This year has been pretty intense so far. I’ve had a really hard pregnancy recovery physically. I ended up with multiple infections + toxic thyroid levels that caused me a lot of systemic health issues. I never in a million years thought my recovery would include an ER visit, a concussion, seizures, neurological symptoms, etc. There was one week where I had testing or a specialist visit at least once a day. I’ll write a post eventually, but I honestly am tired of thinking/ discussing my medical drama. I’m so grateful our little girl is so hardy and healthy. I’m also really grateful for the help I’ve had from family the last few weeks so I can get back into a routine.

With everything that has been going on, I’m impressed with how many of these goals I’ve hit. I’m really lucky to have such a congenial little girl and we’re really lucky to live in the area where we do. Additionally, I met a long term goal of mine to be accepted into an ad network; I discussed that I was interested in that here. I’m really excited about this because now I have money to pay for all of my blogging services, it pays for my gym membership to so I can have some me time, and I can start saving for E’s college!

I feel like even though life hasn’t been the easiest, I’ve been able to see a lot of blessings. It seems like courage was the best word of the year I could have chosen for myself.

A review on my quarter 1 goals

Make family goals and stick to them

~~Have an in house date with Devin with the baby sleeping at least once a month~~
I’m impressed. We’ve actually been very successful with eating out with Evie. She is getting into the hang of everything and so are we! We also got to have a lot of couple time since we’ve had a lot of family in town.
~~Go on one date with Devin and Evelyn out of the house at least once a month~~
~~Take Evelyn on a stroller walk (weather pending)~~
I love the trails around our house! This has also been an excellent way to listen to books on tape. E typically naps better when she is moving so she is usually pretty happy to oblige.
~~Look up library groups for newborn and Moms~~
I took E to a library group for babies her age. She liked it so much she fell asleep half way through it 😉 . It was fun to have something organized to do with her and I plan on keeping it up every Monday and/or Thursday when our local library does that.
Keep to our budget by only eating out once a week
With my health issues, we began eating out a lot. Since we moved right before I had baby and then right after we had her, we didn’t have any freezer meals like I was hoping. We aren’t eating out much now.
Make a spread sheet for all of the items we received for Evelyn for thank you cards
Finish writing thank you cards
With everything going on, thank you cards have fallen last on my list. I have all of my information for them in a consistent place though and I’m ready to start writing a few cards a day. The tricky part has been our kiddo isn’t much of a day napper which leaves me little time to do things.

Prioritize my self-care

Read 5 books
I’ve read three.
~~Leave the house for 2 hours a week by myself for myself~~
I bought a gym membership that includes child care two hours a day so that I can blog, take a shower when things have been crazy at home, have a schedule outside of our house, and exercise!
~~Schedule therapy appointments~~

Be a better homemaker

~~Finish unpacking~~
Clean the house for at least 30 minutes daily
We minimized everything in our house so much before we moved here that cleaning hasn’t been bad. I hired some teenagers at church to come over and help me out when I was sick and we were able to do some deep cleaning. I think we’re probably going to do that every few months so I can get caught up on folding laundry and other home projects since we don’t have family nearby.
Deep clean the house with Devin once a week

Create more content

~~Update Instagram when blog posts are scheduled~~
~~Publish list of books read on instagram~~
~~Write 6+ blog posts~~

Make DC home

~~Explore our new town!~~
We went to the cherry blossom festival, ate at Shake Shack, and watched kites being flown at the DC mall. E was a great sport and we loved our time out and about!
~~Find our favorite grocery store location~~
~~Introduce ourselves to people at church~~
People have been really welcoming and we’ve done some game nights, I’ve gone walking, and I’ve eaten lunch. It has been fun making friends! I also joined a book club.

My quarter 2 goals