First, I have to say a VERY happy birthday to my wonderful husband! He is the best and I would be lost without him. Here’s to being “old like me,” Chuck! 
Love you!
I have some “resolutions” for this year. I hate calling them resolutions, though. They are more like things I want to accomplish or get done this year. These are in no particular order.
1. Lose a couple pounds. I have a couple pounds I would like to lose. Nothing drastic. Just a goal I had set with myself a while ago. I know I can do this if I stick to a few things. So I am going to:
2. Eat better. I eat too much junk during the day or just don’t eat much during the day so I eat a ton at dinner. I just need to get back into some better habits again.
3. Work out more. I tried running on the treadmill and I realized I just don’t really like running all that much. So I am going to walk on the treadmill. Our treadmill has some pretty cool settings for actual hills or places you can “walk”, so I am going to give those a try. I would also like to be more consistent with my exercise. I don’t want to be those people that bought a treadmill and never use it. So off my butt I will go!
4. Read more. I don’t read nearly enough. I spend too much time watching tv. So I want to read more. I am trying to read every night before bed. Even if I only get a little reading done before I conk out, it is still something. I am also going to read on the treadmill. I used to love that. It’s a great time to read and exercise. So hopefully I can get through some of the books that are on my “to read” list.
5. Eat dinner together. We have been pretty good about this. Most nights, the three of us eat dinner together. I want to make sure we keep this up. I remember we always had dinner together when I was growing up and I think it is really good for families.
6. Cook more. This goes along with eating better. I have so many recipes and recipe books, but I don’t use them enough. So I want to plan out meals and really stick to making some tasty dinners. I also want to try to make some meals that are easy to freeze for lunches. I am much more likely to eat a healthy lunch if I have things prepared ahead of time and I’m not looking for something to eat in the couple minutes Maddie allows for me to eat.
So if you have any recipes you think I should try or websites I should check out for meals or meal planning, please let me know!
7. Declutter. I have so many things around the house that I either don’t need or don’t need to see every day. So I want to organize and declutter some of the unnecessary things around the house. This may mean organizing things better or just work harder to keep things clean and put away.
8. Make apps. I have some ideas for phone apps and when I quit my job to stay home, Chuck and I decided I would make some phone apps to make some extra money. I kept saying I would do it later. Well, Maddie is 10 1/2 months old and I still haven’t made any apps. I think it’s “later”.
9. Make family/couple/alone/friend time. I think each of these are very important. We were given a Zoo membership for Christmas and I want to get a Children’s Museum membership. I want to make sure we do these things as a family and no just Maddie and me (even though we will be doing that a lot).
I also want to be sure that Chuck and I take time to go on dates and do things without Maddie. It’s so good for a relationship to do that. We have so many wonderful friends and family that want to babysit Maddie and we need to remember to take advantage of that.
Even though I am home with Maddie all day, I think it is important for me to spend time by myself. It’s good for my sanity. I think some of this time will be my treadmill/reading time. But I need to remember that it is ok to want to go to the store alone or just relax without feeling guilty about it.
And I have some fabulous friends. I need to remember to make time for them because they are so very important to me. My best friends don’t live that close to me, so I need to be sure I plan things with them. Or email them. Or call them. Or just generally stay in touch if we can’t get together in person.
10. Be the best me I can be. This might sound silly, but I think everyone can work on themselves a little. Whether it is to be more patient, more kind, less judgmental, happier…whatever it may be. I want to make sure that I am the person I want to be. I want to be the best person I can be to my family and friends. I want to be the best possible mom to Maddie that I can be. I want to be the best wife to Chuck that I can be. Just be the best me.
So I don’t think any of these are so crazy or hard to do. So let’s welcome in a new year. I hope that 2012 can be as wonderful as 2011 has been to me. I am so thankful for all I have!
Here’s to a wonderful 2012 to all of you!
It was nice and relaxing. We had already opened all our presents with my mom when they were over at our house. But it was nice to hang out with them. My mom took this picture of her (which I posted the other day). I am sure she took others, too, but I don’t have those yet. 
