Old and New Resolutions

Happy 2013! This New Year’s Eve, we celebrated with good friends and all of the kids (for the second year in a row). Brian and Jaime graciously hosted the ‘Pajama Jam’ again and we had such a great time. We all wore our comfy clothes and PJ’s. The kids had a blast. Leah was shy at first (as usual), but eventually warmed up. We enjoyed lots of food and good conversation. Towards the end of the night, the kids were dancing and had so much fun. We didn’t make it until midnight. Leah was starting to fizzle out around 10:30 pm, so we packed up and headed home. When we got home, we did our own New Year’s toast (Leah had grape juice) and did a ‘cheers’ to 2013. Leah was fast asleep and Rob and I stayed up just till 12:00 am before passing out! The next morning we went out to breakfast (it’s our New Year’s day tradition). We were pretty lazy the rest of the day.

Last year we started actually writing out our New Year’s resolutions and posted them on our fridge. We pulled out the resolutions that we had made for 2012 to see how we did for the year. Out of all of us, Leah had made the most progress on all of her goals! Her list consisted of:

She really accomplished a lot this year and I am so proud of her! A few months before Mason was born, she went cold turkey with the paci and there has been no turning back. (You can read about her journey here - ha: It's so Hard to Say Good Bye). It was a tough couple of days when she didn’t have it, but quickly got over it. We thought she might regress when Mason was born if she saw him with a pacifier, but she didn’t! (Luckily, Mason doesn’t take a pacifier at all, so we won’t have any issues trying to ween him off of one). Leah's second resolution was to get potty trained. I couldn’t be happier with her progress! It was quite a Potty Training Game for a while with lots of frustrations. She just didn't want to do it. She has been well on her way for the past month with only a few accidents. It just clicked and now she is a pro! She never wore any pull-ups. She went straight from diapers to underwear (since our Elf on the Shelf gave away all of her diapers to the babies that need them). As far as her third resolution, it is only partially complete. She has been out of her crib for almost a year, but she is not completely sleeping by herself. She did get a New Toddler Bed earlier this year and she has slept in it about 50% of the time. To round out her resolutions, Leah has learned her ABC's and often sings them to Mason.

For 2013, Leah has some new resolutions to work towards. By the end of 2013, we hope she is able to:

- Write and spell her first and last name.

- Sleep in her own bed without mom and dad. As I mentioned, this is something we’ve been struggling with for a while now. She doesn’t like to be alone. She takes comfort in sleeping with us. We need to get this girl in her own bed, all by herself!

- Do activities independently. We hope to sign her up for a class that she can do by herself without mom and dad. She can pretty shy and clingy, so we want to push her out of her comfort zone. She did a dance class earlier in the year by herself and it was a disaster. First Day of Dance Class. We stopped going after 2 classes. She did a gymnastics class this year too, but Rob did it with her. The teacher said she is ready to move to the next level (without the parent), but I don’t think Leah is mentally ready. We are going to do one more parent/tot class and then see how she does on her own.

- Learn to ride bike with training wheels. We are going to get Leah a bike for her birthday!

Even though Mason is still a little guy, he too has some resolutions for 2013. His list includes learning to crawl, learning to walk, holding his own bottle and to become a better sleeper. (He has digressed over the past 2 weeks and is waking up in the middle of the night again and not sleeping super late).

As far as Rob and I’s resolutions for 2012, the results were pretty mediocre and some were an epic fail! Both of our lists included to lose weight…..womp, womp, womp. One of my goals specifically was to get back in shape after Mason was born and that hasn’t quite happened (that's what 2013 resolutions are for, right – ha)! Also on my list was to read at least 3 books, which I did hit that target thanks to the Fifty Shades series. I wish I had more time to read. I also made a resolution to blog more. I definitely wrote more entries in 2012 than I did in 2011, but it is still pretty time consuming.

As for 2013, we (Rob and I) have set new resolutions and are REALLY hoping to stick to them. It is finally sinking in that we have to change our behaviors if we expect to see change. We both want to lose weight. We have decided that we are going to cut way back on going out to eat – we do it WAY too much. (I went through my bank account and added up all of the money we’ve spent in a month from going out to eat. Let’s just say I was taken aback on how much money has gone out the window). One of my resolutions is to cook at least 2 meals at home a week. Being a full time working mom, it can be tough to find the time to cook. There are many nights we will just pop a Lean Cuisine in the microwave or make a turkey sandwich. I hope that I can start making dinner to have during the week. The crockpot is going to become my new best friend. (So far, I’ve met my goal this week by making Chicken Noodle Soup and a Teriyaki Chicken Stir Fry). We’ve also decided to give up alcohol for a while too (except for on special occasions). Typically, any time we go out to eat, we also have a couple of beers with our meal too. We’re hoping with eating out less and eating at home more, it will help with our weight loss goals. We also are acknowledging that just eating better is not going to cut it. We need to become more active. We recently bought an elliptical machine. It is on our list of resolutions that we each will use it at least 4 times per week for 30 minutes. I did it last night and even the 30 minutes made me feel so much better (and realize just how out of shape I am).

Along the lines of being more active, I’ve also included that I want to complete two 5K’s this year. I always participate in the Chase Corporate Challenge through work and I’ve made a pact with my coworker Ashley and my boss Randy that we will run the entire 5K. (I’ve never ran the entire thing. I’ve come close. This year I will do it). Once it starts to get a little nicer outside, I am going to start running. I’ve come across this awesome blog that has been extremely motivating to me. http://www.mamalaughlin.com/ She’s a mom of 2 and decided to get moving. She has a great story. I follow all of her posts now and find her very inspirational. We do have a few other goals for 2013, like to try to have at least one date night a month where we will alternate whose job it is to find a babysitter and plan the date. We also want to do more with our kids. I know it seems like we have a handful of resolutions for 2013, but I truly feel they can be attainable if we work together on them.

Happy 2013 everyone! Make it a great one!