An Expecting Mom's New Year's Resolutions

In these last months before my family of three becomes a family of four, I wonder how meaningful it is to bother making any sweeping New Year's resolutions. I don't doubt for a second that my earnest commitment to "eat fruits or vegetables with every meal" - something I used to do religiously, but have gotten away from in recent years - will fly out the window the moment I'm choking down whatever food I can get my hands on between marathon nursing sessions and reading Curious George for the eleventy-millionth time.

I don't really know what to expect from life with an infant and a preschooler - other than lots of unpredictability and chaos. What I do know is that I'm not going to force our days to conform to any vague ideas about what we "should" be doing. I did that when Trey was an infant, and in retrospect it was completely silly. Who cared whether dinner was on the table the minute Donnie walked in the door, or if Trey took a nap at the same time every day? Was it really such a big deal to let him snooze in my arms, rather than in a bassinet? So what if I didn't clean the bathrooms every Thursday, right after breakfast and before getting a shower (yes, I really did try to plan our days with that level of rigidity; it didn't work!)? Trey was happy and healthy and loved. Nothing else mattered.

And so, as 2013 begins, I may jot down a few well-meaning resolutions to track the books I read, or exercise 30 minutes a day, or follow stricter office hours for work. But when all is said and done, I'm not going to worry about anything other than the essentials - living, loving, learning and growing with my babies. As long as I put them first, the rest will fall into place.

Have you made any New Year's resolutions?