Up and Running

So we are finally moved into our new house. The boxes are slowly but surely being unpacked and we are getting ready for Christmas. We got our internet hooked up last week and our phone too. Finally I can get on here and check emails and facebook and write something on here. In my last post I wanted to start writing in this more often which was a total flop because I didn't know that we would be moving so quickly into the new house. But now that we are here I can finally get back to my loyal reader. HaHa! Our new house is not the only thing that is up and running. Maggie has figured out that her legs are not just for sitting on and has figured out how to walk and run and stand up from a sitting position. She is so stinkin' smart.
As for the other things on my wish list of items to change about myself I haven't been so good about the being on time thing because weather and sickness are huge around here. I have been getting sick again with this pregnancy and although it has been a lot easier on me it is still not resolved. Maggie and Jeff have also been sick this week and we are looking forward to this stomach flu being out of the house for good. The weather around here has been a question mark everyday. We have cold, warmer and back to cold again. This is no good for riding to work because people don't know what to do if it gets too cold or we have bad weather. This is even ridiculous to think because we live in St. Louis and therefore we have had bad weather before...therefore why do we have to worry about it so much? I have no clue.
I have been reading more. I am currently reading "Miracles I've Known" by an older lady we used to go to church with. On a similar note we are watching less tv and listening to the radio more. This is very welcomed by Jeff who thought I watched too much tv before.
No other changes on this home front. We are expecting a little boy in April and Maggie is turning one in less than two weeks. I am probably going to go crazy very soon but I look forward to the challenge of having a one year old, I just think the addition of another little one is crazy...we shall see!

Just a Quick Note

So, it has been quite a while since my last post and I'm adding that to the things I need to do better. I am doing about 50/50. Not using the snooze is going great. I have been clocking in and out on time but I could be a little earlier. I need to work on being earlier for everything and that includes church. Really gotta work on that one. I am watching less TV these days however the reading isn't going very well. Hopefully once we move into the new house I can work on that. I have been reading almost one book a night but they are Maggie's books and I don't think they count. That's the update. I WILL be writing more soon.

Failing Miserably

So, I am not doing so well with my tasks. I am currently trying to pack up my house and declutter as I go along. I have one room done so far and two trash bags full of trash and one for the Goodwill pile. It is harder than I thought it would be because we have accumulated too much junk over the last two and a half years while in this house. Hopefully I can show some self restraint in the next one. As for books that I am reading I have started two and finished none- Terrible. I am also not doing so well on keeping my house clean because I keep thinking, " I am moving soon, I can clean that later." Watching TV is my biggest downfall. I can play with Maggie and watch tv all day and not care one bit. The only person who seems to care is Jeff and I think mostly he just wants me to work on packing the house so we can move sooner. This would be wonderful except I am too lazy and tired. Too bad we can't afford a vacation now that we have two mortgages. Boo hoo.

It's been a long time...I shouldnta left you (left you)

So, my husband, Jeff, lovingly reminded me that I haven't posted a blog in almost two months. I would beg to differ that it has only been six weeks but tomayto tomahto. So big news on the weight loss front. After six weeks I have lost six pounds. I actually lost all six last week. My doctor, however, does not like that I have lost six pounds in a week because (drum roll please...) I am pregnant and not supposed to be losing that much weight. Which is why I haven't written a blog lately. Jeff and I were trying to keep it a secret and I couldn't come on here every day or even every once in a while and tell you all of my miserable weight loss experience. So, weight loss will have to wait until after April to make it back on the to-do list. Until then I have a whole new list of things to talk about. Like:
Packing to move to the new house we were finally able to buy, which is actually right around the corner from where we live now.
Packing is an experience that I do tend to enjoy, however I can be a little anal about it. Case and point: leaving for college. Every college student living in a dorm has the same issue. You pack twice as much stuff as you need for a space that is half as small as you remember it being when you toured the campus the previous fall. I had boxes labeled A-Z with a chart of what was inside each box. Now, after living in a bigger house for the last two years and having a child we have acquired twice as much as we had when we moved here. So this would be great for a packing obsessed person like myself except now I have a child who is all over the place and makes it hard to pack and watch her at the same time. She is crawling all over the place and all over me and all over everything I touch and that makes packing quite the disaster. I put stuff in a box then she wants in the box to help take it out. Her toys don't keep her satisfied long enough to keep her out of everything I can't see behind me and the mom-eyes on the back of my head haven't fully developed yet so all I am left with is hearing thump or thud or crying to get my attention. I have now been typing too long and she is getting restless. So, I guess the task at hand for this month or so will be packing and getting my house(s) clean. YAY...my favorite thing. :( I promise to write more soon.

One Month Down

So, I am coming up on the end of the first month of the new me and I feel pretty good about my success. I have received one of the best complements, my husband is proud of me for taking this new me so seriously. :) It has been pretty rough being on time though. I am just not used to it, but I will be soon.

This is what I learned:

Being on time requires planning ahead which I have never really been very good at planning ahead. So that was an important thing to know. I realized the days that I did not plan ahead I was late or racing to be on time. No good, as I could have been pulled over. Thank goodness I was not, however, I probably should have been.

Being on time requires wanting to be on time until it becomes habit. Not there yet but I will be one day.

Also, being on time makes my day start off a little bit easier because I am not rushing and completely out of breath by the time it comes to finally getting to work.

Finally, being early allows me to take the stairs at work. Six floors up, ten stairs per flight, two flights per floor = 120 stairs and that is good exercise.

Which leads me to my new task for the month of August: exercise and dieting

I have lost all of the baby weight now and my goal for month of August is to lose 5 pounds. 5 pounds is not an outrageous goal but the path to get there is going to be tough because I still have a tendency to eat like I did while I was pregnant. I was hungry all the time in between being nauseated. Now, I don't have the nausea just the large appetite which has caused me to retain the weight that I wanted to lose before I got pregnant. If I can get down those five pounds by eating right and exercising perhaps this time it will stay off a little while longer. We shall see.

Updates:
I have started a book recommended to me and sent to me by my bff Abby, Keys to the Kingdom.

I have started working on two craft projects and I am working on getting them done soon. I just need hot glue, sand paper, and spray paint. You are trying to guess what it is aren't you? you won't! I will show pics when I'm done. Promise.

Clipping coupons to help with saving rather than only spending.

What can I say...the new me is on a roll!

Doing Better

So this being on time thing is much harder than I ever could have imagined. It not only takes waking up earlier but also planning ahead. Two things I don't do often. But this week I did pretty well. I was on time for work 2/3 days and on time for everything else that I planned. I also got almost everything done on my to-do list that I wanted to do. I am now working on my reading list and also some art projects. I am so on top of things.

As for the rest of my life...we took Maggie camping last weekend for the first time. She had a great time. We slept in a cabin, she played in the river and tried to eat rocks and she got to see and pet some horses. She just laughed and had a good ol' time. We went on walks every morning and she slept really well after playing all day.

My house is clean for the most part...however I haven't been using my list. That will be my goal for this week. To check off my list in my cleaning book.
Thanks to everyone who made book suggestions for me. I will look into it this week.

Work in Progress

So far this week I am 2/3 for being on time. I have been on time for work, meaning early (one minute is early for a beginner like me.), however I have been late to a few other engagements like breakfast on Saturday. So, overall I am doing pretty well.

So, now I guess I have to make a list of what I intend to accomplish over the next year. If I have it written down, then I know that I have something to keep me accountable. Here we go!

Changes for the better:

1. Be on time
2. Be more crafty
3. Read more/ watch less TV
4. Stop using the snooze button
5. Exercise more
6. Spend less money/ save more money (for instance using coupons and putting more money in the savings account.)
7. Stop complaining and arguing (or at least decrease- Let's be realistic I only have a year)
8. Follow through with my plans (from November) on how to clean my house better

That is all for right now. I think a great list or at least a great starting off point. Now all I need is to figure out some good books to read. If you have any suggestions let me know. I have a few craft projects already lined up and a starting point for cleaning my house. Now, obviously starting all these things at one time would be crazy but I will slowly add to the few things that I have started right now and will take suggestions on other things that might make a good change. But first let's start with some good book suggestions. Let me know what's good. Its been a long time since I really got into a good book/series. So...

And so it begins...

So I made it through the first week of the rest of my life, or at least this year. At the top of my list of life changes is the thing that so many people dislike about me. And it's really hard to dislike me, let me tell you.

Tardiness...
Most people can count on me for one thing: being late. I race into work and I clock in at the very last minute before I will officially be late. I have been like this for as long as I can remember. I don't know where it came from either. My parents are both people who usually show up early. My best friend is the most punctual person I know. She was even in charge on my wedding day of making sure we stayed on task so that I would get the free photo from the photographer for starting on time. But me...I don't know what went wrong. I didn't get the early gene or something.

My husband complains a lot about me being late everywhere I go. I always have the best of intentions though. I get in plenty of time and I hit the snooze button (we'll come back to that) and I shower rather quickly and then I go through the rest of my morning routine and there is no reason why I shouldn't leave on time and yet I am always racing out the door five, ten, or more minutes later than I had originally planned. I like to stuff as much stuff into my time as possible.

This is going to change starting with the SNOOZE. The person who invented the snooze button must have been a last minute kind of person like me. They planned to sleep that extra 7 minutes and decided that those last 7 bonus minutes make a huge difference. They don't. I got up this morning without using the snooze button (and yesterday morning, too!) and I felt more rested. What was Mr. Snooze button thinking?

So, if you are keeping track that is Megan- 2 Snooze button- 1 ( I pushed it once on Sunday, forgetting that it was the beginning of new me. I'm not even sure if I should count that one but I will to keep my conscience clear).

Also I clocked in early twice this week! Go me! This whole not being late and changing my life thing may be just what the doctor ordered. A good friend in high school left this quote in our senior year book and I think I should remember it every morning SNOOZE comes calling. "To be early is to be on time. To be on time is to be late." Words to live by...words to live by

Maggie

Maggie is my 5 month old daughter and the sweetest girl I know. You can ask just about anyone who has met her and they would tell you the same thing. She is rolling all over the floor and interested in everything. Anything and everything goes in her mouth to explore and taste. And as of yesterday she is cutting her first tooth. So, of course she is drooling all over everything.

We took her to the beach for the first time yesterday, too. She played in the sand and in the water and of course tried to put the sand in her mouth. After I realized what she was trying to do I gave her a bottle and she fell asleep under the umbrella which I had to hold to keep from blowing away.

It is so cute to see her experiencing things for the first time because the things that may seem old or mundane to me, she thinks are great and wants to know everything about them. Things like a wooden spoon which just so happens to be one of her new favorite things. I think it is currently tied with her feet for second favorite thing to suck on. And of course the number one thing she likes to suck on are her hands.

It is also so much fun to dress her up in pretty dresses and cute little outfits. She pretty much lets me put her in anything and doesn't care that I change her outfit as many times as I want. She has very good taste in clothing too. I let her pick out whatever she wants, not that she knows what she is picking and she usually picks out the thing closest to her and the thing she can get in her mouth the easiest.

So, basically she is the greatest baby and I love her and everything she does from the laughing and squeeling to screaming (even though that can get annoying really quickly) to the pooping up her back which she did earlier. And that reminds me that I have to go get her outfit soaking so I don't let it stain.

More about Maggie to come I'm sure.