happy weekend.

Happy Friday!  This weekend my sister-in-law is getting married!  We’re excited to celebrate them and the festivities start in just a little bit.  So before I sign off for the weekend, I wanted to share a couple of things. 

 

1.  Happy New Year from the Morgans!! 

 

2.  I have a post up on the Knoxville Moms Blog today talking about healthy and organized 2014. And I posted some terrible, embarrassing pictures.  Whew… what was I thinking??  You can read that post here. 

 

I hope you have a great weekend!!  There is snow outside my house today, so I am a happy happy camper.  Some people call this a “dusting” but it all counts to me! 

it’s a new year.

It is refreshing to be in a new year, isn’t it?  This is by far the most that I have ever appreciated a new year.  I have plans, dreams, hopes, and goals.  I am feeling it, y’all.  Tommy and I have plans for our family and direction with clear goals.  We intend to be very intentional this year.  I have spent time reflecting on how I want to be in this new year.  Where I want to be focused, where my drive will take me and come from.  All of those things. 

 

One of my big goals is very broad and one that I’ve known I needed to get started on for awhile.  I’m excited to share about it tomorrow! 

 

Today – I hope you’re had a wonderful first day of 2014.  Happy New Year! 

happy new year!

Happy New Year!!

 

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May this new year bring you a fresh spirit of joy and hope with all that is to come.  From our family to yours, best wishes for your new year!

 

 

 

how to make resolutions you can stick with.

Did you know dietitians who do counseling, particularly weight loss counseling, have the slowest season between Thanksgiving and Christmas?  Makes sense, right?  Who wants to go see someone who’s going to tell you you need to eat less and better when there’s so much good food around?

 

Their busiest season starts right at the New Year.  New plans, the desire to make changes, people wanting to shift their lives– or at least their waistlines, making new resolutions.  They seek the help of a professional, a Registered Dietitian– hopefully!

 

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Not everyone sees a dietitian, and that is totally fine!  But most people do make New Year’s Resolutions.  And many of them include goals for food, weight loss, and exercise.  I have seen so many people with great goals who can’t make it out of the starting gate.  Or make it out of the starting gate but never round the bend.

 

I chalk this failure to meet goals up to unrealistic goals and expectations.

 

I see it all the time.  A patient who has just had open heart surgery and sees their new life ahead of them now.  When I talk to them about their diet goals and changes they tell me they’ll never eat red meat again.  They’ll never go to another fast food restaurant.  They’ll do it all right.  [Of course I see the other extreme, too, but that’s another story for another day.]  Doing these things, in theory, would make a difference, but no one can do them.  Just like the newly diagnosed diabetic who says they’ll never drink sweet tea again.  That would help their blood sugar, but they’ve grown up in the south– sweet tea’s in their blood.  They can’t just drop it like that.  It’s so unrealistic to be so extreme.

 

 

So the thing I always focus on with patients and clients is making realistic goals.  When I was a dietetic intern one of my mentors was so focused on this point, and now I get it.  It is so important.  Realistic goals lead to real change which gives real results.  Goals that are challenging but obtainable are the best.  So I encourage you, as this new year approaches, to really take time to think about your goals and make them fit you.  I can promise you that I will be doing the same thing.

 

wrapping up 2012.

Can you believe this year only has 3 days left?  It has gone by so fast.  All of the people who told us that life moves faster when you have kids, really weren’t kidding.  I cannot believe our little man is 19 months.  I cannot believe how quickly Christmas came and went.  And I cannot believe in just a few days we will be ringing in 2013.  I still remember spending my first New Year’s Eve with Tommy in 2005.  That was nearly 10 years ago!

 

Here is my brief, or not so brief, recap of 2012 from the Morgan’s perspective.

 

January/February

1.  We started off the year with one chunky, just started crawling babe on our hands.  We haven’t sat down since 🙂

2.  We got an offer on our house and after agonizing negotiations we were under contract.  The selling of our house proved to be exhausting, taking a toll on us physically, emotionally, and financially.  We learned a lot from it and know next time we’ll use a good realtor, we’ll wait on the best offer for us, and we certainly won’t be afraid to say no.

3.  We made a trip back to Maryland to move out of our house and close on it.  Worst closing ever.  Great to see our friends who we dearly missed though.

4.  Last look at our first house.

 

 

 

March

1. The first half of the year was pretty full of teething.  Always working on teeth, that little one was.

2.  We tried a lot of new foods this year.  Most went over really well.  Some did not.

3.  We bought a house!  And it was painless and smooth and oh so refreshing, especially after being scarred from the last experience.

4.  We were so blessed that Tommy’s new work moved us down here.  I didn’t lift a box.  Just got the fun job of unpacking, which I tackled as quickly as possible with a 10 month old.

 

 

 

April/May

1. Celebrating Easter for the first time with our darling little man.  He’s a looker, especially in that bow tie.

2. We turned a work trip into a beach vacation in sunny Florida.  Jack’s 2nd plane ride.  Jack’s 2nd plane ride with a double ear infection.  But it was all worth it for some fun in the ocean.

3.  Jack had his first surgery getting tubes put in his ears.

4.  Jack turned 1!!!!  We had a wonderful party with our family and celebrated the little guy like crazy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

July/August

1. 4th of July celebrations at mom and dad’s, including an intense game of croquet.

2. Family beach trip to Wild Dunes, South Carolina.  Our favorite place.  Jack had a blast with his family around him all week, and we had so much fun getting to hang out with everyone.

3.  We had lots of fun adventures this fall — we all love the fall season!

4.  The pumpkin patch was a huge hit for our little man.  He couldn’t have been happier to be surrounded by pumpkins as big as him.

 

 

 

1.  Found out and shared our news that we were expecting baby #2!  Earlier that day we got to see our sweet little bean on the ultrasound screen and experience the miracle of hearing the baby’s heart beat.

2.  We got to celebrate Thanksgiving day with both of our families this year.

3.  After 8 straight weeks of sickness Jack had his 2nd surgery– adenoidectomy and they put tubes back in his ears.  2 weeks of recovery and a virus later, he was back to himself!  And life has been wonderful since!  He is truly the happiest child I’ve ever known.  So thankful he is back to himself.

4.  We celebrated Jack’s 2nd Christmas and spent lots of time with our families.  It was a wonderful holiday season.

 

 

God continues to pour blessings on us.  This year has brought more and many different things than I’d imagined.  God has blessed us in ways that I never could have dreamed up or ever thought to ask of!  He is truly so good.  In the hard and the easy.  In the ups and the downs.  Thankful for a year where my eyes were more open to this.  Thankful for a year of more feeling and experiencing and living.  So looking forward to 2013 and what it will look like for our family.