All good things must come to an end, right? My streak of months where I kick all sorts of butt with my goals has come to a halt. A screeching, crashing, fiery halt. Even after a mid-month check in, I couldn’t put the wheels back on.
The Blog – PASS-ish
Reply to all comments – I was doing so well, and then HP forgot how to nap. I have my blog bookmarked on my phone (why yes I have been blogging for over two years and just got around to doing this), and I’m hoping I can leave some voice comments during our middle-of-the-night feedings.
Make a decision about FinCon – I’m going! As much as I’d like to take credit for meeting this goal, I can’t. Mr. P took two days off work, effectively forcing my hand. Now the big question is do I use my points or pay with real dollars for the flight and hotel. And the even bigger question is who’s excited to meet HP?!
Money – FAIL
Revisit the idea of extra mortgage payments – If by revisit, you mean had fantasies of paying it off in full after a long-lost relative made me heir to a chai latte empire, sure. I revisited it again. And again and again. While it’s nice to think about money milestones, I haven’t done any of hard thinking, number crunching, or reflecting that will be necessary to really make this happen (or not).
Share my tracked spending – I did one week’s worth of money diaries and that’s it. Part of it is because I didn’t want to confront the spending that I’ve been doing and part of it is because I wasn’t sure it was adding value to the blog. But then I realize how much I wish I had a peek at a family’s spending before having HP, so I’m going to continue posting them even if no one reads them.
Clutter- FAIL
Declutter at least 50 items – I did get rid of around 50 things, but again it was Mr. P to the rescue. He culled a ton of dress shirts that didn’t fit right. As for the #MinsGame that I was going to play, I made it through ten days. That’s it.
Rather than set new goals for October, I’m going to revisit these goals. That’s right. I’m going to have patience with myself. If that’s not personal growth, I don’t know what is. My big focus for this month is going to be completing the #MinsGame Challenge. I will be returning to work in November, and I’m hoping that shedding a lot of this excess will help streamline my mornings and free up time in the evenings. I can see the t-shirt now. Will declutter for baby snuggles.
So Tell Me…How was your September? What do you have planned for October?
Yay HP’s first FinCon. One of these years I need to go to FinCon 🙂
Thanks for sharing this post.
Matthew
When my boys were babies, I always found that the hardest months weren’t necessarily the first few (ok, those were really hard) but months 4-10, or so. Because I was expecting life to get easier/better, and it didn’t. The babies would sleep well, then derail and I’d be up nights, exhausted. I think things really turned a corner after 12 months, with a brief derail at 18 months, and then slowly better and easier. I didn’t minimalize my house until they were 7 and 4 years old, though. 🙂
All that’s to say, good for you for laying off on goals for a little while. Sometimes we’re just in the thick of babyhood. As Glennon says, “You’re looking for wisdom when you’ve got babies? What you really need is a NAP. Go home and sleep.” You’re doing big, important things. Goals can wait. 🙂
Lol! I second the nap! With my first baby I tried to be Superwoman and do it all! Naps? I was Superwoman. Superwoman don’t need no stinkin’ nap! Yeah, that didn’t work out so well for me. When the second baby came along I followed the sage advice that my Grammie gave me for the first baby that I didn’t heed. “When the baby sleeps, you sleep. Feed the baby and then immediately feed yourself. The world will not come to a screeching halt if you’re house isn’t immaculately clean……a few dust bunnies never hurt anyone.” The second time around was much easier even though I had a toodler AND a baby!
Bah, it’s tough with a new, squishy, cute baby to care for. Don’t be hard on yourself. 🙂
GIRL. I WANT TO SEE YOU AT FINCON. Sorry for doing that in caps but oh mah gah I am so happy you’re going. :3
So excited to meet you there! And HP! Will this be his first trip?
I think you’re doing pretty amazing while having a newborn baby. Kudos for having patience with yourself. And if those goals get pushed to the side for a while—YOU’RE ALLOWED.
YEAH!! SO excited to actually meet you, Mr. P and little HP 🙂 I’m sure it was a tough decision to make, but it will be so much fun! And you get a pass on goals right now. They’re nice, but that little one and the rest of your family come first.
No excuses needed for the mom of a newborn. Whatever you feel you can do is fine. As I recall, the first few months were kind of a blur of 4 am feedings, crying, stinky diapers, and way shorter naps than I planned for.
Have fun at FinCon!
I think it’s smart to be patient with your goals at this point. There will be plenty of time to catch up in the future. And I hope you enjoy FinCon. I wish I were going too.
September seemed to go too fast for me. I need October to slow down so I can get some things done.
I’d say you already have the “problems” licked. My father used to say “success is getting up one more time than you fall”. It does not matter whether we meet all of our goals every month. What matters is that we stay accountable to ourselves, and are honest about our successes and failures. You do that very well, Penny. IMHO, that makes you a success. It’s just a matter of time until the numbers prove me right.
Enjoy FinCon!
The important thing is to get back up after we’ve tripped or the baby forgets how to nap!
Like Laurie, Month 4 was probably the hardest, emotionally. I was expecting to be better, but it was still really hard.
I was contemplating how much harder it could be with a second (or third, as it feels in our case with Seamus as the first) and my brain just shut down. Nope, can’t even think about that.
And like you, I’m going to get back on the decluttering horse. I fell off, y’see. 🙂
If I make it to FinCon, may I steal HP for a few minutes?
Being a good mom to HP should be your biggest goal right now – and I KNOW you’re rocking that one!!!
So, so, so disappointed that I won’t get to meet HP 🙁 But hope you have a great time at FinCon!
Just found your post. I know you’re well past this but focusing on where you’re at and accepting that this wasn’t the right time is huge. So a very belated huge congrats from me. I’m off to investigate other posts with the confidence that you’ll find the right way for you.
Thanks so much for the kind words, Emma!