I didn’t mean to go on a small blog hiatus, but here we are six days into 2016 and I’m finally getting around to a little bit of reflecting on 2015 and 2016. At the end of every year, I generally post my reading stats and year in books, as well as a wrap up of the year and goals for the new year. Last year, I was at the tail end of my pregnancy and wise enough to foresee that major goals would not be a good idea for 2015 and the same will hold true for 2016. I’ve finally started to learn that life with a baby (soon to be toddler!) has its own set of challenges and that it’s best to just go with the flow… no rigid plans for the year, no major goals that I might not have time for.
2015… what a year (of course)! We welcomed our baby boy in January, and life hasn’t been the same since. Everything else this year stayed the same, and yet everything has changed. If you’re a parent, you’ll know just what I mean. Undoubtedly, it has been the hardest year of my life because motherhood kind of changes you to the core. Your life does this total 360 and it’s all such a huge adjustment. And yet… there is nothing else in the world quite like it. I didn’t know you could love this much. That’s all I can say about my life in 2015, to be honest. Caleb was at the front and center of our world. I had no other major accomplishments but that’s okay because really, what better to accomplish than that?
Now that I’ve started to settle a bit more into my role as mommy, perhaps I can do a bit more in 2016, but I can’t make any promises. Toddlerhood is around the corner and I’m not sure yet what changes that will bring.Like last year though, I do have some small, no-pressure, not too super specific intentions for the year:
- Maintain a blogging schedule of once a week. Some weeks, I’m able to do more, but most weeks I am not, so we’re keeping this one low-key.
- Get active again because I really, really miss it and need to shed the last of my pregnancy weight (about 30 ish pounds to go there). I’m starting really easy here and saying I’d like to workout at least once a week. Surely I can find the time and energy for that.
- Read 20 books. I know this is super lame, I know! I used to read 70+ a year. Last year, I set my Goodreads goal to 50 instead of my usual 100 because I knew Caleb was coming and I still failed miserably (final count of 2015: 18!). I set my GR goal to 50 again but I’m going to cut myself some slack and shoot for 20. I may even change that number on GR to 20, too.
- Do a little bit more freelance writing. I wrote for Desitin last year and I really enjoyed it. I’m hoping to do at least one writing job this year.
- Continue to work on finances with the Dave Ramsey plan. We’ve been following for about a month and a half now and have already made some progress with how we view and spend money by setting up sinking funds, limiting our fun money to a set amount, and budgeting more strictly. We have big plans to slay our auto loan, student loans, and mortgage by using the snowball effect. We’re focusing in on our auto loan this year since it’s the smallest of our debts. Wish us luck! We have a little over four years left on the loan but have plans to pay it off within 18 months.
Honestly, that’s all I’ve got for 2016. I’m trying to ease my way back into making more time for the things that are important to me because at the end of the day, we have to take care of ourselves in order to take care of our babies. I really, really need to get active again. I miss running and I miss feeling good about myself. I need to be healthy for my son.
As far as last year’s reading, I don’t have a lot to reflect on since I didn’t read as much as I normally do. I will note that I read a lot more nonfiction this year than usual, and a whole lot of children’s books (over 100 of those!). The surge in nonfiction reading was because I was reading finance books and motherhood memoirs. I’ve also found it easier to jump back into nonfiction than fiction since I don’t get a whole lot of reading time in lately and you don’t generally have backstories to keep straight with most nonfiction.
I will say that my absolute favorite read of the year was The Sh*t No One Tells You: A Guide to Surviving Your Baby’s First Year by Dawn Dais. That book was a standout for me this year because it was so damn honest and blunt about what motherhood is like. It made me realize I’m not, in fact, alone. If you’re interested in what else I actually managed to read this year, check out my annual reading log.
So, that’s what I’ve got on 2015, and what I’m planning on for 2016. I’ve got a whining baby on my hands at the moment, so off I go! Happy New Year!
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