Why blog?

As a Mom, I am seldom able to complete a sentence without being interrupted. Heck — I’m seldom able to complete a thought without being interrupted. Even when I’m working (I work from home part-time as a freelance writer), I’m often asked, “Mom, what’s for dinner?” or “Mom, can you take me to swim practice,” or “Michelle, do you know where the checkbook is?” or “Michelle, can you drop my stuff off at that dry cleaners?”

I’m very good at multi-tasking. I’m a woman who has cooked hamburger while nursing a baby while talking on the phone. No lie. It’s not safe, and I don’t recommend it, but I’ve done it. I am not, however, good at having a complete thought or saying a complete sentence while being constantly interrupted. In fact, having my thoughts and words interrupted makes me a little crabby sometimes.

That’s probably why I so appreciated this quote that my friend sent me yesterday:

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New Year’s Resolutions Starting Early?

I was at my gym this morning (the day after Christmas) and it was packed!! That doesn’t normally happen until the day after New Year’s. Usually, the first three weeks of January at my YMCA (and probably gyms all over the United States) are awful — no parking, overcrowded childcare, waits for treadmills, etc. Then around Jan. 21, it goes back to normal. So I’m wondering if people are making their New Year’s resolutions early.

Speaking of resolutions, quoters of statistics often say that a full 30 percent of New Year’s resolutions are broken by the end of January. This article says that less than 30 percent of New Year’s resolutions ever achieve success. If the waning crowds at my YMCA in late January are any indication, these numbers are probably pretty accurate.

So what can you do to make your New Year’s resolution stick? I’ve put a few links at the end of this post to some articles that I think are worth reading on this topic. Last year, I took a friend’s advice and made some SMART goals, which I wrote about here. I don’t think the approach worked any better for me, but I’m going to try it again this year. I really, really, really need to incorporate some strength training/toning into my exercise routine. I run ALOT because I love it. It’s my “drug of choice.” But I keep getting flabbier and flabbier. Running doesn’t tone and it doesn’t make you stronger — it simply burns calories and gets those endorphins flowing.

My husband, teen and I also are doing a weight-loss challenge. I won’t share any numbers, but each of us is trying to lose 5 percent of our body weight. The first one to the goal gets a $50 mall gift card, paid for by the other two. We’re still working out the details of this challenge, but I’m hoping we can keep each other accountable.

I will say this — my most successful New Year’s resolutions have been the ones that I’ve really thought through and written down IN DETAIL. That’s linked to the whole SMART goals thing, and I neglected to do that last year. So, before January 1, I’m going to write down the details regarding how I’m going to go about achieving my New Year’s resolutions this year. How about you?

Additional New Year’s resolutions articles/posts:

Article 1

Article 2

On Christmas, I Always Wonder If She Knew

We all know what a mother’s worst fear is — I don’t even like to say it or type it. So on Christmas, I always find myself wondering — did Mary know?

I admit, I probably didn’t form this question in my mind without the help of the song by Mark Lowry, “Mary, Did You Know?” It’s one of my favorite Christmas songs.

So think about it. Angels told Mary she would give birth to a child who would impact the world. And she experienced the miracle of a virgin birth. But the text of the Bible doesn’t indicate that she was told “You will give birth to this baby. And you will love Him like any other mother loves her baby. You’ll watch Him learn to walk, and you’ll comfort Him when He’s scared, and care for Him when He’s sick. You will raise Him and love Him more and more everyday and watch Him become a man. But not long after His 30th birthday, He will give His life for the rest of humanity, cleansing the rest of us. And those who choose to believe in Him will be restored our to Heavenly Father through His sacrifice.”

I don’t think she knew. But as a Jew, she’d been taught about the prophesies, so I think she may have suspected, especially near the end.

We, on the other hand, have the privilege of knowing what that virgin birth meant to mankind. We have all the evidence we need. As we celebrate Christ’s birththis year, let us not forget what His birth, and then death and resurrection, meant for us all. Consider the words of the song:

Mary did you know that your baby boy will one day walk on water? Mary did you know that your baby boy will save our sons and daughters? Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new? This child that you’ve delivered, will soon deliver you.

Mary did you know that your baby boy will give sight to a blind man? Mary did you know that your baby boy will calm a storm with his hand? Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod? And when you kiss your little baby, you have kissed the face of God.

The blind will see, the deaf will hear and the dead will live again. The lame will leap, the dumb will speak, the praises of the lamb.

Mary did you know that your baby boy is Lord of all creation? Mary did you know that your baby boy will one day rule the nations? Did you know that your baby boy is heaven’s perfect Lamb? This sleeping child you’re holding is the Great I Am.

It’s So Cute I Had to Share

My two-year-old has been taking a toddler dance class (tap and ballet) at the Wildwood Family YMCA.

She is the youngest in the class, because the kiddos were technically supposed to be 2-years-old when it started in September, and she wasn’t 2 until late October. Thus, I enrolled her knowing it might not work.  But each week as I’ve peeked into the class, she was participating right along with her slightly older peers — although I don’t think she follows directions as well as some of the  others.  However, in the past few months, the class has been preparing for a little Christmas program, so Miss Tammy has been inviting the Moms into class to watch in hopes of giving the girls a little experience performing before a group. My toddler refused to even stand on the line with her peers (much less dance) every single time I came in to watch. She either sat in my  lap OR ran out of the class. So, I was pleasantly surprised when I attended what was a much bigger “recital” than I had anticipated yesterday. Check out the video AND slideshow! I’m one proud Mommy!

I’ve mentioned before on this blog that I LOVE the YMCA — especially MY Wildwood YMCA. Did you know the YMCA doesn’t turn people away for inability to pay? This generosity is accomplished through their partner campaign, and all the money donated via the campaign stays in the community through which it was donated, helping friends and neighbors who have fallen on hard times enjoy amazing programs like this dance program for toddlers. So, if you live in Wildwood and would like to contribute to the Wildwood Family YMCA, click here. If you’d like to donate to a local YMCA in your area, go here and enter your zip code to find one close to you.

Supporting My Frustrated Swimmer

I’ve been a little hesitant to write this post because a Mom blogger always needs to be mindful of the privacy rights of her children. However, my teenage daughter has shared her swimming struggles somewhat publicly lately, and I thought if it would help another swimmer or another parent, then maybe it would be a good thing to share here.

My 14-year-old swims competitively and she is very serious about her sport. She has five sectional cuts, but since she turned 14 last spring, she has been adding lots of time in her events (not a good thing for you non-swimming readers).

Her body changed from the body of a child to the body of a woman, as is the case for many 14-year-olds. With those changes came some problems with her strokes. She worked very hard all summer and early this fall to correct those problems. She NEVER EVER misses a practice — early morning, evening, late afternoon, weekend, holiday — she’s there. She doesn’t back off at practice either — according to her coaches and some of her teammates, she is one of the hardest workers in the pool. She does the dryland work that our swim club provides her, and she continues to compete in swim meets.

We attended a swim meet in Columbia, MO a few weeks ago at which she had hoped to come close to swimming her best times. It didn’t happen. She had big adds in her best events. Because she was feeling good about the progress she had made on her strokes, it was hard for her to experience this again. And because I’d heard some of the positive feedback regarding her stroke work, I also had higher expectations about what would happen this past weekend. So initially, I was was frustrated with the results, too.

But then I had some great conversations with other parents and with one of her coaches, and I have to say, I’m even more proud to be this young lady’s mother. The parents reassured me that this is so very normal. Many of them shared stories in which their own daughters went through the very same thing around the same age. I’d heard this, but it helps to hear it again and again. Not all swimmers go through this, but a lot of them do, and many of them add time in their best events for more than a year. I remember one young lady in our club going through this a few years ago. She had been a “young star”  and then all of a sudden, she was adding time at every meet. At the time, I remember admiring her perseverance and telling my daughter to make a mental note of her work ethic. Of course, I hoped against hope that it “wouldn’t happen to my kid,” but I guess my daughter DID make a mental note, becuase she is now doing exactly what that young lady did. And you know what? That swimmer is one of my daughter’s biggest supporters, joking with her, reminding her of the struggles she endured, encouraging her to keep working hard at practice even when it’s not the popular thing to do. And her parents are among those reassuring me on a regular basis. That helps a lot.

One of the coaches told me that the she’s doing everything she should be doing to pull through this minus one — she needs to readjust her expectations. He said that when she competes in her next meet, she should look to drop off of her times from the meet in Columbia — NOT to drop time off her BEST times. He said it may still be months before she is coming close to swimming her best times. I cannot tell you how much that simple thing helped us. He also said as her parents, our job is to NOT get frustrated with her, but to support her.

He said part of supporting her includes never questioning the program she is following in front of her because she needs for us to believe in what she’s doing and in her coaches as much as she does. We aren’t the kind of parents who question the program. I know there are parents who jump ship to another club the minute their kids start struggling, blaming the coaches or some aspect of the training program for the issue. That’s not us. But it was good to be reminded of this so that we can talk to her about how MUCH we believe in her coaches and in her training program.

So, we just had another meet this weekend, and we did the whole “adjusted expectations” thing. It was so liberating. And you know what — she DID drop from almost all the times she swam in Columbia. She didn’t hit any of her best times — the closest she came was 3 seconds in her 200 free. But she left the meet feeling successful. Her coaches told her that her strokes are back to looking like they should. Now, she just needs to work on doing them faster.

So, if you’re the parent of a swimmer who is going through this, I hope you have coaches who are as wise as our coaches and as willing to comfort and reassure parents. If you don’t, maybe this post will help you support your swimmer through his or her trials.