A New Year's Reflection

I got this idea from Feeding the Soil.

What did you create?

• Great family memories with our Florida vacation in February
• A big move to our new home on Feb. 28
• A full season of successful vegetable gardening
• New friendships with great girls - Megan, Jill, Jessica
• A baby boy! (also a nursery, a memory book, photo albums galore)
• A custom gluten-free bakery with my mom
• A volunteer nutrition educator position at the YMCA

What challenges did you face with courage and strength?

• A rocky start to breastfeeding (Oliver went from 6lb, 12 oz to 5lb, 15oz in 3 days)
• Being on maternity leave and feeling unaccomplished
• My cousin's cancer diagnosis
• Losing both grandmothers within 2 months of each other

What promises did you keep? 

• To give birth naturally
• To see Jillian as much as possible while in Canada
• To work as close to my due date as possible
• To never text and drive
• To never stop on a railroad track 

What brave choices did you make?

• Letting my little sister move away
• Giving a nutrition education presentation solo

What are you proud of?

• My son
• My marriage
• My sisters, my momma, my dad; and my grandpa for becoming one of my best friends in the past year
• My library book record
• My gluten-free baking (except for when I'm in charge of cookies)
• My blog!

What was disappointing?

• Everytime I put a darn frozen pizza in the oven
• Getting mastitis and a corneal abrasion needing antibiotics
• Not making as many homemade Christmas gifts as I would have liked

What was scary?

• The nutrition talk
• Oliver's birth mark and being unsure of its risks
• Every time my family's cat almost died by choking himself on his collar

What was hard?

• Not feeling like "All I did today was play with Oliver" (because that is good enough!)
• Driving with an eye patch

What can you forgive yourself for?

• Not having the competitive marks I should to get into a Masters program
• Not exercising a lot
• Practically never playing guitar

The next step is to say out loud, “I declare 2011 complete!”
How do you feel? If you don’t feel quite right, there might be one more thing to say…

2011,you brought me the greatest gift of all. My life feels perfect.

The final step is to consider your primary focus for the year to come. What is your primary intention or theme for 2012?

To raise Oliver in all the right ways!