First, that I make horrible faces when I’m changing diapers! Mara always imitates me. Always. The whole “mini-me” thing is certainly insightful. At times amusing and other times disturbing. When I change my 7-month-old’s diapers, she changes her doll’s “diaper.” She lays the doll down, just as I do with Micah, then holds it up by its legs, and asks me for a wipe. Then she wrinkles her nose and looks incredulously at the doll while wiping, and says, “DIRRRRRTY biper! YUUUUCKY YUCKY biper!! . . .? YUCKY biper!” . . . No wonder Mara is traumatized every time she has a “yucky biper”!

When she feeds her doll, it is “rice cereal.” She coos at her doll and says, “Yummy rice cereal. . . oh, good job, baby! More rice cereal?” with this coochie-coochie-coo inflection. So that must be how I sound when I’m feeding Micah.

Finally, I’m learning that she is remembering my warnings!!! As I climbed on a 3-foot stool this morning to reach into the highest kitchen cabinet, Mara called out from the dining room, “Be tareful, Mommy.” Then wagging her finger, she added, “Don’t fall, Mommy.” As I climbed down off the stool, she smiled, a look of relief flashing across her face. “All better, Mommy.”

Okay, so I admit it: There are lots of things I can do well, but keeping the house up is not one of them.

We have been married five years now, and it has taken me five years to own up to this!

During the first couple years of our marriage, I worked as a CPA–lots of 60-70 hr/weeks and out-of-town-travel. So I never felt like cleaning, and often put it off until it became a mammoth task that would take an entire Saturday to complete. (As a single, I could just stay up till 1 – 2 a.m. once/week or so to get everything done. But that changed after marriage–and things would constantly pile up.)

I told myself things would be better when I stayed at home after kids. Well, in the past 2 years, we have had 2 kids (one premature), my hubby has lost his job twice, we have moved 3 times, and I kept using all these things as excuses for why my house is unorganized & cluttered . . . Now I’m finally owning up to the reality, and trying to make improvements in this area! So there’s my confession.

But it’s a new year, and while there’s nothing magical about that (and certainly nothing is going to change automatically or overnight), I am resolved with God’s help to become a different person. To take my role as a homemaker as seriously as I took my positions outside the home. To go to “work” right here every day, with the same dedication, work ethic and resolve that I had going to a clients’ office. To ask myself, if I were getting “reviews” in my current role like I did as a CPA, what areas would be considered “strong/weak,” “above expectation/below expectation,” or “needs improvement” ?

I’m reminded that it’s busy season in the CPA world, and if I were still at Ernst & Young, we would be working 12-14 hr days M-F and 6 hours or so on Saturdays from now until March or April. Lucky me! I get to work 60-70 hour weeks WITH MY KIDS!!! 🙂

So I’ve spent a good deal of time over the holidays planning and working out a schedule and trying to come up with concrete ways I can improve as a homemaker. Hopefully, someday I will look back and say ‘remember when I used to . . . ?’ And even Daniel will laugh, because it will be such a distant memory!!!!! 🙂

#1 is very obvious!! Get a new template for my blog!! I love the “scrapbook-type” templates that I see all over blogspot, but I have hardly found any that are created for WordPress. 🙁 If anyone knows of a site similar to “cutestblogontheblock” that designs templates for WordPress, please let me know!

Now on to my other goals. . . This is more like a brainstorming session, which I will edit and revise numerous times before year-end, but hopefully it will be a helpful start for the New Year. Over the weekend, I will revise it for the first time, so I can start fresh on Monday morning.

My Spiritual Goals

• Make my daily time in Word a priority** preferably before the kids get up
• Write new prayer list & increase time in prayer*; record answers to prayer and praises daily
• Pray about my goals each day; ask God for help
• Read 5 Psalms**and 1 Proverb**each day, as well as other passages in order to Read-Thru-the-Bible-in-a-Year**
• Finish Bible studies on Ephesians & James
• Continue (and complete) study with Ruth on Lies Women Believe . . .
• Finish The Excellent Wife study Melissa, Kristy & I started last year, before I was put on bedrest.
• Be ready for church EARLY and on time to church EVERY TIME!! Daniel would love me!!!
• Come to home group early and be prepared: Prepared to keep the children occupied; prepared spiritually by having thought through the passages/topics at hand; prepared to intentionally learn what God is doing in each person’s life so I can actively pray for them better throughout the week

My Goals for Daniel and Me

• Coffee & pray twice/week before the kids wake up, before Daniel leaves for work
• Discuss & continually re-evaluate my goals on a weekly (or at least monthly) basis, and be sure they line up with Daniel’s goals for us
• Pray earnestly, with specific requests for him in my personal prayer time.
• I want to improve in the areas of consistency in my walk with God, exercise, and keeping a schedule; I think these things will have a huge impact on our marriage.
• Take Justin & Christine up on their offer to watch the kids once/month for a date night!! Just schedule it!! (Goal: at least 10 “dates” in 2009)
• Try to schedule some sort of summer weekend get-away (without children) for Daniel & me, as it has been several years since we have taken a trip together just the two of us.

My Goals for Our Family

• Having people from our church/neighborhood over for dinner (or dessert after the kids go to bed!) more often (Let’s shoot for once/week or more)
• Plan a family night once a week; going to need to be creative with a 2yo & 6mo!!
• Exercise as a family (once it is nice out): biking, walking, frisbee w the dogs at the park
• Plan weekend outings for the year (esp. zoo outings!)

Books to Read

• Lies Women Believe . . .
• The Excellent Wife
• Shepherding a Child’s Heart
• When Sinners Say “I Do”: Discovering the Power of the Gospel for Marriage
• Something on how to maintain a swimming pool: our new house has a pool which has been winterized and needs to be set up and cleaned for the summer
• Something on children starting music lessons early (my 2yo daughter LOVES music!)
• Write a book list and continue adding to this list–so many books on my shelf that I need to read!*

My Financial Goals

• Determine how tight I can keep the grocery category and still eat healthily!
• Determine how much we should be spending on “household items”
• My husband is doing the finances right now; but my goal would be to improve in my other areas so much that I would have time freed up to do the finances as well, since after all, I’m the CPA in the house! I want to have more input in this area, but feel I need to grow in other areas first.

Children’s Schedules/Structured Learning Time Goals

For 2-year-old Mara:

• Daily schedule, including “chores” like emptying the silverware tray, feeding the puppies, making her bed, etc.*
• Structure her Bible time: stories, singing, Bible reading, Bible memory, etc. (make plans)*
• Structure her chart/flash card time, general reading time, etc. (Start Music flashcards too)*
• Structure listening times (Classical, sacred, children’s music, radio, sermons, etc.)*
• Structure her coloring/painting/playdoh/etc time and research crafts & schedule once/week*
• Buy her a piggy bank and teach her about giving/saving/spending, each time she receives $$
• Take the kids to the park every day the weather permits (we live in the inner city and don’t have a yard—just basically a cement pad behind the house)
• Research when she should start piano or another instrument
• Be consistent in discipline, even rearranging my plans when necessary
• Begin looking into Pre-K curriculum: Mara reading & writing next fall?
• Twice/month library trips w kids
• Sort all the toys and rotate in 3 bins for 3 weeks each??? then re-evaluate this idea! LOL
• Obtain a list of “classic” childrens’ books she should/can read at various ages

For 7-month-old Micah:

• Daily schedule including meals, naps, etc.*
• Make more homemade baby food (we need another freezer if I keep making baby food!)

Homemaking Goals

• Have the LR/DR/Kitchen clutter-free when Daniel comes home for one month straight!! (and then continue the trend 🙂
• Consistently have dinner ready when Daniel comes home from work
• Consistently plan Daniel’s lunches for work every day and have some variety!! (sometimes it gets late and I don’t make his lunch; then he has to eat out—which is unhealthy and expensive)
• Consistently plan weekly/bi-weekly menus*
• Plan 4 shopping trips each month (2 big, 2 little: for produce/milk/etc.)
• Track grocery- & household-item-spending carefully
• Clip coupons regularly and only buy w coupons/on sale, where possible
• Make master family calendar for the year: deadlines, kids’ shots, etc.*
• Decide if I’m going to teach piano here; if so, get piano tuned and set up a plan for finding students . . .
• Begin a new Home Filing System (a tickler file for each month, special events/holidays’ planning, vacation/trip/travel plans, car records, appliance records, house records, bills, medical records)*
• Plan next Christmas this month while it’s fresh in my mind; list of all that needs to be done (from decorating to gift list, timetable for mailing gifts/giving to neighbors, church friends, etc.; baking list; meals list; party for friends on Christmas Eve; plans for our family’s Christmas morning & Christmas Eve; etc.); timeframe for doing it; look for gifts throughout the year. Have a Christmas file!*
• Follow Motivated Moms Planner until I create my own cleaning/housework schedule or find a method that works better for me*
• Make a list of all special projects in each room of the house, i.e. re-organize the bookshelf, mail Mom the framed cross-stitch I made her, paint staircase trim to match LR, paint baseboards, etc.*
• Do one “special project” on a different room of the house each day of the week
• Organize my clothes and the kids’ clothes; freecycle/consign extras*
• Organize the basement; obtain shelving for long-term storage items
• Write update letter to friends and send out for Easter!
• Have a family picture taken!
• Take Mara & Micah for professional pics, as soon as Micah is sitting up well
• Unpack one box/day until finished!!! (This should probably come before the special projects.)

Personal Goals

• Weight back down to 110 – 115 by May
• Re-work exercise plan (pilates/walking the dogs/time at the park/etc.) **
• Take vitamins every day **
• Drink 8-10 glasses of water/day **
• Start my letter-writing schedule again*
• Have a list of people I want to keep up with through periodic phone calls and call at least one/month, keeping record of when I last called*
• Set a schedule for going to bed and getting up and stick to it, as if I’m going back to Ernst &Young (every day!)*
• Schedule time for e-mail, uploading & editing pictures, Facebooking and blogging that is purposeful and not keeping me from what I “should be doing”

Craft Goals

• Finish Mara’s “Baby – 18 months/2 year” scrapbook
• Start Micah’s scrapbook and catch up to present
• Make apron for Mara
• Make Halloween costumes for Mara & Micah this summer
• Organize all craft stuff & make a schedule of using it, or get rid of it*

Places to Visit

• The Zoo!!! We will be there A LOT!!! because we live so close and we got a membership for Christmas!
• Please Touch Museum
• Take the kids to the shore? Possibly visit the Hensons? Discuss with Daniel.
• Plan two weekend summer getaways (take Friday off – Sunday): one with kids, one without??

*? Need to write another list or schedule out in order to complete this goal

** Things that I need to have on a checklist for accountability

In so many ways, I’m excited about the New Year! For me, it truly symbolizes a fresh new start in more aspects of my life than I have time to explain. Out with the old, in with the new!!! Hopefully over the next few weeks & months, I will unpack some of that here on this blog. But for now, on January 1, I’m looking forward with unbounded hope! 🙂

Daniel, being the encourager that he is, reminds me that there’s nothing magical about January first, and if it doesn’t go well, I can always have another “fresh new start” on January 17. Thanks, dear!

We had a good long talk today about some of my goals and how I can accomplish them. And we made our favorite cinnamon roll recipe, and of course enjoyed them with some french pressed coffee, after which he and Mara watched The Chronicles of Narnia together.

I’m working on my goals for 2009, so I will post more specifics later. . .? And I’m still working on my post regarding all that God did for our family during 2008! So stay tuned!!!