hello, march!

Well, had we not had a leap year and yesterday been March 1, the month definitely would have been "in like a lion." Today is nice, but we're bracing for more storms tonight/tomorrow - so please keep my husband who has to deal with me family in your prayers.

Anyhow, last month I posted some goals, if you will, for February. I thought it would be fun to recap them and post more for March.

Feburary:
- Do Fab Ab February. Meh. I did it for a week, go off track due to my birthday, tried to catch up, got sick, yada yada yada.

- Eat healthier. Sort of. I did pay attention to portions at first and did attempt to do more veggies. But I still ate sweets practically every day.

• NOTE: These things would be SO MUCH easier if my hubby was on board with me. Excuses, exchmushes, I know.

- Lose 4 lbs. I was very surprised to see I'd lost 3 lbs. this month. I guess I must have done something right.
- Get caught up/save money. Well, we paid off all the doctors bills this month. And I would totally have the money to save, but forgot my insurance is now on a different cycle, so my money will go toward that instead. Le sigh.
- Organize the spare bedroom/buy a file cabinet to get all the paperwork in order. Nope. We did do a bit of work in the spare bedroom one weekend so it's better, but still far from perfect.
- Keep the house presentable/spend 10 minutes each night picking up. Didn't happen. I think that by the time I get home, nurse, cook supper, prep bottles and do the dishes, I'm just plain exhausted and don't have it in me to pick up while hubby is just watching TV.
- Live in the moment/put the phone down more/do more multi-tasking. I sucked at the multi-tasking - clear by the fact that laundry sits in the baskets for about a week. But I did much better at leaving the phone alone and spending quality time with Coop - although I still could use some work.

So for March ...

Source: Uploaded by user via Michelle on Pinterest

• Complete Mad Abs March in conjunction with Fab Ab February.
• Do a better job of eating in moderation. Sweets are OK, just don't go overboard. And watch those darn portions!
• Lose 4 lbs. I think this should be attainable with just a little willpower, considering I did 3 lbs. without much trying this month. I wanna go on my birthday shopping spree!
• Get outside/walk at least once a week (even if it's at lunchtime)
• Continue breastfeeding.
• Out to eat no more than two times/week (unless it's work-related and I can't help it.)
• Save at least half of my "extra" paycheck.
• Continue to work on putting down the damn phone! And spending more quality time with my boys.
• Only start a load of laundry if I can finish it.
• Purge our house of junk we don't need and have an awesome yard sale (which is to be in two weeks ... EEEK!)
• Finally finish cleaning the spare room and basement hallway.
• Make one PHONE CALL to friends who don't live in town each week.
• Start couponing again
• Try two new recipes

OK, I think that's plenty for this month!

Do you all set monthly goals? How do you keep yourself accountable?


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a new month

Now that I have a 10-week-old who is, for the most part, sleeping through the night and have been back at work for a month, I figure it's time to get a few other things in line. And what better time to start than at the beginning of a new month?

{health}

Source: imgfave.com via Michelle on Pinterest

I found this pin yesterday and decided it came at a great time - my abs are seriously nonexistant and I hate looking at my belly. Totally do-able in terms of time and being able to do it upstairs. And the hubs plans to to it with me.

Other than my birthday next week and Valentine's the next, I'm going to make a real effort to eat healthier, too. I LOVED all of your healthy snack ideas. And while I may still rely on things like Hamburger Helper for dinner, I can measure out portions, like hubs and I did last night, rather than eyeball it and eat SO much more than needed. 

This morning I stepped on the scale and was surprised to see the number is still about what it was when I got pregnant. I can't believe I'm about to put it out here, but I weighed 159.2 pounds. I'm 5'8". So I could definitely stand to lose some weight. I'm going to aim to lose 4 lbs this month.

{wealthy}

I really need to do a better job at saving money. So this month, my goal is to get caught up from Christmas, new car, etc. I'd also like to put at least $200 in savings.

{organized}

our house is SUCH a mess. I really need to get the spare bedroom cleaned. We need to buy a file cabinet to get all the paperwork that was formerly stored in our desk organized. Then maybe I can remember to pay all the bills on time.

{clean}

I've long since given up on having the house clean. But it would be nice to have it at least presentable - it honestly makes me so anxious in the mornings when I am sitting in the living room and pumping to see the mess. So I'm going to make a goal to spend 10 minutes picking up in the living room every night and see how that helps. The kitchen used to be the bane of my existence, but since I have to wash bottles and pumping supplies every evening, it's not so bad anymore.

{live in the moment}

I spend WAY too much time watching TV and playing on my iPhone. While I doubt I can get hubby to just turn off the TV more often, I can make an effort to do more multi-tasking, like folding laundry, while the TV is on. And at night, I don't need to be checking Facebook - I need to be engaged with my son who is growing SO quickly. So I'm going to TRY and put my phone down from the time I get home until my bathtime every night, unless someone calls me.

What are your goals for this month?

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2012 goals

Before talking about my goals for this year, I thought it would be fun to take a look at last year's goals, especially since we had one VERY big surprise.

So here is what I posted last January...

{1} Spending even more time with my great fiance and getting started with the wedding planning :) - Totally did this! We didn't end up having the wedding we had thought we would have because we ended up moving things up with pregnancy and me starting a new job, but it was absolutely perfect! I wouldn't have changed anything! And now I recall that I never posted about the wedding ...

{2} Eliminating all debt other than the mortgage (I hope). It's just such a crazy time economically, so I hate to have any more payments than necessary! Plus, we plan to continue paying extra on our mortgage every month. Not so great. We did pay off our shed and lawnmower. However, we did borrow some money to help pay for the wedding and ended up buying my new vehicle at the end of the year. Plus we had several baby-related expenses AND we have saved the money to pay all of the medical bills right away.

{3} Traveling! We are hoping to visit my friend Bel in DC, and would also love to go on a beach trip. We never made it to DC. However, we did get the beach trip, with our wedding in Gulf Shores, Ala. We also spent a long weekend in Branson.
{4} Trying out new recipes and working toward a healthier me. Honestly, I didn't do much on the cooking front. I tried a few new ones, but I really didn't cook much during my pregnancy because raw meat grossed me out and I just didn't have the energy/want to cook. Thankfully I could do a lot of fast food/convenient stuff (although I hated doing that much processed food!) without gaining a ton of weight. I'd say that I've cooked more since Cooper was born than I did all summer. And that's just sad.
{5} Being a better blogger and forming more relationships with YOU GUYS. I kinda sucked as a blogger because I got so sidetracked. I mean, I have no posts from our trip to Branson, wedding recaps, etc. Which really sucks because I use this blog as a journal/scrapbook of sorts. However, I have made some of THE BEST friendships blogging, and a few of you girls even got texts when Cooper was born.
 {6} Putting more personal touches on our home. With the spring floods, it's probably  in worse shape! We had to rip down all the trim in our basement due to the dampness. However, we did design a super-awesome nursery, which is now the only complete room in our house. Hey, furniture is expensive!



{7} All of the surprises that life throws my way! I'd say I totally succeeded at this! Between a baby surprise that we totally weren't expecting to moving up our wedding and doing it on the beach to being surprised by Cooper's gender, all the while being blessed with and beginning a new job, we really embraced the unexpected.

Now for 2012:

{1} Really focus on the here and now. I am so guilty of playing on my iPhone or other distractors while I should be spending quality time with my boys. Or looking toward things rather than being in the present. So I hope to put down the computer/phone more, turn off the TV, and just live in the present!

{2} Rebuild our savings, begin a savings account for Cooper, and continue to pay down debt. As I mentioned, all the medical bills have been/will be paid in full. Our tax return, which should be pretty nice, is earmarked for our wedding loan. Hubby's truck will be paid off in March. And the Terrain payment is big, but because we chose to finance for 36 months to take advantage of 0 percent financing. I'm not sure if we can realistically expect to pay off anything but the truck this year, but that's OK - we now have a baby and need more cushion for unexpected expenses. Any "extra money" will go toward either our wedding loan or a vacation fund - I'm really toying between going on a trip or just getting rid of that bill. I'd love to go back to Gulf Shores, but don't know about traveling with an eight-month-old. 

{3} Even if we don't make it to the beach, I want to go on at least one family trip. Hubby and I have talked about taking Cooper to the St. Louis Zoo every year.

{4} Take more pictures, and be sure to print them and make photo books!

{5} Bring more healthy food into our house. If junk isn't there, we won't eat it!

{6} Breastfeed until Coop is at least six months old. Maybe longer. We'll see.

{7} Kick butt at work and lead a successful capital campaign. 

{8} Lose the 15 lbs. I wanted to get rid of before I found out I was pregnant. And finally run that 5K!

{9} Be better at documenting life on the blog!

{10} Just survive! I know that may sound weird, but I really want to make sure my little family is always fed and clean. Ths includes letting go of the little things like having a totally clean house when visitors come (presentable is OK) and being a Type-A personality.

March goals recap/April goals

OK, so March wasn't the best for me. Here's the recap:

— Work out at least five days a week, journal it and share on the blog on Fridays (so I can keep myself accountable.) This past week is the first that I did five days. It was more like four most weeks.
— Lose 5 pounds. Big fat fail! 
— Run at least twice a week, train for April 5K. I did it! Other than the week I was sick.
— Drink at least 64 ounces of water daily. Er, not so much. Some days I did. And some days I didn't.
— Save something (even if only $25) from each paycheck. FAIL! Planning a shower/bach party is expensive.
— Play with Hank at least once a week. Totally did it! Two or three times some weeks. That little man loves his bird.
— One date night or day, outside of the house. Yup! 
— Order photos for my hall collage and get it hung (I've had the frames for a year!) Still not done. Maybe in April?
— Clean off the desk in the office, throw out papers we don't need! Nope. 
— Only one meal out per week. I did great at this the beginning of the month, but totally blew it in the last week!


Wow, looking at it like that, I sorta feel like a failure. 
Here's what we're looking at for April:


— Host the best wedding shower/bach party EVER.
— Lose 5 lbs. 
— Run the 5K in 33 minutes or less. 
— Don't deplete my savings. 
— Date day/night.
— Finish the damn hall collage.
— Gather and price all items for May garage sale 
— Two meals out per week (giving myself a little more wiggle room)
— Clean the office
— Do laundry every weekend (as long as I have a full load)
— Try at least one new recipe


Here's to a great April!

March goals

I've seen several other bloggers post their goals at the beginning of the month and always intended to do the same. I'm a list-maker, so I think I'll do much better with posts like these! I actually remembered about this on the first of this month :) In all the future months, I'll probably recap how I did the previous month and lay out my new goals all in one post. 


Goals for March:
— Work out at least five days a week, journal it and share on the blog on Fridays (so I can keep myself accountable.)
— Lose 5 pounds.
— Run at least twice a week, train for April 5K.
— Drink at least 64 ounces of water daily.
— Save something (even if only $25) from each paycheck.
— Play with Hank at least once a week. 
— One date night or day, outside of the house.
— Order photos for my hall collage and get it hung (I've had the frames for a year!)
— Clean off the desk in the office, throw out papers we don't need!
— Only one meal out per week.


I think that will do it for this month. I don't want to set myself up for failure, after all!