We Were Done and Then We Weren't and Then...

When we met we had both just gotten out of long relationships.

When we met we weren't looking for anything permanent.

When we met, at a bar (ahem), we weren't looking for anything more than conversation and a little fun.

When we met, we didn't realize that our first date would lead to so much more.

When we dated, we didn't realize that two years later we would be engaged.

When we got married, we didn't realize we would have children.  Someone was content with being a kidless bachelor for the rest of his life (again, ahem)

When we had one child, we weren't sure we would have another.

And then we did.

And she's amazing and the perfect addition to our family.

We felt content.  We felt whole.

Four is a nice round number.  One kid per parent.  Perfect.

And then the summer came and went (I know technically it's not over, but when the pools close it is to me) and I turned 35 and yesterday my baby started preschool.

And then we started talking.  A conversation that was started by my Husband who as you may recall thought he would be a kidless bachelor the rest of his life.

Maybe one more?

We have goals for ourselves and our family outside of our work.  We want to travel, explore, see new things and do some things for ourselves.  Bask in the glory of life instead of working our life away.

Another child could hinder those goals.  Because kids are expensive and day care is expensive and selfishly, we want to create a life for our two children we have now that will create memories forever.  When you have two full time working parents, one of which works six days a week, family together time is extremely limited. Each and every week of each and every month of each and every year.

Mia asked me Saturday why her Daddy had to work so much.  It's hard to explain to a 3 year old that Daddy runs his own business and therefore is on "duty" all the time.  I told my Husband.  I didn't want to but I knew I needed to.

All of these thoughts and emotions sparked a conversation for beyond two hours last night.

And as selfishly as it may seem, and as wonderful as it would be to bring another blessing into our family, we determined it's time to focus on some of the things we've been striving for in the past ten years of our relationship.

Let's do some things for us.  Let's focus more on our family and spending time together.

Because damn it, we work really hard and deserve to spoil ourselves.

There should be no shame or selfishness in that.

Goals for 2012

It's time.  To put them down on "paper."  To lay it all out there.

My goals for 2012:

1. Join a gym - I'll always belonged to a gym.  After moving 2 years ago and never finding one suitable for my likes and needs I cancelled my membership and stopped going.  I've been doing some exercising outside, occasional yoga in the house and a post dinner dance party here and there, but that's it.  It's time to get SERIOUS.

2. Schedule and run 4 5Ks - starting with the St. Louis St. Patty's Day 5 mile which is longer than a 5K, go me!

3. Meal plan - we are HORRIBLE at this.  We eat well and almost always from our own kitchen, assuming you don't count the past week or so, but we are the WORST planners when it comes to meals.  With Pinterest, there is no excuse.  I've tried several of the recipes the past month or so and they have all been great.

4. Budget - We kind of have one and for the past two years we said we are actually going to sit down and do a spreadsheet and try to put more money away and we still haven't.   This year it's happening.  We have 401Ks, IRAs, etc., but we could be doing more.  Momma needs a condo at the lake and a boat and that is not going to happen any time soon unless we start saving, oh and I have student loans and a child to send to college!

5. Use Craigslist to make some extra $$ - we have so much in our basement that we never use, never touch.  It just sits there collected dust and spiderwebs.  For Christmas, I got the start to my new dining set and now I have my red, somewhat chipped Crate & Barrel set from my wedding registry ready to sell.

6. Finish Mia's big girl room transformation - As easy as it would be to just buy everything all at once and be done with it, those kinds of benjamins don't exist in our household, especially this time of year, so it will be a work in progress.  I still need to paint her furniture, her tree (more to come on that later) and add her chandelier that I will be making from an older piece (more to come on that later).  I'm trying to be thrifty with this project.  No need to go buy all new stuff, except her bedding of course.

7. Organize - our kitchen and laundry room could use some assistance.  I have referenced my "get your crap off the island" station once or twice before.  With all the thrifty, relatively inexpensive options out there this will be so refreshing once it's complete.

8. Rebuild our deck - HUGE project.  Luckily the Hubs is handling this one.  It's been on our list since we moved into our house, but there is a thing called time that he doesn't have much of.  It's happening this spring and we're both very excited about it.  We love our deck and use it a lot in the spring and summer, so we'll be excited for the new space.

9. Breathe and SLOW down - I get caught up a lot in the day to day and what there is to always be doing.  Whether at work or at home, I consistently feel like I'm being tugged in a million different directions.  I would like to slow down and smell the flowers a little bit more.  Time is a ticking and I'm not getting any younger.  My child is growing so fast and I need to embrace her even more than I already do.  And my Hubs, he and I are just trying to do what we can to provide for our amazing family and often we lose what got us here in the first place. So 2012 we will attempt to bring it back to us and focus on spending more time together.  Thanks to my sister who lives close by, we are going to alternate date nights so we ensured a date night every other month.  We need that time!

10. Be Inspired - There are a lot of amazing people in my day to day real life and my Twitter/Blog life.  I'm very lucky and amazingly blessed.  I need to feed off of all of this good energy and stay away from those that try to bring me down.  I did well with this in 2011 and hope to continue.


Do you set goals for yourself?  If not, why?


If so, what are you bringing to the table in 2012?  What do you most hope to accomplish?