Resolutions

I tend to avoid making goals or resolutions. Because I often don't live up to them so then I just feel disappointed in myself. Instead of goals being a positive motivation for me to do better they often just feel like these big lofty things hanging over my head. So I have some things in mind for 2013 and I am trying to break them down to concrete steps:

1) Health/Physical Fitness:
Lose 10 pounds and firm/tone my butt & belly.
Throughout the year I aim to go to the gym twice a week plus do weights/core exercise, etc at home.
I plan to start the year off strong on this by doing the 3 free personal training sessions that came with my gym membership, plus at-home personal training with a mom friend of mine who is a certified post-natal exercise specialist (thanks to a gift certificate for my birthday from my in-laws!)
A way I will accomplish that later in the year is challenge myself by committing to a class (at the gym or a morning outside fitness group).
I also need to be more more aware of what I eat. Less sweets, less salt. I can work on this by eating more fresh fruits and vegetables. Less processed food and carbs. More whole grains. I have not yet set specific ways to assist me in this besides being mindful. I do not know if I can commit to an online food diary. But maybe even just writing down on paper what I eat will make me more careful.
In the past I have wanted to lose weight post-baby but have not been real worried about the numbers on the scale. I have had the lazy attitude of knowing that I am pregnant, or nursing, or planning to get pregnant again so I cut myself a lot of slack. But Matt & I have made the permanent decision that 3 kids is the right number for our family. So I need to get my body in shape, since this is the body I will have the rest of my life and I do not want to be complacent and accept that this muffin-top I am sporting is permanent!

2) Parenting:
I want to spend more focused time with each girl teaching them. I want Addie to learn to write all her lower case letters and keep working on her speech sounds, I want Etta to learn to recognize & write her uppercase letters, etc.
I resolve to spend 10 intentional educational minutes each day one-on-one with each girl. I thought about saying 20 minutes per day per girls, but that adds up to an hour. And while I would really like to do that, I think I need to start smaller. If I miss a day, then I need to spend more time with them the next. Maybe I need to do some sort of app on my phone or sticker chart to keep me on track.  I read to them a lot, and reading is great, but I want to see them learn & accomplish. At co-op Addie has something called "Friday challenges" and seeing her do those things has inspired me. They can be fun things that still make  the kids think about shapes, relationships, word sounds, numbers, etc.

3) Social:
My goal for 2013 is to be in better touch with friends and relatives so I know what is going on in their lives (and I can see how big their cute kids are getting!)
I aim to return phone calls with phone calls when at all possible instead of just texting a reply. Even a 5 minute phone conversation makes me feel more connected.
Also, I think the time has come for me to join Facebook. I know some people questioned my reluctance to join (geez, Leah! even my grandma is on facebook!). I have noticed that people are blogging less since it seems redundant and time consuming since those pictures and thoughts are already being posted on facebook. But I do not get to see them since I am not on. Matt has a profile so I could always have him log in and I could view. But I will join (within the next week or so) and see how it goes. I still plan to blog as well. So those of you who read this, please hold me to that if you do not see anything blogged for a while!

4) Marriage: still thinking through these and they are more private.

5) Financial:
I know Matt & I need to have consistent budget conversations, especially if we want to consider private kindergarten for Addie we need to be a lot more mindful of our spending.

6) Spiritual: still thinking through these and they are more private.

I figured I should share some of these goals and make them public to help keep me accountable.