Cheers!

Welcome, 2013!

I seriously love that "clean slate" feeling you have on January 1st. It's not as if anything has really started over. No past events have been erased. It's just a new day like any other. Yet for some reason it feels like one book has been closed and you're just opening the cover of a new one, fresh-ink smell and stiff pages. I love it. The calendar is clean and wide open, save for those handful of usually happy events you have planned well in advance like weddings, births, and vacations. Who doesn't love a calendar with only those great things on it?

We have a few things on our new clean calendar already that we're very excited for. The first of course is the birth of our 2nd daughter in March. Now that the holiday season is officially winding to a close, we'll be kicking the baby-prep into high gear for the next 12 weeks. Luckily her nursery is already complete from when Carsen used it, so that will just need some standard cleaning and filling back up with tiny baby clothes. We are planning to finish/decorate Carsen's new big-girl room though and definitely want that taken care of before the birth. Most of that planning is done though, it's just a matter of finding time to do the work.

After the baby arrives, we'll be settling into a new routine and adjusting to life with a toddler and newborn, but I'm hoping that within a couple of months that will include some time for me to start training again. Not only do I want to get back in shape post-baby, but I am making a second attempt to run the Baltimore half marathon in the fall. I had to stop training this past summer when I was hit with first trimester all-day-sickness and then decided to put off training until after the baby was born. Beginning my training in early summer will hopefully give me plenty of time to train at a steady pace and be ready in more than enough time for race day in October. Visions of my two girls and sweet husband cheering for me at the finish will certainly provide all the motivation I'll need :D

We are also in the planning stages of a family vacation with my mom, my sister and her kids. We try to do a big family vacation together every other year, and since Josh and I didn't take a vacation at all in 2012, we're especially excited for this one. Not to mention that Carsen really loved the trip we took in 2011, so with her being 2 years older this time I'm sure she'll have even more fun. We'll definitely be looking at the Outer Banks, NC as our location but haven't determined the details or dates yet.

While I'm not so much one for "resolutions" I do like to set some goals for a new year. Running the half marathon is my first for 2013, but you know I also have a list of house projects that I'm trying to accomplish! We shall see what gets done ;)  I'm trying not to fill my plate too full, but at the moment here's what I have in mind...
 - Finish Carsen's new room
 - Make new covers for our couches
 - Paint the kitchen cabinets
 - Harass Josh enough that the tile (now going on 3 years old) finally goes down!

While we're at it, I have a couple of crafty projects planned too!
 - Re-do Carsen's baby book (I have both a scrapbook and a store-bought 'baby' book and I'm not happy with either. I'm hoping to merge them and make one book I'm happy with!)
 - Pre-make pages for Reagan's baby book (at the same time I do Carsen's, maybe?)
 - Put files aside monthly for our 2013 yearbook (I'm terrible at this and am several years behind on yearbooks as a result!)

Since there are only 12 weeks remaining before we add a newborn to the mix, I'm not going to hold myself to any unrealistic expectations and will be re-evaluating along the way what might actually get done and what will have to wait. I know that training will take up a good bit of my time, and from experience I know I've tended to either train or work on projects - rarely both concurrently. In the past I've used Carsen's usually 2.5-3 hour nap time to either run or work on a project but who knows what things will look like with a 2nd baby around. Everything will have to be kind of up in the air and determined along the way. I'm ok with that though. Less can go "wrong" when your plans aren't set in stone anyway, right? That'll be my optimistic mantra for when something falls by the wayside ;)

What kind of fun do you have on your calendars so far for 2013? Anyone else tackling some home or craft projects? Training for a race or competition? Fun vacations in the works? Do tell :D