Resolution Follow up: March 2012

I haven't been blogging so much lately. I'm not sure there's a reason. Sometimes I just get into a groove, enjoying life, getting so caught up in it that I don't want to have to break away from it to write about it. My kiddos are a riot these days; I've never loved motherhood more. So I guess I'm just holding on tight while I can, because we all know there are peaks and crevasses in this game of parenthood.

Anyway, I've been plugging away at my resolutions, and here I am to be held accountable for my activities.

1. This month was tricky in trying to have a date with "that girl." An internship has presented itself to my husband, and we found it could maybe, maybe lead to a full-time thing in England. We're talking a loooooong shot. But, of course, it's got me all excited, thinking about my time there. So I've been doing a lot of reminiscing this month (maybe being sentimental is better for me than I thought). I almost decided to let the reminiscing count as my resolution for the month, and then I decided that I didn't want to let myself off the hook so easily. This is a serious resolution, and has already done me more good than I had anticipated. So today (nothing like procrastination, right?) I decided to watch my favorite movie, Breakfast at Tiffany's. It wasn't quite the same with a toddler and a baby around, but I certainly enjoyed falling in love with George Peppard and Audrey Hepburn again. It had been several years since I'd watched it. And now all I want to do is watch Audrey movies. Charade. Wait Until Dark. Sabrina. Roman Holiday. Sigh. She's so lovely. P.S. Did you know it's incorrect for punctuation to be italicized or in bold? All those periods in that list are italicized. What.ev.er.

2. I finished Jane Eyre, which affected me very much, as it always does. You can find my review on goodreads.com. (Do you know that site? If you enjoy reading, you should certainly check it out.) I found that reading at bedtime is a great way to cure my insomnia... my sleeping pill helps, too. Anyway, I've fallen in love with reading again, and decided on trying North and South, by Elizabeth Gaskell. I'd never read any of her work before, but it was exceptional. Comparable to Bronte, Austen, and Eliot. She belongs in that list. So, check it out (and its accompanying BBC mini-series). As a matter of fact, I enjoyed it so much, I started it all over from the beginning for further examination. Because that's just who I am. So, this resolution is technically fulfilled, but I've enjoyed it so much I'm going to strive for a book a month from here on out.

3. The beast. I've lost another couple pounds. It's going slower than I'd like; I'm slightly behind pace, BUT the scale is moving in the right direction, and I'm having fun. But I'm certainly ready for the nice weather to get here so I can get out walking in this city again, which I love so much. I may still be able to meet my goal of needing some new clothes by the time City Creek Center opens on March 22. Diligence.

Ada, 7 months

This post is horribly belated. Nevertheless, here's what Baby Girl is up to:

*First, army crawling; now, real crawling!

*Still tries to stand on her own--I catch her trying to push herself up onto her feet before toppling over. She seems to want to bypass the crawling stage altogether, but she's making do. :)

*LOVES solid foods, would rather not take her bottles, even! She likes rice cereal, sweet potatoes, green beans, peas, pears, apples, bananas (big time). I can get her to tolerate meats by mixing them in with her fruits. Ew.

*Amazing fine motor skills; self feeds small snacks.

*Loves to grab long hair and earrings.

*Hair is growing ever longer--the bald spot in the back of her head is rather well covered these days. In darker lights, her hair looks strawberry blonde. In bright light, it's almost as blonde as W's.

*Wants to do whatever W is doing.

*Claps her hands

*Becoming shy of strangers

*Doesn't like to be held as she falls asleep--in fact, it's nearly impossible to get her to fall asleep in your arms. She likes to be placed in her crib and left to her own devices (Let's be honest: As sweet as it is to rock a baby to sleep, this is a HUGE help).

Resolution Follow-up Feb 2012

I've got to keep track of this publicly, or I may not take responsibility privately.

Resolution #1: Meet up with "That girl." The pre-baby Becca. Done and done; this month it was sort of combined with...

Resolution #2: Read a book. I'm about half-way through Jane Eyre. This does double duty as my Resolution #1, since "that girl"since it was a book I used to read over and over. Pre-Becca preferred Charlotte Bronte's wild, impulsive (yet thoughtful) descriptions to Jane Austen's calculated deliberation. I don't know why I must constantly be comparing the two in my mind, but it's a never-ending argument about which style suits me better. Current Becca appreciates Austen's sarcasm and in-check sense of love and propriety. Mr. Rochester worries me so much this time around that I am having a hard time remember he is a broken hero, not a villain. (Or is he a villain? What do you think?) But I like the character of Jane Eyre so much more this time. I'm noticing more of her humor (I didn't remember her being funny at all on previous readings) and her keen perception (I had formed the impression that she was vague and murky of mind when it came to her ability to analyze Rochester; this time I see she's got him fairly well figured out and keeps him on his toes). One big thing I've learned from resolution #2 is that it's not that I don't have time to read. It's that at the end of the day, I so don't want to demand anything further of myself. But now that I've gotten back into to habit of reading before going to sleep each night, I am remembering why I fell in love with this pursuit in the first place.

Resolution #3: Lose pregnancy weight. I've lost a couple pounds and have gotten into a great routine that seems to be spelling success. I've got a few short-term goals to keep me motivated, not the least of which is to have X amount lost by the time City Creek Center opens at the end of March. New clothing sizes+gorgeous new mall=retail therapy.

So far, so good!