Today is the last day of 2009. As I said when I posted my family goals for 2010, this year has been a busy but fantastic year for us.
As you will see from the review below, I didn’t achieve everything I set out to this year, but I have also added at the bottom of the list, some achievements that were unplanned that were highlights for me.
- Smooth transition adding our newest family member. Exceeded all my expectations!! Our beautiful baby number 5, is such a delight and is adored by all. He is the calmest of babies and truly just goes with the flow of the family’s activities. He still likes waking up at 5am and given that I tend to go to bed too late, this can be a little tiring.
- Ensure Possum’s first school year is a positive experience.
- Complete my project.
- Encourage further (age appropriate) independence in my children.
- Possum (6) still needs to learn to tie bows.
- Thinker (11) needs to start cooking more regularly (would be at least 2 months since he cooked a meal on his own).
- Little Rascal (8) needs to learn to vacuum his room.
- Babaganouski (3) needs to start making his bed.
- Maintain my health and fitness.
- Support Mr I’s chosen sporting events, so he can maintain his health and fitness.
- two sprints
- 1×17km climb (and 1x 17km descent) of Mt Donna Buang
- 20-25 km (approx 10km each way) on the flat
- See at least one live music event a quarter.
- Adhere to the family budget.
- Achieve a balance of fun and learning activities for the children.
- To grow this blog to become a greater resource for families.
I have loved watching his siblings interact with him. I have to say that I was surprised at just how much our eldest son in particular likes doing with the baby. Having been through the baby thing a few times before, I thought that he might be a bit over it, but I think he actually has enjoyed it more as he can pick him up and carry him around.
Possum’s first year of school went brilliantly. Her lovely first teacher retired after first term, but we were lucky enough to receive another fantastic teacher who Possum adored. Possum was very tired towards the end of the year though, so will definitely be using the school holidays as an opportunity for her to rest and relax.
“At this stage, I think I will struggle to have it completed by the end of the year.” That was what I wrote at my half yearly review. Well with the support of Mr I and him taking small bursts of leave to be the primary carer during the day, I did manage to complete my project. To me this highlights one of the greatest strengths of our relationship, in that we not only support each other with words, but follow through with action as well. The completed project is now ready to move on to the next phase, so my goal will be to complete the second phase in 2010.
I probably fared better on the first half of the year on this goal, than I did the second half. These are some astounding items that I would have liked to worked with the kids on:
I have been regularly hitting the gym 3 times a week, which I have found to have such a positive affect on my mood and demeanour. My weakness for comfort eating when tired (especially chocolate) however still persists, so will keep working on improving that.
As this post goes live, Mr I will be riding his bike in a friendly race up Mt Donna Buang. This is approx 60km in distance and includes:
To be honest, I sort of struggle to see how riding up a mountain is fun, but he loves it, so that is what matters. He has been training early mornings for this and for another event in March, the 3 Peaks Challenge:
The new 230km route starts and finishes at Falls Creek, circumnavigating Victoria’s Alpine Region traversing Tawonga Gap, Mt Hotham, then back to Falls Creek via Omeo.
So we will be continuing our support for Mr I’s sporting adventures in 2010!
I only managed to see one live gig this year and I did miss out on seeing loads of bands that I love. I am going to try for one a quarter in 2010.
We finished slightly over budget this calendar year, which was due mainly to expenditure on Christmas. We made a conscious decision to do this as Mr I needed a new bike and so did three of the kids. 2010 is going to be a year of saving for us, so I will have to look for more ways to save on everyday expenditure.
On the whole this was pretty good, but late October and pretty much all of November definitely didn’t have me playing as much with the kids. I took on too much and was way too busy. Reflections on this time led to my goal for 2010 of “learning to say no”.
My main intent here was to improve navigation on the blog and to enhance the lay out. I have made only one real change to the blog in this regard and that was adding the Family Friendly Recipes page. I hope to work through the remainder of my ideas for this early in 2010.
As I had at the half yearly review, I have probably achieved about 75% of what I aimed to by the end of this year. I need to be more realistic with the goals that I set. Some were just too ambitious too in a year when I had a new baby. But on the flip side, I did achieve some fantastic things that weren’t planned:
- Took the family to Mt Baw Baw for sometime in the snow in July. (Thanks to Nuffnang and Destination Gippsland).
- Had a weekend break in September with the family at Blarigowrie, courtesy of winning a raffle at school.
- Planning With Kids was nominated in the top 5 parenting blogs for Asia/Pacific. Bubs, Mr I and myself heading to Singapore for 5 days in October for the Nuffnang Awards. (Thanks to Nuffnang again!)
- Took the kids to Mildura in November to meet my beautiful niece and another special baby boy.
- Co-ordinated the school Christmas craft stall, which combined with the preserves and food, made over $4000.
Even for a planning obsessive like me, it often the unplanned that can bring the greatest joy!
Did you set yourself goals for 2009 and if so how did you track against them?