#ThompsonNumber3 To Do List: Preparing for Jack-Attack

Since I am only four one week away from #ThompsonNumber3's debut I figured I better make a list of things I still need to do in order to be ready for him to be here! 

Things to get out of storage: 

• Newborn sized clothes 
• Infant car seat and base
• Arm's Reach Co-Sleeper
• Various swings and bouncy seats

Things to do: 

• Put clothes into the dresser
• Install infant car seat into the car
• Pack hospital bag
• Complete birth plan and print out a few copies to take to the hospital
• Hang up artwork in his room
• Put crib together

I am actually surprised at how much of the list has already been completed but there is always more to be done!  Typing up my birth plan is the BIGGEST thing that needs to be done as soon as possible- Jack could be here tonight or in six weeks... lets hope it's sooner than later! 

FBP: Resolved (February)

This year I resolved to creating monthly goals rather than yearly resolutions in hopes that I will stick to them and create better habits.  This month's goal was to go on a date with my husband- just my husband! This is a big thing for the two of us because we were always used to taking the boys with us when we went out.  The first time that Tyler and I went out without Everett was when I was pregnant with Nolan and we actually went to a Fredericksburg Family Birth Circle meeting! Now, we are able to get away every once in a while with just Nolan in tow but since Nolan was born we haven't taken the time to go out without our children. 

We received a gift card to Old Towne Steak and Seafood for Christmas and this past weekend we were happy to put it to good use! I called about a month ahead and made our reservation, then all we had to do was wait for the day to roll around. Well, the days have this funny habit of coming faster and faster and before we knew it, our date night was here! The boys were very excited about us going out because Rae Rae and Pig Paw (my parents) were coming over to babysit. 

When we got to the restaurant we were seated right away which made me happy that I called ahead and made the reservation! Tyler and I were seated and continued our conversation that we had started in the car.  Throughout the evening we were able to freely talk without having to break to pick up someone, change a diaper, play cars, etc.  We have been together since 2004 and even after almost ten years we can still talk all through the night! I am so thankful that we took the time to go out on a date, even though we LOVE our kids it is really nice to take the time to reconnect with each other.  When we got home the kids were quite excited to see us and we were excited to see them as well! Everett told us all about what he did while we were gone and Nolan was especially happy to see me so he could nurse. 

Have you ever taken time to go out with your spouse?  Do you think that it is something that should be a priority for couples? This is something that Tyler and I would like to start doing on a monthly basis, even if it is just to grab some ice cream at Carl's.  

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This post originally appeared on Not So Average Momma on Fredericksburg Parent.net! 

FBP: Resolved (January)

This year I resolved to creating monthly goals rather than yearly resolutions in hopes that I will stick to them and create better habits.  This month's goal was to take some time each week to spend with just Everett.  Having an eight month at home who refuses to take the bottle except when he absolutely has to makes spending one-on-one time with Everett hard and it is often something that is neglected.  

For Christmas, Everett got a trampoline and he LOVES it! So for one of our "dates" we headed outside to the trampoline and got to bouncing.  I could instantly tell that Everett loved the personal attention that I was able to give him and that he was having a great time.  He loves to jump and bounce and had fun playing outside with me.  I like to incorporate learning into what we are doing so we tooks some time to listen to the sounds outside, talked about the trees in the backyard, and even counted the number of times he was bouncing.  

We have had some issues with Everett acting out in the past (see here and here) and I think that a lot of it has to do with us not giving him enough attention so I am hopeful that this monthly goal will be beneficial in helping us to reconnect with him.

So have any of y'all set monthly goals or yearly resolutions? Have you been sticking to them?  I'd love to hear about it!

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This post originally appeared on Not So Average Momma on Fredericksburg Parent.net! 

Weekend Links

Hope you have a great weekend! We will be having a pizza party to celebrate Tyler and Krystal's birthdays!

I can't wait to try some of these 50 different ways to make water taste better...

Are you into easy meals? Here's how to prep for a full month of freezer meals.

I love moscato and I love DIY projects so these DIY wine charms from Little Pink Monster are right up my ally!

Will you be taking on any of these Ten New Year's Resolutions for Couples?

Speaking of, check out my plan for 2014...

And last but not least, Todrick Hall is at it again! He teamed up with Virgin airlines to create this ridiculously awesome flight safety video!

FBP: Resolved!

Last year I set out to drink more water. I wanted to set a simple goal, one that was not going to be too hard to achieve. I even broke it out into smaller goals so that I could track my progress and be able to set myself up for success. I knew that the larget amounts of soda that I was consuming was not only bad for my health but also was helping me pack on the pregnancy pounds. 

So here we are, oneyear later and I can confidently say (oh all right, I reluctantly admit) that I have not drank my daily allotment of water in days weeks months. Why not?  Well firstly I don't like how water "tastes" or that it has a lack of taste, which is a pretty crappy reason but it's true.  When I drink water, I have to have a cup full of ice and preferably a straw.  Anyways, I  wish that I had stayed on track with it but looking toward the positive, I did cut down my soda drinking to almost zero and that I am very proud of.

I wonder if I want to set these goals because I think that I "have" to, because everyone else is setting them. I like to set goals but it seems like using the whole year as a guideline is a little too far out of sight. It is so easy to keep pushing things to another day, and then next week, and then here we are again one year from today saying how we wish we had kept up with all of the goals we set for ourselves.

So what if, instead of setting a resolution for the whole year we made monthly goals? Not the same goal each month but actual goals that can be achieved within that month... I'm going to try it, and I hope you will too!

Here are my 2014 goals:

• January: Take time once a week to spend an hour with just Everett doing whatever he wants to do
  • He likes to play at the park, watch the trains, play playdough so I am sure that we will explore some of those options
• February: Go on a date with Tyler, without the kids!
  • We have a gift certificate to Old Towne Steak and Seafood (thanks Grammy and Jacky!) so I think that we go there! 
• March: Read a book.
  • I'd like to start knocking out some books on this list... 
• April: Get a massage
• May: Go jogging twice a week
  • Notice I didn't list this one until I knew the weather would be nice! :) 
• June: Reconnect with an old friend
• July: Create Nolan's one year baby book
  • I created a shutterfly book with photos from Everett's first year along with his milestones and want to do one for Nolan as well! 
• August: Declutter the house
• September: Cut ties with people who hold me back
• October: Try out a new hobby.
  • I have always wanted to learn how to knit 
• November: Get our holiday letter completed
  • This past year I didn't get it out until a few days before Christmas!
• December: Have the Christmas shopping done and wrapped by the 15th!

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Have you liked my Facebook page yet? Please do!

This post first appeared on my Not So Average Momma on Fredericksburg Parent.net!

New Year, New Goals: January Update

Here I am checking in with one month already down for the year of 2013!  Man did it blow by!? So have I been keeping up with my goals?   First, here's a recap of what I wanted to achieve in the first three months of 2013... 

• January- March Goals
• No soda! 
• Substitute for tea, juice, and water
• Drink 16 ounces of water per day 
• Eat more healthily
• Only eat fast food 4x/month at most 
• Daily scripture reading
• Reinforce this by attending weekly women's Bible study
• Reinforce this by using a daily devotional book

Soda/Water: 

I have not had a soda since 2012! Wahoo! I almost caved at one point because I was so tired and wanted an extra "jolt" of energy but I withheld!  I have also found that the more water I drink, the more water that I crave. It's weird because I have never been a "water drinker" but I am slowly getting used to drinking it.  As far as the 16 ounces a day goes, I have been keeping up with that most days.  I am on the hunt for a good water bottle that I can use every day so that I can track how much I am drinking.  (If you have any suggestions, please let me know!) 

Fast Food/Healthy Eating: 

In order to track how often I was eating fast food I created a "note" on iPhone so that I can add any visits I have to fast food establishments easily.  Here's what the list looked like in January: 5th: Sonic, 11th: Chick Fil A, 26th: McDonalds, 28th: Chick Fil A 

I did reach my four times a month quota and I think that it is going to be very hard to scale all the way down to one time a month by the end of the year! I am sure that it will be worth it though! 

I have been trying more recipes at home and am hoping to cut out gluten entirely.  I am a sucker for bread so it is going to be a challenge.  Since Tyler lives a paleo lifestyle, he already has cut out all gluten in his diet.  Prior to pregnancy I was more strict and lived a "mostly" paleo lifestyle but right now it is unrealistic for me.  I am also trying to cut out refined sugar and sugar substitutes.  Check out my "Mouth Watering Wednesdays" posts for new recipes that we've been trying out! 

Daily Scripture Reading: 

I have been reading almost every day but I am keeping up with my daily devotional book.  The book I have, Daily Wisdom for Women is great and it is amazing how often the things that I am reading run so parallel to what I am dealing with that day.  I have been trying to set aside time every day, usually in the morning to read.  

Unfortunately, I was not able to participate in a women's Bible study this quarter at church because of some changes that are going on within the Thompson household (more on this at some point!)  I have however, started meeting with a good friend from church once a week to just vent and connect and it has been really great.  I think that it has been very inspiring to have someone to confide in and to be held accountable by! 

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So that's how I have been doing! How about you? Are you still hanging to your New Years resolutions or have they already been thrown by the wayside? I'd love to hear how you're doing! 

New Year, New Goals

With 2013 starting it is the perfect time to set new goals (not resolutions)! The best way (for me) to achieve my goals is to start out small and slowly build up. For example, one of my goals this year is to drink more water; if I decided to just start drinking 64 ounces of water right out of the gate it would never happen.  So I have broken down my goals in three month segments to help me actually achieve them.  How about y'all? Do you have any goals set?  How do you achieve them?  I am hoping to revisit these goals at the end of each of the three month segments and fill you in on how I did! :) 

• January- March Goals
• No soda! 
• Substitute for tea, juice, and water
• Drink 16 ounces of water per day 
• Eat more healthily
• Only eat fast food 4x/month at most 
• Daily scripture reading
• Reinforce this by attending weekly women's Bible study
• Reinforce this by using a daily devotional book

• April- June Goals
• No soda! 
• Substitute for tea, juice, and water
• Drink 32 ounces of water per day
• Eat more healthily
• Only eat fast food 3x/month at most 
• Daily scripture reading
• Reinforce this by using a daily devotional book

• July- September Goals
• No soda! 
• Substitute for tea, juice, and water
• Drink 48 ounces of water per day
• Eat more healthily
• Only eat fast food 2x/month at most 
• Daily scripture reading
• Reinforce this by using a daily devotional book

• October- December Goals
• No soda! 
• Substitute for tea, juice, and water
• Drink 64 ounces of water per day
• Eat more healthily
• Only eat fast food 1x/month at most 
• Daily scripture reading
• Reinforce this by using a daily devotional book

Have a blessed 2013!