Welcome 2012

I hope everyone had a great night into the New Year last night.  Although I wasn't exactly "in bed" at midnight like I was afraid I would be, I will admit I was snoozing on the lounger and had to be woken up to watch the ball drop!

Today has been a great start to 2012 already.  I'm excited for what this year brings.  I have a few goals, but not necessarily "resolutions".  I feel like the word "resolution" is just one big taboo.  Things you do for the first few days, maybe a week, and are often forgotten by February.  Nicole did a One Little Word online workshop last year and will be completing it again this year that has you choose a word that you'd like to focus on, reflect on, throughout the year.  Although I would LOVE to do this class, the more I think about it, I have a few others that I am going to be doing and I don't want to totally overwhelm myself with too many year-long projects.  It has gotten me to think though about an overall goal/word that I'd like to focus on this year.  I think if I had to choose one word now, it would be balance.  Since I've gone back to work this past fall, I've always joked about wishing that there were more hours in the day to get things done.  Well, last I knew, more hours weren't going to be added into the day just for my benefit, so I have to figure out what to do to have more productive days so I can achieve this balance I am looking for.  When I think of this word, my mind just spins with the different aspects I think about, but here are some of them:

• Find a better balance between all the roles I have in life: mother, wife, friend, teacher, etc.  Try to keep work at work more than I have in the past.  I need to better utilize my prep time so that I am bringing less work home.  This will allow me to spend more meaningful time with Troy and the boys when I'm at home.   This will also give me more time to talk to and hang out with friends and family that I don't talk to as often as I'd like.  And when I am in a specific role, be 100% there.  Not just physically there, but mentally there too.
• Balance time between things I do for others and things I do for myself.  I think many new mothers, especially working mothers, struggle with this because we want to spend as much time after work and on the weekends with our babies since we are away from them all day.  Although I am like this, I also feel that it is important to do things for myself.  Not in a selfish way, but life doesn't have to stop when you have kids.  Yes, I love my boys like you wouldn't believe, but I don't think I'm a bad mom for wanting to do things that don't include them.  I still want to have my monthly scrapbooking gatherings with my mom and sister, or go out for drinks with some co-workers, or meet up with a friend for dinner.  I have to remind myself that it is okay to take time for myself.  
• Realize that my day shouldn't revolve around my to-do list.  On the weekends when the boys are napping or at night when they are asleep, I feel like it is a constant race against the clock to see how much I can get done.  It isn't uncommon for me to be pumping, making baby food, and checking school papers all at the same time.  Yes, I frequently multi-task and that is fine, but I also have to remind myself that it is okay if I don't do it all in one day.  
• Fill my life with meaningful things.  If something isn't going to harmfully alter my life, I want to stop spending time worrying about it.  I have laid in bed thinking about things, but realize that thinking/worrying about whatever it is, isn't going to change the outcome.  I also want to spend less time complaining about things that I have no control over.  Sometimes I can get myself so worked up about something that irritates me, that aside from venting about it to get it off my chest, I am just wasting time and energy being upset.  I need to have more of a positive outlook on life and although things aren't perfect, know that there is only so much I can control.  

I feel like I could go on and on, because there are a few more things on my mind regarding this need to balance certain aspects of my life, but I want to focus on these parts first.  My hope by focusing on this, this year, is that I will really, truly enjoy life more.  Life goes by too fast to be in a constant whirlwind of things to do and the go-go-go mentality.  I need to take time for myself and those that I love and spend less time dwelling on things I don't agree with, that I have no control over.  We'll see how successful I am.  I may use this blog as a brain dump every so often to let you know of my progress so far, so stay tuned.

As far as the other projects that I am doing this year - thanks again to Nicole for introducing me to Project Life.  It appears that people have a variety of ways of completing this project, but I plan to take at least one photo every day and pair it with a journaling card that comes in the awesome kit you purchase.  There are a variety of page protectors to buy also, but the ones I am getting allows for one layout to consist of an entire week (spaces for 7 pictures and 7 journaling cards along with the title/date card and extra journaling card), and at the end of the year, you have a very simple, but cute scrapbook of your year.  

I also need to get moving on my other project, Don't Blink.  Yet another class Nicole (my eyes and ears for scrapbooking ideas!  Thanks sis!!), told me about.  This class provides different ways to scrapbook your child's first year.  There are many different layout ideas and topics to scrapbook for the first year of their life, instead of feeling overwhelmed by scrapbooking every milestone that was reached.  Especially since I will have two scrapbooks to do, I don't want them both to be too identical, so by using the checklist of different types of layouts you could do, it will allow me to really make two unique scrapbooks...not cookie cutter books with the typical milestones in it.  I'm really looking forward to trying out a few layouts later this week.

Here's to a crafty, yet balanced 2012!