Resolution

Voilà, what the Internet has been waiting for for days, my new years resolutions for 2008:

1. To get to bed early. It's been true all my life, if I get a good night's sleep I am a more productive and pleasant person. I do not want to subject my husband and le Petit to the surly smart ass I become when I don't get a minimum of seven hours of sleep a night. I don't want to sit listless in front of my computer at work, trying to tease a bug out of lines of code that I'm not alert enough to see clearly. Most of all, I want to have the energy I need to be a good mom. I can't rely on le Petit to let me sleep in or even to always let me sleep most of the night, and once I go back to work, sleep will become even more precious.

So, whatever I'm doing with my free time in the evenings, it will no longer keep me up past eleven, and I will aim for a ten-thirty bedtime on most nights. Sure, there will be exceptions, but I will keep them rare.

2. Grace, gratitude, patience. I wish to bring these to everything I do, pleasant tasks as well as the tedious and difficult ones, whether I do them successfully or not.

3. Remember that I am already an example for le Petit in everything I do. Try hard to remind myself of this when I'm whiny, lazy, or pessimistic. I will try to be respectful and kind even when I'm more inclined to be curt and grumpy. (Hopefully, if I follow my first resolution, this will be easier.) Most importantly, I want to remain as calm as I can whenever I'm with him, since the calmer I am, the more secure he feels.

Sure, I also want to organize the apartment more efficiently, get out for a long walk daily, keep up better with my e-mail correspondence, and the like. But these are The Big Ones for this year. I'll let you know how I do.