Dreams, goals, and wishes for 2013

It always sounds so cliche when New Years rolls around and people start to make their list of goals for the year. I like to think that you shouldn't only be making goals once the year begins, but you should continue to strive for new goals throughout the entire year. With that being said, I am still one of those people who does make some goals so that at the end of the year I can look back and see how much I have actually accomplished, and what aspects of my life I need to work on. Lots of things happened in 2012, and even more will be happening in 2013. A lot of the goals I have for this year are not just for me, but also for us as a family since we are pretty much a package deal. I also want to try to make more reachable and realistic goals. It's easy to set goals like "be debt free" but I know for our family specifically, that isn't very realistic. Unless of course someone would like to pay our car off for us, you are more than welcome to! But saying I want to reduce my debt by a certain amount is much easier to accomplish.  So let's get to it, shall we?

13 for 2013

1. Reduce our total debt by at least $5000.  - This includes all credit cards, our car, medical bills, etc... I made a LOT of progress on getting our debt down last year and I absolutely want to demolish it this year. But when you aren't on a set income, you work with what you can.

2. Have a healthy baby boy and be healthy for my kids. - Our son will be born in early May and I want to make sure that  I am as healthy as I can be in these last months before he joins our family. This includes making sure I am getting all the proper nutrients and cutting out as much bad stuff as I can. (Sorry Jack in the Box, but our taco dates might have to disappear.) This also ties in to my next goal...

3. Lose whatever baby weight I need to in order to get back to my normal weight. - Obviously I still have some time to go before baby boy joins us and I cannot predict exactly what my weight will be once he is here. After Amelia was born, I was able to go back down to my normal size pretty quickly (thank you breastfeeding), and I am hoping that it will be the same this time around. In the end all that matters is that he is happy and healthy, and I will make sure to take care of myself along the way.

4. Take a vacation somewhere. - Now, can I just say that I have a pretty amazing husband? Because I do. We had been throwing around the idea of taking a trip before baby boy gets here so we can have a little alone time before taking on the roll of having two kids. But to be honest, I wasn't thinking it was going to happen since we have been focusing on paying down bills and expanding my husband's business. Well to my surprise on New Years Eve he told me that he booked us a short cruise for January 21st that will be going to Ensenada, Mexico and Catalina Island! This will be the longest we have ever been away from Amelia so it might be kind of hard, but I am totally looking forward to our babymoon and all that will come with it!

5. Buy our first income property. - Our first home is going to be a bit different than most others because we are looking to buy a duplex, triplex, etc... We figure that for us, it is the wisest choice because we can own our first home and at the same time we won't be the only ones putting money towards the mortgage. And since my husband is a contractor and has some pretty amazing connections, we are able to do all the work ourselves and get materials at way better prices. This does limit our selection of homes though, so we will have to see later on in the year what is available to us. In the meantime, we are working on paying down debt and saving as much as possible so we can make that goal happen this year.

6. Potty train Amelia. - Enough said. She turns 3 in August and I really don't want to be changing diapers on two kids. Yuck.

7. Reduce clutter and get rid of unneeded things. - I am working on a master cleaning list so that I can break down the cleaning into sections. We have accumulated so many things over the years, a lot of which we do not use, so it just makes sense to get rid of the things we don't need. 

8. Cross some more items off my bucket list. - I am still working on picking specific goals to work towards this year, but I am hoping to knock a few more off my list. Maybe skydiving will finally happen? Not pregnant of course ;)

9. Read more books. - This might be a task since I'm sure I will have my hands full when baby boy gets here, but I am going to make sure that I take some time for myself and relax a little. Even if I do only get a 15 minute reading break ;)

10. Take more pictures. - This seems like it would be such an easy task in this day and age, when everyone and their grandmother has a smartphone and a DSLR. But even though I have my phone on me at all times, and carry my camera around quite frequently I still miss a lot of photo opportunities. I want to remember to take more photos, even if it's during moments that might not matter to other people. Those ones seem to be the times I remember the most. 

11. Have more date nights. - Might get more difficult once baby boy gets here but it's still something I am going to make sure I fit in. Many people forget about their significant other once they have kids, and I don't want that to happen with us. Especially with number two coming soon. Let's just hope we can find people willing to babysit two munchkins ;)

12. Learn to cook more. - As silly as it sounds, this might be the most difficult one for me. I am one of those people that just does NOT enjoy cooking. I never have and as much as I try I can't seem to really "like" it. Plus my husband is an awesome cook and he just puts me to shame. But I am going to work on improving this and being better about providing healthy and nutritious meals for my family. 

13. Enjoy more of the little things. - Whether it's getting the chance to sleep in a little bit later, having nice weather outside, appreciating time with the people around me, seeing how much Amelia is growing more and more everyday, or enjoying these last months watching baby Ben kicking inside my stomach....I want to take all of it in and appreciate every moment for what it's worth. I know that there will be some bad things that are bound to happen throughout the year, but I am going to try to let them slide and just focus on the good in my life. Because really, that is what life is all about. Taking in the good, the bad, the ugly, and the all around randomness. Lets just hope that there is more good than anything this year =)

What are your goals for this year?