What a year 2007 has been. It was exactly 361 days ago that we saw L’s face for the first time. Then in late February, we left for our amazing trip to meet her in China. I can’t believe it was so long ago.
The first two months of this year were filled by waiting and anticipation, the trip to China was amazing and also stressful. Then the following six months, well, they were hard (baby jail). And tiring. But also pretty cool. This fall, I felt like we have finally found our sea-legs as the parents of two children.
Now that we are pretty sure our family is complete, we are trying to figure out which direction we want to go. We are healthy and happy, so the world is our oyster. I feel like 2008 is going to be a good year.
I don’t really do resolutions but I do have a few goals for 2008:
- Carve out more alone time for myself. It is ridiculous that I have only spent two days alone since we met L. It was a necessary evil those first few months, but now it is just a bad habit. Remember that more alone/childfree time makes me happy and a happy mama is good for the girls.
- Take a Chinese class and don’t drop out. I have attempted learning Chinese several times, but I always come up with some excuse to quit sooner or later. Suck it up!
- Stop shopping when I have nothing else to do. Find other activities to fill my time. Enough said.
- Keep running. Increase from 5 miles to 7 miles. Don’t get sucked in by the winter lethargy.
It isn’t much, but if I managed to accomplish all those activities, I will be healthier, wealthier, wiser and more happy.
What more could I wish for?
there are people out here still checking in. fellow CERG person here. we are just staying home tonight and going through our first round of stuff we bought for the impending arrival (pick up) for our first…..and forgot to buy so much other stuff. lots of tops but no pants…we are such hacks. hope to travel in mid-feb after CNY. cheers and HNY. mark
Good resolutions…I mean, Goals. I might even put some up for myself.
Hi AmFam,
Happy New Year. Do you know about the Chinesepod.com podcast? It’s a great way to supplement those Chinese lessons. I’ve been using it for awhile now, and it’s really improved my Mandarin. (I’m not affiliated with them in any way, just passing along the info.) Cheers!
Sorry to post a comment when really I just want to ask you some questions but I don’t see a link to your email. We have a 3 1/2 year old daughter who we adopted from China when she was 10 months old. We have begun the search for her birthparents and I would love to ask you some questions about your search, if you don’t mind. Please email me at mkslms@yahoo.com if you’re willing to share some information about how you are conducting your search. Thanks and Happy New Year!
Laura
Running? What running? What 5 miles? A week, right? Because that’s about where I’m at. Increase to 7? Whoah. Stop that crazy talk. My language goal for 2007 is to say “Does my butt look big in these jeans?” because all I got in Mandarin right now is Pigu.
Ha! No, I run about 5 miles 3 times a week on a treadmill in my basement. I hate every minute of it, but if I can watch TV it makes it less awful. My ass isn’t getting any smaller, but I am in pretty good shape, I think.
A good juxtaposition of goals are “Take a Chinese class and don’t drop out,” and “Stop shopping when I have nothing else to do. Find other activities to fill my time.”
Language learning is a lot like exercise, in that it takes practice rather than study, and that it really helps to find ways that make it fun rather than tedious. People who view it as a grim task are doomed to failure. For example, I like to listen to language tapes and podcasts at the gym, and find it very useful in providing complimentary forms of stimulation. In your case, learning with the kids might make it more enjoyable and provide shared momentum – as long as your attitude is positive towards it; if you consider it a chore, they will too.