I'm trying to keep the resolutions and stuff to a minimum

First, some pictures.

All the girls at the farm (where my dad's side does Christmas). Next year there will be a little boy propped up in the middle of them!

This is a good time of year for us. Christmas is over. All the hard work of gift-making is done, and now we have a long time to be creative and try things before it's time to start over. I already know what we're going to give a couple of people for next year, because of what they liked this year. Hooray for edible gifts, especially for those pesky people who are so hard to please otherwise. And next year I will be starting early. Making gifts for everyone turned out okay after all!

But other than that, here's what I want to do in 2011:

1) Hypnobabies. I know it may seem strange that we are taking a childbirth class for our third baby (our third class, too), but after hearing Megan's love for this class, and knowing how anxious I can get, I knew it'd be perfect for us. We've already done a few scripts and last night we went to our first class. The hard part for me will be doing the "homeplay" assignments each day. I'm going to have to put it on a calendar or something.

2) Make things. I want to come up with new things, and get better at making the old ones. I am still really into felted wool, and I have quite a stash of sweaters to work with! Lately I am working on birds. Here are two little bird families I recently made. I can't take all the credit for the idea--my cousins asked me to do them as baby gifts for new parents. It's similar to something I made for Christmas, but I love the idea of making a special little set of birds to represent a family.

A set of birds for a family with two mommies, having a little girl

I also do nests

I will have to do a separate post on things I am meaning to make. So many ideas, so little time.

3) Nesting. I have been at the height of my nesting urge and I want to take advantage of that before the baby comes. Jordan and I actually got a lot done over the holidays. We cleaned out our kitchen cabinets (yay!) and stocked up on kitchen staples. And most notably, we cleaned out our bedroom. It still needs a lot of work though, because it's probably going to be Baby Robert's birthplace, and it's the room Jordan, Ivey, Robert and I will share for a while. Yes, Ivey will still be in the room with us. I'm not going to rush her out on account of the baby. We didn't rush Suzi out when Ivey came either. But that brings me to #4.

4) Get Suzi into a bigger bed, and Ivey into the toddler bed. I'd like to get this done before Robert comes. The plan is to do what we did with Suzi, and keep Ivey in our room in the toddler bed until she gets used to that, and then move her in with Suzi when she's ready. This will probably be something we all have to adjust to for the next several months.

She seemed to like the toddler bed at the farm... Or at least she liked playing on it

5) Have Baby Robert! And try my best to tandem nurse, and everything else that goes along with a new baby. It makes me nervous to think what it's going to be like around here, but we will have three wonderful children so it'll be worth it.

This is why I'm not making a bunch of lofty goals and resolutions for the new year. Come April, if I can just get through each day without being a horrible witch of a mother and losing my cool and screeching, I will have accomplished something. Even if the house is a mess, and the kids didn't get bathed and I didn't get a shower. Even if we have to wash a bowl and a spoon every single time we want cereal. Because let's get real. We're going to have three kids and the oldest one will be four. This season of my life is going to be a messy one, but I want to have fun in it. I know I'll miss it when it's gone.

What do you have planned for 2011?