2012

Now I don't make New Years Resolutions. Mainly because a) I never stick to them and b) I hate New Years. But I have so many changes I want to make that it seemed like the turn of the year would be the best time to make them. And so, to make up for all the years I refused to make any, I now have SIX resolutions to make this year. Hopefully if I blog them then I will stick to them. That's the idea anyway.........

1) To learn to bake. I can cook but not bake, see here. And so now that I am a Mummy I reckon I should learn to bake. I don't know why. There's no law that says you have to bake if you are a Mum. It's just I want to give it a shot. Judging by my previous attempts it won't go well. At all. But my boyfriends Mum kindly bought me a cookies & cupcakes recipe book for my Christmas. So I am going to give it a shot. I also nearly had a nervous breakdown when I discovered that I was having a little girl and realised that I didn't know how to French Plait hair. I was seriously questioning my capabilities as a mother if I couldn't style her hair into pretty little french plaits. However, as one Twitterer pointed out: "my Mum didn't know how to French Plait and I turned out ok". So hopefully Ava will too. Fingers crossed. There is one slight problem with this New Years resolution though, which leads me onto resolution number 2......

2) To get buff. I've never really made a diet New Years resolution before. Partly because I've never been THAT overweight and partly because I think you are setting yourself up for a fall. But my body is somewhat different than it was this time last year. I have a lovely little baby belly that jiggles when you poke it, slight love handles on either side of my waist that most definitely weren't there before and I swear to god my hipbones have actually widened! I weighed myself just before Christmas to discover that I've managed to lose 2 stone since her birth in September (although a stone of that I lost just giving birth). Thus I was only half a stone away from the weight I was when I got pregnant. However, I have well and truly eaten my way through the holiday season this year and reckon my body is currently made up of about 95% cheese. Even if I do get down to my pre-pregnancy weight there are still wobbly bits that definitely were not wobbly before so in order to tackle this little problem I will be hitting the gym as much as possible between January and August (when I am chief bridesmaid at my sisters wedding). I am a decent 12 at the moment, but will be back to a slim size ten for this wedding if it kills me.

Ocean Colour Scene (Barralands)

3) Resolution number 3 is to see more live bands. My social life isn't exactly hectic since I had a baby, especially when she is still as teeny as she is (13 weeks). However, if I am honest, I wasn't much of a fan of clubbing before I got pregnant anyway. It was just one of those things I did in my early twenties because I felt like I had to. Don't get me wrong, I love the ceremony of getting ready with a bottle of wine, heading into town and downing cocktails with the girls. But once in a club I always found myself thinking I would rather be getting drunk with a seat and music low enough to enjoy ridiculously inane drunken conversations. Give me a good pub over a noise club any day. Then in October my boyfriend got me tickets to see Ocean Colour Scene (one of my favourite bands). I had a great time and realised that it had been way too long since I had seen any live music. So on the rare occasions that I do get out in 2012, I want to make an effort to see more live bands. And the £25 ticket price that you would spend on a gig at one of the smaller venues is better than being spent on dodgy shots in some cattle market full of leery drunken blokes.

4) Make my child more obedient. I'm kidding of course. She's only 3 months old and the best baby in the world. But while I reckon I am handling this first time Mummy shizz reasonably well, there are a couple of things that are niggling at me that I really want to tackle in 2012. Firstly Ava never goes to sleep without white noise in the background. Either I have the hoover on (our neighbours must think I am some kind of domestic goddess) or a whitenoise app that I downloaded onto my I-phone. And anytime I try and put her down for a nap during the day without either of these she just starts crying thus making getting her to sleep an absolute nightmare. Some have suggested I let her cry for no more than 5-10mins as they reckon she will eventually fall asleep. While I am starting to think this might actually work, I don't actually have it in me to do it. The second I hear her crying I have to go to her and listening to her crying alone (even if it is that pretend whimpering she does with one eye open), is like Chinese torture to me. But after the New Year I am going to try and work on getting her to nap during the day without white noise. I've not quite worked out how I am going to do this yet so any suggestions welcome. I also need to do more 'tummy time' as the back of her little head is starting to look rather flat and I have taken to calling her 'spongebob squarepants' much to her fathers dismay. As my sister suggested, we could always just backcomb her hair to hide the shape of her head.

5) My fifth resolution is to do with my blog. I'm not the best blogger in the world. I don't do posts that often as I struggle to find the time and I really have to be in a certain mood to write them. But there's a lovely bunch who have followed me loyally regardless of my sporadic updates and I am very much grateful to them for that! I intend to not only update this blog more regularly but to also try and sort out the layout a little bit as it really is crap. However I am not very technology minded so you will need to bare with me on that. I also need to comment more on other peoples blogs. Finally, I want to find even more good blogs to read so if any of you have any suggestions or want to recommend your own blog then please feel free to email me or to comment with the link.

6) Finally, I want to start saving money. Although I have never got myself into any real trouble, I have always been one of these people who's money just seems to run through their hands. So, now that I have a baby, I need to start being alot more economical. I love food shopping and could easily spend a fortune just by popping into Whole Foods or the local Farmers Market once a week. But I am stopping that and from now only buying what we need (with the occasional treat thrown in, you only live once and all that). I probably don't need to spend quite so much in Starbucks either so I am going to try and cut that down also. Another problem of mine is that I am a lover of expensive toiletries and make-up. So the new rule is to only buy such things if I am getting a serious bargain or to ask for them as anniversary/christmas/birthday gifts. We'll see how I get on. But I have started off quite well and just managed to get Mac Eyeshadow, Mac Blot Powder and Benefit Posie Tint all for the prize sum of £20 on a blogsale, which is a pretty good bargain.

Disclaimer: Despite 2012 technically beginning of Sunday 1st of January, I will not be starting any of these resolutions until Monday 2nd January. Because I'm not mental and nobody starts a diet on a Sunday. On the 1st you will find me eating copious amounts of steak pie and cheese, whilst my child sleeps to the gentle hums of the hoover and I order a ridiculous amount of Clarins products online.