Real Motherhood: Not a Pro

I'm not good at mom stuff.

When I was first getting into the swing of being a mom, I heard a lot of comments that exclaimed, "Don't worry, you'll be a pro in no time!"

Well, lovely sentiment. But the truth is, almost two years into this motherhood thing, I'm not a pro.

Here are 5 reasons:

1. I can't change a baby facing the 'wrong' direction. Her head has to be on my left.

And I've TRIED putting these blasted cloth ones on her standing up,
and that doesn't work for me at all.
(Yes, even the velcro ones.)

2. I still have trouble buckling her into the carseat from the left side. I'm a bit better with her convertible carseat but her infant one? I just could not do it.

3. I never was able to nurse a baby and do the dishes or cook dinner. It sounds unsafe anyway. Maybe I'll get a sling for the next bambino and figure it out. But eh, that sounds like a pain.

For 16 months, I sat down and used this freakin' pillow to nurse my kid!

4. I still don't have eyes in the back of my head. (Maybe those will develop in the next few years?)

5. I have not sprouted 4 more arms. I drop things. Constantly. Still clumsy ol' me.

Also, more currently, I cannot figure out how to get my child to nap every day, can't figure out what to feed her (she got even more picky in the past month, and the only vegetable she has eaten has been spinach in a smoothie), and can't get her to sit on the potty very much any more--only when poop is actively coming out of her butt. Why has everything gotten harder??!

However, 2 things I am a pro at? Being able to get this baby carrier on my back with no help:

It ain't pretty, but I can do it

And pulling my hair out on a regular basis. Because toddlers, that's why.

Are These Resolutions or Just a To-Do List?

Well, that, I am not sure.

I haven't made resolutions in YEARS. I had my 101 in 1001 list, so that was good enough for me. Maybe one of these days I'll actually update that page on my blog since it ended last April, but that is not actually on my list! Too bad, so sad.

My resolution list just so happened to have 14 items, a fitting number for 2014.

1. Organize the basement. Make it functional. Make it awesome.

2. Start a toy rotation for Cora. Maybe once a month swap stuff out.

3. Weekly Family Meetings! We have re-started these. I dropped the part B hates (weekly highs and lows). We did it while Cora took a bath and we were all in the bathroom anyway. We can do readings out of her kids' bible.

4. Potty train Cora. Goal is to be daytime-trained around age 2, no later than 27 months. She already poops in it, we just gotta get her to know when to go.

5. Use time outs for Cora. She still doesn't quite understand it and won't sit in the chair.

6. Conquer Cora's picky eating. Even if I need to use operant conditioning, this needs to be nipped in the bud sooner rather than later.

7. Get new passport. This has been on my long to-do list for a while.

8. Make a home management binder. Not sure if I want it as detailed as the one I read about in Organized Simplicity, but there should be some type of manual on running this house if I fall into a hole.

9. Keep up with the budget on YNAB. (I just bought this thing!) And in effect, tithe more.

10. Read 7 books. And actually finish them. I was really bad in 2013 in regards to reading about 80% of a book and then not finishing it. It kinda drives me nuts when I think about it. (Most of the books are back on the library shelves, so it's not like I'll be finishing them tonight.)

11. Learn 5 new dinner recipes.

12. Get pregnant. (!!) And pray I don't have another miscarriage, will ya? Because that sucked.

13. Make 2 friends in this town. Like, actual friends that give me their phone numbers and call me to hang out.

14. Run 2 races. Setting the bar low because I'm not sure how much I'll be able do if #12 happens (see: bad knee).

That's it. That's my list. I better get crackin' on it since we're already 4 days in now.

13 In '13

A pictorial review of the past year. With some text, too.

Click the pic to join the fun

January

Celebrated Cora's First Birthday

February

It was cold and snowed a lot?

March

It snowed even more

Trip to my home state of GA to see my BIL (sister's husband) join the Catholic Church

April

Cora started walking, and then a few weeks later burned her hands on the oven door as I was taking something out of it

May

Final nursing session

June

BIL's high school graduation

My first time tubing behind a boat (and not down a river, Southern-style)

July

Won my division in a 5K

August

Trip to Virginia and Cora's first beach experiences (she hated it)

September

Went to my first Notre Dame football game

October

Trip to Washington, D.C., for BIL's wedding, during government shutdown

Cora was the flower girl

November

A visit from ALL of my side of the family

December

Cora got sick on Christmas, but was fine a few days before and after (including when she met Santa)

Wow, that was actually really hard to pare our year down to 13 photos! There was obviously a lot more to our year (I didn't even mention that we bought our first house in this post!), but these were some of my favorite pictures of last year.