Heather
Self-Care: With three kids 3 and under, finding time for myself isn’t the easiest. But I am bound and determined to continue my self-care routine because when I show myself love, it translates to everyone else around me. When I feel like I’m spiraling or I haven’t had a break from taking care of my family, it puts me in the worst mood (gotta work on that). So even if that means I only get 10 minutes for a bath at night, I am going to take those opportunities as they come. Here’s how I practice self-care: monthly facials, listen to a podcast (Skinny Confidential is my fav), read before bed, try a new exercise, run, take yoga at least once a week, stretch after every workout, drink a ton of water, digital detox from all electronics at night, declutter my house and date nights. All of these equally important and if I can get one a day, I’d be one happy girl.
Random Acts of Kindness: This goes for both strangers and loved ones alike. When you treat others with kindness, as simple as holding the elevator for someone, that good energy and positivity comes back to you. My goal is to be a more thoughtful person and when I see a friend struggling or achieving a goal they pursued, I want to show them that I care and recognize their feelings. Over the last 6 weeks, my friends and family have showed up for me.. dropping coffee on my porch, taking the big boys so I could have bonding time with Parker, bringing me food and wine.. and I want to return the favor. If I can practice random acts of kindness each day, I am hopeful that it will breed good energy in all aspects of my life. Namaste.
Practice Patience: This one is going to be my hardest for sure because I want to show myself and my family patience. First up, me. I think every woman who has had a baby expects that the weight will just melt off because you’re breastfeeding.. WRONG. With Jackson (my first), the weight did melt off.. but I had a lot of toning to do. With Cammy, it took about 9 months to get my body back, which is no surprise because that’s how long it took to put the weight on. Now here I am, 6 weeks postpartum and I need to show myself grace. I have at least another 20 lbs to lose and I think I expect to see results every day.. which is so unrealistic. So here I am, practicing patience with my body and trust that I will get it back one day. It may take me all year but I know with patience, determination and hard work, I’ll get there.
Secondly, patience with my family.. specifically my kids. My fuse is so short these days and I know it’s because I am sleep deprived. My goal is to not react so quickly when my kids are driving me crazy and snapping at them. If I can keep my yelling down to only once a day, I’d be winning 😉
Try new recipes and eat as a family: Obviously with a young family and newborn, I am not cooking nearly as much as I’d typically like so this year, once Parker is sleep trained and we are in a groove, I want to try new recipes and sit down to dinner as a family at least 3x a week. I had family dinner every night as a kid and I think it fosters such a healthy environment for young children. This is a time to turn off the tv, put our phones down and connect as a family. Granted, Jackson already tells me he “doesn’t want to talk about it” when I ask how his day at school was (and pretty sure my brothers and I were the same.. “how was your day?” “good”) but even if we sit in silence for 20 minutes, at least we did it together.. right?!
Budget: This one is going to make my husband laugh out loud but I am serious here! My goal for 2019 is to never carry a balance of over $1,000 on my Nordstrom credit card.. is. it. doable?! Time will tell. But honestly, carrying a balance is so irresponsible (plus they kill you with interest) and I need to be better about budgeting my money. My husband was a math major.. and I clearly was NOT.. so when he tries to talk numbers with me and how much I’m spending, my head spins 180 degrees. In one ear, out the other. Not anymore.. time to budget and be a wiser consumer and more responsible partner. My husband and I have way too many arguments over input versus output and I want to make him proud. Wish me freaking luck.
Alix
Declutter my house: I’m naturally a pretty organized person…chaos and clutter give me serious anxiety. But, I think once you have kids your organization game needs to be next level to keep your sanity somewhat intact. I have a goal to go through each room in the house and organize, declutter, and donate what we no longer need/use. This includes all the bedrooms, closets, kitchen, and garage (that’s on my husbands to-do list)
We moved into our new house in Seattle exactly 2 years ago and still haven’t finished decorating. So, I’m going to also to put that on my 2019 resolution list… fill up some of those big blank walls in our house.
Train for another half-marathon:I really enjoyed running my half-marathon this year and felt so accomplished afterwards. I would love to make this a yearly goal to train and complete a different half-marathon for as long as I continue to enjoy it and feel good running. This year we are looking at Seawheeze and I’m also looking into meet some girlfriends in Oregon for a trail race. I’ll keep you guys posted 😉
Professional growth: I had a full-time private practice back in California that I worked really hard to build and run. I enjoyed my practice so much, but once we had Quinn and moved to Seattle I had to close it. Now with Quinn getting older and being in school a little more I think I’m ready to pursue more professional goals to help balance out my life.
I would like to rebuild my private practice at some point, so I plan to start looking for office space to rent 1 day a week- start there and see how it feels. Building a private practice takes time and networking, so I will have to be patient and step outside of my comfort zone.
I also have a lot of continuing education units I need to complete by 2020 to keep up my RDN credentials, so I plan to either attend FNCE this year and/or join Dietitians in Integrative and Functional Medicine (DIFM) which is a specialty practice group and I’m really interested in watching more of their webinars.
Get more creative in the kitchen: I would love to bring more of my own recipes to the blog next year. It takes a little extra time to test out recipes ideas and ingredient combinations, but it’s something I enjoy. Now that we have the blog I think it would be fun to share more recipes and food inspo with you guys.
Keep in better touch with friends:As we get older, work full-time jobs, and have kids it gets more and more challenging to stay in touch with friends. I’m typically pretty good at this thanks to Instagram DMs and texting, but I’d like to find more time for good old fashion phone chats. I always feel happier and more connected when I have a good catch up session with one of my girlfriends.
I also want to make a point to send more random little gifts/cards to friends- especially on their birthdays. I love getting random mail from friends or family and want to be better about sending spontaneous mail that will hopefully put a smile on a friend’s face.
Practice gratitude: Lastly, I’m trying to find ways each day to practice gratitude. It’s SO easy to get caught up in the day to day stressors and get down and negative. Lately, I’ve been getting really stressed out with Quinn and she has her challenging moments and I’m losing my cool quicker and quicker with her. Then, every night we snuggle with the lights off before she goes to bed and my heart melts and I think about how lucky I am to have this amazing, beautiful little girl tell me she loves me and want to cuddle with me. All the stressors of the day disappear and I feel so grateful.
I would like to be able to pause throughout the day when I’m feeling stressed or overwhelmed practice gratitude for what I do have and help me put these little blips into perspective.
We would love to hear what your intentions are for the upcoming year? Cheers to a happy and healthy 2019!
xx,
H & A
