Happy May!! Today is Jeff’s birthday, so I’m looking forward to a date night with him tonight, and tomorrow I’m co-hosting a baby shower for my sister-in-law who is due in June. It should be a fun weekend! What are your plans?
Speaking of plans, I’m finally feeling “normal” enough to start making some for this month. I’ll be going back to work (just for three weeks) on May 13th, so the first half is still maternity leave and the second half will likely be more about survival. With that in mind, I’m trying to be realistic and set some attainable “goals with grace” for myself. (You can read my original goals post with details about my “Best Stuff List” here.)
So, shall we?
1. Spiritual Life: Use my new Naptime Diary regularly and be intentional about time to pray and be still.
2. Marriage: Have a date night. (Doing this tonight! At least I know I will be successful with one goal!)
3. Kids: Continue to get in a groove with our “new normal” and establish some routines/schedule for Nora.
4. Health: Complete Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred and walk regularly. (I go to the doctor today for my six week follow-up appointment and expect to get the exercise go ahead. As much as I’d love to make breastfeeding my sole form of physical activity for the next eleven months, my sister’s wedding is just a little over a month away, so this girl’s got to get on it!) If you’ve had success with these videos or have any tips for losing baby weight, I’d love to hear!
5. Calling/Career: Transition back to work smoothly and finish out the year strong.
6. Relationships: Make the most of my last two weeks of maternity leave with lots of coffee and play dates.
7. Home: Organize closets/transition spring clothes (before I go back to work). Make sure everyone is wearing clean clothes, eating off of clean dishes, and not tripping over things on the floor (after I go back to work). 😉
8. Hobbies: Get back in a blogging routine and share more about our life right now.
Do you set goals for the month? If so, I’d love if you’d share them or link to your post in the comments… Have a wonderful weekend!
E
Happy Bday to Jeff! It’s my Emmett’s first Bday today too! Time is racing t at lightning speed around here!
If you get any advice on how to fit working out into your new routine, please share! I feel like all I have time for after work is nursings, eating, cleaning up (making lunch, washing bottles, etc) and then straight up crashing at night.
My first baby is 12 weeks old, and I’m pretty sure Jillian Michaels is the reason any of my clothes fit. (Not all of them, mind you, but enough that I’m out of maternity jeans. Very hard to give up the elastic.) The South County Library has a section of fitness DVDs, I tried out a few before I bought one–I liked Jillian’s “Ripped in 30” better than the 30 Day Shred. I try to do SOMETHING at least 4 days a week (video, walk if the weather is nice, or find a yoga video online). Don’t always make it, but seems to be a realistic goal for me. I don’t think I could do a workout video every day, but a few days a week seems to be working pretty well for me. Good luck!
i’m a HUGE fan of jillian. it’s HARD but i’ve definitely seen results. i’m already dreading the soreness once this baby comes and it’s time for me to get back on track.
(also, pro tip, all of jillian’s workouts are on youtube, so if you want to try any of her other workouts, you can do it for free!)
That nap time diary looks awesome. I’m impressed you are going back to school for the last three weeks! My oldest was born in April and I took the rest of the year off. Summer break was super long that year. I did go back to pack up my room for the summer. I would have gone crazy not knowing where anything was if someone else had packed up my room. Good Luck!
Good luck with the weight loss! You seemed to do so well with Sam, I’m sure it won’t be a problem 🙂
My babies are 10 & 8 now…
I admire you and your goals but I would like to suggest gently,
This perfection you are planning for does it ever bring you real joy? Is it ever attainable?
The perfect body in 30 days, the coffee and the play dates, the scheduled date nights.
Have you ever given yourself permission to be still and just stop? Have you allowed long days in your PJ’s gazing at your beautiful baby. Have you given yourself permission to eat as much healthy food as you like when you feel hungry? Have you ever gone for a gentle walk just to notice things? Have you ever let anyone see who you really are, flaws and imperfections embraced? All the really good stuff isn’t being nurtured at all in your plan. It sounds exhausting. Just reading it made me feel like giving you a hug, you sound so on edge and brittle. Life, real life is messy and inconvenient and spontaneous. It’s selling the car so you can extend your maternity leave, it’s long milky, mussy haired days with laundry to be folded in piles. It’s girlfriends seeing you not at your sparkly best. It’s husbands that come home from work who say heh you’ve worked hard all day feeding and loving a little human how about I run you a bath while I look after the other kids and get them dinner. You know all this stuff you “should” be doing? Take two days and really think if it really matters. What do you really want your life to be? When your lying on your death bed. It won’t matter then how fast you “shed” how many date nights you pushed through how perfect your wardrobe was, how quickly you returned to work… What really matters will be the real connections, honesty, time, and lots of unplanned heartfelt moments that came when you embrace imperfection and have the courage to be real. Now that would be worth reading about!