The Journey of Parenthood…

2008 Year-End Review

For Christmas in 2001 my dad bought me an awesome gift. It’s a leather journal that has a spot to write something for each day over a 10 year period. I did really really well keeping up with it until 2006. For some reason in 2006 I started totally slacking and now I have some sporadic entries spread out over the past couple of years. I really should start keeping up with it again but I don’t feel as guilty about it since I started blogging! Plus I take so many pictures all the time I’m pretty sure I won’t forget much of what’s happened in my life haha!

One really neat thing about the journal is that it has a spot to write goals for each year then a spot to write a year-end review beside those goals to see how I did. I thought since I’m not doing such a great job writing in the actual journal that I’d do my 2008 review here instead (as well as make my goals for 2009 tomorrow!).

Here are the goals I wrote for myself a year ago, lets see how I did:

  1. Write in my journal daily: obviously didn’t happen. I think I wrote it in like 10 times the whole year.
  2. Catch up any old journal entries: Also didn’t happen!
  3. Have a regular work-out routine: This did happen until I got pregnant. I actually weighed about the same last November as I did this November while being pregnant so I did a pretty good job losing weight before we conceived
  4. Look as good as I did at our wedding: Um I’m huge right now. But it’s for a good reason…this will have the be a goal for next year haha
  5. Learn more about the Bible: I did this! Yay! I got more involved in Bible Studies at church and I do feel like I’m much more knowledgeable on God’s Word than I was last year.
  6. Help Zach make it to the NFL: We tried and I think I did a great job being there for him and being supportive when it did cost us money and the time it took to do everything he could to get him there. Honestly, it wasn’t in God’s plan and I’m so glad it worked out how it did! He got offers to play in the AFL (some new football thing) and thank the Lord he didn’t because now with the economy that league will never take off! Plus look at Arena Football now!
  7. Be healthy and enjoy the process of getting pregnant: We really didn’t want to stress over making a baby and we didn’t! Of course getting pregnant the first try does help the process be enjoyable haha
  8. Choose the best time to start trying: I think we did this too. We’ll have the baby just in time for our maternity benefit to cover the cost!
  9. Open an Ebay Store: I did do this but then found out it wasn’t cost effective. But I need to get back into Ebay this year especially with all the baby stuff we’ll have to sell!
  10. Complete at least one scrapbook: Okay, I feel like I haven’t done hardly anything I planned on doing this year…BUT I am READY to start scrapbooking again! I even have pictures printed out, I just need to take the time to do it.
  11. Teach Levi not to bark: We’ve done our part with this, Levi needs to get better and we need to buy taller trees to cover the stupid windows by our front door.
  12. Keep the house “company ready”: I’ve done better with this as well! We may have to straighten some before someone comes over but our house is typically clean.
  13. Learn Photoshop and use it: I’m no master but I can do red eye and fix blemishes! And I use it!
  14. Be happy with myself regardless of the opinions others may have of me: Yay! I did this one for sure! I am totally over caring about some of the stupidity that goes on with some of the girl’s here and can honestly say I don’t give a crap what they think about me anymore! I’m finally able to be more like Zach and say that the main cause of their “hatred” is just pure jealousy!
  15. Be a great friend to Katie and new friends: This is tough to judge myself on…but I hope I’ve been a good friend! We have added Ashley to the mix and I’ve tried my best throughout my pregnancy to still make time for both Ashley and Katie and to still be there for them as they have been there for me.
  16. Learn to share Jesus with people: I suck at this! I feel so awkward talking about the Lord which is so sad and pathetic. He has done SO much for me why do I clam up when it comes to sharing His love with others? This one needs more work but I’m hoping with the knowledge I’ve gained on the Bible that it will help me in this area.
  17. Don’t remind Zach so often to do stuff, let him remember on his own: Zach isn’t going to remember on his own! Somethings he may but for the most part he won’t! What we found works is instead of me telling him a thousand times I just write it down and hand him a list! The only problem here is if I don’t put something on the list it risks not getting done (and I get told “well it wasn’t on the list!”). But hey it’s a good system that I think works for both of us so far!
  18. Exercise Levi regularly: This was written in the old (“ghetto”) house. I think Levi gets much more exercise now and I do take him and Sadie both on many more walks!
  19. Send bday and thank you cards promptly: I didn’t do the bday cards. Oh well! I did improve significantly on my thank you card writing though!
  20. Be more active at church: I think this one has happened but I want to be even more involved. I really think our church needs a mommy day out or something. I want to get to know other young mothers at our church because all I know now are the college kids at the student center and the elderly ladies at the Tuesday morning Bible Study!
  21. Learn how to stress less: I worry WAY WAY less than I used to. During my pregnancy ZACH has been more worried than I have been! I really do think my stress levels have gone down big time.
  22. Manage money for our future: Being Zach’s first full calendar year working it was tough because he’s paid off commission so you can’t really have a solid budget. I’m looking forward to getting the 1099 info from Aflac that will go over how much he made this year so we can create the proper budget for next year and start saving some money each month. I am proud of us for upping the amount we pay the Lord each week (we used to only give 5%) and we did that consistently each month. I feel He has blessed us for this and will continue to do so!
  23. Vacation as much as possible: Let’s see we went to: Virginia, Mexico, North Carolina, Tennessee, California, Alabama, Atlanta, and Florida multiple times so I’d say we kept our vacationing goal for sure!

Overall, I did okay keeping up with my goals. Pregnancy changed somethings a bit and I can’t even imagine what 2009 will be like with a baby! I’ll bet half the goals I make for next year don’t get accomplished either!!!

Emily Parker
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1 Comment

  1. Anonymous
    December 31, 2008 / 6:34 pm

    You had some great goals for 2008, good for you for accomplishing so many. I think it is awesome you wrote it all down and will do it again for next year. What a great idea! I need to go start my list!Rachael

    Reply

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