6 months to overhaul my life!

Exactly 6 months today...I turn 30.
eeek!

The 27th March 2012 will be my 30th birthday!

To be honest, it is just a number to me -

i'm not sad to be leaving my 20's behind or worried to be entering
my 30's in any way, shape or form

(ask me when I reach 40 and i'm sure it'll be a different case!).

But...

I am using that day as a future goal to improve my life in many ways...

I don't have the best will power in the world, so I'm hoping by setting myself this date as a goal and by writing it all down, it will give me the motivation I need!

So, here are my main goals...

* Health and Fitness *
I have always been one of those skinny girls who could pretty much eat what they want and do no exercise and it wouldn't matter to my weight (hate me yet?!)  I had Avie at 24 years old and when she was born it was such a shock to the system, that the last thing on my mind was eating healthily and exercising...yet within weeks I had pinged back to my pre-pregnancy shape!  So three years later when I had Lily, I assumed (wrongly) that the same would happen.  That I would just ping back into shape without trying.... 
This is NOT the case let me tell you! 
It took me 18 months to lose most of the weight and I am still 4/5 pounds off my target pre-pregnancy weight.  I also have a wibbly wobbly tummy that I desperately want to tone up!  It's hard being at home all day surrounded by food - I find I snack constantly rather than eat properly during the day.  

I want to set my girls a good example...I would hate for them to feel the pressure to diet.  So I want to instil in them the importance of eating healthily.  Bryn has a bit of a veggie patch going on in the front garden and although this is only his first year doing it, we have had strawberries, raspberries, cucumbers, tomatoes and just recently some carrots.  Hopefully this will only get better and better the more experienced he gets with it.  Already I am seeing Avie and Lily take an interest in what he does and they love picking the ripe offerings!  Avie has said on more than one occassion that daddies fruit and veg are tastier and I'd have to agree!

So by 27th March 2012, I want to be in the best shape I have ever been and improve my family's healthy eating and exercise routines.

 

* Career *
We have decided not to have any more children (although don't hold me to it!  I keep thinking maybe we will have another one or two once Lily is at school. 
I get very ill when pregnant and need to be in hospital on and off,
so think it is probably unlikely, but we'll see.) 
Anyways, with the decision as it stands at the moment, Lily will be starting school in 3 years time and my goal for then is to stay at home for definately her first term...but I then want (and will need) something for ME.  I will have been a stay at home mum for 8 years by then...and much as I don't want to wish away the girls' younger years, I am looking forward to a time when I will be doing something for me!
I have ideas about what I want to do...but i am going to spend the next 6 months exploring these ideas and working out what I really want to do,
once both of my girls are at school.
(Gulp..writing this has made me get really nervous at the thought of not having another baby!  Anyone out there suffered from hyperemesis whilst pregnant with some babies but not others?  I'd love to hear from you!)

* Home *
We have been back in our house after the renovations for 8 months now 
and I still don't feel settled in it yet!

We are contemplating moving the girls into the same room...in bunk beds
and in fact this may even happen in half term...so only weeks away now! 

A lot of my clothes in our bedroom remain folded in piles at the end of our bed. 

There are toys everywhere..in every room. 

We need to put our pictures up on the walls (Can you believe we still haven't done this!)

We need to properly define areas in the house so we know what purpose they serve.  There are so many "dumping grounds"...we need better storage
and I wouldn't mind a bit more colour splashed around!! 

So i am on a mission to get our house how we want it within the next 6 months!

* Relationships *

I really need to pay attention to my relationship with my lovely hubby. 
Don't get me wrong, thing's are fine..but we are feeling the need for more time together - date nights etc ...investment in our relationship after 2 children would be a good thing to focus on.  Most evening's I end up on my laptop and he does work...so we need to have no computer nights and devote some quality time to each other.  I'm looking forward to this!

I also need to work on my friendships.  I am in the minority of my best friends when it comes to already having children.  Because of this I feel left out of arrangements that are made and I am discounted because I have children.  To be honest a lot of the time I would say no to the various plans, but it hurts when I am not asked.  However, I must make more of an effort to keep in touch with my friends...there is a lot of truth in "out of sight, out of mind".

* Finances *
I always think this is an icky topic!
We are a family of 4 on one teacher's wage....
It is tough, but we are doing okay.
We are quite good at making our money cover what we need and if the car suddenly blows up..we usually have a little spare money in order to fix it, but are not in the position where we could afford to replace the car.

We have future plans that involve money money oh and more money..

At the moment we are happy in the house we are in,
but have plans to move in a few years.

My husbands car is on its last legs and will need replacing in the next couple of years.

But in the more short term, we need to quickly save save save in the next 6 months....
because...
We have the travel bug...
we went to New Zealand for our honeymoon for a month with Avie in a campervan and loved it..and want to give our girls the opportunity to see other countries. 

Because Bryn is a teacher and I am a stay at home mum at the moment, we have the luxury that we could go abroad for a 5 week stretch every summer if we want
(and if we could afford!).
It was because of this that we have been desperately saving airmiles for years now...in order to have enough to get one free adult flight to sydney, so that we could travel round Australia one summer in the next couple of years.  Saving enough to cover another 3 flights was going to be tough, but we realistically thought we could do it. 
BUT
now that dream has been shattered due to airmiles unfairly changing their terms...from mid november under their new scheme, we'd need double the number of airmiles it has taken us years to save and we'd have to pay £500 (at least) to cover the taxes for the flight.

So..because we were at risk of losing all the miles we have saved for so long...
a couple of weeks ago we used them to cover 4 flights somewhere else....
which I will blog about very soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
VERY EXCITING!

But we are now in the position where we are saving like mad to cover this unexpected trip!

* Getting crafty *

I must must must complete the many crafty projects I have started and attempt the many I have saved on my pintrest addiction....

 

So as you can see, I have a few plans for the next 6 months....there will be more and I will add them as and when I think of them. 

Roll on turning the big 3-0!!!