March Madness! Or, How I Can't Get My Act Together

Well, with all good-intentioned resolutions will eventually come stumbling blocks. I will call my stumbling block "March 2016". I've been pretty mediocre, and maybe downright pathetic, at following through with some of my goals this month. Sure, I could make up a laundry list of reasons but I'm not really here to air out said dirty laundry. Actually, it's more like gently worn and might require a sniff test. J/k*. I'm just lazy.

Here's what's up... I haven't posted a damn thing this entire month. I've drafted a few ideas but nothing's been catching my interest for me to bother beefing up and posting to the interwebiverse (patent pending... well, no... not really). I was doing pretty well on my photo challenge for the first half of the month but hit a creativity block (which resembles me not checking my challenge topic list on a daily basis) so nothing's been going up on Instagram except pictures I've taken of food. Mmmm, food.

But check it out, here's what I've been doing in the meanwhile, since I haven't been posting here:

Every year, I fill out a NCAA March Madness bracket, much like thousands upon thousands of Americans. Except I know squat about college basketball, also like many other thousands of Americans. My method is simple. I select teams using an arbitrary algorithm I've created and which resides solely in my brain that factors in the school's name, the mascot, the team colors, and the ranking. Essentially, I guess and hope for the best. All of this (lack of) effort is pretty much to see if I can beat my husband at something he takes rather seriously. Turns out though, my pick to win the whole thing was a bust early on. So Hubs and I are counting how many teams we chose correctly overall and tallying it up. Whoever made the most correct picks wins! Grand prize: an ice cream sundae!! Hubs says the whole thing is wrapping up soon (like I'd know, heh) so I'll get to find out shortly if I win or not. (I'm one pick behind him and hoping beyond all hope that I get my sundae, dammit!) 

I also celebrated my wedding anniversary this month. It's been 6 years of marriage and 8 years together. We had a long-overdue day date to the movies and lunch since it's been awhile that we've gone anywhere in daylight without our Baby G. So why didn't we have a romantic dinner date instead? Glad you asked! Because I had a very important date to see Nick Carter in concert that night... without Hubs! That's why!

"Hi, my name is Kim. I'm 31 years old. I've been a die-hard Backstreet Boys fan for more than half my life. Nick Carter is my favorite."

"Hi, Kim!"

Something (else?) cool happened this month. I won a free book giveaway on Goodreads! It's The Dream Lover by Elizabeth Berg. This is actually the 5th book I've won over the last several years. I'm really looking forward to reading this one! As for the past books, I only read 2 of the 4 that I got. Though, I have every intention to read the other 2 this year, finally!

Also book related, I finally finished the Chronicles of Narnia series. It's taken most of my adult life before I ever bothered to look into the series, and took over the past 2 years to get through all seven books. I feel very accomplished now, and I've been basking in my own self-approval. *smug smile*

As far as my other goals go, I haven't been very good at recording moments I want to remember with my daughter. She's a toddler now and at an age when she's constantly surprising us with the new things she's learned or picked up. It's quite difficult to keep up with, honestly. My heart breaks a little for my future-self who may not remember little things like when Baby G started using certain words correctly or when she figured out how to do something new, but my present-self is very much enjoying the moments and soaking it all in. In that respect, my heart fills up a little more and sometimes I think it will burst with love and pride when I just sit and observe my little girl. (You know, when she's not throwing a tantrum or something).

So, there you have it. A month later, I finally checked back in to my blog. I'm hoping to do better next month. Until next time (whenever that is....)!!

* "Just kidding"

One Month Check-In

It's been officially one month since I started to live my life by my one word theme(s). So far, I would say I'm doing well, even if not much has changed overall in my life. Here are the updates of what I've been up to:

My photo-a-day challenge

So maybe I forgot a few days but I'm really proud of myself for figuring out a new form of social media (Instagram, wha wha!). I'm also proud of myself for being more aware of my surroundings so that I could find ways to complete a daily photo challenge. It was an exercise for my creativity skills, which I honestly don't practice enough. I'm wrapping up January's challenge and looking forward to the pictures I will take in February.

Second Sundays
There's not much to report back on this since I've only had one go-around at this goal. I did write about the dinner I had with my friends so that's really the extent of my update. I'm skipping the 2nd Sunday in February since it's my birthday, and I will be spending time with my family but that'll give me more time to think about what I want to do with my friends in March.

Eclectic Readers Book Club
We had our first meeting of 2016 about the graphic novel The Sculptor by Scott McCloud. I more or less enjoyed the graphic novel and we had a great discussion around it. The Eclectic Readers podcast did a great episode on the story and one of our members/podcasters even had a Twitter exchange with the author. (These are the things that a bookworm lives for.)

Our next book is Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. This is one of those classics that any avid reader has on their to-read list, and honestly, without the accountability of a book club, I never would've gotten to this on my own. The length of the book intimidated me and the "classic-ness" of it made me feel... well, unworthy of reading it. I don't know how that makes sense but that's how I generally feel about classics... like my wee little brain can't handle it. Since this is so long, we are postponing our discussion until March and that's fine by me since I'm not even halfway through and there's only a month left to read. (Thank goodness it's a leap year with an extra day in February!)

Baby G Moments
Sometimes it's hard to remember to jot down a quick memory or to post about a moment with my daughter that's really touched me. I want to be better about this. Maybe I just need to be better at tweeting and use that like a one-sentence journal of my Baby G moments.

10,000 Steps per Day
I still have not completed one full month of walking 10,000 steps each day of the month. The closest I got was back in September and I dropped out toward the end of the month (like the 25th or 26th) because of a very bad day that had me unmotivated. I'm going to try not to set myself up to fail. In February, I plan to hit 10,000 steps on weekdays and aim for 2,500 steps/day on weekends. Weekends are my downfall and I'm ok with that now. Acceptance.

So, onto my big ones! My two words for this year: simplify and connect.

I am taking it slowly but I think I've got a handle on simplifying where I can. I still find opportunities to try and cut out the extra clutter and drown out the distracting noises of life. One thing I want to tackle is to unsubscribe from newsletters and promotions that I never read. It's such a pain seeing my email inbox fill up with junk. Anyway, I am continuing to go through our house and get rid of things or sell stuff. Our guest bedroom is going to be my Mt. Everest though. We've been storing random junk in there and it needs to be cleared out, like yesterday. I'm also keeping things simple by saying no when I can and not cluttering up my calendar with unnecessary stuff. I feel like I actually have more free weekends (right now) so we'll see if it stays that way.

As for my theme to connect more with my loved ones. I'm going strong with this one. I've had some dinners and lunches with friends. I have a brunch coming up and am trying to plan playdates with some mom friends. The only problem is that I don't really feel like this is my theme for the year. It's definitely a resolution I've made and so far, I'm sticking with it. But I am going to have to retire "connect" from My One Word Year for 2016. Maybe I will revive it in the future and really spend a year connecting with more creative activities, but right now, it's not what my main focus is.

So there you have it... I'm actually down to just one word for this year and it is SIMPLIFY! I'm doing great on most of my resolutions and goals, which quite frankly, I'm shocked with that progress. Maybe it's incorporating more social media outlets to keep myself accountable. Maybe it's thinking I have people who actually read this blog. Maybe it's just because I actually care this time around and made goals that I could stick to.

Maybe all of the above.

Baby G moments: 1/26/16

Baby G just finished her first week of daycare and has her first "daycare cold". We have been scrambling to figure out logistics and backup care and alternating time off. Meanwhile we are just trying to make our girl comfortable and nurse her back to health. It's hard seeing our usually good natured, happy baby in so much misery. Just trying to hold myself together and be the best mom I can be for her.

Baby G moments from 12/15/15

My little girl took her first real steps on her 14-month birthday! We are so proud and excited for this new milestone!! And quite rightly, terrified!

Baby G moments from 12/12/15

My toddler can't walk yet but on Saturday night, she stood up on her own for the first time. No helping hands, no furniture or walls to clutch, nothing. Just her own little 30-inch tall frame pushing into downward dog pose, and then fully extending into mountain pose... well, not quite mountain pose. It was more like a starfish - feet spread beyond shoulder-width apart, head held high, arms to the side. Ok, more like arms flailing rapidly as she gave herself enthusiastic rounds of applause and smiled with pride. She held her balance for several seconds, but collapsed to the floor, only to push back up as soon as possible to stand again and again... and beam with more pride. We were cheering like lunatics for this milestone. Our baby is growing up!

Baby G moments 12/4/15

Baby G's vocabulary currently includes:

Hi/Hey
Bye/Bye-Bye
Baby
Dog = Doh
Woof Woof = whoo whoo (hard H sound)
Elmo = Emmo
Elmo's world = Emmo whoa
La la la
Good girl = goo gur
Car = Cah
Ball or Bear = Bah

She knows how to point to her nose and belly when you ask her where are they.

If you ask her "How big are you?", Baby G will throw her arms up to show "SO BIG!".

If you ask "where are you?!", she will cover her eyes or hide behind a blanket and then reveal herself. "There you are!"

Baby G has a little singing teapot toy. If you ask her to pour tea, she will tip it over like she's pouring.

She puts everything on her head like a hat.

I love this wonderful daughter of mine.

Baby G moments 12/2/15

I have to post this or I'll forget Baby G did these things. Note to self - she is 13.5 months right now.

Yesterday, Hubs and I asked Baby G to bring us her stuffed Elmo toy. She went to her toy bin, pushed aside some items, and pulled Elmo out! She showed him to us and then cuddled him. We were stunned that she knew which toy Elmo was!

Today, Baby G learned where her belly was. She already knew a few other body parts. The conversation went like so:

Me: Where's your nose?
BG: *points at nose*
Hubs: Where's your belly?
BG: *points at belly*
Me: Where's your mouth?
BG: *points at mouth*
Both of us: GOOD GIRL!
BG: "gooo girrr"
Both of us: *jaws drop*

I'm calling these kinds of posts "Baby G moments".