Goals

Everyone always talks about New Years Resolutions. I don't like to call them that because I never seem to keep them. I like to call them goals because for some reason it is easier to keep my goals then anything else. I make big goals but then I break it down on how I am going to accomplish that goal.

Number one goal for the year is to start getting fit. I didn't want to put a specific amount of weight because just as long as I feel good about how far I have come in a year it doesn't matter what the scale says. I can't even really start losing weight until I have my baby. So I am going to have to work on eating right so that I will be on the right track when the baby comes. I already exercise but can't wait to really work up a sweat. I think I am addicted to exercising because I love how I feel after I exercise and because I have tons of exercise videos. I like variety. I also bought a used treadmill so that when my husband is doing homework at night I can walk while we watch t.v. I also purchased workout music to keep me upbeat so that I can keep a steady beat. I love to sweat and I love how by body pulse after I have worked hard. I don't know why it is so hard to lose weight but I love to watch the biggest loser or at least the progress of the people losing weight. It is motivation to me to watch some one work hard and get results. I think to myself, if they can do it so can I. The way to losing weight is eating right but also in small portions and more often. Our bodies work better when we give them a little at a time. Our metabolisms need to be fed but if done in small amounts, it will always be working, so the food doesn't have time to stick to our bodies because our metabolisms are on fire burning the food into energy to keep up with us. Also if we are drinking lots of water it flushes out our systems get all the yuck and gunk out. It wasn't until a month or two before I got pregnant that I finally started to lose weight and it was because I was eating smaller meals more often and drinking lots of water and exercising (of course). I know that it works.

My second goal is spiritually and mentally healthy. I think the two go hand in hand. If you are reading your scriptures, writing in your journal, serving, reading other church material it really can help your mental and spiritual health. When I am doing the things I am suppose to be doing I feel better about myself as a person. I find that I am not as hard on myself. We are our own worst critics.

My third and last goal for this year is to be a better mom. With the third baby on the way I need to make sure to make time for my other two precious spirits. I need to learn to use my time better to make sure no child if feeling neglected or allow them to feel like the baby is the only one that matters. I would rather play with my child and make sure they are getting the attention they need, then have a clean house. If I knew how to balance the two or were a superwoman then I am sure I would have a clean house and have time for kids but I am not that talented yet. I am sure once I learn to manage making time for my kids, the other will fall into place. I can have my kids help and that can be together time but believe me it isn't something I want to do as an activity all the time with them. I much prefer playing with them then cleaning.

So these are my goals. Now I need to break them up so that I won't be overwhelming myself and give up before I have even started. I think that is why everyone's goals are the same each year because we overload, then we give up and then we tell ourselves that we gave it our best try and that we will just have to try harder next year. That is why goals are great. You can break them up and work up to them to accomplish what you have set out to do. I know because it took my almost a year to write in my journal every day. It was so worth it in the end though, because looking through the year I can read my journal entries and see how far I have come in just one year.

Hope

“With the hope of the Atonement and the Resurrection, you have a third great hope, the hope of eternal life. … Because you have a Savior, you also believe in a happy, eternal life of creating, serving, and learning. You are already in the strait and narrow path, and there is hope smiling brightly before you. … You just need to stay in, pressing forward with a brightness of hope” (“There Is Hope Smiling Brightly before Us,” Liahona and Ensign, May 2003, 103–5)."

I really like how it states " You just need to stay in, pressing forward with a brightness of hope" We just need to press forward. Even when we have really crappy days. We just have to try each day to make it a better day. We can't give up. That is what Satan wants us to do. Even when times are tough we have to remember that we need to press forward. I absolutely love the stories of the pioneers. They are my hero's. They had sooo much heart ache and sorrow when they were coming to Utah and even before coming to Utah. They press onward to come. Remembering what they have done always helps me to remember even if life gets hard I have to press onward and hope and pray that I will make it through this life. Our gospel is amazing. Life is too precious to give up. There is great blessing at the end.

Potty Training: A plea for help

I am going to lose it. Kaitlyn is 3 and still will not poo on the potty. I do not know what to do. I have bribed with toys, stickers, given praise. My third child is on his way and I still have two in diapers. Kaitlyn is pee trained but I can't get her to do the other. I want to scream. I am pleading for help. I have 6 weeks left and would love it if she was all the way potty trained. I thought at first it was her just regressing but it has been 5 months and no progress. I admit she did it once but I think it scared her that she will not to it again. I try to tell her that she won't be able to go to preschool next year until she potty trains but she will not be swayed. She is so stubborn. Any ideas?

Terrible Two's and Hating It.

I wonder where someone came up with the phrase terrible two's. Skyler Erickson turned two yesterday and quiet honestly it threw me. I had honestly thought he was two because he acts older then his sister did at this age. He is already talking in sentences, and doing a lot of the same things Kaitlyn does. The one thing he didn't do was throw huge tantrums. It was normal for him to get mad but not a huge tantrum. The first time he threw a tantrum was a few days ago and when he was thrashing around, I kept thinking to myself, "what has gotten into him?" He has always had a temper, from the day he was born it was either screaming and yelling or being sweet as an angel. There have hardly been times when it has been in between, but this tantrum he threw was the biggest tantrum ever. He threw himself on the floor, kicking walls, screaming at the top of his lungs. I could believe Kaitlyn was able to sleep through this. It wasn't until he hit his head that he calmed down. It wasn't hard mind you but it was enough to send me flying up the stairs to his rescue. I told him it was his own fault that he had hit his head, and he says ,"uh huh. Kiss better." As soon as I kissed it better he calmed down. I was shocked. I had try to ration with him earlier but it wouldn't work. I guess he needed a distraction to get his mind off what ever it was he was throwing a tantrum about.

How am I going to survive this? Kaitlyn wasn't into throwing huge full fledged tantrums. You would think after two years I would be use to Skyler's screaming but I think he has taken to a whole new level. I can't believe how crazy it has been. I do think part of the reason is because he can feel a change in the air. He might not realize another little person will be joining our family but I think he can sense it. Any advice would be wonderful. They should make a pill or something for tantrums. They make pills for colic, gas and other wonderful things are kids go through so why not a calmer pill when they throw tantrums.

Keeping A Journal

I have found that keeping a journal has really helped me through tough times. Journals are a good thing to pass on to family members but I also believe that journals can sometimes be a place of personal revelation. There will be nights where I will write something that doesn't totally make any sense to me but later on down the road, whether it be that next week or a year from now I have always found when I read my journals over and over I learn something new from them every time.

A journal is also a good place to vent. When I vent in my journal I find that I am less frustrated at the world, my children, and anyone else who might be in my life. I am less likely to take my angrier out at people when I have written in my journal consistently. I keep a journal at my side constantly and have come to use it very regularly just to make sure I write everything I am feeling so that my children will read it some day and say, " Oh mom went through the same thing I am going through now. Oh good I am not alone."

A journal is also a place to write your memories. When I am done I love to read parts of my journal that have brought me the greatest joy or the happiest times in my life. I love my journal. When I write in my journal I feel like I have at least one person to talk to at all times.