15 for '15: The Annual To Do List

1.  Continue to work on my weight and fitness.  Maintain to the point of still being able to fit into my current wardrobe.  Get a new FitBit watch!

2.  Only shop for quality wardrobe pieces that will hold up over time.  Go one month without shopping for myself.

3.  Host Owen's 2nd Birthday party and see if we can top his 1st!

4. Add at least one new tradition to our Christmas traditions list (currently we're at:  J&A cookie decorating, Highland Park lights and Chuy's night, downtown Neiman's Santa and tree lighting, Christmas Eve family service and tamale party).  I'm thinking I'd like to host or plan an ornament exchange, book exchange or cookie exchange?

5.  Figure out Owen's MDO situation for the fall and adjust my work schedule accordingly.  Stay balanced!

6.  Do at least one yoga workshop.

7.  Attend at least 2 classes that are not my own yoga classes per month.  Preferably with a friend!

8.  Ride in at least one organized bike ride.  (Germanfest?)

9.  Run a half marathon in under 2 hours.

10.  Volunteer for VBS.

11.  Run a 5K in under 26:30.

12.  Continue to write Owen's monthly update letters for 2014.

13.  Travel more! Plan our five year anniversary trip.

14.  Read 20 books.  Turn off my phone at 9:00 every night and read before bed.

15.  Find at least 3 additional target neighborhoods.  Start researching schools for Owen and step out of my comfort zone to look at private schools.

2014 To Do List Revisited

1.  Get back to pre-baby weight and more importantly pre-baby body self-image.  I'd like to be able to wear the things in my closet.  I never did get back to pre-baby weight.  I hovered most of the year at least 3-10 lbs heavier, but I did lose a lot of weight after getting the FitBit and this is the first year that I don't feel utterly disgusting going into January 1st.  I definitely improved my self-image, which is worth way more than any number on the scale or achieving the ridiculous one that I saw the day I found out I was pregnant.  I can wear everything in my closet and not only can I wear each piece, I feel GOOD in each piece.  This was a MAJOR MAJOR HUGE MAJOR win for me this year.  The number on the scale can just suck it. 

2.  Only shop for and buy quality pieces for my wardrobe.  I did this too!  I returned basically every poor choice that I bought from Old Navy online.  My strategy has been either lululemon, Gap, Banana, anthro or Nordstrom (Rack or regular).  It's working out very well for me.  At least, I hope so! I take a lot of things back and I have really no regrets about things I bought this year. 

3.  Throw a super fun first birthday party for Owen.  DID IT!  We had a great party! 

4.  Continue our family Christmas traditions that we started this year.  We had a great holiday and it was perfect for our future as a family of three.  I am owning this to do list so far! We even made some new traditions (downtown Neiman's Santa and the KWP Tree Lighting).  Our tamale party was better than ever.  I can say, hands down, this was my most favorite Christmas.  I had no disappointment and felt only satisfaction when taking all the decorations down.

5.  Get my own cycle class.  Ruh roh.  This never happened but I'm ok with that.  My teaching schedule evolved and I had no idea I'd be rocking a part-time schedule at lulu again when I wrote this list.

6.  Enroll Owen in Mother's Day Out for the fall and along with that, teach at another gym/studio that is out of my comfort zone.  (This might end up being #5 as well!)  This partially happened!  Owen started MDO in September, this has been nothing but awesome.  I did audition for Core Power Yoga, which I think satisfies the "out of my comfort zone" requirement.  I had never auditioned before.  As previously stated, things evolved somewhat and I'm totally happy with where I ended up.

7.  Attend at least 2 classes that are not my own yoga classes per month.  This is, sadly, a big challenge right now.  I am not sure I got there but I did come very close.  Having free yoga from lulu was an amazing help in this department.  I will be keeping this on the 2015 list. 

8. Ride in at least one organized bike ride.  Um... I can't remember if I rode my bike in 2014.  Oops. 

9.  Run a half marathon in under 2 hours.  2:00:23 I will get those 23 seconds off my time in 2015.

10.  Find a place to volunteer and/or get more involved with our church.  I might have overdid this a bit this year.  I ended up taking on the VP Charity role for my moms club and doing quite a bit with church.  I plan to do VBS again this summer, it was a fabulous way to get involved and know the older kids at our church.

11.  Continue to be involved with my mom's group and Owen's playgroup. (This turned out to be one of the best things I put on my list last year!)  See previous item.  CHECK.

12.  Continue to write Owen's monthly update letters for 2014.  Haaa. Nope. Sorry I'm not sorry. 

13.  Travel more.  Make Vegas happen.  Take Owen to Boston.  Go on a trip that is just me (maybe DC or San Diego?).  Better plan for our 4th anniversary weekend.  Partially completed!  I went to San Francisco, Florida, New Orleans and YES! VEGAS HAPPENED.  We did a repeat of our first anniversary in Houston/Galveston this year and it was delightful.  Travel is never not going to be on a to do list for me. 

14. Read 10 books.  Turn off my phone at 9:00 every night and read before bed.  I probably did the book thing? I'm planning to actually keep track of what I'm reading in 2015.  I probably already have 10 books on my library request list that are coming soon so this should be easy to repeat.  I do need to revisit the 9:00 phone thing although deleting the twitter and facebook apps from my phone made a big difference in my phone usage.  Having a declining iPhone 5 with terrible battery life and no storage for yoga music might have been a factor here. Heh.

First Day of "School"

Dear Owen,

After 16 months spent together almost 100% of the time, you started Mother's Day Out today.  You've been watched by other people since you were 10 weeks old and I went back to teaching but I felt like a routine would be better for you as you are getting older.  I've been having mixed feelings about the whole thing.  I know it will be awesome for you (and me! I get to go back to work part-time!), but I'm used to being in the same building as you and at an arm's reach if you need me.  I know you'll be fine but it's always bittersweet watching you grow up and become your own person.  Good luck buddy and have fun!

Christmas 2014

Dear Owen,

Spending the Christmas season with a 1.5 year old has far exceeded my expectations.  It's been mostly delightful, you are very excited by lights and trees.  We decorated ours while you were sleeping and when you woke up, all you could say was "WOW. WOW."  We have a very strictly enforced rule in the Bernardi house where no one touches the tree, including Mommy and Daddy.  You've done really well with it and we've only caught you trying to touch it or the ornaments a couple of times.

You have an Advent calendar that you love to do each night.  It has velcro ornaments that go on a tree and you help to place them, which is why most of the ornaments are on the bottom half of the tree.  We have been reading Christmas stories and THE Christmas story before bed.  We also lit the Advent candle at church together as a family with Mimzy.

We went to the tree lighting downtown at Klyde Warren Park.  They had a fabulous big band and you loved running around and playing on the lawn while they played music.  I think you might have been too little to really understand the tree lighting so we'll try again next year.  You also will probably get more out of the drive through the lights of Highland Park next year when you aren't rear facing in your car seat.

We missed Daddy's company Christmas party this year, which is where we normally take you to see Santa Claus so we made the big visit at the Neiman Marcus downtown.  This might have to become a new tradition before the Klyde Warren tree lighting because we had a great time.  Well, Dad and I had a great time.  You did not enjoy Santa.  You call him "Dee-ta" and as soon as you saw him and I started to get you out of your stroller, you started growling.  The photographer warned me to just put you down and walk away quickly and he'd try to snap some pictures quickly.  This is what we ended up with:

As you can see, you were not happy about the situation.  We put the picture up on our fridge at home and we had been looking at it almost daily and talking about Santa (Dee-ta).  I thought you might be getting over your issue with the man in red until we went to dinner at Chuy's after HP lights.  They had a big inflatable Santa in the lobby and you and I were looking at him while Daddy was getting the car from the valet.  I told you that you could hug him, to which you replied with a curt, NO. Then I said, "It's ok, you can just touch him if you want to." and again I got a big fat NO.  You were facing Santa with your back toward me and I said to turn around and I'd pick you up and that was when you melted down.  It was basically the same as the Neiman's Santa experience so I grabbed you and we made a quick exit to find Dad.

The next day we were at home and you got a choo-choo train cookie to eat after dinner.  I started telling you that we'd be leaving out cookies for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve and that you have a special placemat for him.  It was then that I started to fully grasp that you understand a lot of what we are saying these days, even if you can't articulate it.  Our conversation went like this:

Me: We'll be leaving out cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve! You even have a special placemat for them.
You: Dan-ta?
Me: Yes! He comes to our house.
You (looks at front door, starts to almost cry): Dan-ta?
Me: It's ok! He comes while you sleep and leaves presents! Presents in boxes! (You are in to boxes these days.)
You (tries not to cry)

So, you understand me! This is both exciting and scary! But Bud, Santa is your friend! It's gonna be ok! I'm assuming we'll try again next year.

For Christmas, you got a bunch of great stuff from everyone!  You got a bounce house for outside and a great play kitchen for your playroom.  You love playing with everything and we had huge bags of toys to go to charity after we organized your playroom.  Our house was full of people.  Papa was here for a week, Uncle Preston for five days, Gram for two days and Grandpa River (Bop-A-Boo) and Grandma Bean brought your great-grandfather with them when they flew up.  We had a great tamale party at the house on Christmas Eve and you and your buddy Lilah broke in the bounce house an had a grand ole time.  On Christmas Day, you ate your fill of Daddy's BBQ brisket and my mac-n-cheese for your Christmas dinner.  We saw the Nativity pageant at church and I'm thinking you might be old enough to participate next year!

Hopefully next year will be as good as this year, we were very lucky to have such a great Christmas 2014.

Love,
Mommy