Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Forward Thinking


I'm not a huge fan of having my hands (and probably the rest of me) constantly smell like baby puke.
(Although it's vastly preferred over smelling like the vomit of persons who eat solid food).

I should probably point out that we have some more concrete and realistic goals around this place. It's just that being such a goal-oriented person, the goal of relaxing is huge and hard. A lot of my goals reveal how unprepared I am to be the mother of a strong-willed toddler. I'm always upset with myself for not spending more of my mental energy pondering motherhood when I was younger. And for not acquiring homemaking skills before I was in the thick of it. But moving on, moving forward, and thinking about what I can and will do....

I want to get into a routine of exercising this year. Not because of baby weight, and not even because of wanting to feel better. I want to prioritize it so that I teach my kids by my example that it is important. I don't want them to have the herculean task I face of finding a way to work it in as an adult who's never developed the habit. So exercising with them or at least in a way/time/place where they will see it is a big part of this goal. I am fully aware of how hard I'm making this for myself, but habits are developed one day at a time, so here's to starting.

I want to continue to refine my housework routine, not so that my house will be cleaner, but so that I can get rid of the guilt over how clean it is not. No guilt for anything not on the list for today..... that's my motto.

I'm striving to make small, mostly unnoticeable changes to our family diet. More whole grain, less sugar, more veggies, less cheese (cheese is our nemesis), and DRINKING MORE WATER. Keeping lemons on hand has helped with this last one. Something about water with a lemon in it makes me about a million times more likely to drink it all.

The big one for me is structuring Sir O's days (and eventually the Captain's too) to circumvent boredom and facilitate learning without eliminating free-play. (I don't really think his free-play is in any danger.... so far I can barely fill 20 minutes a day with structured activity... such is his attention span).

I want to take more pictures. A lot of people are laughing at me right now, because I do take a lot, but I feel like I still miss a lot of moments I'd like to remember. Plus I'd like to do more with the photos I do take, but I suspect that goal will have to wait for another year.

I set a goal to celebrate more. Except there's the predication that it must not incur extra stress or expense. I just want to celebrate little things in little ways. Music, food, and candles seems to be all it takes to make a special occasion out of a potentially forgotten one.

Oh, and Decluttering! Considering that we'll be moving sometime in 2010, I'm hoping to soften the blow of packing by getting rid of anything not worth moving... and doing as much of it sooner than later as I can manage without incurring undue stress.

Lastly, I am trying to cut WAY back on computer time. Sadly this means less blog-reading and WAY less blog-commenting. It also means not checking my email constantly. This is proving very DIFFICULT. Methinks I have a benign addiction, so it's definitely time to get it in check. Please know I still love you (and read you) if my comments become sparse.

Just trying to get life in order to be present for this boy, I seem to have to eke out moments to devote to him:


5 comments:

The Libutti Family said...

Good luck with all of your goals... you can do it, bit by bit and decision by decision.
I found that I got SIGNIFICANTLY better at homemaking (many of the things you are talking about- feeding my family, structuring, cleaning, decluttering, etc.) after I had child number two and fully embraced the idea of being a full time mommy to two small children. Something in my brain kicked in and I got the sense that this was it and I was large and IN CHARGE. This of course happened after she was home for about six months. Rest up and relax now... everything else will come!

aLi said...

I agree with you on less blog-reading and commenting.

But holy crap I don't think I could do half of those other things! I am still struggling to just get through the day and have patience to be a good mom. Man, it's hard!!!

You are my hero if you can do it. But at least you are trying!

Anonymous said...

Those are some excellent goals with good reasons behind them. Those are some things I want to work into my life, too. I hope you can stay motivated and continue to blog about it to help keep me motivated, too.

Deena said...

I love your goals. I hope you don't mind that I have taken some notes.

I don't think that you should beat yourself up for not pondering motherhood. I have found that there's no way to really prepare for it. It's kind of like labor--you can read about it, hear about it, and think about it, but until you have done it, you don't have a clue.

Tricia said...

I have been a closet reader of your blog for a while now--ever since following a comment you wrote on Katie Shakespeare's blog a while back. This list of your goals is so great, I decided I needed to come out and let you know I am impressed--and inspired. Thanks for encouraging me to reach a little bit higher.

And best of luck!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...