Archives for January 2016

2016 Goals

January 19, 2016 By 1 Comment

I’m not usually one for New Year’s Resolutions (and yes… I’m aware that New Years was over 2 weeks ago… BUT, I’m not usually a fan, mostly because I know that if I were to make them… I’d break them in 2.7 seconds.  It is like my brain takes my decision to change something in my life as a challenge to see how fast I can break it. Oh… you want to go on a diet… how about you drink 3 Large Dr. Peppers instead? Okay… cool.

Amusing MJ New Year's Resolutions | www.amusingmj.com

So I don’t usually make them.  But for a whole host of reasons, this year feels like a good year to make some generic goals for the year.  Maybe it is that we are moving and will be in a new city.  Maybe its because it is Taylor’s first full year and I want to start good traditions and have been thinking a lot lately about what kind of parent I want to be.  Or maybe I just miss having a list like my 30 before 30 to focus me on the things I want to do. I’m not sure what exactly, but I find myself really drawn to the idea of challenging myself this year.  So without further ado, my goals for 2016.

  1. I want to learn to code.  Like webpages.  I took a computer science class in college and loved it; I’m also sort of the default tech person at our small business because i’m the only one who knows anything much about computers.  But I think this is something I could be good at and I love learning things like this.  So I’ve already kind of started this one by signing up for Codecademy and you know… in all my free time, I’ll be working through it.  I’ve done a few lessons already and love the step by step process.  We will see how I feel when it gets more complicated!
  2. Run a half marathon. I have run 2 1/2 half marathons (the half is a long story that involves me signing up for too many things on one day and deciding I’d rather watch KU play in the Elite 8 but not wanting to bail on a friend) but it has been a few years.  I’m wanting to get back into running post baby, so I have a jogging stroller and so as soon as the temps warm up… she and I will be pounding the pavement and starting the slow process of building up endurance again.  My goal is the Prairie Fire Half in October as a way of getting to know my new city better!
  3. Blog More. In the insanity that has been my last several months–sort of single parenting, getting the house ready to sell, finding a house to buy, my normal day job, blogging has taken an understandable backseat.  But I truly miss logging my life online and working on projects and updates.  I’m guessing that this year it will be more parenting/crafting than projects and house updates (I promised my husband I wouldn’t buy a fixer upper–despite my addiction to everything Magnolia–so our new house doesn’t need much updating), but I still have the goal of being more semi-regular in posting than I have been.
  4. Say No more often.  Moving to this new city feels like somewhat of a fresh start, and while absolutely LOVE my life in TX and all of the things I say yes to, I want to be intentional in this new place about thinking through what I want to be involved in.  My husband will have a much more demanding new job and with our little family I want to make sure that the things that will take away from our time as the 3 of us are something I really want to do, not just something I get asked to do.
  5. Have more Lazy Days.  Sort of related to item #4, I am so guilty of over-scheduling my life and I want to have more freedom to take long walks, go play at the park, or just have a lazy day at the house without feeling the need to GO GO GO or finish an obscenely long list of to-dos.

So those are my broad goals for 2016.  Who knows what life will throw my way, but for now those have been on my mind… and there is nothing like throwing out to the old inter-webs to keep you accountable.

What do you think? Can I do it? Or am I too hard wired to be who I am?

Filed Under: Life

6+ Months

January 11, 2016 By 1 Comment

You guys. I feel like the phrase that keeps coming out of my mouth these days is an exasperated #mylife.  I use it to describe how our belongings are in 3 different places right now because our house is on the market, so some of our things are already moved to Wichita to give the appearance that we are the cleanest people on the planet. And because we aren’t anywhere close to being the cleanest people on the planet, Taylor and I are spending a lot of time at my brother’s house so that we don’t mess up our own… because have you ever tried to get a dog, a 6 month old, and yourself out of the house with all of your mess. IMPOSSIBLE.

And what that really means? Is that whatever I need at that moment is most likely wherever I am not.  But lest I sound like all I do is complain (which feels altogether too close to the truth for my own liking) I am so grateful to have family to spend time with, people who will put up with all of my stuff, and go out of their way to help us out.  My saint of a dad drove a uhaul trailer through severe thunderstorms the day of the tornadoes in Dallas so that we could get my house ready to show.  So I know that I am unbelievably lucky to have people who love us and are taking care of us during this crazy phase of life.

But this post isn’t really about that. But all of that is my excuse for not posting Taylor’s 6 month update.  And for not having a cute picture of her at 6 months in her crib #maybenextweek?

I do still want to track her updates… so you’ll have to just suffice with candids from the last month.  6 month update | www.amusingmj.com

Milestones: She can sit up all by herself all the time… and she loves it! She has very little tolerance for laying down now; she wants to be up and looking around.  She is eating solid foods now.  She has had sweet potatoes, green beans, peas, pears and avocado.  She loves all of them except for pears, which she HATES… she makes disgusted faces, gagging noises…the whole shebang.  I’m sure she won’t be over-dramatic like her mother AT ALL. She LOVES to eat… she got so excited for avocados, she was waving her arms around, making lots of noise, and then ate half an avocado.  DE-LICIOUS.  She is also getting really good at moving around and reaching for things.  She still can’t roll over from back to front (and i’m not complaining… having an immobile child is a lot easier than one who can roll around!) but she can twist and turn and somehow manages to get things in her hands that I am SURE are out of her reach.  She also weighed in at 16 lbs at her last doctors appointment.  6 month update | www.amusingmj.com

Likes: to eat–she has loved trying foods, scarfing all the veggies down as fast as possible. I’m sure I’ll be missing those days when she is a picky toddler, but for now it is fun to watch. She likes funny noises and still loves classical music.  She is starting to smile at herself in the mirror or on facetime, she loves when my mom sings to her and she loves to facetime with her dad! She’s a pretty easy going kid… so there isn’t much she doesn’t like, but she also rocks her serious face a lot of the time! She loves looking at dogs–both Lexie and Match are fun to look at and pet!  6 month update | www.amusingmj.com

Dislikes: She dislikes being laid down right after she gets up from sleeping… which makes changing her diaper a bit challenging.  She dislikes Pears pretty strongly.  Her skin also dislikes everything.  Poor girl, she has excema, drool rash, and had an allergic reaction after getting licked by one of the dogs! So she and aquaphor are BFFs.  She also dislikes falling over.  A few times while sitting up she has fallen backwards and even though it is carpeted and she doesn’t seem any worse for the wear, it either scares her or hurts her and she cries pretty emphatically.  My bad parent moment is that I think she is really cute when she cries because she scrunches up her whole face… so I can’t help but to laugh a little bit when she cries (and I know she isn’t really hurt).  Bad mom.  6 month update | www.amusingmj.com

It was her first Christmas and she was a travelling fool.  We spent the days of Christmas at home and my husband was here for several days with us, then Taylor and I went with my parents to both of my extended family Christmases, so as of now, Taylor has visited Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, DC and Virginia… multiple times for each place! She has completed many road trips and several flights and is an excellent traveler!

6 month update | www.amusingmj.com

Filed Under: Baby