Habits of 2012

The New Year is upon us. Many people will make New Year's Resolutions. In the past, I've always thought of something at the last minute that I could do better. But never had any real driving force behind it, and generally those resolutions never went anywhere. So the last couple years, I've just not bothered (of course it's easy to "not bother" when my husband reminds me every year that years ago he made a resolution to never make a resolution again .... :-\ ) ....
However, I feel like I am progressively covering ground on this journey for self-improvement as a mother, wife, woman, housekeeper, professional, Christian, etc and want to use the upcoming year to be intentional about improving myself and my family. I have decided to plan 12 Habits I want to create and 12 Habits I want to break in 2012. Each habit has been assigned to a month. During each month I will focus primarily on creating and breaking the given habits. The goal (based on the definition of "habit") is to have 12 things become a natural part of my routine that will bless us, and 12 things that were not beneficial to our family that I no longer do.
I made my list tonight. I have a few months that I need to still fill in some habits to break, but I figure as the year goes on, I am sure I will be able to reevaluate my life and fill in the blanks when I get there. I will also try to blog about my progress as I go!

Here is my list.... to keep me motivated and on track!

January
*Create - Get up before the girls to have special time with God.
*Break - Stop snoozing my alarm.

February
*Create - Plan and execute weekly individual time with each girl and my husband.
*Break - Stop saying "in a minute" or "I'm busy"

March
*Create - Finish 1-2 books in a month (Read everyday, individually and with the girls)
*Break -Don't leave the TV on throughout the day.

April
*Create - Go for daily walks with the family
*Break -Don't spend too much time on the phone/comp/facebook

May
*Create - Drink at least 20 oz of water every day
*Break - Don't rely on caffeine to get my thru the day

June
*Create - Plan meals
*Break -Don't let the girls "munch" thru the day

July
*Create - Go to bed no later than midnight
*Break -Don't turn on the TV as I am getting into bed

August
*Create - Blog at least 2-3 times a week
*Break - Don't be impatient with girls and David

September
*Create - Call family members at least a couple times a month
*Break -

October
*Create - Try a new food every week
*Break -

November
*Create - Intentionally be thankful for something every day
*Break - Don't complain

December
*Create - Intentionally take advantage of opportunities to do random acts of kindness often.
*Break -

"Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anyone else expects of you." - Henry Ward Beecher