2014 Resolutions: January to June

Let's check in and see how I did on my resolutions for the second half of 2013:

Take a baby swim class with Claire. Check! We took swim lessons at the Y during July and August. Was it necessary? Absolutely not. But did it give us something fun to look forward to each week? Definitely!

Update my recipe binder. Check! It was something I'd been meaning to do for quite a while and actually only took one weekend nap session to bang out. 

Finish decorating our apartment. Almost, almost check. I have a few pieces in our hallway gallery wall that I need to update (the ones with important family dates and our hand prints) now that we've added a new member to the family.

Assemble our Halloween costumes. Check! We dressed up as Peanuts characters. I wish we'd gotten some better pictures, but it was only ten days after Maggie's arrival, so things were just a tad crazy that evening. Oh well. 

Finish all of our Christmas shopping. Almost, almost check. Usually my goal is to finish Christmas shopping before Advent, but this year I tried to have it done before Maggie arrived. I made our parents an "instagram a day" calendar, but I didn't quite make it to 365 pictures in time, so that one had to wait until November. 

Have Maggie baptized. Check! Her godparents and our good friends, Joe and Alex, came to visit for the affair. It was such a great day. 

Celebrate a very low-key Thanksgiving and Christmas. Check! I'm so glad we kept things pretty simple for the holidays this year, because even with our low-key festivities all the excitement was too much for Claire. Major meltdowns were had on both days.

Read one history book and three spiritual books over the year. Not even close. I finished the history book, The Penguin History of Canada, in the first half of the year, but I only read one spiritual book, Saints for Catholic Moms. I am way too embarrassed to admit how much of the book I read on New Year's Eve! 

And here are my resolutions for the first half of 2014. It's going to be a good one!

Make some seasonal decorations. At the top of my list are an Easter table runner and napkins. I have festive table linens for every other major holiday, but I haven't gotten around to Easter yet. I think because it's been hard to find fabric I really like. I'm hoping to get started on Jesse Tree ornaments with the goal of having them completed by the beginning of Advent. Oh, and my craft project to-do list also includes making a photo book documenting the previous year, of course!

Make a birthday present for Claire. For a long time, I've had the idea of finding an old play kitchen on Craig's List and fixing it up, but I'm not really sure if that's a feasible project right now. Besides the time, where could we hide that from her while we're working on it, you know? So it's looking more like we'll just buy her a play kitchen as her big second birthday present. Maybe I'll make her something with her monthly fabrics instead, like a pillow with her name appliqued on it to go with her first birthday quilt. We'll see. We definitely want to make another birthday video and also take her for her first hair cut to celebrate turning two. 

Sign up for a little Saturday gymnastics class through our community center. Winter weekends with small children cooped up inside can be, um, not the most fun thing ever. So, I think this gymnastics class will be the perfect solution - it'll get us out of the house and it will get Claire the exercise she needs to take a nice long afternoon nap! But once spring hits, I'd like to make sure we get out and explore Seattle again at least once a month. In April, we want to visit the tulip festival again for sure. And maybe in May we'll finally take the ferry out to Bainbridge Island.

Move into a bigger place. It's looking like we'll be moving into a rental home at the end of February! We were originally planning to move sometime over the summer, so it's a little sooner than we were thinking, but we happened upon a place that was exactly what we were looking for. I'll definitely share more details as soon as things are finalized. Besides the whole unpacking thing, we'll also need to update our address with various institutions and send moving announcements.

Have the girls share a room. This will most likely involve teaching Maggie how to sleep through the night and get on a good nap schedule, which I think we'll do around six months. Unless she just decides to do that on her own. There's always hope, right? We were originally thinking we'd have to move Claire into a twin bed to make this possible, but now that we'll have a guest bed room, I think we'll just buy another crib for the nursery that can be turned into a toddler bed when she's ready for it.  While we're on the subject of kid milestones, I guess I should mention starting Maggie on solids. I want to make sure to give myself grace if I just don't get around to making all of her purees.

Play more kid-friendly music for the girls in the car and just at home during the day. We usually listen to either the Christian or classical stations while driving. We also have a radio in our kitchen, so we switch between those at home too. But I have a car adapter for my phone and I can also play it through that kitchen radio, so I really have no excuses for keeping things so boring. Just this week I put the Sound of Music soundtrack on my phone and it's made car rides completely free of whining. And in the whole being a better mom vein, I want to make sure I read books just to Maggie, rather than only ones her sister likes, starting around six months or so.

Get a physical. I've seen lots of the dentist, optometrist, and obstetrician, but I haven't been to a family doctor since I stopped going to the pediatrician. I'm turning twenty-five in May, so I think it's probably time, at least so we have someone to call if and when we do get sick. I just found out there's a NFP-only doctor in our neighborhood, so I'm pretty excited to meet with her. And on the subject of doctors, Adam and I both need to go in for an eye exam and finally get some prescription sunglasses. I only need to wear glasses while driving but, man, I am so tired of squinting! 

Update our will. When Claire arrived, we downloaded some forms and wrote one ourselves. But now we have access to legal services through Adam's company and we have another baby, so it's time we got that squared away. Along the same lines, we just have a whole bunch of grown-up paperwork-type stuff we've been putting off, like moving some funds into Adam's 401k from a retirement account we got while working at community college day camp in high school. 

Spend less on groceries. We live right across the street from a grocery store right now and also within walking distance of Trader Joe's, so we pretty much just frequent those two spots with occasional trips to Costco. But once we move, we'll be closer to a couple different grocery stores and we'll have more space to buy in bulk. Maybe we'll even invest in another freezer? Some price comparison is definitely in order.

Go on at least three dates. We'd like to have a night out for each of our birthdays (in April and May) and at some other point earlier in the year. Our go-to babysitter is graduating from high school, so we really need to ask friends for recommendations and find someone else to call too. Oh, and speaking of birthdays, Blessed John Paul II is being canonized on Adam's birthday, so I'd like to throw a little Polish-themed party to celebrate!

Visit our relatives in Florida and Ottawa in one big trip back east. Adam's family is having a big reunion at his grandparent's place outside Orlando in June, which should be a really great time. While we're there, we thought we'd save the cost/time of an extra plane trip and visit my grandma in Ottawa too. Montreal is only two hours away and somewhere we've always wanted to visit, so I think we'll spend a few days there in between. Since we'll actually be flying into Canada this time, we'll need to get passports for Claire and Maggie.

Read one history book and one spiritual book. This resolution applies to the entire year. Since I tackled Canada last year, I'd really like to head south and learn more about Mexico this time. And I've heard so many good things about Saintly Solutions that I think it'll be my pick for the year.