Happy New Year!

We made it to the new decade – happy 2020! How was your New Year’s Eve? I was/am still on the mend from some virus that Joanie and I passed back and forth all December. I got hit with it particularly hard on Christmas Eve and it basically knocked me out for a week. I guess I passed it back to Joanie before the month ended because she woke up yesterday threatening to puke. So, we decided to stay in for NYE — which, let’s be honest, was the plan all along.

I wanted to make it a special night for the kids, so I picked up some confetti cake at one of our neighborhood’s many bakeries, some bubbly for everyone (sparkling cider for the kids), told everyone to get dressed up, made shrimp cocktail and heated up some pigs-in-a-blanket (Jackson asked if this was a traditional NYE meal and I told him it was because why not), and then we watched John Mulaney and the Sack Lunch Bunch (highly recommend whether you have kids or not) and the NYE countdown special that Netflix is kind enough to put out every year for parents who want to trick their kids into thinking it’s midnight when it’s actually only 8 pm. I threw in some noise makers, we had a toast at 7:30, and the kids totally bought it!! Well, Joanie did, anyway (it helped that she did actually puke during the festivities and was genuinely ready to go to bed shortly afterward) and Jackson was thrilled to be part of tricking Joanie and then continued to play along by actually going to bed when she did (though he stayed awake reading books for a couple hours because 2019 was the year he decided he LOVES reading, much to my delight). All in all, it was a pretty great NYE (some of which you can see in my Insta-stories), and here are a few photos that my kids gave me permission to share:

We’re probably keeping it low-key today on account of the aforementioned holiday virus of 2019, but that’s ok. The kids go back to school tomorrow and, for once, I’m not on pins and needles for them to get out of my hair. It’s amazing what a difference it makes when they mostly get along, which they have this break, and when the meltdowns and tantrums are minimal to non-existent. Could this be it?! The magical time that people have told me is coming when parenthood finally gets easier?! After eight years of some really, really challenging times, I would very much welcome the kind of breather this past week and half suggests is possible. Oh, please, 2020, don’t let me down!

Anyhoo, I don’t have any resolutions yet, but maybe I’ll come up with something today. Last year I resolved to read 25 books and I pretty much succeeded. I finished 23 (and shared some of my faves here), but there was an additional 12 or so that I partially read and I think that should count for something. I guess I’ll continue the reading resolution for this year but boost it up to 30 books. I just finished Fleischman is in Trouble, which I really enjoyed, and now I’m reading this one. In addition to reading, I want to commit to pilates classes twice a week, which I’ve been pretty good about since summertime but could use an extra push to stay committed to. And I want to write more — maybe like 3000 words a week not related to/posted on DW. So… I guess I do have some resolutions, after all!

Another thing I committed to in 2019 was self-care, but not just the kind that was previously called vanity and has been re-marketed to make us feel ok about it. I’m talking boring stuff, like skin cancer checks, regular dental visits, therapy, consistent exercise, drinking more water, and finally getting my blood pressure under control. (After almost five years of hypertension, I started medication a month ago and already feel better.) I also lost a little weight, but I didn’t obsess about it. I feel good about all that and want to continue the boring and not-so-boring self-care into the new decade.

So, what about you? What are your hopes and dreams and plans and goals for the new year and the new decade?