1 Mother 2 Another

As everyone begins to scramble for that pad of paper, intent on making the noble, self-improving list needed to start your year off right, remind yourself of last year’s list and how long it lasted.  What does it say about us, that we constantly feel the need to re-evaluate who we are and how we’re doing and, deciding we’re lacking, come up with some grand and totally unrealistic plan to completely change ourselves, save a ton of money, and save the world all at the same time?  Are we really such a disappointment to ourselves?
 
This year, make a realistic list of resolutions.  Give yourself small goals you can actually keep, and make sure they’re not important enough that you hate yourself when you don’t keep them (and you won’t.)
 
I’ll start.


 
1)      I will wash my hair at least once a month, baby or no baby.
2)      I will not eat chocolate more than once a day.  Ok, twice a day.  Listen to me when I say that’s an improvement.
3)      I will not worry about the last 5 pregnancy pounds I have still to lose.
4)      I will not hate myself when I break resolution 3.
5)      I will love my daughter as much as I can, and tell her so as often as I think about it.
6)      I will not hate myself when I have mean and selfish thoughts upon first waking to her screaming cry at 2 a.m.  I’ll be doing the right thing in spite of my first thoughts, and that’s what counts.
7)      I will not judge other mommies on the street for improperly dressing or feeding their babies.
8)      I won’t get mad at myself for breaking resolution 7, as long as I don’t do it out loud.
9)      I will tell my husband what a great job he’s doing as a dad much more.
10)   I will tell my husband what a terrible job he’s doing as a dad much less.
11)   I will sacrificially break resolution 2 if it helps me maintain any of the other resolutions.
 

See? That’s a list I think I can pretty much stick to.  And I think I can sum it up with this:

This year, I’ll try.  But I don’t make any promises.