Sticking To My New Years Resolutions In 2012 ... or at least for more than 2 weeks.

It's that time of the year again.  Time to celebrate.  Time to close the business books (ok, that's not fun).  Time to take down the Christmas tree.  Time for new beginnings.  Time for NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS!  So what are my New Years resolutions this year?   ...

NEW YEARS RESOLUTION #1: GET HEALTHY & IN SHAPE

OK, how much more cliche can I get?  This is probably one of the most popular New Years resolutions out there (actually I think it's #4 on the list this year.  I've had it for as long as I can remember.  This year is even more important though.  Since I just had Lincoln 2 months ago I still have 15-20 pounds to lose till I get back to my pre-pregnancy weight.  I also plan to have my "mommy makeover" next year, so I've got 12 months to get this body ready.

Now each year I make this resolution I only last about 2 weeks (1 month tops) before it all falls apart and I go back to my old ways.  This year is going to be different though (fingers crossed) and I've got a plan.  The first part of my plan was to get an elliptical machine.  It's hard enough to motivate myself to leave the house to go to the gym.  It's even harder to motivate myself when it's freezing outside.  The hardest yet is to get out of the house when it's freezing and I have a newborn.  That's soooooo not going to happen.  So Brian got me an elliptical for Christmas.  I've convieniently set it up in our living room in front of the TV.  Now instead of watching The Biggest Loser with a bag of cookies, I can watch while sweatin' it up.  My goal is to work out on it at least 5 days a week working from 15 min at first up to an hour as I progress.

The second part of my plan is eating.  This is the hard part for me.  I hate to cook and I love sweet stuff.  Ugh! I'm just going to have to suck it up.  I was going to do a detox program that I did last summer but thought it might be better to wait till summer comes around again since it includes lots of smoothies.  I'm cold enough without an icy drink.  Then I was going to do the South Beach, but I'm not sure if it's good for you while breastfeeding.  In the end I decided to just do it the most obvious way.  The plain old common sense diet.  I know that chicken is good and macaroni and cheese is bad.  I don't need a book to tell me that.  So that's what I'm doing.  Oh, and I figured out how to get rid of all the candy in my house ... I'm eating it all before tomorrow.  LOL!  OK, not really ... well kind of.  : )

The third part of my plan ... I signed up for a Biggest Loser Competition at Reagan's preschool.  Our first weigh in is Tuesday so wish me luck.  What better way to get motivated than a friendly competition with a few of your friends.  It's a $20 buy in and 8 weeks of losing.  I can do it!

The last part of my plan is to get everyone on board.  Brian's joining me in the Biggest Loser competition and all of us (including the girls) are going to start eating healthier and being more active.  I keep beating myself up about not raising the girls healthy so I've decided to change that starting right now.

NEW YEARS RESOLUTION #2: DEDICATE LEARNING TIME WITH THE GIRLS

My second New Years Resolution is a new one for me.  I probably should have started this one a long time ago and I'm embarrassed as a mom and mommy blogger to say that I need a New Years Resolution to make me do it.  I want to set aside time each day to work with the girls on school work ... or a craft of some sort.  I don't think I'm a bad mom for not doing it.  On the contrary I think I'm a good mom for realizing it's a problem and trying to do something about it now.

So here's the plan ...

Monday - Friday I'll set aside 30 min each day to help the girls with their school work or if none then just work on teaching new academic skills in general.  I plan to make it fun using flash cards, fun learning computer programs, their Leapster Explorer games, and books.  Riley's always been great at learning and loves homework, but Reagan is a different story.  This will be quite the change for her.

Saturday - Sunday I'll dedicate towards fun learning projects like going to the zoo, cooking, and sewing.  I think of these as more real life learning experiences that the girls don't even realize that they're learning.  I think these are the times when they learn the most because they're having so much fun.

So that's my New Years Resolution.  I REALLY hope that this year is different and I stick with the plan.  I'd love to hear some of your New Years Resolutions too.  You never know.  Maybe I'll add one last minute resolution.  I'm giving myself one last day of the old and tomorrow starts a new day, a new me, and a new step in my Adventures In Fluff ... and other mommy stuff.