Nichols family resolutions

Happy New Year from this handsome fellow

This year for new years eve, Stephan and I dropped the little one off with his Noni and Grampy (stephan's parents) and we went to a party at a friends house. Like the awesome party people we are, we were home and in bed by 10pm. I honestly do not remember the last time I've seen 12am on new years. It's sad really.

Stephan had to work New Years day so I got to spend some quality time with Ephraim. What better way to spend the first day of the new year?

I'm not always one for resolutions in the new year, mainly because I never seem to keep them. This year however, there are some that I really need to stick to.

Here are the Nichols family resolutions for 2012:

What are some of yours?

1. Keep the house clean at all times:

For us this will mean making a list of daily task. That way I don't feel so overwhelmed when we plan to have house guests. I always deep clean my entire house the day we have guests over and then I'm exhausted. (Now all my previous house guests know my secret. oops)

2. Have more friends over to our home:

This is why my home needs to be clean! I love having house guests. It makes me so happy cooking and entertaining friends! We have a long list of people we have been wanting to have over, so this year we are going to get to all of them.

3. Read more:

This is one for me personally. The hubs is not a big reader but I am. I couldn't seem to find time in 2011 to read very often (what with being a new mom and all). This year my goal is to read at least a book a month. This shouldn't be very difficult. If my house is clean I can read while the kiddo naps.

4. Get healthy:

Talk about cliche new years resolution, but I'm so serious about it. Stephan and I both have sort of just let ourselves go. I guess most couples do that somewhat after getting married, but for me it's worse since I had Ephraim. I so desperately want to be back at my pre-preggo weight. However, that seems like and impossible task so getting healthy is my next option. No more nasty fried foods and I'll be saying bye bye to my diet coke addiction (so sad about this).

5. Be the best parents ever

We want to soak up every moment of every day with our little guy. He is growing faster than I ever imagined and I feel like it will be no time at all before he will be to big for all the cuddles and kisses

and last but not least

6. Pay off all out debt:

We don't have much at all, but I hate debt so the goal is to have it all paid off by August. If we pay off all our debt we can do fun things like start planning the building of our new house! I love day dreaming about what our next house will be like!

2011 was very good to me. I got to marry my best friend and I became a mom to the most wonderful little boy on the planet. I can not wait to see what wonderful adventures are in store for us in 2012!

The new year so far for the Nichols

Happy New Year!

We had a great and crazy busy holiday season and really enjoyed getting to spend time with lots of family.  Our year has started amazing and I feel like we are both going non stop, when really we should probably be taking some time to relax before baby Ephraim arrives.

What's new with us so far this year:

Well,

Stephan is back to playing guitar at church and teaching his class before their band practice on Thursday nights. I am so happy for him. I know this is where his heart is and that he is so happy to be back!

His new obsession is cooking anything on our new grill. It cracks me up since it is the middle of winter.. but I'm not complaining because we've been eating pretty darn good the past few weeks.

And 

I am working as much as possible at Victoria's Secret preparing for my awesome new position when I come back to work after baby is born!

My new obsession is the book series that the HBO show True Blood is based off of. Stephan got me the first two for Christmas and my sister-in-law got me the third and forth and I'm half way through the third book already. I'm loving them, much more than the TV show! 

With even less hours open in our schedules now it's making it hard for us to get Ephraim's room completely finished.  

Yesterday Stephan worked on and finished all the spots we hadn't already done on the walls and while he did that I organized his closet with all the things we have for him so far.  However, while doing all this I realized how empty his walls will be once we get everything in place.

So

Stephan's new project to finish in the next few weeks will be to build a shelf that will go on the wall above the changing table. Pictures to come when it's finished!

My project to finish in the next week or so is Ephraim's changing table. I posted a picture a while back and was so excited about working on it. The reason it isn't finished is because I've really struggled on what exactly it needed to look like. With Stephan's help, we've figured it out and I'm going to get on it right away!!

Stephan's mom brought over some pictures that Stephan made when he was in elementary school and my mom has kept all of mine as well so my second project is picking three pictures that Stephan and I made when we were kids and finding the perfect frames to hang them in.

Once all these projects are done I know I will feel much better about his room looking perfect!

My goal for this week is to post pictures of Ephraim's room with everything in its right place and the changing table in progress! So everyone keep and eye out.

** Also I wanted to let everyone know that we will be getting out our wedding thank you notes as soon as wedding pictures are in our hands! I'm making them and want to use one of our pictures for the front. I promise we haven't forgotten and aren't trying to be rude! We are very thankful for everyone and everything we received**