New Year = Start to #MOTY2013

In September of 2011, I became a single mom. I’ll spare you the details, but I have a pretty awesome one-year-old who makes my life more enjoyable. The doctors had told me there was a very small chance that I would ever have children, so motherhood was never something I considered a real possibility. Over the course of this past year, there is one thing I've come to expect: I will never be THAT mom that has it all together. If I’m being honest here are the reasons that I would have a huge challenge obtaining the coveted Mom of the Year (MOTY) award:

1)      I do not enjoy cooking.  I plan to try to get over this lack of enjoyment in cooking and at last make myself start to attempt it more.

2)      I live like a frat boy. My apartment isn't dirty, but the floor seems to be an adequate space to place things. I also have the tendency to start piles with the goal of organizing things and putting them in a proper place and it just never seems to happen.

3)      I am not overly crafty, so the DIY projects seem unnecessary if I can purchase something that serves the same purpose.

4)      As a single mom, I have to work. I know that some single moms work from home, but I enjoy my job outside the home. My job has crazy hours sometimes and there are many weeks, especially coming up in February – April that I will not be at home very often because of work. Because of that, it makes that whole cooking/cleaning thing a little more difficult and less important to me than spending time with my daughter.

HOWEVER…

This year, 2013, will be different. This is MY year to bring home the coveted MOTY2013 award! Ads have started running about the need for foster parents that state “You don’t have to be perfect to be a perfect parent.” I pass a billboard with that phrase on it every day as I drive into work and it’s a great reminder that I’m already a perfect parent just by making the sacrifices I've made to be a part of my daughter’s life.

Let’s face it. Obtaining MOTY status will not be easy. This is why I have made a few New Year’s Resolutions that I feel will help me achieve my goal of being both MOTY and a pretty decent role model for my daughter:

(1)    Cook one meal a week. This is a big step for me as I currently only cook on occasion. I feel that starting off small may eventually work into more than one home cooked meal a week. Follow along and you’ll see how I progress through the year on this one. Let’s just say that my crock pot and I will be getting well acquainted.  (WARNING: Prepare to read all about these adventures.)

(2)    Read one book a month. This has been a standard resolution for me over the past few years. I want my daughter to see that reading is important and fun. I've been downloading tons of books to my Kindle and I need to step it up and knock some of them off the list.  (WARNING: There could be some seriously cheesy books that come into play here. My guilty pleasures will be exposed to anyone who reads.)

(3)    Donate to charity each month. We may not be a family that has lots of money, but we have enough and I want my daughter to see that it’s important to use what we have to help other people.  

(4)    Place $500 in savings over the course of the year. I don’t have that much extra once the month is over, but I feel putting us on a tighter budget will help create a safety net in the event that we will ever need it.  

(5)    Visit my friend William. I don’t get to see my friend William very often since he moved to Chicago and I am making it a point this year to go see him. I think it is important for Chloe to see that it is important to keep in touch with friends even if they are out of state.

(6)    As always, the exercise and drop weight. Now that I've lost all my baby weight, I’m 28 lbs away from my goal weight during the massive weight loss plan I was on before I got pregnant. 2013 is the year that this mom brings sexy back. (WARNING: This will lead to me possibly posting playlist that only one person thinks are amazingly awesome, me.)

Alright, that about sums up what you can expect to see around here. My mommy mishaps and mommy victories as I take the steps necessary so that at the end of the year, you will see just how deserving I am of the title MOTY2013. So sit back, relax, and enjoy a cup of coffee while you read up on the inside scoop on mommy hood from the heart of Texas.