2015, year of changes. 2016, year of excitement.

2015 came to an end, way faster than expected. So much happened this year.

I got divorced.

I met with the love of my life.

Tony moved in.

I got pregnant.

We got married.

I would never thought that my life could change so much so quickly, nor any of my family and/or friends. But I AM HAPPIER. And that’s all that matters.

Looking forward into 2016, more changes will come. First, we will receive our new baby girl this April… soon we need to add a new person to the car

Sofia will become big sister. She has been patiently waiting for her arrival. She asks for her little sister everyday. When the baby moves/kicks me, she’d ask me. She also says she’ll take care of her, change her diaper, give her to eat, play with her, and even sleep with her.  I am so proud of Sofia. She has became a person, a happy, caring, loving little girl.

I truly love being her mom, and feel so proud of her. Although many days I wonder if I’m doing things right, if I’m too harsh or strict with her, but deep inside me I know that I’m loving her in a way that I think it’s good for her, and I think she knows that too. She often asks me: do you like me? or she’d say: I want you to like me. I know where she’s coming from… she’s afraid that her action will make me stop loving her. So I repeatedly and patiently tell her: I love you no matter what, I will always love you, I just don’t like this thing that you do. Hope one day she’ll understand this concept.

Despite all the changes in my life, she continues to be a happy girl, or even happier than before. She laughs and smiles all the time, and invites me to join her everyday. She brings so much joy to me, specially on days that there’s something else going on that affects me negatively. But when I see her smile, I forget about those problems.

Tony has entered in my life, and he’s here to stay, hopefully forever. I know how much he loves me, I am one of the pursue of his life, I’m what matters to him the most. I feel grateful to have him in my life at this point. I wouldn’t appreciate it earlier, but now that’s all I need. With him, I’m relearning how to love, how to compromise, how to accept the person just as he is, and how to make things to work when life gets complicated. With him, I see a vision for our family. With him, I want to spend more time as a family. With him, I want to travel, to see the world, and most importantly, to see our children to grow, and to age together. For him, I want to be a better wife, a better mom, a better lover, a better person.

Looking back at 2015’s goals:

Read more books (Goal: 26 books a year): Accomplished. I ended up reading 34.

Blog more (Goal: post at least once a week): Accomplished.

Do more yoga (Goal: once a week): Failed. I preferred to bump my heart rate up.

Shop minimal (Goal: set a budget for non-essential purchase, and spend $ in experiences). Failed. Still spent too much in non-essentials.

Stop stressing over Sofia’s eating. Half-way. Overall I’m better at letting it go but could do better.

Be more loving: Half-way. Could do more to show love to my parents.

Travel. Accomplished. I travel for work to Peru, went back to China three times, and went to Yellowstone as a family.

Develop family traditions/hobby. Half-way. We did Halloween candy picking, gingerbread house in Christmas.

Cook more (Goal: prepare 1-2 special meals a week): Accomplished. Since my mom left in September, I’ve been cooking everyday exploring new food recipes, and both Tony and I enjoyed the adventure.

Goals for 2016

Read more. I try to read everyday, even few minutes. But when I travel I could read 2-3 books in a week. So, I plan to read at least 30 books this year.

Shop minimal. I’ve decided to make a saving target for this year, at least 15% of the income (including retirement saving). This implies shop minimal in non-essential (clothes, fancy food, eat out) but maintain a quality of life that is healthy for the family, and a family trip.

Be present with Sofia everyday. I often feel I rush her to do things and don’t listen to her demands. Many times she keeps talking to me or asks me whys, they are just signs that I’m not present for her. I need to change that. Even if it’s 5 mins in the morning to hug her, 20 min after dinner to read her or just hide in her “house”, I want to be present when I am with her, 100%. Not checking cell, not thinking about work or the to-do list, but to focus just on her. This will be specially important once the next baby arrives, so she doesn’t feel that I abandon her or even stop loving her.

Have dates with Tony. For the moment it’s hard to do because we have no one to leave Sofia with. We have alone time when Sofia is at school on Fridays that I don’t work, or afternoons when she’s taking nap, but we don’t have any time for planned dates. So we need to figure out a way to do it, to bound as a couple.

Continue to develop family traditions. 

Looking forward to 2016! 🙂