2011- Keep It Simple Stupid

I think New Years resolutions are kind of silly. You make big promises with he best of intentions but because you set the bar so high you end up failing.

So for the new year, I want to set some goals that go by the KISS strategy- keep it simple, stupid. Here is what I want to do:

-Exercise at least two to three times per week

-Organize my life a bit more by making a monthly household schedule (I have realized that I need a printed schedule- if it is on the computer it might as well be in Timbuktu because I won't look at it)

-Be more patient- I have realized that I get snippy with the kids when I don't eat when I should and don't drink enough water so I will work on these things

-Cook more from scratch again; more homemade, healthy snacks for the kids, more homemade bread, etc.

-Cook one new recipe a week; I am going to let my husband pick recipes out of magazines that he wants to try and I will attempt to make them with my minimal cooking skills (I am great at baking; cooking is another story)

-Spend more time enjoying my children because someday they will be teenagers who will think I am the most embarrassing person on the planet

-Spend more time with my husband and to let him know that I am proud of the person he has become- a great dad, a person that I love more today than I did the day we got married and a someone who I know will never let our children or myself down.

This past year was hard for me- I had a miscarriage in October which completely shook my world. At some points I lost faith in my marriage and I lost faith in my ability to be a good mother. Life was just about getting through the day. In the past month I have started to feel like I am getting back to normal. My relationships with my husband and children are getting much better and my mood has lifted. I don't feel hopeless anymore- I feel like a cloud has finally been lifted from me. I even feel like I would like to try again for another baby. So maybe 2011 will bring another blessing for me but I now have the clarity to know that even if I am unable to have another child that I am already blessed in so many ways with what I already have.

So I guess what I really want for 2011 is to be grateful for what I have. In high school I fell in love with my husband and knew that he would be the man that I would marry someday). I wanted to have healthy, happy children with him and have him be a wonderful daddy. I wanted to be a good mom who got to stay home with my kids. I wanted to have a boy and a girl (a boy first so he could watch out for his little sister). I wanted to live in a house that my children could grow up in and not have to always move (we moved a bunch of times when I was a kid). I have achieved all of the important things and just need to remind myself just how great my life really is.