The end of March marks the end of the first quarter of the year as well. I feel so disoriented by that! I’m not sure if it seems like the year has gone by way too fast or if an entire year’s worth of events has happened in these three little months.

So as we get ready to move into April, I thought it would be worthwhile to revisit my goals for the year and check in with how it’s all going.

1. My first goal of the year was to Practice Self Care and make healthier choices. This has definitely been hit an miss but overall I’ve done a MUCH better job of taking the postpartum time seriously and giving myself time than I did with my firstborn. Nursing has definitely played into this. If you don’t stay hydrated you feel it and your supply drops. Sleep is just not happening right now, so the other aspects of self care have become even more important. If I eat lots of processed bad for me foods I FEEL it so much more than I used to (this could also be a product of being in my 30s this time around…) Having to take care of myself to feed my baby is a REALLY good reminder to SLOW DOWN and focus on what matters. That being said, I still have a hard time with emotional self care and giving myself the same patience I try to give my kids (Still struggling with that too… patience was never really my strong suit and parenting is definitely a crash remedial course…) and as I get back into yoga and more physical activity I hope to make even more progress on this goal!
2. 

   It’s amazing how taking the time to go on dates helps us give more to our family the days and weeks after!

   DATING my husband 🙂 So far we’re actually doing better on this goal than I thought we might. When we’ve had babysitters fall through or scheduling conflicts come up, we’ve worked hard to make sure a date night still happens in some form once a month. We’ve even managed to keep up some really great conversation about everything from silly daily events to long term shared goals which may sound really basic, but I consider it a BIG win since we are both functioning on such little sleep and have so much to try and catch up on that it would be so easy for date night to become a recap of our to-do lists or our to-done lists.

3. Cherish my time with two young children: I posted this beautiful blog post by my friend Sarah on my Facebook page earlier this week but I linked it here again because it is so worth sharing and sums up a lot of my feelings. I can’t believe our little girl is over two months old already and time is surely flying. I have days where I can’t wait for my husband to get home so I can get just a little time alone, but overall I am doing better at embracing this time and taking all the
   

   I’d just like to reiterate once more that I’m not sure what I’d do without babywearing… It would be much harder to cherish this time and to chase after my older one!

   snuggles I can get (I’m actually snuggling my baby as I type this. Bad for typing speed and probably for my posture/joints, but excellent for my heart that feels so full). In fact, I’ve surprised myself to find that often when the baby is sleeping I am just so excited to go spend some one on one time with my sweet little boy. I’ve also made myself slow down and take more pictures and I’m looking forward to scrapbooking them soon! Of course, the focus here has definitely led to me dropping the ball in some other areas of life, but I’m trying each day to say… oh well, this is what I’m focusing on for the moment. That’s the choice I’ve made and I’m going to embrace it. (but it also helps to have a community of people choosing the same thing- something I had yet to find with my firstborn until several months in…)

4. Steward our Resources: If anything in this list of goals requires little by little work and progress, it is this. My husband and I have become much more organized over the past few months about our finances and also about what we want to focus on to make our home more efficient and happy and hospitable. (And for those of you that might be wondering, we did indeed make progress on our garden last weekend and everything we’d planned on is now planted!) It’s something I’m documenting in my bullet journal so I can see the slow but steady progress and I think when we look back at the end of the year we’ll be surprised by how much we accomplished!
   

   Loving the adorable chalkboard container for our flower seeds! Also my son’s toys strewn about the lawn because he dropped them immediately when it was time to help water the plants!

5. Be present and Strengthen friendships: I feel the best about my work on this goal. After going into hermit mode a bit during pregnancy, I am connecting more with friends old and new without stretching myself so thin that I’m not present or stressed out or checking my phone for the time or communication from someone else. I’m also more aware of how
   grateful I am for people in my life, both those I get to see or talk to often and those who I used to be in contact with more that I hope to grow closer with again in the future, or those whose friendship I sense is just starting and that I am confident will bear fruit in the months and years to come. And Bonus: when your friends love on your kids too and life is just crazy beautiful!

How is your 2017 going? It’s never to late to set some goals and rock them out! I have found a TON of help with this thanks to the 2017 PowerSheets Collection (which has been such a wonderful tool for me I became an affiliate for their shop). You can totally set good goals without this tool but the extra motivation and beautiful products has been a game changer this year. I’d love to chat with you if you have any questions about it!