Isn’t it crazy how much can change in a year?!
As we were wrapping up 2017, I was VERY newly pregnant, but didn’t even know it yet. And now here we are, wrapping up 2018 with a new baby, when at this time last year… we didn’t even know he existed yet! Crazy, crazy.
Yearly goals are hard to set because of that. Life changes so rapidly, and we don’t know what we might want or be like a year from now, but I do my best to set goals that I THINK will see me through the year. Today, I’m wrapping up my personal life for the year, as well as recapping my personal goals for 2018 and setting new ones for 2019.
I do these posts each year and absolutely love them, especially looking back on them from year to year. I also do these yearly posts for my reading life and blog life. Today, I’m sharing the personal life.
Highlights of 2018
2018 was a big year for us! Here are some of the highlights from our year:
- In January, we discovered I was pregnant! We announced it in February.
- In March, we found out that baby #2 was a boy!
- In June, Jerry FINALLY went on days. He’d been working nights for our entire marriage and we’d been waiting and wanting this forever. It’s really improved our home life and family life.
- In September, our Holden Lee was born and grew our family to four.
- In September, Caleb also started preschool. He absolutely loves it and it’s SO good for him. I got to go on some field trips with him too, to the zoo and the pumpkin patch! I also attended his Halloween party with Jerry and Holden, and his Christmas performance and party.
- Caleb’s speech finally blossomed and he’s basically caught up to his peers after battling a speech delay.
- Caleb also moved from his nursery to a big boy room, and from his crib to a bed.
- My grandparents came for a visit from Florida in the fall.
- My nephew Anthony was born in March, and now we have FIVE little boys in the family.
- My best friend gave birth to a baby boy in June, and now Holden has a built in best friend. They were actually due only about three weeks apart, but our buddy was born a couple of months early!
- My other best friend got married in September and was a stunning bride! I was a quasi-bridesmaid and was so honored! What I mean is, I was asked to be a bridesmaid and did as much as I could… went to the bridesmaids planning meetings and breakfasts, helped with the shower, etc., but I had to skip the bachelorette party in NYC due to being 7 months pregnant, and had to bow out of being in the wedding since it was the day before my due date. Luckily, Holden came early so we were at least able to attend, even if I couldn’t be in it!
- I got to see RENT again… my favorite musical of all time. This was NOT that great of a performance, but nevertheless, it brings me great joy whenever I get to see it.
- I started a Forever YA book club at work.
- Most importantly… we’ve spent the last quarter of the year becoming a family of four. I feel that Holden completes us and that we’d always been missing him before he was here. He is a sweet, happy, smiley baby and he brings me a lot of joy. I love seeing Caleb be a brother and his occasional sweet side with the baby. The other day, he kissed him on the head and I just about died. It’s been an adjustment, but a happy one for sure.
Progress on 2018 Goals
Here are the goals I had set for 2018, and how I did on them:
- Expand our family: DONE! Gave birth to our sweet Holden Lee in September!
- Pay at least $7,000 on our credit card debts: FAIL. I’m not sure how much we paid so I’m not marking this complete, even though it’s possible we did.
- End the year with money in our regular savings account and sinking fund accounts: FAIL. Didn’t know I would be having a baby in 2018, and therefore need to use our savings for maternity leave! We do have some, but not as much as I’d like for obvious reasons!
- Read more books: FAIL. I didn’t read more books than I did last year because I was pregnant for the first 9 months of the year, and taking care of a baby the last 3.
- Enroll Caleb in preschool: DONE! He loves it!
- Get a family membership to the Y: DONE! We went to the Y for a few months but then cancelled. Even though we no longer go, I still accomplished the goal. We have a treadmill at home instead now.
Personal Goals for 2019
- Lose 30 pounds: I need to lose A LOT more in total, but I don’t want to do it as rapidly as I did it the first time. I think 30 pounds in a year is realistic and attainable.
- Work out 200 times and log work outs for the year: Now that we have a treadmill, I’d like to be really active again. I’m going to be tracking my work outs too somehow so I can keep count.
- Run a 5K: It’s been a long time since I’ve raced, and I need to build back up to it. I miss racing!
- Go off Facebook for at least one month: I felt so free this year when I deactivated it for a few weeks. I’d like to have at least one “Facebook free” month again in 2019...
- Catch up on my photo books: I’d like to finish making and printing all of my Shutterfly photo books. I’m super behind, but they’re kind of expensive.
- End the year with credit cards under $3,000: I’d like to have both credit cards have a combined balance of under $3,000 by the end of the year.
- Earn an extra $1,000 this year: I just started doing MTurk, and I also make a teeny bit of money on my Diplicious business each year. I’d like to earn $1,000 total between these two “side hustles.”
- Fully fund our emergency fund to $1,000: I loosely follow Dave Ramsey’s financial plans, and he considers a fully funded emergency fund while paying down debt to be $1,000.
- Build vacation fund to $100: Our vacation fund is at zero. We haven’t vacationed since our cruise in 2016 in which I was super sick... I’d like to vacation again sometime in the next couple of years though.
I’m going to end the goals here because these are my broad, major goals for the year. Smaller goals will be done through my monthly “Get Sh*t Done” posts. I also separated out my reading goals for 2019 (here), and my blogging goals for 2019, which I’ll discuss next week! Those aren’t included here in my personal goals since they fall into their own categories.
It’s been quite a year! Next week, I’ll be recapping my blogging year for 2018, as well as setting my blog goals for 2019! Hope to see you back here then!
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