Happy Wednesday, loves!
Can you believe January is over tomorrow? It feels like we were just ringing in the new year with our little loves and our best friends, but now it’s the end of the month. The days are long, but the years are short – right?
It’s been an exciting month in the Raiford house, but it’s also been a busy one. This past weekend was our oldest daughter’s first cheer competition of the season. They placed second – two points from first place! – in their division…and they ROCKED the mat. You have never seen a group of parents more excited or proud than our cheer parents this weekend.
It was SUCH a fun weekend. We went down to Tampa to one of our favorite hotels for the weekend with some of our favorite people and fellow cheer parents. The twins stayed home, but we took the big girls. Friday night was a date night for the adults to celebrate my sweet husband’s birthday. Saturday was a family day and dinner night with everyone, and Sunday was a family morning, coffee with friends, go home, unpack, load all four kids up in the car and head to Sunday dinner with our crew to celebrate the birth of our newest – and the very last – baby to the group.
Now it’s Wednesday, and we are headed out again.
I’m. So. Tired.
Packing. Unpacking. Repacking. Grocery shopping so our parents have plenty of choices around the house while we are gone – our parents always get together and stay at our house for us while we’re out of town, which we SO appreciate – but it’s a little more work for us.
But, it’s the end of the month – and I had some January goals. Did I meet them? Did I fail? Did I exceed them? I thought I might hold myself accountable and share them with you.
Write and Publish 2 Blog Posts Per Week – Exceeded
My blog is not my job. I love it, but it’s my personal page for sharing things that I love – and sometimes sharing some of the things PR agencies and companies want to work on with me that don’t work with my typical clientele and my regular ‘job’ creating web content for my clients.
However, I’m bad about putting the blog last when my schedule gets hectic, and I’m trying to put an end to that habit. So, I exceeded it by publishing three blog posts a week all month – and I am beyond proud of myself!
No Falling Asleep on the Couch – Meeting Expectations
My husband and I are so bad about this. We will put the kids to bed, shower, and lie down on the chaise to catch up on some of our favorite shows, but we get so comfortable with the recline position activated, and we always fall asleep on the couch…within a half hour of sitting down! And we will both sleep there until 11 or so. My sweet husband usually wakes up and wakes me up so we can go to bed, but it’s a nasty habit we’d like to stop. We did okay. We aren’t great at it – but we started off strong – and we are making it to bed before we fall asleep on the couch more often than not. We are a work in progress.
Two Yoga Classes A Week – Exceeded
Yoga is my favorite workout ever, but I sometimes skip one or two classes a week if I’m super busy. It’s an hour and 15-minute class, and I can run a few miles in a half hour and call it a day when I don’t have the time. I never skip my workout, but I will skip yoga in favor of something shorter, and I never fail to end up disappointed in myself. So, I made it a goal this year to make it to at least two yoga classes a week always – no matter how busy I am – and I’ve been to three a week all year. This week I will miss two because of travel – but my grandmother only has one birthday a year…and this is a HUGE one.
Be On Time – Failed. Big time failed.
I am random. I can get into the habit of being early and be excellent at it, but then I usually end up getting pulled into other things and it takes up more of my time than not. For example, when I’m early to the girls’ school, I usually end up being asked to do something that ends up taking me another half hour or so – and I don’t get home until almost 10 am. I find myself super stressed and overwhelmed when that happens.
When I get overwhelmed and stressed, I find myself sitting at my desk longer in the mornings working on ‘just one more thing’ so that I don’t feel overwhelmed if I get pulled into something else. I love to help and be active in their school, and I’m trying to find that balance. But, that means I’ve been late most mornings lately, and that’s also causing me some anxiety. I hate being late, and leaving on time with five little ones – I take my nephew to school every morning, too – means it takes only one “I have to go potty” or one quick conversation with a parent or a teacher at the twins’ school to put me three or four minutes behind – which means late.
Anyway, I suck at this one. Maybe I’ll be better in February.
Did you have goals in January to work through? Did you meet them? Or did you exceed them? Or do you need to work a little harder in February? It’s all right – there’s nothing wrong with falling short as long as you’re not giving up completely. You’ve got this!
Tiffany Raiford 