Ringing in the New Year

I love the idea of a new year -- a time to start over. I like to say things like, "Oh, I'll get to that after the new year." Okay, maybe I like to think it's the time to take care of my procrastination. I mean, what else do I have to do when there is no shopping, decorating, or traveling and packing to do . . . just snow and coldness and staying inside? This year I not only plan to write down my goals but also how I plan to reach these goals. Yes, I'm a salesperson with goals and this is how I function. So my goals for the new year are as follows:

1.) Spend more date nights with my husband. If we don't have time alone, then we start to get mad at each other for no reason. I don't know if that makes sense or not, but I think we forget to talk to each other when the babies are around. You know, at least talk about things only pertaining to us as adults like silly nonsense that no one else would understand. Inside jokes and such. Lucky for us we have a fantastic nanny who is willing to work late occasionally, and if she can't then she has about 100 other girlfriends who might be able to do so. We are doing a good job with this one so far. We went out to a fantastic dinner the night before New Year's (that's the thing to do when you get old and don't feel the need to fight the crowds), went to see Weezer (SO FUN! School of Rock even performed a couple of Weezer songs in between sets. Yes, there is a such school, and it's only a couple of blocks from my house), and we have tickets to Wicked for next week. Also, we just got David Gray tickets, and I am so grateful to my sweet hubby for all this. I don't expect the dates to always be this extravagant, but it's a great way to start out a new year.

Since we had no plans on NYE, Clint decided to make a fantastic steak and lobster dinner for us. It was a first for making lobster, and it was yummo! Good wine also helps.

2.) Potty train Mimi. This one I wanted to go back on because it really seemed like a lot of trouble. She could basically change her own diaper, so why rock the boat? Because she's smart enough to use the potty, that's why, so we bit the bullet and dove right in. Lacy showed up my first day back to work after New Year's, and she had a plan. Thank goodness because I didn't. She set her phone alarm for every 5 minutes to take Mimi to the bathroom, and they basically spent that Monday in the bathroom. There were a few accidents that day, and they talked about using the potty when she needed to go. Thank goodness when I got home that night there were no accidents. And there were no accidents the next day. By the weekend she was out of the diaper at night. 99.9% of the credit goes to Lacy, and thank goodness she knows more about kids than I do.

The convos from the bathroom are hilarious now. With a very determined tone and serious face she said to me one night, "Mommy, I not poo poo in my pants. I only poo poo in the potty. I not poo poo my pants ANY. MORE." Okay, okay, Mimi. Don't be so hard on yourself. When I'm not looking she occasionally gets the potty seat and holds it up to her face while singing some silly song about, "Look at me, I'm celery," that she learned from Olivia the Pig." She sings and reads books and tells stories. But she gets the job done. Big girl.

3.) Get Mimi to sleep in her big girl bed. I don't know when or how this will happen because she loves the crib. We tried for a few nights and failed, so any suggestions will be great.

4.) Finish thank you notes from Mack's baby gifts. It's a work in progress.

5.) Find more time to sew. How do I go about getting more hours added to the day? I see all these wonderful children's clothes, and I know I can make them -- and I even have tons of fabric and a sewing machine and patterns. All I need is more time.

6.) Not get stressed about work. I let it become stressful recently, and that is a big no-no. I can only do a certain amount of things from 7:30-5:30, and I have to let go of what I cannot do.

7.) Soak up every second of Mack's baby-ness. It is going by sooo fast. He's rolling over, laughing like crazy, eating baby food, holding and playing with his toys, and he makes sweet sounds and is so soft and smells so good.

And he's getting bigger . . . thank goodness he is, but I can't help but want him to stay little.

LOVES his jumperoo. It's difficult for me to get a good pic because he won't stop jumping. Mimi still wasn't even big enough to get in this thing at this age.
8.) Try to make my children love each other. I try so hard to get good photos of them, and this is what Mimi does, "I go night-night, Mommy. I not take picture with baby Mack. I go to sleep." Seriously? I have a million of her being a little sass, and he is laughing at her. There's probably not much I can do about this, but I'm going to try. I try to force Mimi to hold him and kiss him and play with him, and she just squirms away because she's way too busy for baby Mack.

Finally.

9.) Try to remember the funny stuff Mimi says:

"I wear my toot-toot (her word for tutu)! I not like my jommers!" She likes to run around naked in her "toot-toot."

"Oh no! Ru-ru, don't touch the pire (fire)! It's too hot and danger-uch!"

"Water!! Whoooooa, water!" and then she laughs hysterically. We don't really know what this means, but she started saying it to Clint when he read books to her at night.

At night when we put her down for bed, she asks us, "Will you pwease sing Jesus loves me this I know they are weak he is strong?"

"Mommy, here 'da mote control. I watch Woody-Buzz! I watch Monsters! I watch Bwangelinga (Angelina Ballerina)!"

Every day when I get home from work she runs to me to give me a big hug and says, "Mommy! I so glad you're here!"

When we ask Mimi if she's ready to go night-night, she responds with, "No thanks. I dance." or she says, "No thanks. Maybe later."

All meals are called "lunch."

She has a problem with tooting and then announcing it to the world. Guess who taught her that one.

10.) Be happy. I know that sounds like a silly goal, but I totally think it's a choice. Sometimes we like to think that the whole world is against us and we're so unlucky, but have you ever been around people who are less fortunate but are really, really happy? Some of the most negative people I have ever met have so much more than they could ever need -- family, friends, a warm home -- but they choose to be pissy. So I'll choose to not be. I have absolutley everything I could possibly need. I'm not in jail. I'm not in the hospital. I will not stress about a dirty house or not having time to make dinner. I can order pizza or sushi delivery. I will not stress about traffic. I have Pandora and an IPod. There is so much for me to be happy about that there's not enough time for me to be unhappy and stressed.