Goddess in Progress - A Twin Mom Blog

Move Your Fat A** – Week 1 update and challenger profile

By Goddess in Progress · Comments (1) · January 26th, 2012

Sorry for being absent, everyone! A quick, belated update on our progress after the first week:

You guys are awesome! Seriously, between us we logged SIXTY FOUR HOURS of exercise. Not too shabby! Big ups to C.Y. for being the biggest loser of the week, and to H.O. for logging the most exercise minutes. Can’t wait to hear about week 2!

And, speaking of H.O., she is our profile contestant today! Ladies and gents, meet Heidi…

1. Intro

This is Heidi Ongbongan. I live in Las Vegas, NV. I have 1 husband, 3 kids, 1 dog and an au pair. I am currently in graduate school at UNLV for School Counseling and plan to get my certificate in community mental health. When I am on break, I inhale books which is good for amazon. My older two kids and I take wushu, type of KungFu that is more used for movies and performances. My twitter name is hidjbo.

2. What are your fitness and/or weight-related goals, both for this competition and longer-term?

I plan to lose 12-15 stubborn lbs and get back into shape. My goals long term would be to run a marathon, do an olympic triathlon and bike another century. I really miss the endurance sports that I did before kids. I, also, would like to get back to doing yoga regularly since it helps me feel strong. And I want to look good for my sister-in-law’s wedding in April.

3. What is your least favorite part about getting fit / losing weight? Or, what is the hardest part or biggest obstacle? Have you figured out any ways to deal with those challenges?

My willpower is my hardest challenge. I really let the Fall take it out of me. I didn’t take as good a care of myself as I needed. I need to get back to eating a more healthful diet. I need to rebuild my physical base as well.

4. What part do you like the most? What comes the easiest for you, what do you enjoy, what do you find the most rewarding?

I enjoy exercising and doing yoga with my friends and we should be able to do that again this spring unlike the hectic fall that we had. I really enjoy running and I have missed it and haven’t been doing it like I need to.

5. Where do you find motivation, how do you keep yourself on track? Competition? Routine? Keeping things fresh? Comparing yourself to all of the pretty girls from high school on Facebook?

I think my motivation will come from having this group as well as having my clothes fit better. I need to get my cholesterol checked during this competition so that is good motivation to eat better. Keeping things fresh might help to but for me it is about not going it alone.

6. What is your favorite type of exercise, and why?

I enjoy the social aspect of exercise and it is a real motivator for me. Right now I have been exercising at home which is painfully boring. Starting next week, I will be exercising at the gym on campus at least two to three days a week. I really enjoy Kung Fu because it is cardio, strength, and stretching all rolled into 1 hour a week with giggles and my kids encouraging me.

7. Any favorite healthy foods? Great recipes, tasty snacks, or any other tricks that help you keep the food part under control?

I am a big fan of greek yogurt and grape nuts for breakfast. I love Rachel Ray’s Turkey Chili which is super easy and filling.

Comments (1)

Categories : Just me

Eleven months

By Goddess in Progress · Comments (11) · January 25th, 2012

Eleven months. Seriously. I’m not kidding. One month shy of a whole year.

I’m going to say this now so that I’m not a party pooper on her actual birthday: it really doesn’t feel like it should be so close. And not just in the usual “time flies” way, though that’s always true. I just have such a disconnect between Ellie, the little person in my life, and the day that this baby was born. Obviously I remember it very clearly. But the ten weeks that followed were so surreal, my memory of March and April of 2011 will always be warped. She didn’t even come home until May. So to think of celebrating in the middle of winter is kind of strange. Plus, developmentally-speaking, she’s not doing the kinds of things that other nearly-one-year-olds are doing. I don’t feel like I have an almost-toddler on my hands, the way I would otherwise expect of an 11-month-old.

THAT SAID…

The upside of being told in the hospital that your baby could potentially have very significant developmental delays and perhaps permanent deficits? Every time she makes a new leap forward, every time she does something sort-of-normal, it’s cause for celebration. (Remember that line from Say Anything…? “Start out depressed and then everything is a pleasant surprise.”) When we were still in the hospital, and they suggested that there may be gross motor issues of TOTALLY UNKNOWN severity, I silently wondered things like, “maybe we should move to a one-story house in case she never walks and needs to be in a wheelchair.” Had I voiced that thought, I can tell you the doctors would have just looked at me and shrugged. They had no way of knowing which way it would go, either.

But my girl? My girl wants to be on the move.

Sitting up and rolling over are old news, she’s a total pro. While she can’t yet get herself up to a sit, she can go from sitting down to her belly with increasing speed, purpose, and grace. While on her belly, she now uses her arms to pivot around, and sometimes ends up pushing herself backwards until her legs are stuck under the couch. Between the pivots and the rolling, I can no longer assume she’s going to be right where I left her. That photo up there? I put her down on the quilt in the foreground, sitting up. She managed to get herself over to the TV somehow. It ain’t fast, but she moves.

In physical therapy, we’re working hard on getting more strength in her legs, hips, shoulders, and arms in the hopes of getting her to crawl. With as good as she is at sitting, we need to have her on her belly more so that she can learn to crawl before she learns to just scoot around on her butt. The physical therapists swear up and down that, once babies learn to do a seated scoot, it’s nearly impossible to teach them to crawl. So we spend time on her belly and try to scoop those knees up underneath her instead of being splayed like a little froggie.

But coolest of all, in the last week I can see her try to pick those little hips up on her own. Her stamina is improving almost every day, getting stronger and steadier in those hips and shoulders, kicking those legs, bouncing that little body.

I don’t know how long it will take, but my girl is going to crawl.

How awesome is that?

My big, awesome, 11-month-old girl. My munchkin, my pumpkin pie. What a joy you are. Happy almost-birthday.

Comments (11)

Categories : Birthdays, Child Development, Infants

Baby bites

By Goddess in Progress · Comments (29) · January 22nd, 2012

I think I’ve mentioned before just how much I loathe feeding therapy. Physical therapy is one thing – I’m just trying to get Ellie stronger and more coordinated, so we have our exercises that we do until she gets tired or cranky. No big deal. Feeding therapy is a much more delicate balance. Her gag reflex has been so sensitive for the last 10 months, I have to very very gently try to push her out of her comfort zone. But push too hard or too fast and I risk making it even worse and setting us back even farther.

We started trying pureed baby food when she was about six months old. It was… not well liked. From time to time she would sorta kinda tolerate it, but one false move and we’d have a two-minute gagging fest. To give you a sense of what I mean when I say “trying,” I mean I would just dip the tip of my pinky finger into the baby food, so that it was barely damp with applesauce. Then I would try to put my sort-of-damp-with-pureed-apples finger near her mouth, maybe touch her lip, maybe touch the inside of her lip. Sometimes she’d allow it, sometimes she wouldn’t. And sometimes it would graze her tongue in the wrong way and she’d gag, hard, and that would be the end of that. And when I say “gag,” I mean she’d probably be puking if there weren’t surgical procedures preventing her from doing so.

So, yes. Trying to stay on top of feeding therapy is HUGELY demoralizing. As necessary as it is, I found myself loathe to do it. A month or two ago, our therapist suggested we try a teething biscuit. The theory being that it’s a food item, but it’s hard and not likely to come loose in her mouth, so it allows her to kind of experiment with it. That actually went alright – she’d poke it with her tongue, sometimes bite down on it. Except, once it got damp from the tongue-poking, and those darn teeth would scrape off the tiniest crumb that can barely be seen by the naked eye? Gag time, once again.

Still, things have been improving. She still experiments with the teething biscuit, and she’s been putting a lot of her toys into her mouth, so that helps quite a bit to do some oral desensitization. But those purees, ugh. I’d try them every now and then, but the gagging was just heartbreaking. I hated it as much as she did.

But we’ve got a feeding team appointment coming up, our first in a couple of months. Ever the last-minute homework kid, I decided I needed to at least be able to say we really tried the puree thing. So I tried again tonight.

She leaned in, opened her mouth, and poked my finger with her tongue.

And then she did it again.

And again.

A drop at a time from my finger, she kept letting me give her more. I didn’t have to trick her or sneak it in, I just held out my finger near her mouth. It got on her tongue, no problem. Inside of her cheek, no problem. No drooling, no spitting it back out, and not a single gag. Not even a face, other than a furrowed brow in concentration.

Over the course of dinner, I’d have to guess she got a grand total of, what, maybe 1/4 teaspoon? But damn, that was 1/4 teaspoon more than she has EVER taken, in five months of feeding therapy. And she did it willingly. Happily, even.

I am grateful for small miracles like this one. Very grateful.

Comments (29)

Categories : Infants

Move Your Fat A** – Challenger Profile – Sadia

By Goddess in Progress · Comments (3) · January 19th, 2012

First, an executive decision on the name of this contest. I’m going with the snarkier of Elise’s suggestions and calling it “Move Your Fat Ass.” No, I’m not calling you fat. Or you. We’ve got all shapes and sizes in this group, believe me. But hey, I like a good dose of snarky humor, and none of our butts are getting any skinnier by sitting around, so there you go.

And for the Twitter nerds, I’m calling #MYFA our official hashtag.

Anyways, on to our first challenger profile! Many of you in the twin mom blogosphere know Sadia, and here she is to tell you about herself!

1. Intro

Army wife of 8 years; 5-year-old smartass twins; living in El Paso; from the UK or Bangladesh or some generic US location-not quite sure; telecommute to my software quality assurance job at a state university. Can be found blogging these days at How Do You Do It?, formerly at Double the Fun.

2. What are your fitness and/or weight-related goals, both for this competition and longer-term?

For this effort, I’m aiming to lose 4.5 lbs, just for the purposes of having a numeric goal. (On my small 5’0″ frame, 5 lbs is quite a lot!) My longer term goal is to be active, healthy and strong. When I get lazy about working out, my back starts to hurt, and I seriously dislike pain.

I have to be able to keep up with my skipping, dancing, running kids and jock husband!

3. What is your least favorite part about getting fit / losing weight? Or, what is the hardest part or biggest obstacle? Have you figured out any ways to deal with those challenges?

Life gets in the way, and it’s hard to rationalize “me” time when there’s so much to do. I just have to remind myself that I don’t need so much sleep when I’m exercising!

4. What part do you like the most? What comes the easiest for you, what do you enjoy, what do you find the most rewarding?

Once I’m past that first workout, I love how at one I am with my body; I also love what I’m showing my kids.

5. What is your favorite type of exercise, and why?

Pilates! I don’t like to sweat unless I have time for long, long shower, and what mom has time for a long shower!?

6. Any favorite healthy foods? Great recipes, tasty snacks, or any other tricks that help you keep the food part under control?

My trick is to let myself have the odd treat, but if I start stuffing my face with chocolate, I pour myself a glass of water every time the craving hits. It passes after a couple of days.

I use Sparkpeople to track my food intake, and it invariably tells me that I’m not getting enough protein. The white of hard-boiled eggs and cooked lentils are favourite ways I can up my protein intake.

Comments (3)

Categories : Just me

It’s On Like Donkey Kong

By Goddess in Progress · Comments (16) · January 16th, 2012

Today marks the first official day of our weight loss and exercise competition! Which, of course, means that it is taking every ounce of my willpower not to eat my way through my kitchen cabinets. It’s totally mental, of course – mouth-hungry, not stomach-hungry. But still. OMG ALL I WANT IS A COOKIE. MAKE THAT A BOX OF COOKIES. It will pass, I know it will. But in the meantime…

There are 24 of us signed up right now, and I am so excited about this response. If there are any last-minute stragglers, I’d be happy to let you in if you email me a starting weight and $10 through Paypal by the end of the day today (Monday). For the rest of you, LET’S GET IT ON!

[Also? This thing needs a name. Any ideas? All I've got is "get your fat ass off the couch, Liz," but GYFAOTC,L is a terrible acronym.]

I’ll be profiling a bunch of our competitors during our 8 weeks, and I figured I’d kick it off with my own answers. Hope you don’t mind. (And yes, there will be “normal” programming on this here blog over the next two months, too. Don’t go away!)

1. Brief Bio

Um, I’m pretty sure you guys know me. I’m Liz. I live here. 33 years old, SAHM, 4.5-year-old twins, almost-1-year-old Ellie. When I find a few free minutes, or am trying to avoid laundry, exercise, or something else more important, I like to make quilts.

2. Fitness/weight goals, for the competition and longer-term

I’ve decided not to hide the details and just tell you my real numbers. Today, I am 215 pounds. GROSS, I HATE IT, ETC. My goal for the eight weeks of the competition is to lose about 10 pounds. A little ambitious, but totally do-able if I stay on track. Longer-term, I would like to be down 30 pounds by my step-sister’s wedding in July, and a total of about 50 pounds. But I can’t think about the big number, I have to break it up. So for now, my focus is this 10.

3. Least favorite part about losing weight / getting fit

That first week or two of changing eating habits SUCKS SO HARD. All I can think about is eating. Specifically, eating complete junk. Stuffing my face with it. After a week or so, I remember the tricks and recipes, and it gets a little easier… until I lose track, again.

4. Favorite / easiest / most enjoyable part of the process

Once I get into a groove with exercising, I really do enjoy it. I feel good doing it, I feel even better after I’m done. I feel stronger, more productive, and generally like a better version of myself.

And as much as I wish the weight would come off of my belly first, it’s kind of nice that my face tends to show the differences relatively quickly. Makes me hate photos a lot less.

5. Where do you find motivation?

Obviously, competition is an extra kick in the pants for me. I also do best with structure and routine, so I stop having to convince myself to exercise every time – it’s simply what I do on that day, no thought required. And a deadline really helps (like the bridesmaid dress for my stepsister’s wedding, ahem). I’m also such an extrovert, I have to have buddies. I need people I can talk to or compare notes with.

6. Favorite type of exercise

I really like Spinning. It’s a really hard workout, and it’s a group class, which I really like (nice to have an “appointment” to exercise, knowing I have to show up at a particular time). But I love that I can go at my own speed if I need to, without being terribly noticeable or getting in anyone else’s way.

7. Food tips and tricks

The more water I drink, the better I feel. Fewer headaches, fewer cravings, less hungry overall. I also have a rule that I do not eat after 8PM. We have dinner at about 6:30. If I’m still eating after the kids go to bed, then it means I’m mindlessly grazing for sweets. It’s never because I’m *actually* hungry. So, after 8PM, nothing but water until breakfast. It’s hard the first few days, but I get used to it quickly and I can only imagine how many completely unnecessary calories it removes from my day.

Comments (16)

Categories : Just me

Death Wish

By Goddess in Progress · Comments (9) · January 13th, 2012

[Unrelated: In case you're interested, you still have until Monday morning to join the weight-loss competition!]

– — – — –

Conversation in the car on the way home from preschool the other day:

Me: So, Daniel, what did you do in school today?

D: I did my journal. [As far as I can tell, they have a set of lined paper and are welcome to write whatever strikes their four-year-old fancy.]

Me: Oh, really? What did you write?

D: I wrote: “Me and Becca don’t want to die.”

Me: mouth agape, stunned silence

D: Well, what I wanted to write was “Me and Becca don’t want to die until we’re 100,” but I ran out of space, so I wrote “Me and Becca don’t want to die.”

W. T. F.?

I have mentioned this strange fixation on death before, and you can see it has not exactly gone away. Daniel, especially, is sticking with it (and the idea that people die at age 100, which I’m not sure how to debunk in either direction). I would say it comes up at least a few times a week, most often in a totally nonchalant way. It’s really getting under my skin, and yet I am at a total loss about what to do with it.

My gut reaction is that he doesn’t seem to be expressing any real anxiety over this idea. My default stance is a sort of non-reaction, maybe in the hopes that if I don’t overreact and draw extra attention and allure to the topic, it’ll eventually fade. But maybe I should try to talk to him about it in case he actually is concerned? I don’t even know where I’d begin, frankly.

Weird death thing aside, I will say that Daniel is otherwise your typical precocious preschooler. Generally happy, totally flighty and distractable, sometimes bent completely out of shape by the color of his fork. He’s a bright and inquisitive kid, which maybe means he’s digesting this information a little more thoroughly than his emotional maturity can handle, but otherwise is not a particularly anxious or stressed kid.

And, no, I actually haven’t gotten a call from his teacher about this. I get a call about Santa, but not about “me and Becca don’t want to die.” I can’t tell if that’s a good sign (as in, she’s been teaching preschoolers for 25 years and is totally unfazed) or what.

What say you, moms of the internets? Is this just one of those strange developmental things, an obsession that will pass with time? Or is this starting to cross a line and warrants a little TLC before he goes all morbid on me?

Comments (9)

Categories : Child Development, Preschoolers

Friendly competition

By Goddess in Progress · Comments (21) · January 9th, 2012

Between an injury and the typical holiday madness, I haven’t worked out in close to a month. Amazing how easy it is to fall out of the routine, how easy it is to fill the time with something else. But those goals I mentioned, especially the fitness ones, aren’t going to happen simply by wishing for them. So I dragged myself back to Spinning this morning, and watched as my usually reliable heart rate skyrocketed 15-20 beats faster than usual. Damn. Time to claw my way back onto that wagon, get back into regular exercise, and get my food under control so I can start working towards my goals.

With that in mind, I’ve decided to start up a contest, open to anyone who wants to join. I find a bit of competition, along with a real prize on the line, can be the extra incentive I need to get going. Here’s how it’s going to work:

TIME: The competition will begin next Monday, January 16. It will run for 8 weeks, ending on Monday, March 12. Entry fee (all money will go into the “pot” and be distributed to winners at the end) is $10/person, via Paypal.

STAKES: We will be competing primarily with weight loss, Biggest Loser-style. The person who loses the greatest percentage of weight after eight weeks is the first-place winner, and will win 75% of the money that we gathered from each participant. Of the remaining competitors, the person with the most exercise recorded will win the remaining 25% of the money. So even if you lose weight slowly, or don’t have nearly as much to lose from a percentage-standpoint, you can still be a winner. Invite your friends! The more people we have, the bigger the prize!

RULES:

To be entered in the competition, you must email me your starting weight (just between you and me, I PROMISE) and send $10 via Paypal by next Monday morning, January 16. Email and paypal: goddessinprogress (dot) blog (at) gmail (dot) com
To remain in the competition and be considered for the prizes, you must email me by Monday morning of every week with your weigh-in and amount of exercise. If you miss more than one check-in, you will be dropped. I will remind you, but I will not pester you.
Weight should be reported in pounds (out to one decimal point, as in “185.4,” if you like). You can weigh-in any day of the week that works for you, but you will only report to me once per week, no later than Monday morning.
Exercise should be reported in minutes (as in “150 minutes,” not “2.5 hours”). Cardio and strength/resistance training are welcome, as is active stretching like a yoga class or video. It should be something that makes your heart rate go up and get you sweating. It should be reported as the total minutes from Monday through Sunday.
DON’T BE A JERK. This is the honor system. I very much appreciate that you are placing some trust in me by sending $10 my way and believing that I will distribute it exactly as I say I will. I am making that promise to you. PLEASE do your part and report your weight and exercise truthfully. The point of this whole thing is to create and/or reinforce healthy habits. Let’s treat that goal, and each other, with respect.

FEATURES: I would love to feature write-ups on any participant who would like to be mentioned. When you sign up and toss your $10 into the pot, I will email you a brief set of questions. Email me back your answers and I will dedicate a post to wonderful you!

I will also try to check in each week with updates on how we’re doing as a group, as well as shout-outs to people who have particularly great weeks.

Thoughts? Questions? Jump on in, friends, let’s kick each other’s asses. In the nicest way possible, of course.

Also, if you’ve got a clever name for this contest, I’m all ears!

Comments (21)

Categories : Just me

Escapism

By Goddess in Progress · Comments (10) · January 8th, 2012

It’s 2:30 in the morning and I’m sitting on my couch, burning through the second season of Glee on DVD.

I’ve long had an obsessive personality, but it shows up the strongest when I’m trying to escape something else. The last really notable phase was when I moved East after college and was painfully lonely. I spent my hours listening to Barenaked Ladies and getting front-row tickets to concerts near and far. But then I met M and that emotional need was filled in a much better way.

I’m a giant ball of stress right now. December kicked my ass, and there’s some lingering family drama that I need to deal with. The big kids are extra whiny and needy, probably from the post-holiday crash and the readjustment to school that I always forget about. Ellie’s birthday is approaching, and while part of me is excited and happy about it, a big part of me is stuck in a loop of anxiety flashbacks.

Enter, Glee.

Obsessing over a tv show is my way of trying to push the rest of it out of my head. If I fill my brain with random show trivia and cast member interviews, then maybe there won’t be room for that unpleasantly messy reality.

I’m not in complete denial, of course. For one thing, I’m writing this post. My family has food on the table, we mostly have clean clothes to wear, the house isn’t a complete disaster. The stress can’t really be ignored. M and I had a good talk about all of this tonight, and while there were no shortage of tears on my side, it wasn’t a bad conversation to have. Truth be told, I actually feel like M and I are in a good place, relationship-wise, and I am very aware of how much he’s got my back right now.

But our talk brought so much stuff to the front, I couldn’t sleep. So, well after midnight, I came downstairs and revved up the DVD.

At least it’s the weekend, and I can hear M snoring away up there, so at least one of us should be rested and functional when the kids get up.

Comments (10)

Categories : Uncategorized

Everybody wins

By Goddess in Progress · Comments (12) · January 4th, 2012

Yesterday, I resurrected the star chart for earning privileges and completing tasks. I’ve got an app on my iPad (naturally) that easily keeps track of the running total and lets you dole out the rewards. I had started using it last winter, but it kind of fell off in use by late summer. But four-year-olds, like elephants, never forget. Occasionally, the kids would do something and ask me to give them a star.

Well, after one of those requests and a realization that video game time was again getting out of hand, we reinstated the star chart. They can earn a star for all variety of things – making their beds, clearing the table, putting away laundry. I even have the generic “help mom” on there as a way to reward otherwise unspecified good deeds. But after 24 hours, my favorite star-earner is “read a book.”

At almost 4.5, both kids can read pretty well. Daniel, honestly, is ridiculous. He can read it all. All of the words. ALL OF THEM. And he has so much committed to memory as “sight words,” his speed is downright alarming. Rebecca is still sounding a lot of things out, but is getting faster and smoother by the day (she’s also more likely to “cheat” and just guess by looking at the picture on the page). Regardless, I want to encourage both of them to keep practicing their reading at home.

So I tossed “read a book” on the star chart. Well, being the first day and starting from zero, both kids were desperate to earn more stars. So when we ran out of laundry to put away and the dog had been fed, I suggested that Daniel read a book to Ellie. Over the course of the afternoon, Daniel read three books to Ellie, and Rebecca read two.

When they each asked to read a second book in order to earn a second star, I hesitated. Were they just gaming the system? Then I realized I DON’T CARE IF THEY ARE. It takes 10 stars to earn 45-60 minutes of video game time. Read your baby sister ten books in exchange for some time on the Wii? GO FOR IT.

This is a win for everyone. The kids earn a reward while practicing reading (nearly any book they want, though I draw the line at the super short ones that they have completely memorized). Ellie gets extra attention from her big brother and sister, and gets read more books than I find myself able to do in a given day (oh, am I a slacker second-time-mom on that front). And I get eager, happy kids and anywhere from five to fifteen minutes of peace, interrupted only by the occasional request for help on a tricky word.

WIN.

Comments (12)

Categories : Behavior, Infants, Preschoolers

Creating the good to outshine the bad

By Goddess in Progress · Comments (14) · January 1st, 2012

Alright, yesterday’s pity party is done. It’s a new year, new start, new mood.

Here’s the thing – I can’t force 2012 to be less stressful. There will still be plenty of chaos in my world – I do have three kids, after all, one of whom has higher-maintenance needs that aren’t going anywhere. But I’m remembering the chapter in Nurtureshock about sibling relationships. The idea was that the amount of arguing and conflict between siblings wasn’t the determining factor in how close they reported their relationship to be. Some brothers and sisters fought a lot, some fought a little. But the ones who reported the closest relationships were the ones who had the most positive interactions and memories together. The good balanced, or even outweighed, the bad.

So that’s what I want for this year. I want to make it a point to create a lot of good – good experiences, good memories, good events, good progress – so that the good can outshine any bad. To that end, I’m starting a list of goals for this year. It’s a mixed bag, they aren’t all shiny, pretty, fun goals. But they are concrete and specific, which means I am more likely to actually accomplish them. They give me a structure of things to work towards, and I always work better with structure.

FITNESS

run a 5K in 35 minutes or less - I’m currently nursing a hip/muscle injury, but really do want to stick with running. If nothing else, it lends itself to such clearly-defined goals. I’m not sure I’m ready to tackle longer distances, so for now, I’d like to get a bit faster.
beat my time in the Feaster Five – I really enjoyed running this race on Thanksgiving morning, and would love to do it again. Faster this time.
finish a 10K – Adding another mile to my longest-ever.
lose (at least) 35 pounds – Oh, come on. It wouldn’t be New Year’s without a weight-related goal, right? But there it is, I want to be down at least 35 pounds, and I’d like to do it by July. Why July? That’s when my stepsister is getting married. I’m a first-time bridesmaid, and most of the rest of ‘em are a size 0, maybe a size 2 post-kids. And there will be pictures. In case I needed extra motivation, there it is.

HOME

de-clutter at least one day a week – It’s an ongoing battle over here, always so much clutter. I need to attack it one bit at a time. Especially if, as we are strongly considering, we plan on moving in the next six months or so. Half of this crap really doesn’t need to be packed up and moved to another house.
find a house we love, not just like – I think we’re settled on the town, so now we need to find The House. It doesn’t need to exactly be the house of my dreams, since I rather doubt we could afford such a house here in Massachusetts. But I want it to be a house that we really, truly love. I don’t want to settle for something “good enough.” I want to love it.
decorate our new house with thought and purpose – That’s something I’ve never quite done in our current house. Next time around, I want to go room-by-room and, again, make it a space we really love.

PERSONAL/FAMILY/KIDS

complete project 365 – I’ve wanted to do a one-a-day photo project in the past, but either I get too daunted, or don’t remember until a week into the year, or whatever. No excuses, it starts today. At least one picture per day, all year (366 days, technically). I’m not committing to blogging those pictures in any particular way, other than probably uploading them to Flickr, but I want to do it. Phone camera or DSLR, doesn’t matter.
find a synagogue – It’s time to find a community we like and really bring the kids into it. After all, Hebrew School starts in the fall…
take a family summer vacation – Just a vacation. Not visiting parents. Not in Chicago or Florida. Just us, just for fun. Maybe we get together with some other friends, maybe we don’t. But a VACATION, not a family visit.
get away by myself – Restorative. Necessary.
get away with M – Restorative. Necessary.
get a babysitter – I need someone I can leave Ellie with from time to time, so that I can run errands or go work out by myself. Not to mention the occasional evening out with my husband. There’s a chance my in-laws will be moving closer, which would fit the bill, but in the meantime I need to find someone I can pay, and who can actually take care of feeding Ellie and not freak out.
get a financial planner – This one is boring, but way over-due. M and I do fine with our finances – save for our mortgage, we have no debt, and for that I am grateful. But I know that we need to be a lot more proactive about saving and investing and allocating in a responsible and productive way, so that’s high on the list.
get a therapist – For me. I’ve thought about it several times this year, and am so daunted by the idea of adding any more appointments to my day. But I think I could really use it. In part, I’d like to work through some of the stress that is lingering over Ellie’s rough beginning and ongoing needs. But one of the big things I’d like to address is my relationship with food (see: Fitness Goal #3). It’s messed up in all kinds of interesting ways, so I’d like to try to work at it from another angle than simply “dieting.”
get a piano and start the kids on piano lessons, if they’re willing – I want my kids to have at least a basic knowledge of music. I had a conversation with S of Lit and Laundry after her post on finding an “I HATE PIANO” note in some old sheet music, and I totally agree with her that music is a part of basic literacy in my mind. I don’t want to be a crazy Stage Mom, I’m not trying to re-live my own childhood and adolescent love of music through my kids. But I at least want them to have some exposure, in case they find they have a gift for it, or at least a love of it as much as I did. I’m not going to force it on them, kicking and screaming. I’m not going to make them take lessons until they graduate from high school if they don’t want to. But I’d like to start and see where it goes.

Alright, that’s my list. I’m sure there will be other things I want to (and, hopefully, do) accomplish this year, but these are the ones I’ve got for today.

What about you? Do you share any of the same goals? Have some big ones for yourself?

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