2011 Goals: Final Review

I know the year isn't quite over yet, but I wanted to give a final account of how I did on my goals this year.

• Goal 1: Complete P90X - hit it! This goal was completed May 14th.
• Goal 2: Run a half marathon - did it! This goal was completed June 11th.
• Goal 3: Get to 135 pounds - failed. I got so close! At one point in May I was 136.1. We went off birth control at the beginning of May, and I was assuming I would be pregnant by June, so I gave up trying. That didn't quite happen according to schedule, but I never did hit this goal. I officially gave up in early October when I found out that I was pregnant, and knew weight loss would not be in my near future.
• Goal 4: Finish the Old Testament - failed. I was on track until I got pregnant. The morning sickness was terrible, and reading fell by the wayside. I know, it's probably an excuse. I am almost done with Isaiah, so I still have a fair amount to go. I am rolling this goal over to 2012.
• Goal 5: Read 12 books, with at least 6 being non-fiction - hit it! I finished my last books this month, and ended with a total of 13 books this year: 7 non-fiction, 6 fiction. I found the non-fiction to be a pleasant stretch for me. Next year I have a much loftier reading goal, as far as numbers go.

So, overall, I did fairly well. I hit 3 of my 5 goals, and got pretty close on the other 2. I really liked having measurable goals this year, and I feel like I stretched myself further by doing this. I am working on my 2012 goals now, and will have those posted soon. Some of these are quite lofty, so I'm trying to make sure I'm not taking on too much.

Now, onto my resolutions...

• Resolution 1: Build an unbreakable habit of scripture study and prayer. I was doing really well with the scripture study, due to my goal above. However, that's a habit I will need to re-establish in the new year with my new scripture goals. As for prayer...well, I'm still really lousy with that.
• Resolution 2: Cultivate friendships. I feel like I have done really well with this. A large part has been me quitting my job, which allows me to attend play groups weekly. Just this regular contact with some of the women in our condos has allowed me to feel more involved. Plus, I've tried harder to initiate activities such as game nights and parties.
• Resolution 3: Love being a mom. This will definitely be an on-going resolution, as every day presents new challenges. I really felt like a great mom in the summer--we'd go to the park a lot, or head to waterparks or Trafalga. Well, then school started, and the weather turned cold, and now it's back to a whole lot of TV time. Not to mention that trying to fit in my part-time job has made it a little difficult. I absolutely love being a stay-at-home mom...most of the time. Sometimes I feel like my kids would be better off at a babysitter's house, because I fear that I'm too harsh and I yell too much (okay, I don't fear the yelling part--I KNOW I yell too much). Patience is definitely not a virtue I have right now. So, while I love being a mom (and I'd better, because we are adding another child to the mix), I think I have a lot of growing to do to become a better mom.

Remember: I Wanted This

These past few days I've had to try really hard to remind myself that I wanted children and that I wanted to be at home with them. Quick run down...

Saturday morning I spent several hours cleaning my kitchen. Yes, it was that messy that it took me HOURS to sweep and mop the floor, clean the table off, wipe off the counters, and wash the dishes.

By Sunday, the dishes were piled up again, and I came out of my bedroom to find that D had gotten into the pantry, spread Bisquick from the kid's bathroom (all...over...the bathroom!), down the hall, and throughout the family room. In addition, he dropped Coco Puffs all over the kitchen that I scrubbed down the day before (and, of course, stepped on quite a few to reduce the puffs to powder). And, if that wasn't enough, he also emptied a good amount of maple syrup onto my once-pristine floor. So, after a few choice words and some more time sweeping, scrubbing, and vacuuming, the kitchen was once again clean.

This morning I had quite a bit of work to do, so I got the boys some cereal and told them they could watch a movie when done. Well, I came out a bit later and found that D had not only emptied his cereal bowl all over the kitchen and living room, but he had also emptied the remainder of the cereal onto the floor as well. I told him (and B2) that they couldn't watch a movie until it was all cleaned up and went back to work. A short time later I came out to find that not only had the cereal NOT been cleaned, but D had gotten into Ed's (our frog) food and emptied half of the container of stinky pellets all over my once-clean kitchen counter, and broken up the gingerbread house we started but never finished. Oh, and D had hurt his toe, which started bleeding, now resulting in little blood splotches all over my kitchen tile. So, once again, I pulled out the vacuum and vacuumed up the carpets, swept and mopped the kitchen, and wiped down the counters. While I was doing that, I had B2 get D into the tub. I went into their bathroom only to find D dumping cups of bath water onto the bathroom floor while B2 laughed. Really???? I was about ready to go ballistic on both of them. So, I called the hubby and we both had a good laugh, and then decided that this craziness needed to be blogged.

Heaven help me if this next child is a boy, because I'm pretty sure another boy in the house will result in something getting lit on fire...

Funny Things B2 Says

I forgot to include today's funny story! I overheard B2 talking to D in a very serious tone, so of course it got my attention.

B2: "Okay D, I've got something really important that you need to learn, so are you listening?"
D: "Yes."
B2: "Good. NEVER....trust...a woman!"

I think he's been watching too much Saturday's Warrior...

Funny Things Our Kids Say

I know, I know, I haven't updated this blog in a while. So, here's some funny stories from our boys.

A few months ago D came in to our room Sunday morning. I was in that stage where my eyes were still closed, but I was starting to become aware of my surroundings. I hear B1 tell D, "Mommy is still asleep D. Can you let Mommy sleep?" D immediately replied, "Noooooooooo..."

Driving carpool cracks me up--B2 and L are so funny together! One day I overheard them saying the following:
B2: "L, will you marry me?"
L: (in a shocked, almost insulted tone) "No!"
B2: (in a dismayed tone) "Why not?"
L: "Because I want to marry [boy#1] or [boy#2]!"
B2: (in a fearful tone) "Mom, L said she won't marry me. Then who am I going to marry?"

Last week as we were driving up to visit my brother, B2 asked if we could name our new baby Carly. We told him that we weren't going to settle on a name yet, because we weren't sure if we were having a girl.
B2: "But I want a sister!"
Mom: "That's nice honey, but we don't have a say in that."
Dad: "B2, would you like it if you had two sisters?" [For the record, no, we are not having twins.]
B2: "No, I only want one sister. If I have one sister, she'll be nice to me. If I have two sisters, they'll bug me."
B1 chuckled at that, because he has two sisters... [So do I, but my sisters didn't bug me. ;) ]

Funny Things B2 Says

Today we bought B2 a map of the United States. Too often he asks questions like if we can go visit Nini after school and come home in time for bed, which just isn't possible when Nini lives 1,443 miles (by road). We're hoping the map will teach him his geography as well as help him understand why we can't visit certain family members whenever we want. So, anyway, here's the conversation.
B2: "Mom, did you buy me a map?!?"
Mom: "Yes, I did."
B2: "What is it a map to?" Note: my brain heard, "What is it a map of?" so I had "United States" on the tip of my tongue when B2 continued: "To treasure??"
I was so taken aback by his comment that I almost choked on my laughter.

Then, a few minutes later, B2 started his kindergarten homework. Today, his homework consisted of practicing his handwriting on the letter S. Daddy was helping him while I made cookies (s'mores cookies--unfortunately, I was quite disappointed, but that's a different story). B2 exclaimed, "Look Mom, I'm working on my S-eses." He sounded a bit like Gollum talking like that.

Funny Things B2 Says

I have a carpool worked out for B2 and kindergarten -- not that it's that far away or anything (his school is less than 2 miles), but simply for convenience. One day while driving the kids home, L (the girl we carpool with) was talking about her after-school plans.
L: "I'm going to go see Phillip."
B2: "You're gonna throw up?"

In our church, part of our worship services includes taking the sacrament. We have been trying to teach B2 about the sacrament, it's importance, and so on. On this particular Sunday, Daddy was teaching B2 about how it's necessary to hold the Priesthood in order to pass the sacrament.
Daddy: "B2, do you want to hold the Priesthood?"
B2: "Yeah, but sometimes I want to hold the Cheez-It Priesthood."

Never?

When I was a kid I wanted to be a doctor. I don't remember any specific reason why, other than it seemed the only choices in life were to be a doctor or a lawyer, and doctors made more money and had more prestige (few people ever say in joyous surprise, "Oh, you're a lawyer?" unless that's followed by a request for free legal services). Then I realized that the sight of blood made my stomach turn. And, since I believed that the only type of doctor worth being was a surgeon, I decided I could no longer be a doctor.

When I was an older kid, I wanted to be a lawyer. After all, the only two choices in life were to be a doctor or a lawyer, and I had already ruled out doctor. Besides, my dad is a lawyer, and other than working really long hours it seemed to be a good job. He told funny stories about the crazy things people sued for, and their audacity in thinking that a jury would actually award them money. The other lawyers in the firm seemed like good people, so I figured this could be a good job. Then, when I was 15, I worked in my dad's law firm one summer, and I realized that being a lawyer wasn't all dramatic court scenes and the glory of saving your client tons of money--it was a lot of paperwork, writing boring letters, and dealing with bottom-of-the-barrel loser lawyers who barely graduated correspondence law school, failed the Bar Exam countless times, and now were taking frivolous cases to court since that's how they made their money. And, I decided that law wasn't for me.

When I was a teenager, I wanted to be a psychologist. And not just any psychologist, but one who helped rape victims recover from their traumatic experiences. I researched it, and knew that I had to be a Ph.D, and that was fine with me. I also knew that I could make a good living with this career path, but really the appeal was in helping someone overcome what would hopefully be the worst thing that would ever happen to them, and return to a normal state of being. I had it all planned: I would take AP classes and college courses while in high school, graduate from BYU with my Bachelor's degree, go on an LDS mission, finish my Ph.D, get married at 30, and have a glorious career. Maybe kids would be in the mix, but not until I had at least practiced a few years to build up a clientele that would allow me to work from home.

When I was 19 (a week before my 20th birthday) I met the man who would soon become my husband. As things progressed, I realized my life plan was splitting. I could either take Path A that I had planned in high school, or Path B--get married to a pilot who would take me to live who knows where. So, I took the safe course--Path C. Path C meant start with a Master's program. If Path B turns out to be a dead end, I could skip the Master's program, go on a mission, and resume Path A. If Path B worked out, I could do the Master's degree, and finish the Ph.D. wherever hubby's job sent us, and then pick up Path A with the career.

Path B ended up not going where I wanted it to go. I had assumed the job would start sooner than it did and that we would have time to travel a bit before the kids came. Instead, I finished my Master's degree, started working in a completely unrelated field, and we started our family. We bought a condo that we now can't seem to sell, we're living in a state that my husband promised me while dating that we would not live in, and I so desperately want the dream house that it seems everyone our age is getting.

Yes, life did not work out in just about any way I had planned. On the bright side, I have a wonderful husband 10 years earlier than expected, two wonderful (most days) boys that make me laugh on a regular basis, a condo we can afford that's not ghetto (that could definitely be worse!!!), and wonderful neighbors. I finally get to be a stay at home mom to my boys. But, sometimes I spend too much time on Pinterest or Facebook and see what I still wish I could have: the nice, attractively decorated house with a basement for my food storage and a back yard for my boys; pictures of the thousands of places I want to visit; and so on. Today is a day that requires a lot of extra effort to not covet what I don't have (and, in some cases, never will), but instead be grateful for what I do. After all, I thought I knew what I wanted 10, 15, and 20 years ago, but look how wrong I was...