May 2015 Goals – Get Your Rear Into Gear Edition

I have a busy month ahead!  Ryan and my brother have birthdays this month, Mother’s Day of course, Ryan goes out of town one weekend, preschool ends this month, and I have a special 1 year old’s party to plan (I’m trying to plan ahead since we might have to have it early because Ryan is out of town two weekends in June).  Plus, my to-do list is LONG!  I have some good goals for May, but first I like taking a look at how I did on my April goals and some self discoveries along the way.

April was an eye opening month for me.  I learned a lot of things, but one thing I learned that I’m now determined to do, is take care of myself, specifically, sleep.  Like most moms, I put myself last.  And while I do think that is part of the nature of being a stay at home mom (you can’t deny that young children are dependent on you, so naturally, your needs come next), there are some things I can do to better take care of myself, while still taking care of my family. 

You want to know my problem?  I have too many passions.  I want to do it all.  I want to run my house like a preschool, having the perfect lesson plans for a 3.5 year old and a 10 month old (don’t laugh), all while loving on my kids all day long.  I want to cook/bake like the Pioneer Woman.  I want a Pinterest clean and decorated house (seriously y’all this is about to throw me over the edge).  I’d like to be organized, you know, like a professional organizer.  I want to study my Bible and talk with Jesus like Mother Theresa.  I want to have girls night often.  I want to host craft nights.  I want to challenge my mind and read daily, cuddled up in my non-existent reading corner with a cup of coffee.  I want to grow my Etsy shop and design all day long.  I want to build my blog and make it so much more than it currently is.  And I’d like to workout at the gym like a fitness model.

See?  I have a problem.  Some of these things could be full time 8-5 jobs.  It’s just physically not possible, especially with my boys so young.  And I don’t want to do these things necessarily to keep up with the Joneses, but I truly enjoy each one of these things (well, maybe some of the DIY projects are influenced by others).  I’ve gotten to the point that I’m so overwhelmed that I’m paralyzed.  I’ve come into my kitchen office when I have a moment to work, sat down and asked myself what I should do and drawn a blank.  And sometimes I spend so much time trying to come up with the perfect plan to actually do all the things I want to do instead of just doing them.

I think God gives us passions for a reason and we should explore them.  But when it starts to paralyze you, you have to ask yourself, WHY do I want to do these things (to make sure your motive is not sinful…ex. envy) and harness your passions wisely for the particular season of your life.  For me that means prioritizing what our family needs, recognizing that my job as a mom and home manager is my ministry right now and currently takes a little more time and energy, and continue to make goals, but realize that is exactly what they are…goals: an aim or desired result.  I may not reach or check off each goal, but at least I have them.

Speaking of, here’s my recap on my April goals:

1. DE-CLUTTER – I have definitely decluttered some areas in our house and will continue to do this each month!  I got rid of a lot of kitchen stuff and opened up a new shelf for the boys’ dishes. 
2. SLEEP – Fail.  I’ll address this later.  I’m probably averaging 5-6 hours a night. 
3. HEALTH – I didn’t get to the gym, but I honestly am okay with that.  Remember, I can’t do it all.  And for some reason, I feel bad dropping off Maddox to workout.  I know he’ll cry and I’ll feel horrible.  I don’t think it’s wrong to workout a couple days a week at the gym, so I really need to get over this.  I still need to work on drinking more water, but I was much more aware of it this month.  My body “yelled” at me in the form of cramps from depriving it of water (this happens to me when I’m dehydrated).
4. READ MORE OF THE BIBLE – I read a lot about money in the Bible.  This will definitely slap the “I want a bigger, newer house,” right out of me. 
5. RELATIONSHIPS – I hate asking my parents or Ryan’s parents to babysit often.  Young kids are hard to take care of, and I feel bad asking them to do it.  But I felt a much needed date night with my husband was lacking, so I texted my mom and asked her if she’d watch the boys one night.  She did and our night out was ENJOYED so much. Both of our parents are always willing to watch them if they can, but I never want to abuse that.
6. MY BLOG – Okay, so this was a big one for me this month.  I’d love to monetize my blog as I spend a lot of time writing.  I LOVE it and love the relationships through it.  Running a successful blog is much harder than it looks, especially if you’re not tech-savvy.  And there is so much legal mumbo jumbo that comes along with it.  I know how much work it is to run the finances of my Etsy shop, so I don’t want to dive too deep into it before knowing if the IRS is going to show up at my door.  Long story short, I am continuing to learn the ins and outs of this, but I think it’s best if I take my time with it and let the cards fall where they may.  If I had more time, sure.  But I don’t.  My shop earns great money right now so that’s what I have to focus on.   But I did do good on my goals for this.  I learned a lot, have some new opportunities, and made a few changes that I hope make a better blog, especially for readers.


Now on to my May Goals:

SPIRITUAL:
1. Have consistent quiet time in the morning –  This means sitting down with a cup of coffee at my desk and opening up my Jesus Calling devotional before I start anything else.
2. Pray for my children daily – The other night I sat with Maddox in my arms when he wasn’t feeling well and just prayed over him.  I was “stuck” in the recliner with a baby on my chest, just comforting him, when I started praying he get well, which then led to praying for his wife, his future, etc.  Prayer is powerful and I believe God answers pray according to His will.  I MUST pray for my kids.

FAMILY (marriage, kids, friends, family):
1. Teach Beckham how to write his name – My goal is to get him to write the letter B by himself.  May sound simple, but this would be huge.
2. Fully potty train Beckham – He pees in the potty like a pro, but the other…no way!  We had to revert back to pull-ups because I was sick of throwing away good underwear.  I’m going to make a sticker chart to go in the bathroom as an incentive.  I’ll share this soon.  Please pray for me! 🙂
3. Plan Maddox’s 1st birthday – My goal this month is to create and send out invites.  As well as come up with food, activities for kids, and figure out what items I need to create or buy for the party.  His party is in the middle of June, but I know myself, and I tend to procrastinate.
4. Have family over for Mother’s Day/Ryan’s birthday – I haven’t quite figured this out, but I know we’re doing my side of the family’s Mother’s Day over at my house this year.  Ryan’s birthday is the 12th, so we’ll most likely celebrate that as well.  I’m not sure the logistics, but I need to plan these events.
5. Plan a fun birthday date for my man – Ryan always plans our dates, so I can’t wait to plan one for him.

PERSONAL (health, growth, me):
1. Get 7-8 hours of sleep each night – As I mentioned above, this is my top goal!  I cannot afford to lose anymore sleep.  I read an article in Experience Life magazine (some random magazine we got in the mail) and it was all about why sleep matters.  Y’all, this was an eye opener!  The stats in this article and the ramifications of not sleeping AT LEAST 7 hours a night are not good.  I tried to find the article to link to, but couldn’t find it.  Basically, your brain gets all jacked up with inadequate sleep, your mood is grumpy, you stress easily and often, you gain weight, your immune system is at risk, you can’t recover properly from exercise, and it ages you.  I have to say that I have experienced ALL of those things and currently still am.  I can’t remember things for the life of me (and get headaches), I am easily pushed over the edge with my kiddos (and sadly, react poorly), I always feel overwhelmed (stress), I’m a good 10 pounds overweight, I definitely do not feel “healthy,” and I can certainly see the affects of not sleeping in my face (I feel like I’ve aged 5 years in the last year).   7-8 hours has to be planned in my daily schedule like I plan anything else.
2. Go to the gym 2X a week with the kids – I’m nervous to make this a goal because it will be hard.  I’m finally a member of the gym I’ve been dreaming about joining since we moved to McKinney, but still have reservations about taking the kids, mainly Maddox.  I don’t want him to cry, which he will, and I don’t want him to put anything in his mouth, which he will.  He’s in the baby area which is separate from Beckham, so that makes me a bit sad too.  I guess I won’t know till I try, but I just feel bad.
3. Read a book – I’ve been pretty good about reading one book a month, which is a big deal if you’re a mom of young kiddos.  That time to sit and read is just so hard to find.  I read when I get in bed (it helps me fall asleep).  I am currently reading Fringe Hours by Jessica Turner.  I bought this book as soon as it was released, but it’s been sitting on my bookshelf until a couple of weeks ago. I’m really enjoying it.  I totally relate to her and her desire to do everything.

BUSINESS/BLOG:
1. Increase sales by 30% – This will require more signs be added to the shop. 
2. Continue to create good content for blog while monetizing when I CAN – This goal will come if it’s supposed to.  I’m not going to stress myself about money or worry about all the different social media outlets, link ups, etc.  If I get to them, great, but if I don’t have time, at least I know I still have good content.  Content always wins…for me at least.

In addition to my goals, I have a ton on my To-Do List.  I’m listing them out, so I can cross them off.  Who doesn’t like crossing things off their list, right?

1. Sign up Beckham for swim lessons.
2. Order play set (we did this, but then it came in damaged, so we had to cancel and now I have to re-order…I’m asking that they ship it to us for free).
3. Get a plan of action going for our patio cover.  Just waiting on our HOA to approve it, which is taking forever.
4. Order a bounce house.  Not sure we’ll be able to afford it this month, but I know we’ll use one for Maddox’s birthday party, so I figured we could buy one and use it a lot this summer.  There have been so many times I’ve wanted to use one, so I think this will be worth the money.
5. Look into car seats for Maddox.  Would love any recommendations.  We have Graco right now for B and love it, but curious about other ones.
6. Find a car.  We’re waiting on some investments to finalize, but would love to find one in the meantime.
7. Get teacher gifts for Beckham’s teachers.
8. Paint under kitchen sink.  We had it majorly reconstructed and need to paint the wood with waterproof paint.
9. Refinish front door while it’s still a little cooler.
10. Re-do playroom.  I know I’m crazy for this, but it’s happening.  I’d like to paint walls gray and get some new storage units in there.  This excites me the most.

As you can see, a lot of things planned, and I’m sure we won’t get them all done, but it’s nice to have them written out. 

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