2011 Goals Re-Visit - Pregnancy Edition

At the beginning of the year, I set myself some pretty ambitious goals.  Since this is the year of praying to the porcelain god, I've been afraid to even look back at them.  However, Sharon's 8 month re-visit post inspired me; if she can look her goals in the face after all the Murphy that's been going on in her life, surely I can too.  So how am I doing?  Hopefully not quite as badly as this XKCD comic ...

My religious practice has not been a daily occurrence, but I've probably averaged about five days a week.  Even better, I've put a few editions of the Bible on my Kindle account (The Holy Bible English Standard Version (ESV) is free right now, I got lucky and caught The Message New Testament for free a while back) and I've started flipping through them on my phone when I'm waiting for something or just want to read a few pages right before I go to sleep.  I'm keeping my tithing going as well, so I'm tootling along here.

Weight Watchers doesn't allow you to participate in their programs while you are pregnant, so I'm off the hook for that.  There's no way I can do the kind of exercise I was participating in at the beginning of the year; I get out of breath in 10 minutes of walking.  However, I need to move from being almost entirely sedentary to some form of movement, preferably along the lines of 15 minutes twice a day. Unfortunately, heat makes me nauseous, and the weather from now until October is pretty much nothing but heat in Louisiana.  This leaves workouts at the gym, but I really have trouble making myself go.  I am super self-conscious about my body; although intellectually I know that weight gain is normal in pregnancy, just thinking about the fact that I can no longer see my feet makes me want to cry.  Hauling my ugly, fat, out-of-shape body to the gym twice a day to work out requires more motivation than I have been able to scrape up.  It's weird, because I've been overweight before (as much as 210 lbs in law school), and I wasn't body conscious then.  I mean, I wanted to drop the weight, but I figured that that's what the gym was for, and if anyone else had a problem with how I looked, it was their problem, not mine.  Maybe it's because no matter what I do, I'm just going to get bigger and less cardiovascularly able for the next 3.5 months, which is really depressing to contemplate.  I need to be doing this, because being totally sedentary will only make returning to health post-pregnancy harder, but I can't find the motivation.  How did those of you who made it through pregnancy make yourself go to the gym?

On the financial front, I haven't had the energy for any side hustles.  Thankfully, though, it looks like we're going to miss the anticipated period of unemployment this year; Mr. Goat managed to leave his sinking ship company and started a new job this week.  We're on track to fund our Roths by December, and hopefully the markets will be a bit more settled by then, or really in the toilet so that I can find good bargains.  We're adding new baby expenses, but as of today we have $2499.83 saved toward them, and I plan to keep putting $400 more aside each month until the babies come, which should leave us with $3700 in the baby fund.  Hopefully this will cover our hospital co-pays and leave a bit left for clothing, diapers, pump rentals, and other new baby requirements.

I played some piano while I was at the beach, and then promptly stopped playing again as soon as I got home.  I need to get my keyboard set up properly and get playing.  The farm is a project for next year; I just don't have the energy.  Fortunately, we hired a new farm manager that is keeping things running, although we are not going to make much progress this year, as my parents are distracted by renovating their house.  And writing this blog post inspired me to email my friend for the first time since January:)

I've not been practicing with my carry firearms; pregnancy precludes it.  My parents are building me a little berm in the backyard, though, so come October I should be good to go.  Mr. Goat is talking about getting me an Airsoft pistol to plink at some steel in the interim, just to have a bit more fun practice than dry-firing.  (A Texas Star has just moved up to the top of my "want" list for Christmas.)

My house is an absolute disaster area.  We added on a room, and the construction was just finished yesterday, so in addition to a house filled with clutter, every available surface is covered in dust.  I know that a little dirt is good for babies' immune system, but we are taking it to a whole new level at this point.  I have to get the house in decent enough shape that I can sort of manage it until after the babies get here.  Then it will depend - I may need to find the money for a housekeeper, at least occasionally, if my energy doesn't return somewhat once the babies are out.

So, my action plans are:

- Keep tithing and reading scripture

- Add some exercise to my life by going to the gym once a day and finding an at-home routine once a day

- Keep putting away money for retirement and babies

- Get my keyboard set up and start practicing on the piano

- Work 15 mins a day on organizing my house until 7/6.  Mr. Goat goes out of town for work for two weeks then, and my mother is going to come over and help me get my house ship shape in preparation for babies.  After that, spend time every day keeping the house in order until the babies arrive.

It doesn't look like much, but my energy levels are pretty low right now; this will require just about all I have, I think.  I'm making a note on my calendar right now to blog about this on July 31st, and how much of it has been accomplished.  Wish me luck and energy!