New Year's Resolutions - 6 Month Update

So, for many people, I'm sure their New Year's Resolutions are long-since forgotten by now. Not me. I rarely make a ton of resolutions but I want to follow-through on the ones I make.

Here they are once again along with the progress I’ve made. I'm pretty happy with where I am at this point.

1. Start getting up earlier in the morning (ugh) to allow time for exercise and to make J a healthy breakfast. As expected, I am not following through on this one. Doug and I were just discussing our morning routine today. It isn't working. As for the exercise, I've solved that in another way by joining a gym and have been going an average of 2 times a week (meaning sometimes I go 4 times and sometimes I don't go at all). This has been a hard habit to get started but I am still optimistic that I can make this lifestyle change for both me and Doug. We need to encourage and even guilt each other a little better into going. As for J's breakfast, I need to do better in helping with that one. I have been doing one thing better and that is buying almost exclusively healthy options for breakfast. That way, even if it is a grab-and-go breakfast, it is still a Special K bar or a Clif bar or raisins as opposed to something awful like sugar cereal. I've also cut down on the sugar cereals I buy for Doug because I know J will want them as well. Fortunately, J's favorite cereals are Raisin Bran Crunch, Kix, Frosted Mini Wheats, and Organic Clifford Crunch. While only the Clifford Cereal is sugar free, at least they are all better for him than what a lot of kids eat.

2. Paint at least one room in my house (my bedroom, the guest bathroom, and/or the guest room/playroom) and hire someone to paint my kitchen. As noted before, I took a day off and painted the guest bathroom which is also J's bathroom. I am really happy with how it turned out. J wanted a monkey-themed bathroom and I think it is adorable. I also bought sample paint to test the colors in the kitchen and master bedroom. Hopefully I can hire that job out later this year when the funds are more readily available.

3. Make my front flowerbeds look presentable. With some help from J (okay, maybe mostly him throwing dirt around while I worked) and some real hard work and help from my dad, my front flower bed looks awesome. There are new flowers throughout the bed. The old flowers have been trimmed. The hedges have been trimmed. One hedge was removed due to over-crowding. A beautiful brick edging was added to hold all of our brand new mulch in when it rains. All in all, I am extremely happy with this project. Now if I can just keep the flowers alive with no more rain than we've been having, I'll be really happy!

4. Lose some weight - any amount will do. I've only lost 5 pounds since joining the gym the last week in April but I've been really happy with the results the gym is producing just the same. The first night we met with our trainer, I thought I was going to die within the first 5 minutes on the elliptical. My heart was racing and I was out of breath. Within a few weeks, I could do that same elliptical, hold a conversation with him while on it, climb off, and be ready to tackle the next hurdle. While losing weight would be great, I've definitely shifted my focus to just feeling better and being healthier. If the weight loss comes with that then great. If not, I'm okay with that as well.

5. Spend more time with my friends. Game night, anyone? We just had 16 people come over for a weekend of games, RockBand, karaoke, and visiting. It was awesome and I'm looking forward to the next big weekend get-together in August with most of them. Additionally, we've got friends coming up this weekend for a kid-centered weekend at the Botanic Gardens and the Zoo and I've got a crop next weekend. I adore the time spent with our friends and look forward to many more good times with them. I do need to learn balance and I need to learn to say no sometimes. Our weekends have become so booked and backed up that there is never a single weekend to look forward to without plans. Never time to rest or just sit around and watch a movie at home. Next year's New Year's Resolution needs to perhaps involve a greatly reduced number of plans with friends and family. Ironic, isn't it - you always want things to be the way they aren't.

So, that's the update for now. All in all, not bad progress for the 6-month mark. My biggest goal for the remaining 6 months is to really hit the gym hard. I need it to be a priority in a way that it hasn't been. I need that lifestyle change so I will feel healthier. So I can be around for J for the next 50 years. So I can set a good example for J of healthy living, eating, and exercise. There is no greater gift to give a child than to just set a good example. I hope to do that.

Friends

My parents are staying with us this week before taking J home with them for a week so 16 of our closest friends can spend the weekend with us. J is attending Vacation Bible School this week. One treat when my parents are in town for him is that my mom will pick him up an hour or so earlier than we typically do from after-school care. On Monday afternoon, my mom had the following conversation with J. I thought it was so sweet.

G: How was Vacation Bible School today?
J: Good. Will you go with me tomorrow?
G: Go with you to Bible School? I don't think they let grandmas go.
J: But the man on the stage said we needed more people.
G: I think he meant more kinds your age.
J: But he said to bring our friends.

I'm so thankful that J views his grandparents as friends. He has so much fun with them and looks up to them at the same time. They spoil him while still making him mind. I am very thankful for our parents and the positive influence they have on J's life. I hope he always knows how lucky he is to have them.

Dreaming

It is funny to me how my dreams have changed over the years. I remember dreaming about fanciful things as a child. I remember waking up loving the dreams I just had and bursting to tell someone about them. I've always been very good at remembering my dreams - at least for a few minutes after I wake up - before they are erased by the craziness that is a morning at our house.
My dreams these days though typically fall into just a few categories. The most prevalent dream I have is some kind of automobile-related trauma. I'm either in a wreck or my car is being stolen or I'm being carjacked. Never a good dream about a vehicle. The second type of dream I have generally involves friends in unusual situations - we are all taking a trip together or we are all at an unusual place we wouldn't normally be. I don't typically have a lot of interaction in these dreams but I'm generally just watching events unfold. I'm sure that means something. The last kind of dream I have involves my husband and son and are usually just mundane things like grocery shopping or paying bills or having discussions. Money is typically an underlying factor in many of my dreams which seems about right to me.
I was struck the other day that I miss the fanciful dreams of my childhood. This dawned on me as J was telling me about the "great dreams" he had the night before. "First I dreamed I was Speed Racer. I was racing around and around and I was winning! Then I dreamed I saw Superman flying over our house except he kept dropping his boots. I didn't want his boot to fall on our house but I just kept watching him 'cause it was so cool!" Hmmm... perhaps tragedy enters our dreaming state even when we are children. Perhaps my car wreck is the equivalent of his Speed Racer taken to its logical end. Maybe my carjacking is his falling boot. Maybe things aren't so different after all. It's nice to think our kids have only wonderful, magical dreams. I hope that is true for J for a very long time... falling boots and all.

The First Step

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” - Lao-tzu

My single step was walking into the gym last night and writing a check I can’t afford. I need to exercise. I need to feel healthier and have more energy. One of my New Year’s Resolutions was to exercise. A lot of people resolve to lose weight or to make drastic lifestyle changes. I know that is a naïve way to approach this. My goal is simply to add exercise into my weekly (if not daily) routine. However, this hasn’t been an easy goal to achieve.

As all of our friends love to point out, we are very busy. We spend a lot of time with out of town family and friends. We try to make time for activities for just us with J as often as possible. We attempt to pursue our own hobbies (even if it is not as often as we’d like). All of this leaves us with little to no “free time.” However, once you decide something is critically important, it is amazing where you can find little niches of time. Taking care of your health is obviously one of the most important things in life. To not make time for it is foolish and we are trying to rectify that now.

Earlier this year we made a commitment to start eating better. We’ve done pretty good by and large. We can still do better. We also made a commitment to exercise. We’ve not done as well in this area. So, after much deliberation and conversation, we joined the gym. My rationale is that if I am writing them a check each month, I will go. Additionally, they have a pool which J is extremely excited about so he will encourage us to go because he will want to be in the pool as often as possible. Once he turns five, they also have an athletic club for kids which will be good for him. I never want him to fall into the childhood obesity trap that so many kids these days find themselves in thanks, in large part, to convenience foods and high-sugar foods. We try so hard to limit his intake of these items but it is nearly impossible to regulate everything. So, the kids’ activities will become increasingly important as he gets older to keep him in shape and keep him healthy.

So, my journey of a thousand miles toward feeling better, living longer, and being healthier hopefully starts here. I look forward to the challenge and am trying to maintain a positive attitude despite my past experiences with exercise. This time it is going to be different!

Spring is in the air

Every year I dread the arrival of spring. The yard needs to be mowed. The flowers need to be planted. My allergies go crazy. It starts to get hot. There really is nothing about spring and summer that I find particularly appealing.

I love cold weather and snow and “dreary” looking days. I love Christmas and Halloween and New Year’s Eve and all the fun they have to offer. Spring and summer really have nothing to offer in comparison.

However, I have a son who loves spring and summer. He loves that it is still daylight when I am trying to get him to start thinking about going to bed (he sees it as an excuse not to abide). He loves warm weather and playing outside. He loves swimming and running in the grass. For these reasons, I try to love spring. I try but I’ve just not quite made it there yet.