Happy New Year!!!

Today, I finally dragged myself out of bed at 10:15 am, after my sister called to wish me a Happy New Year. The new year, to me, has become a day of promise. I love the promise of a new year. Today, I spent 2 hours sorting all my 1000 photos that I've printed since Talia's birth. I'm not even close to scrapbooking them, so they've been in a pile waiting for me to organize them. I actually had a good time...I put in my ipod, and went to work. And since one of my goals for this year is to scrapbook a layout every week, I should start catching up eventually.

Resolutions....I don't believe in resolutions. I believe in making goals and aspirations. It's a fine distinction, but a very important one. Resolution implies doing something that we don't want to do, but know we should. Such as...I resolve to not each chocolate for this whole year. It's pretty much guaranteed that you'll fail, because it's not something you want to do. Goals and aspirations, however, have the tone that it's something you really want. I aspire to scrapbook more, I set a goal to watch what I'm eating more carefully, to lose 9 lbs, etc. 9 years ago, when my son was barely born, my mother in law Toni gave me the book "Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy" by Sarah Ban Breathnach. It is a book of essays, one for every day, about simplifying your life. I love that book, and read it every other year, one essay each day. The January 1st essay talks about setting aside time on the 1st day of the year to write down your deepest aspirations. I love to do this every year. I get some hot chocolate, prop myself up in bed, and write in a brand new journal ( I love brand new journals, I have more blank books than I can count, and I just can't stop buying more). It's a good way to start a new year.

Another tradition is Toni's New Years Day dinner. This year, I made Cheese Potatoes (Funeral Potatoes), and they turned out so, so yummy. It's been a long time since I made them, and if I had remembered that they were this easy, I would make them a lot more often, because Cole loves them. So, I will be making them more often. We all (Cole's parents, brothers, wives, and niece and nephew, along with us and our kids) stuffed ourselves, hung out, and talked. It was very nice.

Oh, and the most wonderful thing happened, to make it a truly happy day...Talia said Mama!!!! And not in the babbling way she's been saying Dadadadadada for the last week or so. She was whining a little, and I went over to pick her up, and she said Mama and lifter her arms for me to pick her up. It made me so, so happy. She's nine months today.