Hello! From a very tired, run down Mama. We’re all now full of whatever it is going round. Isla had RSV and bronchiolitis, so is still getting rid of that and I can’t remember the last time I slept longer than 3 hours at one time?! What’s new though, really? I don’t think I’ll ever sleep like I used to ever again. Maybe I should just get over it and accept it.
With the new year fast approaching it always seems like a good time to think about what I’d like to do more of and less of next year. I love reflecting on how the year has gone. I write notes to myself throughout the whole year and love to scan back through them to see where my head was at at different times of the year.
So, things I’d like to do more of in 2025. I got into a really good habit of reading most nights whilst I was expecting Isla. I found it was a really good way to wind down before bed and although some nights were uncomfortable having to lie on my left side with a huge bump, I really did find that I slept quite well. So for 2025, instead of doom scrolling before my head hits the pillow, I want to read a few pages of a good book. Can’t be that hard, surely? Will report back at the end of next year! Any books to recommend please do. I loved Verity and It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover and I think fiction is better than non fiction for reading before bed. I do love self help books but I don’t find those as good for winding down too.
I say this every year… but I’d really like to workout 3 times a week. Either it be a run outdoors, on the treadmill, a swim, a HIIT workout, whatever. 3 times, no excuses, just do it and work hard when I am doing it. I have a wedding to feel good for and right now, I am not feeling great in my body. I know, I gave birth 4 months ago but it’s not that. I eat too much, especially biscuits with cups of tea and I’ve been lazy. With having no dog to walk now, I’m definitely not getting as many steps in as I’d like to. Plus, the way I feel mentally after a workout just tops everything. Happy wife, happy life.
I really want to start eating as close to nature and as locally sourced as possible. I think we do pretty well already but I want to make more of a cautious effort to support local farmers and buy products that don’t contain a whole load of preservatives and whatever else is added in to make them taste nice or last longer on a shelf. This goes for skin products and cleaning products too. I’m slowly filtering things out when they run out and I’m reading the ingredients labels on pretty much everything now too. Don’t get me wrong, I know some things can’t be avoided 100% of the time and I’m not going to say no to eating a takeaway or whatever it is but I’d like to try for the majority of the time at home.
This one is probably one of the biggest things I notice in myself that I absolutely hate and I have already started making an effort to do this and that’s putting my phone away and out of sight when I’m at home with the children, especially after M has spent the day at playgroup, she needs my undivided attention. Even if it means just sitting on the sofa together and watching a bit of tele. I’m so bad for checking it whenever a notification comes through or whenever I think of something and have to Google it there and then, I don’t have to.
Dedicate a couple of hours each week to do something creative. Just for fun! Nothing too serious. I’d love to do some Lino printing again. I find it quite therapeutic. Drawing on my iPad, sewing, crocheting, anything! If it helps me unwind, I’m here for it.
Well, that’s me for today and probably for another month or so. Have a lovely Christmas and a happy new year. I can’t wait to spend it with my babies as a family of four. Love, L.