I feel like I’ve been struggling a lot with my goals these past couple months, and I think I finally realized that it’s because I’m not making them “manageable” enough. I’ve been putting huge items on my to-do list and I think I need to break it down a little more.

I’ve also spent a lot of time working on things that weren’t even on my official “goals” list… like making a photo yearbook and doing Personal Progress!

Here was March:

1. Read one book.- I’m 50% done with the book I was hoping to have finished…

2. Abs. FINALLY I am seeing a difference in my stomach… nine months after I have a baby! Haha. As they say, it takes nine months for your body to stretch and grow and nine months for it to go back…

3. Export and back-up 2014 photos. I have a LOT of photos… and I got about 5% of the way done with the export. At least I started!

4. Sew a baby dress or toy.

5. Organize 15 areas of our home- 60% score on this one… but I donated 7 bags of stuff we weren’t using and tossed a bunch of other items. It feels so much better in here already and I’m just happy for progress.

6. Start learning crochet (for real this time)! Add it to the list for next month…

1. Complete two books. (the one I didn’t finish from last month plus one more.)

2. Abs as always.

3. Export 50% of the 2014 photos.

4. Sew something (I’m thinking sunhats for my girls)!

5. Organize 5 more areas.

6. Crochet.

7. Complete 4 value experiences for Personal Progress.

So… I really fell short on my goals last month. I felt like a rockstar in January, and a total slacker in February. Here’s to a better outcome for March!

1. Get Kaya potty-trained. She’s all trained except for nighttime and #2.

2. Organize/purge under the bathroom sinks.

3. Make two new bread recipes. I only did one!

4. Export and backup 2014 photos.

5. Sew something.

6. Crochet something. 

7. Read one book.

8. Abs.

1. Read one book.

2. Abs.

3. Export and back-up 2014 photos.

4. Sew a baby dress or toy.

5. I found this “40 bags in 40 days” challenge, and I’m using their list to help me declutter. I made a list of areas I need to organize, and I’m not pushing myself to do it all in 40 consecutive days, but I’d love to check 15 of those areas off my list this month.

6. Start learning crochet (for real this time)!

February is here! I couldn’t be happier, since January is probably my least favorite month. It’s just kind of dreary after the holidays, am I right? February is a favorite… it’s my birth month (and Valentine’s day!), so it’s like one big party.

Anyway, I did great with my goals back in January:

1. Deep clean the refrigerator.
2. Switch outgrown baby clothes for the next size/organize drawers/organize stored clothing.
3. Donate unused/unwanted items.
4. Do a “double backup” of all photos from 2013.
5. Ab work 2-3 times a week. I think I missed two days. Whoops.
6. Do one craft project.
7. Read one book. I read two, which is really good for me! Woohoo!

1. Get Kaya potty-trained. We are already working on this… and she’s currently doing pretty well. I would just love to be finished with this whole ordeal this week, ideally.

2. Organize/purge under the bathroom sinks.

3. Make two new bread recipes.

4. Export and backup 2014 photos.

5. Sew something.

6. Crochet something. I really want to learn to crochet… and I started trying maybe a year ago, but didn’t get very far. So here’s to making something- even if it is just a teeny little granny square.

7. Read one book.

8. Abs. Always for the rest of my life.

Just like last year, I took a break from making an “official” goals list in December. I like taking the time to do a lot of holiday-oriented family activities. I think we really did a lot and had a great time!

Now I’m ready to jump back on the bandwagon and make some serious goals for January (and I’m posting this a few days late, so I’m proud to say that I’ve already started working on several of these!):1. Deep clean the refrigerator.

2. Switch outgrown baby clothes for the next size/organize drawers/organize stored clothing.

3. Donate unused/unwanted items (I already have two bags of things ready to go… and I’m not done yet)!

4. Do a “double backup” of all photos from 2013.

5. Ab work 2-3 times a week.

6. Do one craft project.

7. Read one book.

Even though I’m pretty late posting again this month, I’m happy to report that I was 100% awesome and completed all the goals on my October list:

1. Take family pictures.

3. Make Halloween costumes.

On to November!

1. Abs abs abs… (will this be on my list forever? the gap has healed a TON but is still there for sure…)

2. Finish the quilt (I told my mom-in-law to make me just sit down and do it when we’re there for Thanksgiving, so there is absolutely no excuse)!

3. Make turkey/Thanksgiving/festive shirts for my girls!

4. Donate one bag of clothes/items we aren’t using.

5.Get photos printed for the wall.

Hey, remember me? I’m the girl who used to actually DO the goals she set each month. I guess it’s just been hard to find the time and energy with a new little baby in our family. But hey, I’ll take baby cuddles over accomplishing my goals on time any day. At least I’m trying!

(I also started writing this two weeks ago and just never finished. Oops.)

September Goal Review:

1. Do one step toward finishing the quilt per week. 

2. Decide on the gallery wall layout before the 15th of the month, and have pictures printed by the 30th.

3. Do ab-healing exercises at least three times per week. I’ve been pretty consistent with this and I am definitely seeing the gap in my abs closing up! Yay for some progress! 🙂

4. Complete the September photo-a-day challenge. This did not happen at all because I just forgot to do it every day!

5. Take Kaya’s two-year photos. DONE! They’re here if you didn’t see them earlier! 🙂

6. Have a birthday party for Kaya and make her an awesome cake! I was happy with how her birthday went, and if you missed that, it’s here.

1. Take family pictures.

2. Keep working on my abs (at least 3 times per week). Seeing results is really motivating (as is realizing that this problem isn’t going to fix itself).

3. Make Halloween costumes.

And let’s be honest here… that’s probably all I’ll be able to get finished. Wish me luck!

Well… all I have to say about how my goals went this month is… wow. I am actually a little embarrassed that I did so poorly. Kaelyn is keeping me busy enough and honestly, at the end of the day, I want to just rest instead of work on things.

August Goal Review:

1. Finish the quilt (for real this time). I seriously have three steps left before it’s done and I just can’t make myself do it…

2. Choose a layout for our photo gallery and get any additional picture frames.

3. Ab workouts three times per week. I had suspicions, and my midwife confirmed it- my abs are split (diastasis recti), so I need to do some healing exercises before I can do regular ab workouts. I’ve been doing them about three times a week since I found a good video to use.

4. Complete the August photo-a-day challenge. I missed a couple days, but stuck with it for the most part.

5. Take family pictures. I changed my mind and decided I wanted to do these in the fall, hopefully with the gorgeous, colorful leaves! It’ll also be better if we don’t all look as sleep-deprived as we have this past month.

I guess I’m going to be making a lot of the same goals until I actually accomplish something… maybe being more specific will help.

1. Do one step toward finishing the quilt per week. This should make it easy, right?

2. Decide on the gallery wall layout before the 15th of the month, and have pictures printed by the 30th.

3. Do ab-healing exercises at least three times per week. I should maybe even be doing these daily.

4. Complete the September photo-a-day challenge.

5. Take Kaya’s two-year photos.

6. Have a birthday party for Kaya and make her an awesome cake!

Here’s to a more productive month! 🙂

Having a newborn made July pretty busy, so I didn’t do as well on my goals as I’d hoped. Hopefully this month is better!

1. Finish the quilt.

2. Take Kaelyn’s newborn photos.

3. Sell our old stroller.

4. Update our wall photo gallery.

1. Finish the quilt (for real this time). The chevron pattern on the front is done, which was the “hard” part. The rest should be easy… I just need to make time to do it.

2. Choose a layout for our photo gallery and get any additional picture frames. Baby steps. If I’m super awesome I’ll actually get the pictures on the wall!

3. Ab workouts three times per week. After I get my midwife’s approval at my 6-week checkup, it’s crunch time (literally. haha)!

4. Complete the August photo-a-day challenge.

5. Take family pictures. It feels like we just did this (because we did) but we are a family of four now, and I really want just a couple pictures of all of us before summer’s over and the trees and grass turn brown.

Originally, my only goal for July was going to be this:

Have a baby.

But I was a little over-ambitious in June and decided to check that one off early!

So I guess I actually have to make real goals now. Ha.

Here’s how I did for June:

1. Finish reading my birth books. I finished HypnoBirthing: The Mongan Method, but not the book on the Bradley Method. I loved the relaxation methods in the hypnobirthing book, and that was enough for me.

2. Take some maternity/family pictures. Done! Now I just have to post them!

3. Make Kaya a “big sister” gift.

4. Work on the quilt. It’s all cut and the half-square triangles are made. Now to just piece them all together!

5. Pack hospital bags. We might’ve done this at the very last minute…

6. Enjoy as much time at the pool as we can!

7. Donate old clothes. Finally!!!

Now that I have a newborn, I’m keeping it super simple for July:

1. Finish the quilt.

2. Take Kaelyn’s newborn photos.

3. Sell our old stroller.

4. Update our wall photo gallery. Seriously… I haven’t added any photos in over a year. Now that we’re a family of four, it’s really out of date!

See you in a month!

Here’s how May went down:

1. Get Kaya’s closet organized. I still have a few odds and ends to put away, but we set up one of those cubeical organizers and most all her old clothes are now separated into space-saver bags by size. Seriously…  I don’t have a “before” picture, but it’s a night and day difference in there!

2. Sort/wash/organize newborn and 0-3 month clothing and cloth diapers. Done!

3. Complete the front of Peanut’s quilt. When May started, I didn’t even have fabric for the quilt… I have that now, but none of it is even cut, so I guess it’s not going so well.

4. Get all of my 2013 photos off the laptop and onto the external hard drive. Um… oops. I didn’t even turn the laptop on. At all.

5. Complete the 90-day Book of Mormon challenge. YES! I actually can’t believe I did it! It was hard, but so worth it.

6. Donate old clothes.
Michael said I could blame him for this not getting done: I had the bags of stuff ready to go out the door, but he wanted to add some of his old t-shirts so he asked me to wait. Oh well.

7. Complete the Blog Every Day in May challenge. DONE, and it was fun!

1. Finish reading my birth books. I’m trying to get through at least these two (HypnoBirthing: The Mongan Method and Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way) so that I have some relaxation techniques prepared for labor.

2. Take some maternity/family pictures.

3. Make Kaya a “big sister” gift. I really want to make big sister/little sister shirts for them to match, and maybe even get Kaya her own baby doll. We’ll see.

4. Work on the quilt. Even if it’s not completely done before she comes… making any progress at all would be amazing.

5. Pack hospital bags.

6. Enjoy as much time at the pool as we can! I’m not sure how many opportunities we’ll get to go swimming after Peanut comes, so I want to soak up as much of summertime with Kaya as we can now.