Looking Ahead to 2013

After looking back on last year (and it's always good to look back, don't listen to people who say otherwise), it's time to look ahead to the wonderful things 2013 has in store.  It's already been a great year for us - Ryan felt Baby Lowe kick for the first time a few nights ago!  But there's much more to come, so here's a look at some of my goals for 2013.

• Have a healthy, happy baby in May.  I don't have as much control over this as I would like to, but my biggest goal for 2013 is to have our sweet little bundle of joy, successfully introduce him or her to the household (sorry, Landry, you won't be the baby anymore!), and all in all make this huge change as smooth a transition as possible.  During this next half of my pregnancy, I want to eat better now that the morning sickness is gone, exercise more during the warm spring months, and do my best to not wind myself up too much over baby gear, nursery decor, and reading too much info.  There's such a thing as being too informed.

• Be a more involved, active,  and present member of my family.  The stress of being a mom and holding down a full time job gets to me a lot.  My job is not an easy one for 8-9 hours a day, and I don't often come home in the mood to give myself to my family like I should.  I want to put my phone down, leave my stress at the door, and be everything Ryan and the kiddos need me to be.  I'm not asking for perfection, I'm just asking for more cooking and family game nights, and less TV, Facebook, and tears over something that happened at work that day.  I want to relax and enjoy life more, and stop worrying about what I should be doing or what I don't have.

• Blog more.  I've always been a writer - when I was Alli's age, I used to fold paper together to make books, then write a story and illustrate it.  It was a great creative outlet then, and this blog is something I truly enjoy now.  I also love the documentation of what's going on day to day in our home.  It's so nice to read back over posts from last year and relive things I would have otherwise forgotten.  This is going to be even more important in the coming year with our bambino on the way.  I'm hoping to get up to 2 posts a week on average.  That's going to be quite the challenge in the midst of a newborn, but I really hope I'm up to the task.

• Get the house decorated.  It doesn't have to be completely done a year from now.  In fact, I'll just go out on a limb and say it won't be.  But I'd like to get started painting (builder tan = booooring), decorating, and continuing to make our house a home.  After Christmas, I finally felt like I was coming home to my house.  It's only taken four months!  But I know the more I put my creative stamp on the place, the more it will feel like mine.  And with our little bitty on the way, the crunch is on to get some of the major rooms done already.  I do want to relax and enjoy the process though - I tend to get wound up about not getting things done immediately.  Home decorating is a process, and one that you should enjoy.

• Lose the baby weight.  We've still got a good six months before I have to get rolling on this one, but once I have the baby, I want to work on getting in shape the right way.  Again, that means more cooking and less pizza.  And more exercise.