Second Verse, Same as the First

I suppose it's about time I reassess my progress with my current resolution list:

1) Emotional and physical health and well-being - Pretty much the same as last time which in review was:

* still on track with my schedule for reading the Bible in the year

* my time spent in prayer could use some drastic improvements (I get frustrated because of the way my mind wanders. I need to learn to be more "present".)

* remain fairly consistent with my yoga classes, have been doing the Core Performance workouts my husband has seen good results with for over a month, and am starting up my outdoor running again

Results of the workout are pretty exciting. I've been able to do some yoga challenges that I couldn't in the past, and yesterday, I was able to do three pull ups in a row (something I haven't been able to do since junior high/high school). The outdoor running has been a nice change of pace. My latest challenge is to be ready to run a 20k run by April 12th. Think I can do it?

2) Relationship with my husband and children - This is about the same as where I was last month, too, which was:

* Not as successful as I'd like with having more patience with my children. I've discovered what I think could be the solution to this, though, and that is to get more sleep. When I haven't had enough, I'm grumpy and impatient. Everyone else is, too, which means EVERYONE in this house needs to get more sleep. We need to get in a better sleep routine. This day light savings time switch has us all out of wack, so we've had a rough couple of days.

* Still making an effort to spend our Friday nights at the gym's pool for family swim night. This has been a little hard the last month with the boys and Craig being sick, but I did take them by myself last week even though Daddy was sick. We all needed out of the house.

* One of the big surprises has come from our effort to all sit down together and eat in one room. We got rid of Gavyn's highchair in the kitchen which made it less convenient to feed him at a different time then the rest of us. It's now set up logistically so I have to feed him in the room where the dining table is. We're all sitting down to eat together. The boys eat better because everyone is together doing the same thing and they're not as distracted to run off and play in the middle of their meal. It has been a really nice thing for Craig and I to communicate better, too.

* I've decided the talking at night thing does NOT work for Craig and I. We both get to bed pretty late (need to work on that, though, to do better with my patience thing) and go to bed at different times.

* We're staying consistent with our date nights which really helps with the patience thing and the communication between the spouses effort, too.

3) Work - This is also the same. I have done absolutely NOTHING to get outside work or make efforts to get my children's book more visibility. I get a big fat F in this category. Work harder, Lani!

4) Service/Contributions to others - This is going ok. I think with everyone being sick, we've done as well as we can. I helped Craig's Mom get some boxes out so she could get her Christmas decorations packed away. Now I need to get over there, to help get them put back away and get some house cleaning done for her since her cleaning lady had to quit. She's having a lot of company over the weekend of Easter and is starting to stress about it. Looking forward to having some young families and their kids over Thursday night for cupcakes for a couple of the kids that have birthdays this month.

5) Home Management - After having people over for Gavyn's birthday this past weekend, my counter top has been cleared off drastically. Now I just need to keep it that way. Feel like I've done better at keeping the kitchen floor clean with my Target brand Magic Erasers. Not having Gavyn's high chair in the kitchen has helped tremendously with this, also. We're eating in there less, which makes for less mess to clean up off the floor.

6) Finances - My efforts with less spending have also been going a little better. We're now using an envelope system to keep ourselves in line with a budget. Our eating out has been limited to three times a week (this seems like a lot to some of you, but those of you who know us, realize this is BIG!) - once at a local Mexican restaurant where we meet Daddy (he's usually working) for lunch on Sundays, once a week McDonalds treat for the boys, and once a week out to pizza on Tuesday nights for Mommy and Daddy on their date night. I'm not looking forward to those doctor bills that will be floating in one of these days from our five visits in six days stint (including 2 x-rays) this past month. Argh. I agree with Mommy Cracked. Our friend, Murphy, has been around way too much lately. Also, implemented the no shopping for clothes/throw away all my catalogs or shopping at Target rules for myself.