Resolution Time

I hope you all had a good holiday. It seems like the month of December just flew by. Abby was so into Christmas and of course it was baby Ava's first Christmas. I ended up being so sick with a horrible sinus infection and Ava got a cold. She had to sleep in her swing on Christmas Eve so that she could breathe through her nose. Poor thing. Abby, on the other hand, was so excited. She woke us up at 4:45am. Her dad wanted to make her go back to bed, but I told him he couldn't do that to her. She was running back and forth between the living room and our bedroom. I swear I thought her head was going to explode. I brought me back to the excitement of being a kid on Christmas. It's awesome!

There's something about the beginning of a new year. It's an opportunity to start fresh, or at least it feels that way. It's a great time to reflect on the past year and look forward to the next year. Lots of folks have resolutions of unfortunately most of them don't keep those resolutions. I think the main reason for that is the lack of a plan.

I'm trying to be more thoughtful this year about my goals for the year. I'm actually not calling them resolutions. These are things that I want to actively work on for myself and my family. I'm still working on my plans but I have a general idea of those goals.

• Physical Health-Of course this includes weight loss, but I also want start making healthier choices for both myself and my family. Exercise needs to happen much more often and food choices need to be better.
  
• Financial Health-Since having the baby, I've gotten out of using coupons and finding the best deals. I'm going to get my coupons organized and get back into that. Hubby and I are going to sit down and work on a budget that is reasonable and focuses on putting more money toward debt.
• Emotional Health-I'm way too stressed. That's no way to live and I refuse to make it a major part of 2010. It's going to be a "calmer, gentler" April. There will be more posts to follow on this topic.
  
• Blog-I've had this blog for awhile now, but honestly I haven't put into it what I've wanted to. I want to get into more of a schedule for posting and make some decisions about the direction I want to go into with it. I've got some ideas brewing. I want to focus more on the struggles of being a mom and ways to make it less stressful and as rewarding as possible.
  

I wish you all a healthy and prosperous new year. I welcome all advice and suggestions about things you'd like to see on the blog.

The Christmas List

Well Abby wrote out a list for Santa and presented it to us a few nights ago. It reads as follows:
(picture this written in crayon in big letters...some of them facing the wrong direction)

Nintendo DSi 1
Fish 10
Laptop 1
Phone AT&T 1
Coins 100

I like how she put the quantity after the item so Santa would know how many to bring her. She's been playing on my iPhone and has decided she needs one. She also plays on my laptop and feels that she needs one of those as well. She's getting the DSi, but I don't think Santa's going to be able to do the phone and laptop. Of course, there are some things she's mentioned that aren't on that list. Those are just the things that came to mind at that moment.

Review - Little Music Lovers

I've said before that music is very important in our home. I was a "band nerd" growing up and my husband plays guitar. There is always some type of music playing. Abby had her own guitar by the age of 4 and is on her second year of piano lessons. I feel strongly that a love of music is important to instill in my children. I was excited to get the opportunity to review a sampling of music from Little Music Lovers. It's a 4 CD series for children that was released this past October. Included in the series are well-known lullabies and works from composers such as Beethoven and Mozart.

I knew Abby would enjoy it, because she loves all music. I was mostly interested to see what baby Ava's reaction would be. I sat her in her bouncy seat and put the CD in to play. It was so interesting to watch her facial expressions. It's almost like you could see all the wheels turning in her brain. She had a very serious expression as she listened. Of course, the attention span isn't that long so it wasn't long before she more interested in sucking on her hand. That's ok, though, because I know just playing this in the background is so good for her brain development. This CD I will probably keep in the car to play when we're out and about. The music is so relaxing, and sometimes you just can't listen to "The Wheels on the Bus" anymore.

This series would make a great gift for anyone in your life with a baby or young child. You can listen to samples of the music at the Little Music Lovers website. You can pick it up at all of the larger retailers, including Amazon and iTunes.