Happy New Year!  It’s been some year, hasn’t it?  I think we can all agree that 2015 brought more than the usual number of ups and downs – for the world at large, and for many of us (me included) personally.  I’ve got a whole slew of end-of-year posts planned, including my usual three-part bookish recap, a monthly roundup of all of our family adventures, and a post about my hopes for 2016.  But for now, a look back at 2015 goals, the good, the bad, and the totally half-@$$ed.

Big Goals

Have a baby.  Done!  This one was sort of out of my control, as you can imagine.  But I love the result rather a lot!  Nugget joined us on March 11, 2015, and I already can’t imagine life without him.

Focus on immediate family.  This is something we worked hard on, especially in the second half of the year.  At the end of last year, I felt that too much of our identity was wrapped up in relationships outside of our four walls – important relationships, of course, but we needed to take some time to focus on each other.  I think we did decently well at this – whether it meant committing to hike together every month, eating together as a family most nights, or sneaking away during extended family vacations to do some activities as a foursome.  We still have a ways to go, though.

Keep growing in our new region.  This one slipped through the cracks, especially after Nugget’s arrival, and I think we suffered for it.  I definitely don’t feel as if we’ve put roots down here.  We’ve tried – maybe not as hard as we could have, but we’ve been hibernating with a baby.  Still, I can’t declare this goal accomplished.

Small(er) Goals

Plant a garden with Peanut.  Can I declare this done if I subsequently killed 90% of it?  Only the rosemary and the parsley survived my negligent stewardship; even the hardy mint eventually succumbed.  I did bring the parsley and rosemary inside (after they miraculously soldiered through the first snowfall of the season, I thought they deserved to warm up) and I’m committed to keeping them alive all winter.  Of course, you know what that means: my attention will kill them, where my ignoring them didn’t.  Well, one thing’s for sure – Peanut and I both learned some stuff this year.  Hoping for a more successful garden next spring.

Marathon or bust!  Bust.  I realized early in my training that a marathon was just not happening this year.  I still want to run one someday, when the kids are a bit older.  (Maybe when Nugget is 3, I’ll have another go at it.)  But I did run three 5Ks and a 4-mile obstacle race, so at least I can say I’m back out there.  I have my eye on a few fun races for next year – including another half marathon, if I can make the training work with my currently very tight schedule.

Start juicing.  I’m really mad at myself, because I haven’t done this.  And I got the juicer for Christmas last year!  Sorry, Santa.  In January, I mean to do this.  I really do.

Use my dSLR more.  So I learned something: babywearing is really fun, and I love it, but the combination of Nugget in the front carrier and a big camera around my neck is just not workable.  I’ve relied on the iPhone and luckily it takes decent pictures.  Once Nugget either moves to my back or is spending more time in the stroller, I’ll dust off the dSLR.

Do at least one home project every month.  I sort of stopped keeping track of this, but I think it must have averaged out to at least one project a month as we worked on updating some cosmetic things to get our house ready to sell.  So I’m saying – yep, did this.

Get back into yoga, and try out barre classes.  Other than one yoga class on vacation in the Outer Banks, I haven’t done a thing – and I’m feeling it.  (I always feel so much looser and more comfortable when I’m doing yoga regularly.  Why don’t I do it more?  Oh, right, two kids and no time.)  And as for barre – haven’t done a minute of it, and still really want to.

Get organized.  I haven’t made nearly as much progress organizing as I’d like to, but an upcoming move should present a golden opportunity to work on this.

Lose the baby weight.  Not quite yet.  I’ve lost some, but not all.  With Peanut, it took a little over a year, and Nugget is only nine months, so I’m not panicking just yet.  With two kids and, again, no time, I’m not expecting it to be a super fast process.  I’m planning to do a month of no sugar in the new year, and hoping that will jump start the next phase of getting back into shape post-baby.

Hike in a different place each month.  Did this – wow!  Twelve months of hiking in a different park each month!  Our hikes took us all around WNY, down to North Carolina, and out to Colorado.  I still have to recap November and December for you, and then I will post a big roundup of all of the hikes we did for this project – look for that coming in January.  I’m really, really proud that we stuck to this goal for the entire year and made a commitment to hitting the trails as a family all year long.

Take a family vacation – or two!  How about TWO?!  After a stretch of almost four years without a vacation (other than the occasional weekend getaway) it felt so great, and so long overdue, to get away on not one but TWO big trips.  We joined my parents, brother and sister-in-law for a big family trip to Hatteras Island, North Carolina, in July (recapped on the blog over several weeks thereafter) and spent a week and a half visiting my brother and sister-in-law in Colorado over Thanksgiving (recaps to come).  Two trips, two beautiful places, two opportunities to spend lots of quality time together and with Dan and Danielle – too lucky.

Date nights, for realsies.  I’m proud to say that we’re actually making an effort to get out together as a couple again!  It only took three years, ha.  What finally clicked was when we realized that with the kids both hitting the sack in their respective rooms at 7:30, we could put them to bed and then slip out in the evenings.  It’s an easy night for a babysitter, who ideally can just sit on the couch with a book and hopefully not hear a peep from upstairs.  And it’s a guilt-free evening out for us, because the kids would be sleeping in their rooms whether we are downstairs in the family room or out on a date, so we don’t feel that we’re missing out on any time with them.  That was a revelation, and we’ve taken advantage of it twice now – once to see The Martian, and once to see Star Wars.  Hope to keep that rolling in 2016!

Well, in looking back at my goals, things are really better than I thought.  I set some ambitious goals for the year and I always knew I wouldn’t have a perfect record – especially not with a new baby in the house.  But it’s been a fun journey and I’m looking forward to seeing where life takes our family in 2016.