Goals for 2014

It's been a long time since I've really set any sort of resolutions or goals for the new year. Honestly, for the past 7 years, my focus has been on having babies and raising them! Now that I'm done with the "having babies" part of that, it would be nice to change things up a bit as I move into the next phase. Realistically, my life is still consumed by young children, so I'm not going to be too ambitious here! But it would be fun to look back in a year and see if I was able to meet any of the goals/hopes I had set for myself and our family.

So here we go!

1. Be a patient, loving mom. This can be so hard at times, especially with a very strong-willed 6-year-old and two other kids to boot. But when I can stay calm and connect with them, it's a really good feeling, and I want to be the best mom I can!

2. Take back my body! This is one I am so looking forward to. Hunter is still nursing, and I plan on weaning him in the Spring sometime. Although I love the nursing experience, I really look forward to being done with this phase and having my body be my own!

3. Get that body into shape.  Ah, this seems really ambitious, but it's one I really want to happen. Somehow, some way, I will exercise and eat better. I don't have a plan of action yet, but I'm putting it out there.

4. Tackle some house projects. Now that we've redone our kitchen and bathroom cabinets, it feels great to get that big project out of the way. Unfortunately, there's many more behind it! Our garage has some cabinets that are literally falling apart and hanging on hinges, or have just completely broken. They are basically completely useless. So, we want to get some good shelving/cabinets in there and get that organized. We also need to get the exterior of our house painted. And I also want to revamp some of the landscaping. I think we'll leave it at that for now.

5. Have good couple time with Eric. This one is so hard. We are exhausted parents who never get sleep, and we hardly get time together. We do get an occasional dinner out alone, which is very nice. But it would be nice if we could dedicate some more time to just us occasionally and remember that we are husband and wife and not just co-parents!

6. And speaking of sleep, get my children to sleep! Ava has a bad habit of coming into our bed every single night, and Eric is the one who has to retrieve here. And Hunter spends half his night in our bed. Everyday, we wake up exhausted. By the end of this year, there WILL be an improvement in this area!

7. Figure out long-term school plan. This is another hard one. Asher is in a private school that we love, but it's a lot of money. Ava will be starting preschool in the fall, so that will be an additional cost as well, and the year after she will be starting Kindergarten. Basically, I need to explore our public school options to see if those are possibilities that would work for us, or if we decide to stick with private and find a way to foot the bill for 3 kids eventually (yikes!).

Well, that has tapped my brain, so I'm going to call it done! Here's to a wonderful, healthy 2014!