New Years Resolutions

Ok, ok. I know evvvveryone makes resolutions and hardly anyone ends up keeping them past the month of February. I have to admit, I am one of those people. I say "I'm giving up french fries" (like I did when I was pregnant).. and then two weeks later the words, "I haven't had french fries in 2 weeks!! I'm going to reward myself with some fries" come out of my mouth. I'm not really the most consistent person, especially when it comes to working out or eating healthy. It's just easier to be lazy and fat.

Well..... I'm tired of being fat. And before you say, "Amy, you look great for just having a baby!" or "I hate you - your 'fat' weight is my normal weight".. just keep in mind that everyone's body is different and I just want to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight.

I decided a few weeks ago that I needed to join a gym to take classes. I am a very intrinsically motivated person when it comes to my job and such, but when it comes to working out.. I basically need someone telling me what to do, and for other people to hold me accountable. I can't afford a personal trainer, so aerobics classes were the way to go. But, of course, the gyms in the podunk town I live in didn't offer the type of classes that I was looking for or for the times that we could make work (after all, I have to wait for Michael to get home so he can watch Will). So, I joked around at work about how I was going to start going to Jazzercise since they offered classes about 2 minutes from where I live. To my surprise, a few of my coworkers liked the idea and we decided that we would all go together. Last night we went to our first Jazzercise class and it was a lot of fun! And they did some weights and ab work so I felt like it would be well worth the money! It feels so phenomenal today to be sore!! Hopefully these last 8 pounds will be gone in no time.... ok.. well... hopefully by summer! :)

The other resolution is not as fun.

The time has come for sleep training Will... *dun dun dunnnnnnnn*. We have put it off.. again with the consistency problem.. but the time has come. There is no reason why he should be waking up twice or three times after we put him down. He is healthy now, so we figured now was as good of a time as any. It has been really hard sticking to a routine during the holidays and such, since we traveled and we have such amazing friends that live out of town that want to come visit. But now there are no excuses.

I am reading my...ahem.. ninth baby sleep book. I've gone a little overboard, I know.. But I think I was trying to find the path of least resistance, and what I have realized is that all "strategies" have their pros and cons. Will obviously is use to being held and rocked. Heck, I held him to nap for the first 2 months of his life (hindsight is a bitch). That sleep association had to be broken; we can no longer rock him to sleep. Although there is much said about "Ferberizing" and it has even been on our new favorite show, Modern Family, as a harsh "cry until they exhaust themselves" method, after reading the actual book, it is nothing like that at all. Last night we did Will's normal bedtime routine and then just put him in the crib with a toy and walked out. Within 25 minutes, he was asleep. He whined, not cried. I thought - holy cow that was too good to be true! It was.

45 minutes later he woke up (I guess he thought he was napping) and he whined and played with his toy for about 30 minutes before going INSANE. I'm talkin' - going hoarse and losing his breath insane. We did the "progressive waiting" approach and went in after 3 minutes, then 5 minutes, then 7 minutes.. and after that he went to sleep. He is still waking up frequently at night but we have decreased the amount in the bottle we give him to only 1 ounce. In a few days we will knock those out all together.

Today when I brought him home from daycare, I took him upstairs to nap and he was not having it. He fussed and cried for 30 minutes so I went and got him, brought him downstairs, and fed him. Then he chilled for a while and I took him back upstairs about 30 minutes later. Within 30 minutes he was napping soundly and he napped for his usual 45 minutes.

Tonight I did the same bedtime routine with him and it took about 25 minutes again for him to go to sleep. Hopefully he will stay asleep this time!

And my final resolution. I need to relax. I get so worried and worked up about the littlest things. Life is just too short. I have an amazing husband, an awesome son, great friends, and a job that is (sometimes) very rewarding. It's just not worth it to sweat the small stuff... yea, I'll probably break this one, but still.. it's the thought that counts.. :)

On a completely separate note, Will is going to go through so many changes this year.. I want to make sure I capture as many as I can. He learns so quickly it freaks me out. The first time we put him in the exersaucer this weekend, he just kind of slumped over and didn't really do anything. Then he started playing with the toys and focusing on them hard. Now he has realized that if he pushes down on his legs, it causes a reaction. He isn't jumping yet.. but this was funny nonetheless..complete with spit up at the end. Classic Will.