Well, I’m not as late as I was with my first quarter update, but somehow I almost forgot to write a summary of how my goals are coming along now that we’re halfway through the year!  The past few months have been all about navigating life with a tiny baby in the house, so certain things have been pretty tough – it’s hard to focus on goals when sleep is at such a premium.  I hope that we will turn a corner soon, and I think as Nugget gets older it will be easier for me to put energy into myself again.  But I’ve done a few things, so here we go, a 2015 goals update for the second quarter:

Big Goals

 

Have a baby.  Check!  Nugget’s been here for a few months now and although we’re all so tired, we just love having him complete our family.

Focus on immediate family.  This hasn’t been a big focus in the past few months, but I need to make it one.  The first year of a new life is always stressful on Mom and Dad, and I’d be lying if I said that having “two under three” was a cakewalk.  It’s really important for us to connect as a foursome, so I’m brainstorming ways to keep our bond strong.

 

Keep growing in our new region.  Now that the nice weather has (finally!) arrived, it’s been a lot easier to get out and enjoy the good things about Western New York.  We’ve been doing lots of hiking, wandering around East Aurora, attending fun summer events like Taste of Buffalo (post coming soon!) and just hanging out in our backyard and splashing in the pool.  It still doesn’t feel like “home” most of the time, but I’m trying.

Small Goals

Plant a garden with Peanut.  Check!  Peanut and I planted our patio garden in May and – prepare to be astonished – some things are actually growing!  I’m in shock that my black thumb hasn’t killed everything.  I’ve already learned a ton about what works and what doesn’t, so I think next year’s garden will be even better.

Marathon or bust!  Look for a post on this in the next few weeks.  I think I’m going to postpone the marathon for a couple of years – not because I can’t do it, but because the first few weeks of training were really time-intensive, and it was only going to get more so.  Running three or four (or more!) hours on weekend mornings just isn’t a priority right now.  I’d rather spend that time soaking up my baby.  Plenty of time to train for marathons in a couple of years – I’d rather not miss this sweet baby time.  I do plan to run a couple of half marathons in the fall, though.

Start juicing.  Still haven’t done this.  But I really do want to make it a priority in the next few weeks.  Swear.

Use my dSLR more.  This hasn’t happened either.  The problem is that, a lot of the time when I’m out and about and would normally be using my “big camera,” I have Nugget strapped to my front in the Ergo, which gets in the way of the camera.  It’s a good thing my iPhone takes such nice crisp photos – and thank goodness for the fun of Instagram!

Do at least one home project every month.  I don’t know if I’ve been following this one to the letter or not.  I’ve gotten a few home projects – mostly little ones – done this quarter, including painting the living room fireplace, updating the cabinet hardware in the family room (which made such a difference in terms of how modern the family room looks) and overseeing the fixing of Nugget’s closet door trim.  I don’t know if I’ve done one thing each month, but it’s averaging out to be at least that.

Get back into yoga, and try out barre classes.  Nope, and nope.  I’m still hoping to fit at least one of these types of classes into my schedule when I go back to work, but I don’t know if that will happen or not.  As I said above, I’m just not willing to sacrifice baby time – plenty of opportunity for that in the future.

 

Get organized.  Haven’t done any big organizing projects this quarter, other than a quick craft closet project, but I haven’t gotten less organized, either – the pantry is still going strong.  So can I call this a win for the moment?

Lose the baby weight.  Hmmmm.  Well, this is one of those things that is going to come in time, but if I’mm being totally honest I have to tell you I’m not really focused on a number right now.  I’m really trying to direct my attention to feeling strong overall.  At the moment that’s looking like incorporating strength training in with my walks and runs, (hopefully) adding back in yoga, and working on stress management.  I did do one Whole30 and saw some results, but I’m not planning another run for a few months.  My main priority is to continue breastfeeding until Nugget is at least one year old, so anything that interferes with that is shelved for now.  My secondary priority is to feel a bit more toned overall, and to live a sustainably healthy lifestyle.

 

Hike in a different place every month.  Still going strong!  In addition to our spring Reinstein Woods Nature Preserve hike, we visited Times Beach Nature Preserve in April, Darien Lakes State Park in May, and Sprague Brook Park in June.  I have some really exciting hikes planned for the next quarter, so stay tuned!

Take a family vacation – or two!  Family trip to the Outer Banks is coming up soon, and I’m hoping to book us a weekend getaway for the fall – maybe to Ithaca, or maybe to Muskoka, Ontario.  We’ll see.

Date nights, for realsies.  Well, we did get out of the house for a wedding this month, and of course I was a ball of nerves leaving both kids.  Our babysitter was an dear family friend and she did an amazing job, and the kids didn’t kill her, so I suppose it was a success – even if we did dart out of the wedding reception before cake was served so I could get back to feed Nugget.  We have a big anniversary coming up in August (TEN years!) so I’m hoping for another date, or even two, to celebrate that.

Well, there it is – not a whole lot of progress on the goals front, but something is better than nothing, especially with a new baby in the house.  Looking forward to seeing where the next half of the year takes me.

How are your New Year’s resolutions going?