Are You A Biter Or A Clipper?

Don't you just love the soft, chubby, cherubic hands of a baby? I could spend hours just rubbing Jill's soft little hands. But I don't love when her nails become daggers that she loves to use for pinching, especially while she's eating.

One of the tasks of babyhood I've always disliked most as a mom is trimming those tiny little fingernails. With Isabelle, I was hyper-vigilant about all things hygiene. She was bathed and powdered daily, with an extra bath or two thrown in whenever just her diaper leaked just the least little bit. Her hair was combed and her nails were trimmed after each bath. (Oh how things change from #1 to #5, but that's a whole 'nother post!)

But those nail trimmings had a tendency to end in at least a finger or two getting nicked by those little clippers. So by the time Alex came around, I gave up completely on using nail clippers and started just biting them off instead.

I'm wondering if I'm the only one that does that? Did/do you clip or bite your baby's nails? Surely I'm not alone in this, am I?

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{Projects} 365 ~ Days 1 - 10

We have definitely gotten off to a great start with crossing projects off of our {Projects} 365 list. With just 10 days down is 2011, here is what we've gotten done so far:

1. 1/1/11 - Bookshelf assembled and arranged in the master suite hallway. This is my favorite project so far! I've wanted this Expedit bookshelf from IKEA for years. I've been picturing it in the hallway outside our bedroom since the day we moved in. And since that time, all of our beloved books have been waiting patiently in boxes in our master bedroom closet. I had so much fun arranging the books. Even though it's been there for 10 days now, I have to stop and admire our bookshelf each time I walk by.




2. 1/2/11 - Master bedroom closet organized. Getting all those boxes of books out of closet meant we could finally organize and arrange all of our clothes. Definitely a sense of accomplishment when we finished that project.



Check out my shoes - all 6 pairs of them in total! Don't you just love the wide variety of colors? :)

1. 1/3/11 - Alex's bedroom rearranged. We moved the furniture around and made the bedroom much more 6 year old boy friendly.
2. 1/4/11 - Steam cleaned the carpet in Olivia & Gracie's bedroom.
3. 1/5/11 - Made & froze a bulk batch of Bacon, Cheese & Egg Biscuit Cups. Not a project from the list, but still important.
4. 1/6/11 - Found some size 6 pants from the clothing storage bins for Olivia. Not on the list again, but a much needed project!
5. 1/7/11 - Monthly trip to Sam's club and finished putting Christmas decorations away.
6. 1/8/11 - Finished monthly grocery shopping. Fun day with the kids!
7. 1/9/11 - Some rather disappointing time spent in the kitchen. But I did get some laundry done at least. Also, Eric rearranged the play area.
8. 1/10/11 - Hung cabinet above refrigerator. Eric and a neighbor worked together to get that cabinet hung correctly. When we first moved in, the cabinet was just sitting on top of the fridge. It was only useable if we opened the fridge door first. Eric took it down and we spent a few months trying to decide what to do with the space. Finally we decided the smartest move would be to just hang the cabinet up correctly. The kitchen looks complete now!

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{Projects} 365

We began moving into our new house on June 18th of 2010. I was 5 1/2 months pregnant at the time. Our focus was on getting furniture situated and boxes unpacked. Once I started nesting, the focus shifted to organizing, bulk cooking and cleaning. As a result, a lot of the projects we wanted to tackle to officially make our house a home were pushed to the back burner.

Now that Jill is over 3 months old and we've lived here for over 6 months, we are ready to do that once and for all. We have lots of projects, both big and small, that we want to complete. We are giving ourselves the entire year of 2011 to get everything done.

We started with tackling one of those projects on the very first day of the year and we've continued each day. Hence {Projects} 365. I'll be blogging our progress as we work through our list. I'm hoping this will help keep us accountable. It will also serve as a great resource at the end of the year for us to look back on all of our accomplishments.

Here is the {Projects} 365 list as it stands right now.

• Paint master bedroom
• Paint family room
• Assemble and organize bookshelf in master suite hallway
• Organize master bedroom closet
• Cabinet above refrigerator
• Paint and clean desk for Alex
• Buy & set up family desk in front room
• Re-arrange Isabelle's room
• Re-arrange Alex's room
• Clean carpets in Olivia & Gracie's room
• Buy and hang canvas print in master bedroom
• Rug for family room
• Stencil "God writes straight with crooked lines" above Jill's crib
• Organize garage
• Front yard landscaping
• Refinish & seal decks
• Paint fence
• Move gravel
• Buy & set up swing set
• Backyard landscaping
• Set up garden space
• Plant garden
• Collage picture frames for family room
• Buy hall tree or bench and hooks for front entryway
• Buy padded couch-style bench for front room
• Decorate front room
• Paint accent wall in kitchen
• Replace ceiling tiles in mudroom/pantry
• New curtains in family room
• New curtains in dining area
• New curtains in master suite

That looks like a good start to me. It's definitely subject to change as well as additions. Obviously some of the projects will take several days or weeks even while some will only take a few minutes. But they all still need to get done!

I'm not planning to tackle a project from that list every single day. That's just too much. Somedays, my project might be as big as getting laundry folded. But that's okay. Forward motion is what I'm looking for!

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Growth ~ 2011

I read Amy's post about being Intentional in 2011 and was instantly smitten with the idea of a theme word for the year. I'm not typically a resolution maker. No wait, strike that. I AM a resolution maker, I'm just not a resolution keeper! So I figured I could definitely get behind having a theme word for the year.

I didn't have to think very hard to decide what my theme word for 2011 would be because it's something that I've been thinking about for quite a while.

2011 is going to be all about GROWTH.

Personal Growth Goals:

1. Grow as a communicator. Sometimes, I just flat out stink at spoken conversation. I get awkward and stumble over my words. I have to quietly think before I can continue speaking on a regular basis. It's frustrating for me, super frustrating for my husband and I'm willing to bet it frustrates plenty of other people that I talk to on a regular basis also. In 2011, I want to push myself to just speak.
2. Grow as a wife. I want to get better at speaking my husband's "love language." Goes hand-in-hand with #1. I also want to work through The Love Dare, which we bought a couple of years ago after watching Fireproof.
3. Grow as a mom. Consistent discipline, quiet together time, play time - these are the 3 areas where I'll be focusing.
4. Grow in my faith. I want to get into a regular bible reading schedule as well as read other books on Christianity. Eric and I used to do that frequently but it's been put on the back burner the past few years. I'm going to start that process by reading The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical by Shane Claiborne.

Professional Growth Goals:

1. Grow the blog. Cooking During Stolen Moments has become my main blog. It grew consistently throughout 2010, but I fell short of many of the goals I had for the year. (A new house and a new baby may be to blame for that one!) I want to step outside my comfort zone and pursue a few opportunities that I've passed up because of my shyness. I also want to become more proactive in seeking out other new opportunities.
2. Grow the menu planning. Just like the blog, I fell short of many of the goals I had for Stolen Moments Menu Planning in 2010. I want to grow my customers but also expand the business to a membership site. That's just a start.

I'm sure as these first few weeks of the year go on I'll think of even more areas where I need or want to grow. Growth is such an important part of life and I'm excited to focus on it for 2011. Maybe it will force me to also grow in my follow-through abilities. We shall see!

Did you make resolutions for the year? Or are you embracing a theme word for the year? I'd love to hear about it!

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