The Sensible Mom

Food, DIY, Chicago Mom Blogger

My goals for 2012

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Setting goals helps me to stay focused and makes me feel like I’ve actually accomplished something when I’m able to cross it off my list. For my daily goals, I’ve been printing off a very handy printable from Ann Voskamp’s blog. It’s helping me to be intentional about setting daily goals each night for the following day. This has been working wonderfully the past 3 days, and I’m going to continue on with it.

Aside from daily goals, I know it’s important to set long-term goals as well.

Here’s my list for this year:

Personal Goals

Read 1 book each month (any more will be bonus – I want to keep this goal doable because I’ll be taking 2 college courses for the Spring semester)

Exercise 4 days a week

Continue filling out printable planning worksheet each night to accomplish both short-term and long-term goals

Lose 50 lbs. through healthy eating and exercise

Begin waking up by 5:30am after the baby is 6 weeks old (giving myself a break until then as we continue to find our night-time groove with feedings)

Be in bed by 10:30pm each night

Marriage Goals

Read 3 books on marriage this year

Go to at least 1 marriage conference

Schedule at least one home date night each month

Family Goals

Start family days back up (we took a break while we cared for our new baby girl)

Start ‘Day Out With Dad’ back up for Ruben and the kids (the kids get a one-on-one date with Dad)

Cook with the kids once a week

Go on a family vacation

Take lots of pictures

Homeschooling Goals

Start homeschooling Isaac

Do one project with Nathan each week

Do one science project with Breanna each week

Read to the children each weeknight

Business & Blogging Goals

Create office hours for my blog design business and follow them

Write 1 blog post per day

Plan blog posts at least 3 days in advance

Spend 15 minutes each day focused on my blog design business

Those are my goals for the year. How about you? Have you set goals for 2012?


Postpartum Update

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It’s almost been 3 weeks since I gave birth to our baby girl, and I’d thought I’d write a postpartum update to go along with the pregnancy updates I had been sharing before the baby’s birth. Here goes:

:: The baby is doing very well. She’s nursing well, and only lost a small amount of weight after birth – not enough to have to supplement with formula like I did with my other babies. She is sleeping well, too – definitely not sleeping through the night, but she normally wakes up and eats then goes back to sleep. What more could I ask for from a newborn? πŸ™‚ At least she isn’t sleeping all day and then up all night.

:: I’m feeling better every day since my c-section. It’s good to get my body back to myself. It’s also good to be able to bend, walk, and sleep without pain.

:: When I left the hospital, I actually weighed 4 lbs. MORE than when I went in the day of my c-section. This is AFTER I had given birth to a 7 lb. baby and lost a lot of fluid. My guess is that my weight went up after having the baby instead of going down because of all the swelling in my legs and abdomen after the c-section. By the time I left the hospital, I had MAJOR swelling in my feet and legs. I expected the swelling in the tummy area, but never the swelling like I had in my feet and legs. I’d never had that kind of swelling with any of the other kids. Anyway, the swelling is gone now and since coming home I’ve lost 26.5 lbs. I’m now 8.5 lbs. away from my pre-pregnancy weight and happy!

:: The kids adore their new sister. They’re all in love with her, but still need daily reminders of how gentle they need to be with her. All in all, everyone has adjusted very well to our new addition.

:: Breastfeeding is going exceptionally well this time around. I have had some discomfort after starting back up with Elisabeth (baby girl’s name), but not the excruciating pain that I’ve experienced in the past.

:: I’ve started walking on the treadmill again.

:: I love our new changing table, and I have no idea how I have made it through the last 4 kids without one.

:: Elisabeth is sleeping in her crib! First baby to start off sleeping in her crib from birth. You may remember that I mentioned we’ve co-slept with the other kids, but because two of the kids were regularly ending up in our bed by morning, we thought it was a good idea to put Elisabeth in a crib and purchased one just before she was born. The crib is pushed up right next to our bed so that Elisabeth is always within arms reach, and it makes it easy to nurse her this way, too.

:: I’m in love. Elisabeth completes our family. We are very blessed to be her family.

She’s just perfect.

Thank you, Lord.


Our baby girl!

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Our baby girl was born two days ahead of my scheduled c-section (surprising!), and we are home from the hospital and enjoying our new baby girl. Her name is Elisabeth, and I’m absolutely in love.

She was 7lbs. 4oz. at birth and measured in at 20 inches in length. She is our smallest baby so far, but she is doing very well.

I’ll write more later as I have time. I just wanted to pop in to let you know that I did have the baby, all went well, and our family is adjusting well to life with a newborn. πŸ™‚


Pregnancy Update: 38 weeks

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Well, in less than 96 hours, I will have given birth to our 5th child. The time has finally arrived, and we are thrilled. I reached the point a couple of weeks ago where I decided that I was really ready for this pregnancy to end. I think it was about the time my weight decided to jump a couple of pounds and my back started to bother me again. I’ve also been having contractions and some other signs of that my body is getting ready for this pregnancy to be over, too.

This Friday, it will be! And we’ll be able to hold our new daughter in our arms. I can’t wait.

In the meantime, we’ve been busy getting things ready for Christmas, grocery shopping to make sure our fridge/freezer are stocked, cleaning and rearranging for the baby, and spending time together as a family.

I think we are just about ready. I have to finish up finals for 2 of my classes and submit a final project for a third class, and then I’ll be completely finished with the Fall semester at school. I should have this done by Thursday night. The following morning will be baby-time.

And here’s what else I’ve been up to:

:: Remember how I commented on not having found many baby blankets? I was blessed just today with plenty of blankets from my mother-in-law and sister-in-law. Very thankful!

:: I’ve gained 31 pounds – just over my goal. I wanted to stay under 30 pounds, but I honestly having been helping myself the last few weeks. I haven’t been walking like I had previously been, and we’ve eaten out a few times, which NEVER helps.

:: I’ll have my last non-stress test on Tuesday.

:: The stroller and car seat arrived via UPS. The pattern on the car seat is pleasantly more feminine than it appeared online.

:: After going back and forth about where the baby will sleep, we finally decided to purchase a simple, easy-on-the-budget crib. We’ve always been co-sleepers with our babies, but since our two youngest boys still end up in our bed almost every night, we thought that this was the best way to go. The crib is going to go right next to our bed so that I can easily place the baby in the crib to sleep, and she’ll easily be within arms reach.

:: I think we’ve decided that the baby’s name will be…..Elisabeth Grace. It’ll be Elisabeth for sure because we’ve been calling her by name lately and we even purchased an ornament at the mall with all of our names on it – including Elisabeth’s. That means the her first name absolutely must remain, Elisabeth. πŸ™‚

:: I finally purchased a pack of newborn diapers and one package of size 1 diapers. They’re so tiny and cute.

:: I can’t believe I’ll be nursing again by the end of the week, and I’m hoping that I won’t have the excruciating pain I did with my last two children. I decided to pack my nursing cover this time around (I don’t know why I never did this before), and some Lanolin cream. Maybe if I get started early with the lanolin cream, I won’t be in so much pain. I know some people say that breastfeeding isn’t supposed to hurt, but I’ve only met ONE person in my life who ever said that it didn’t hurt for them in the beginning.

:: I’m just really happy to be able to meet our new daughter this week!