Happy New Year!

A new year equals new resolutions....one of which is to start a blog to document the life of my family, specifically of one little girl named Emma Grace. So, here I am with my very first blog post! I never thought this would be something I'd do, though I've loved to write since I was a child. When I became pregnant back in March of 2010, I thought it would be fun to start a blog and document my entire pregnancy...fast forward 10 months and I'm just now getting started!! How embarrassing. Either way, I'm finally ready to embark on this new adventure of blogging! I'm going to do my absolute best to stay on top of this blog while raising a newborn baby girl. Wish me luck!

I've never been a fan of new years resolutions but I've got plenty of things I want to work on this year, so I figure why not try? Here's my list of resolutions for 2011:

1. Lose the baby weight (plus a few extra!)-- I've got about 15 lbs left to lose from my pregnancy and I wanted to lose about 10-15 before I got pregnant...making my weight loss goal a total of 25-30 lbs. I plan on joining weight watchers in the next two months to help with my lack of self-control when it comes to food. I've tried weight watchers in the past and lost about 10 lbs but I was never fully dedicated. I figure now is as good a time as any! I should also get the clear for exercise at my post-partum dr's appoinment on Tuesday. Now, I stink at exercising. I'm not going to lie. I've never been an athlete, and believe me, I tried when I was younger! I would love to become a runner someday! Maybe, just maybe...this will be my year?!

2. Get my home more organized and decorated -- My husband and I bought a brand new home in August of 2009, and yes, we still have white walls (with the exception of our bedroom and the nursery) and hardly any decorations! I want my home to feel more inviting so I won't be embarrassed to have friends over! I would love to learn more about interior design so I can fancy up this house of ours. I want to get the interior painted this year as well. Now, choosing the colors is my least favorite part because I'm super indecisive. If anyone wants to offer up their help with this endeavor, by all means...please do!! :-)

3. Keep the house clean -- I struggle with this just as many women do. I resigned from my job as a first grade teacher in July so I could stay at home with my daughter. As part of my new job as a new mommy, I guess I'm in charge of keeping house as well. I'm not very good at cleaning, mostly because I don't enjoy it. I have to be in the right mood...and on the rare occasion, it happens and it's glorious. I'm a mean cleaning machine...again, on the rare occasion. My goal this year is to develop some sort of schedule where I designate certain chores to certain days of the week. Ex: Mondays -- Dust and vaccuum upstairs. Tuesdays -- Dust and vaccuum downstairs. Wednesdays -- Sweep and mop the wood floors. Etc. Keep in mind, this is in addition to picking up after ourselves, laundry, etc.

4. Cook dinner more often -- This should say "start cooking dinner." I used to love to cook before I met my husband. Then I discovered that he loved to cook. Fast forward a few years, and now my cooking skills have gone out the window. I feel like a bad wife. I'm going to try really hard this year to finally dust off my huge collection of cookbooks and get moving in the kitchen. I love to cook for others so hopefully I can get my cooking skills in check so we can start having dinner parties for our neighbors!

5. Be a great mother and a better wife -- Having a baby has changed our life in more ways than I could have imagined. It's a wonderful thing; however, it can easily take its toll on my relationship with my husband. I'm finding it hard to give them both the attention they deserve. Emma is so demanding and rightfully so as she's just 5 1/2 weeks old. My husband deserves my attention too, and I admit, I haven't been the best wife since Emma was born. My horomones still seem out of whack, though better than the first two weeks of after birth. I'm learning and trying to take things day by day. My goal for this year is to love them both unconditionally and give them both the attention they deserve, to the best of my ability as long as I can maintain my sanity. :-)

That's it for my first post. I wrote much more than I anticipated! I have a feeling that blogging is going to become quite addictive.

Happy new year!