happy new year

Another year, another set of hopes and dreams and I-promise-to-be-betters. If there's one thing I've learned about resolutions, it's that setting a long list of ambitious ones is effective at not much besides helping me feel woefully inadequate at being the heroine in my own life. But I also believe you should be learning at least one new thing at any given moment (and probably you are, so often we learn without even realizing), so the list of "I resolve"s should contain a few stretching goals, at least.  With that in mind, here's my recap of 2011:

• Learned how to be pregnant and healthy. Upped my intake of protein and veggies, switched to be a walker instead of a runner, drank a lot of h2o, had a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby.
• learned relaxation techniques to help me get through natural labor. Learned what to expect from labor and delivery, gave birth to a beautiful baby girl without any drugs.
• Learned to breastfeed, sleep in 3 hour stretches, swaddle a baby, soothe my tiny girl, choose, use, and launder cloth diapers...yep, a lot last year was about being a mom for the first time, which is fantastic.
• Gained and lost 35 lbs
• Tried a few new recipes (favorites: pumpkin chili and oriental drumsticks)
• Froze and dried cherries from our tree
• Budgeted - found a system that, so far, works for me/us
• Joined a book club
• Didn't really make any progress at all on the gardening front. Planted some veggies, didn't follow through much with caring for them, harvested quite a few tomatoes out of sheer luck (and their natural heartiness); totally at a loss as to the proper care of fruit trees.  In my defense, I did have a baby in the middle of garden season.
• Saved enough $ to finish our basement (minus the bathroom - in progress) and still be able to quit my job

And here are my goals for 2012:

• Read at least 12 books by the end of the year (I realize a lot of people set a 52-book goal, but that's not realistic for me right now, nor is it how I want to spend the bulk of my time)
• Read at least two new books about parenting
• Run a half marathon or two (maybe another full marathon will be in the works for 2013...)
• Pick up some freelance writing/editing work
• Spend at least two hours/week working on my own writing
• Read at least two books with my baby every day
• Try a new recipe every week
• Something craft-y/creative every two months (so six projects this year).  I have some in mind: curtains, quilts, refinishing furniture, re-covering furniture, photo books...)
• Stick to our budget

We'll see how I do.  I'm learning that with a new baby, setting one big "to do" item each day is really all that's realistic, and sometimes not even that is do-able.  I'm trying my hand at my first refinishing project this week, and it's taken me three days (and counting) to sand and stain a simple bookshelf, trying to work around nap schedules :)

I'll try to track my progress here to hold myself accountable.  I'm nervous and excited for this new year - my first year without full-time work or school, so I have the bandwidth to finally try some things I've always wanted to do. I want to make sure I use my free time wisely (not that I really have MORE of it with an infant, just that it's easier to fit things in being at home instead of in an office).  I'm also anxious about freelancing.  I've picked up a few odd copy writing and editing jobs over the last few years, but I've never made anything steady out of it.  It's going to take some work - I'm up for the challenge!