A new year has come ...

So it's now the fifth day of January and I have (technically) already broken one of my resolutions. However, upon further consideration, I decided it is not feasible to blog every. single. day. Therefore, I am amending my resolution to blog every day for the rest of this week, and then at least once a week for the rest of the year. There. Done. It's in writing.

I have SO much to catch up on that it's pathetic -- well, beyond pathetic, really, when you consider that I have yet to get past the month of September. :::glares at Christy for suggesting it be renamed The Monthly Pinky::: So I am going to spend the rest of this week playing catch-up, if only so I have the memories down on "paper" to go back and read later. Ironically, I have so much more to write about now, and yet no time to actually do it.

Being a parent is time-consuming. Go figure.

I am not usually one to make resolutions. Actually, that's not true. I always resolve to go on a diet, and then by January 2, I have discovered we have leftover fudge/cookies/truffles and poof, resolution gone and waistline expanding. Last year, I used pregnancy as an excuse to not make my annual weight-loss resolution (especially when you consider that I was still throwing up every day at that point and would have vastly preferred to gain weight.)

But this year, I am taking a different approach. I am not looking at resolutions so much as keep-or-break, but more as helping me stay on track. I always figured if I was a stay-at-home mom/housewife, I would have tons of time to get things done, and bake muffins and iron Chris' shirts. Well ... I do bake, but it's usually at very random times of the day. (I maintain there is something to be said for going to bed in a house that smells like banana bread or scones.) And as for the ironing, let's be realistic -- it's called permanent press in the dryer, or, if I am feeling really fancy, the dry cleaner. And said dryer is usually going around 2 a.m. (like now.)

Bottom line: Most of the time, there aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done. And while I have come to accept this, it doesn't particularly thrill me, and I usually end up annoyed that I didn't finish some task. (You can take the girl out of the newsroom, but you can't take the deadline-or-death newsroom attitude out of the girl.) So I am treating my new year's resolutions as a general rule for what I need to get done, whether it be in a day, a month or over the course of the year.

My first resolution is to do something household oriented every day -- and I don't mean the laundry and the dishes, which I consider everyday tasks. I am talking about running errands (i.e. taking those aforementioned shirts to the dry cleaner or mailing packages), grocery shopping, or doing some form of organization. It took us more than four years to finish unpacking our house (before we had to make space for the nursery, our (now) guest room/home office was stacks of boxes and old clothes hidden away by a closed door) and there is still plenty to be done since we focused on getting the rooms cleared out rather than organizing the stuff we moved.

Therefore, by the time spring rolls around, I would like every closet and cabinet in this house to be organized, and I have kicked off my project in our bedroom. The last two nights have been spent cleaning out our closet and dresser. I am not even finished and have already filled an entire garbage bag. Becoming a mom was the wake-up call that I needed that no matter how much I spent on them, I am never again going to wear that purple glitter halter top or those pink cargo pants. Goodbye, college clothes. Goodbye, anything from Abercrombie & Fitch and American Eagle. And goodbye, at least a third of Chris' sock collection. Seriously, when the drawer is too full to close, you don't need any more socks. Ever.

My second resolution is to get some form of exercise every day, even if it just involves dancing around while I fold the laundry. I am going to get a Wii Fit, and am hoping to go swim at my old high school during adult swim on occasional evenings. I figure this is more feasible than just saying I am going on a diet and then feeling guilty if I have a cookie. I enjoy cooking and baking far too much to restrict myself to celery and brown rice.

If I eat healthy all day, I don't have to put in as much effort, but if I want to eat something bad (i.e. carbs, carbs and more carbs), I have to work for it. I have a feeling it will make me think long and hard before I bite into a cookie if it's 10 p.m. and I have no inclination to go turn on the treadmill. Attitude is everything.

And my last resolution -- this is more of a family resolution -- is to evict Collin from our room. Once upon a time, I said my child would never sleep in my bedroom. And yet, somehow, that turned into six weeks ... and six months ... and now we're heading toward eight months. I need sleep. We all do. And when you combine two adults who snore and talk in their sleep (see, Chris, I am admitting I snore. Aren't you proud?!) and a restless infant who moves around a ton and wakes up at random times to talk to himself, well, the only ones getting a good night's sleep are the cats.

So as soon as we do some paint touch-ups, Collin will be moving next door. He has a gorgeous room with a very comfortable crib mattress and plenty of stuffed bears to keep him company. He is more than welcome to tell them how poorly his mommy is doing on her diet. I admit moving him is somewhat bittersweet as I feel so much better knowing he's close by and that I can check on him throughout the night, but at the same time, that has become a bad habit.

It won't be easy, though. I can already tell I'm going to need some form of pie, and according to my calculations, I only have to run about 300 miles to make up for it.

And they say resolutions aren't doable.