New Year, New Goals

Little A, last January

I was wanting to reflect on last year's Goals for the New Year, but I didn't post anything and I can't remember for the life of me if I ever made any.
I don't generally do resolutions because they seem like a setup for failure in my mind. Instead, I made a few goals for the coming year. Basically, I'd like to achieve these before 2013.
And, since I didn't do it last year, I definitely need to document them somewhere!

1. Open my Etsy shop. Um, did you forget about that, too? Okay, so I guess I didn't actually forget, but it definitely got pushed aside for a while. Almost a year, in fact.

2. Buy a mini-van! Super exciting, right? We've been a one vehicle family for the past year or so. Jeff had a truck for a short while which was awesome, but we decided to sell it and the specifics aren't coming to me right now. Oh wait, maybe it had something to do with us driving it to the camp--2 1/2 hours away--and Jeff getting it stalled on some bush road and having to get a ride back home with his dad to pick up our car. And then, going back up again the next weekend to fix it and bring it back home. Hmm, maybe that had something to do with it. Anyways, with another baby on the way, it just makes sense for us to get a mini-van. I know we could make it with a car, but if we have to get another vehicle either way, I'd rather have a van.
On a side note, I don't recall ever being the "I'm never getting a mini-van" type. Maybe it had to do with a coworker back in the day who told me she regretted getting an Explorer instead of a van. She said it was such a pain to get kids and carseats in and out. Or maybe it was the fact that I always wished we had a mini-van growing up instead of a full-size. Not that a mini-van was even an option with that many kids.

3. Buy a house. Or get a house? Even since reading Total Money Makeover, the word "buy" has a much different meaning. I guess either way, we're "buying" a house, we just won't completely "own" it for a while. I'll try not to rant about our latest increase in rent here because I'm sure you've heard enough about it elsewhere. I've gotten to the point where I'm done paying someone else to rent. It feels like we're flushing our money away after 3 years. Plus, in our area, I know we can find a house with a mortgage much lower than what we're paying monthly right now. Now that it's becoming more real, I can't wait!

[Pause to get the turkey in the oven. Oh yeah, we're eating late tonight.]

4. Have a successful VBAC. This is actually my #1. I haven't talked about it much on here, but Adrian was breach and after trying for several weeks to get him to flip, I ended up with a c-section. It was such a huge disappointment and I've felt sort of cheated ever since. I wish I knew then what I know now about preventing breach babies. I know there are still no guarantees, but at least I'm trying everything I can to avoid another c-section this time around. If nothing else, it helps to alleviate some of my stress and anxiety when I'm able to be proactive rather than taking the "wait and see" approach.

5. Cut back on grains. Oh yeah, there had to be a health-related goal right? I'm hypoglycemic so I should be eating a high-protein, low-carb diet. I know I feel my best when I'm eating right. Cutting back on grains helps me focus more on vegetables, something we all need more of! I think breakfast will be the hardest. I do not like breakfast foods. My go-to breakfasts are usually muffins, pancakes, or baked oatmeal. I'm not a big fan of eggs and I have yet to find a natural sausage that I like. Just focusing on this one meal would help a lot with this goal!

6. Potty-train Adrian! I was hoping we'd be a little further along by now--he's been sitting on the potty since September, but only peed twice. He's definitely interested, I'm probably the one holding him back. I really, really want him trained, or at least, well on his way, before the baby arrives. We'll see what happens!

What about you? Any resolutions or goals set for the coming year?