I recently saw a post on one of my 'mom blogs' (SimpleMom I think) that was about checking in on our New Year's Resolutions/Goals, since Fall seems to be the time of year when everyone wants to start focusing, list making, goal setting, and improving their lives (myself included). So I thought I'd do the check-in to see how I'm doing so far.
These goals were made before Victor was born and before I knew much about how our lives were going to be this year, so it will be interesting to see how on (or off) the mark I was about some of them.
Here is the original post with my goals for the year 2010. Let's go:
1. Survive (and thrive at) being a mother: This one remains to be seen, since there is still much mothering to do in this first year of my son's life, but for the most part so far I feel quite good about how things are going. I'm happy that I've stuck out the breastfeeding and cloth diapering thing, that I haven't had too many moments of utter rage (not to say there haven't been some!), and that I haven't hovered or been overly anxious about anything in his life (meaning I think I may be a bit more relaxed than some first time moms). I've adapted and yet kept some of my old life very much in tact, and in my opinion have raised a fairly happy child so far :) The only things I would say that I need to work on are being more present and 'in the moment' when I'm with Victor, since often my mind is fluttering around to a bunch of other things, avoiding the stick-your-baby-in-whatever-while-you-check-your-email-and-twitter thing (I do this alot!), and finding more time to focus on Dan and I. Like I said though, I'm doing ok...definitely surviving, could thrive a bit more though.
2. Save the down payment for a house, continue to pay off debt and bulk up the Emergency Account: Surprisingly, we're getting quite close to having a down payment saved! Which is amazing considering Dan hasn't worked since the baby was born, meaning we're mostly living on one income. We haven't slowed down too much when it comes to savings, and earlier this year we actually paid off our first student related loan (albeit the smallest one). Our Emergency Account has grown but if we plan on using it all for a house, then we still have a lot of saving to do. We haven't yet opened an RESP for Victor, which I want to do soon, so that'll be some more savings we're going to have to budget in. Still though, not too shabby, I'm happier with this than I thought I would be back in January!
3. Build my photography portfolio: This is another goal that's way ahead of schedule. I bought my new camera shortly after the baby was born (THANK YOU DAN), and as of May I've had about a dozen shoots, some as portfolio builders and some as paid gigs, and this Fall is starting to get booked up as well! Initially I didn't think I would be taking on 'clients' until much later in the year (if this year at all), but once I had posted a few of my portfolio building sessions on my personal Facebook profile, I received a bunch of emails asking how much I charged, if I could do this or that, so I decided to jump on in and try it out. I'm still learning a lot and am no where near set up as far as the business part goes, but I've started a photography blog and a Facebook page, and have tons of ideas floating around in my head, so all things are looking good. My goal is to move over to my own domain and website/blog by the end of the year (I have enough shots at this point to display online as a 'body of work') and to keep advertising/taking on sessions as much as I can. My dream-come-true goal would be to have a business plan laid out by the time I have to go back to work in the Spring and to make this a full/part time thing...meaning not returning to work at all. We shall see however. But still, I'm pretty happy with how things have gone so far, and I'm excited to see where things will go.
4. Keep my marriage a priority: Eeeeh...could use some work. I mean, we're still connected and happy and everything, I thank heavens everyday that he is here helping me and being so much a part of this family, but I know that I could show my appreciation a bit better. We're actually going away for the first time without Victor next weekend for our 4 year anniversary (yay!), so I'm excited to have some time with just him, it'll give us a chance to focus on each other completely and to talk about our future and how we're going to keep our marriage on the front line.
5. Travel at least once outside of the Maritimes: Check! My trip to BC last week went really well, and was as far away from the Maritimes as I could get (in Canada, that is.) I've promised Dan that I wouldn't travel without him anymore, though, so my/our next trip will mostly likely be more low-key and closer to home (I should probably only aim to travel outside of the province in 2011, ha!)
6. Garden: FAIL. Our apartment didn't cater well to gardening and I didn't attempt a potted garden. I also didn't help my sister with her garden as much as I had wanted, but I know that she's amped up about doing it right next year, so I'll definitely be partaking then.
7. Continue blogging and scrapping at current rate: The blogging has been going ok (except for the first couple of months after Victor was born when we had no Internet), I still aim to blog at least once a week, sometimes twice, but my scrapping has slowed waaaay down. My creative energies have been spent more on photography, and when I do get the chance to do something, it always takes me forever. I plan on actually putting my stuff away for a little bit once I finish the layout that's on my table and taking out my dusty sewing machine instead, yay!
8. Get involved: This one could be better. I have gone to a few mom-and-baby type groups (they are starting back up next week actually, I'm excited!), but I haven't volunteered at all and generally only leave the house when absolutely necessary, haha. I'm even slacking in the walking department, shame on me.
9. Change my eating habits: FAIL. No excuses, no reasons. I eat like crap and that's the end of it. Maybe once I have to start feeding Victor the things I eat I will change, but at the same time it's doubtful. Sigh.
10. Start going to church: FAIL. Again, no excuses, I'm hoping to start going before the end of the year, but we shall see.
So there we go, about half and half right? I think that's about average for me, haha.
Did you make any goals waaaay back in January? How are they going? If you decide to do a check-in make sure to link me up, I'd love to read!
Happy Saturday night,
Geneviève
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