Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Welcome 2014! Fresh starts and starting new habits!

Wow! What a whirlwind year 2013 was! I never thought being a mother of two would be so rewarding and so exhausting at the same time! I literally have almost no "me" time which means the blog kind of went to the wayside. I am hoping to change that in the new year. (However, as soon as I pulled out my computer to start (almost two hours ago) Maggie woke up, Sophie needed a movie turned on, and Klint needed help with something. Geez!)

So this is my customary post for the new year. You can read my resolutions for 2013 here. Some of the ones I had put were to continue to organize the house (ha ha!), keep the weight off after Maggie, work on our Total Money Makeover, paint and decorate our bedroom and bathroom (again ha ha!) Not sure when I thought I would have time to do a lot of these.

A quick update on my resolutions from last year.

  • Organizing the house is ongoing. We are in a constant state of figuring out what works best and where to put stuff. 
  • I did keep most of my prebaby weight off. Once I had Maggie I had lost almost 30 pounds from before I got pregnant. I have gained about 10 of that back so I am still in the positive, but would love to get that 10 back off plus more. 
  • We are continuing on the Total Money Makeover. Budgeting has been a big thing for us this year. I may share what we do in a post one day. 
  • Painting our bedroom is on my to do list for summer. I have a big project list for this summer! I will also have a little helper this year with me at home, Sophie Rae! Should be fun!

This year's resolutions are general and some I should work on everyday, not just because it is a new year. I will say that I have done so much reflecting this past year with the birth of Maggie and figuring out our new life. So the resolutions below are based on some of those reflections.

1. Study my Bible and get closer to God and what He wants in my life. I am a Christian. I believe in God and what the Bible says, but I am not good at the specifics of where certain things say what in the Bible. I have tried to read my Bible daily and did good for awhile, but got off track. That is something I am going to start in the new year starting today. Part of getting closer to God is talking with Him daily. I feel like I have an open conversation with him daily, a never ending prayer of sorts, but I struggle with telling Him thank you! I used to keep a prayer journal of all my prayers and blessings. It was a wonderful tool to really see what God has given me and my family.  This is something I am going to start doing again in the new year.

Do not be to busy
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2. Put down the technology! Okay, this is kind of backwards since I want to start blogging again, but I think I have become so dependent on looking at Facebook (or Fakebook as my husband calls it). I grab my iPad and look at Pinterest and other brain mush apps just to pass the time. My husband said yesterday he sat outside and looked at nature and just sat and thought. I need to do that. We need to do that! Blogging is different. It is an outlet. It is logging memories and causing me to think and communicate. So I am going to start limiting my electronic devices. Leaving my phone and iPad in my bedroom and purse more and focusing on my husband and children. I am going to blog, but limit it. This is something I have got to do for me and my family.
Without my cell phone
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3. Focus on my husband and our family! I feel that we do a lot of things as a family, but I want us to be stronger. I find that I get impatient with my kids, my husband, the dog and I think that part of that is losing focus of what my job is as the matriarch of my family. My daughters are looking at me and following my example of being a mother and a wife (trust me, I have heard my voice come out of my four-year-old). I need to slow down, be more patient and not expect everything to be perfect. Sometimes my husband and I don't talk until we go to bed. The kids go to bed at 8 and we sit for three hours and hardly speak to each other. This goes along with number 2. I want that to change in the new year.

4. Be thankful for what I do have and not be discouraged by what I don't have! I don't have a large bank account. I don't have a brand new Infiniti QX56 (my dream car!). I don't have the finest name brand clothes. I can't go and buy my husband a brand new truck and boat (right now). But I have so much more that you can't put a monetary value on. I have two healthy girls and a wonderful husband! I have a great extended family! I have wonderful friends! I have a job that is so rewarding! I have a church family that loves my family as if they were blood kin! I have a car and no car payments (both of our cars are paid for). I have a beautiful home! I have so much to be grateful for!
Letting go.
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5. Don't kill myself trying to make everyone happy! I just can't do it! Someone will always be disappointed in something I do. I had an instant last year where I doubted everything. Did I not do enough? Could I have done more? Does no one like me? I got home and my dad was staying the night with me and the girls while Klint was out of town. I cooked dinner, did my normal nightly things, and got everything ready for the next day while playing host to my daddy and entertaining children. The next day, I was still feeling low and thinking that life wasn't fair when my dad texted me. It simply said, "You make me so proud! I love you!" Things just clicked!  I can't please everyone. I can only do what I can do. I have to prioritize who I can make happy and who I really care about making happy. That is not meant to sound hateful or uncaring, but I can't kill myself trying to make someone happy who is going to be unhappy no matter what. I want my family to be happy! I want my friends to be happy! I want to be happy! That is my focus!
Favorite quote!
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6. Set small daily goals! I think sometimes the big picture can be so daunting and overwhelming that we lose hope of getting it accomplished. I have decided this year to set goals for myself. Goals for home and goals for work. Rome wasn't built in a day. Why do I feel that I need to clean the house from top to bottom every night, cook a healthy dinner, and have everything at work done by the time I go to bed? Something I hope to change this year.
Goals
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7. Blog!!! I love to blog! I love to write! I love to share! I have gotten so busy with the new baby that I just stopped altogether and it has been something I truly missed. While I will be putting down mind numbing technology, this will be something to help me think, reflect, and share. (And it only took me almost three hours to type this post. I got this! Ha ha!) I am going to try to blog once or twice a week. No pressure!
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Well, there you have it! No weight loss goals. No big money resolutions. Just simple life changes to focus on! I hope this inspires you!

Happy New Year!!!

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