New Year... Same Me

 Obviously it was not my goal in the new year to be better about posting things on time. While I generally don't believe in resolutions on January 1, I do think it is an opportunity to think about things you want to improve upon. So, mainly I am writing this as a way to keep myself accountable. To make sure that my "resolutions" stick and that I continue to improve.
  One of the major things I had been wanting to work on was reaching out to people. It became so easy for me to only focus on the 4 people in this house since they require the most of me at this point. While they are my number one priority, and their needs will always be my focus, I really want to look outside. I need to tell the people that I love and miss that I love and miss them. I want people to know I really do care. I lost touch with too many people after the girls were born. I know it doesn't happen overnight but I want to be a better friend. I want to listen to people and have them know that when we get a chance to catch up, that they are where my attention is. This is true for people I see all the time as well as friends I have lost touch with. This is even true for my husband which leads me to my next goal.
  I want to be as much a wife as a mother. Again, this is hard when the girls need so much from me at this point but sometimes I get so wrapped up in what they need, that I forget that my marriage has needs to. We need to go on more dates. We need to talk to each other, with the computer out of sight and the TV off. I need to ask him what he needs from me, as much as I answer what the girls need. I need to have more patience with him. And most of all, I need to remind him daily how proud of him I am, for everything he does for our family, and how thankful I am to be doing this day in and day out with him.
   I want to strive all the time to be a better mother. To spend more time playing and less time worrying how the house looks. To read more books. To spend one on one time with each of my daughters every day. To show them, everyday, that they are what I have been working towards my whole life. To show less frustration and more patience. To remember they are little, and learning, and that sometimes it does take 234235 times of hearing the same thing for it to stick. I want to see their creativity and let them teach me how to play, instead of showing them how toys are "supposed" to be played with. I want to respect each of them as individuals and realize they have unique needs and personalities and that I love each of them for exactly what they are.
  To 2013, and staying me, just becoming better.