should be able to carry on as normal (cleaning, cooking, errands, playdates, exercise, etc). I feel like I am failing if I don’t get right back at it. This leads to exhaustion and frustration. Hopefully, I will cut myself some slack this time :)

*Enjoy my kids and this time of life. It is not easy physically, emotionally, or spiritually to have little kids. You don’t get much time to yourself or alone time with your husband. There is rarely peace and quiet. There is constant training that needs to take place. Messes everywhere. Lots of questions and requests. However, it is a short season in life. Along with all of the hardship, it is such a precious time. It is so easy to please your kids. It is the little things like letting them help take out the trash, pushing the garage door opener, going to the park, tickling them, reading a book, making popcorn, etc. that bring them such delight. They are so simple! If I just stop and think about it, I don’t ever want it to end. I firmly believe that in God’s design He knew that parenting young children is hard work and demanding, but yet He keeps them simple and easy to entertain so it isn’t totally overwhelming.

*Start Chase’s educational journey. We are investigating our options at this point. We are applying at different schools, and waiting to see what happens. One way or another he will be starting Kindergarten this year. Starting this new chapter in life is somewhat daunting, but I am looking forward to helping Chase learn and develop intellectually and spiritually.

*Getting Parker potty trained and in a big boy bed. Parker will be moving in Chase’s room in the next 6 months. We will have the baby in our room for quite a while, so there isn’t a huge hurry to get him out of the crib. We hope to move him by his 2nd birthday. I also hope to start potty training him around 22-23 months. I have read that there is a little window of time in their development that is prime for potty training. We missed it with Chase, but I think Parker will be ready.

*Get back into pre-pregnancy shape. My goal is to lose the baby weight and get into normal clothes sooner than later. I want to be able to get rid of maternity and “fat” clothes. For the last 5 years I have stored big, bigger, and really big clothes for the next pregnancy. Since our baby girl will be our last, after I lose the weight I can get rid of it all. That will be very nice :)

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