New Month's Resolutions: February

January was rough in some ways and great in others. There were some parenting moments that made me want to just hide in the closet and never come out. Then there were parenting moments of pure bliss that brought happy tears to my eyes.

I thought a lot about what my real goals are and how to achieve them. I made some big goals -- the kind that take a while to accomplish -- and each year I can take baby steps toward making them happen. I also decided I want my monthly goals to have more of a focus. I will be focusing on mind, body, and spirit. Mind -- what am I doing to keep my brain from turning to mush? Body -- how am I staying healthy? Spirit -- what am I doing to be a better person?

First, how did I do last month?

Walk or do crunches (or both) daily. As for walking, I got really motivated to walks, and it felt really good to be outside with Paloma, even on "cool" mornings. As for crunches, I finally got some motivations to do them when I joined an ab challenge. I discovered that having a set challenge like that really kept me accountable. (Thanks, Krystal!) After a couple of days, Isaiah joined me, but he reminded me that sit-ups aren't really that good for you (bad on your back), so I swapped them out for more crunches. Then I noticed that my back was hurting after doing the leg raises, so I watched a video on how to do them correctly. BUT THEN, Elisa clued me in on something that changed my life. She gave me the name for my ab separation (diastasis recti -- DR for short -- I failed to catch if my midwife even mentioned this name) and some resources on how to fix it. (Thanks, Elisa!) It turns out, traditional ab work is NOT the way to go when healing DR. I stopped the ab challenge and just stuck to walking the rest of the month.

Listen better. I am not sure I got a whole lot better at listening, but I am definitely more aware of it now. I will catch myself starting to multi-task when taking a phone call, so I stop myself, which is progress, no?

Finish Paloma's pregnancy book. Oops. So, February?

What's on my list this month?

MIND

Write, write, write. First, I need to finish Paloma's pregnancy book. Then, I would like to write an essay that's been floating around in my head. Even if I never submit it for publishing, I just want to write it.

BODY

Do core strengthening exercises daily. I am going to do the Tupler Technique workouts to help me heal my diastasis recti. Along with that, I want to keep up my walking, at least 3 times per week.

SOUL

Be a better mami to Hunter. Last month, I lost my patience with Hunter A LOT. Up until last month, I had been really good about not being grabby and really listening to him, but I need to get back on track with that. I need to bring back special time and really show him that I hear him.

I hope you all have a great month! xoxo