Guess what! Just because it’s a new year doesn’t mean I’ve stopped doing hodge podge posts with bullet points. I can’t make goals to stop all of my bad habits, so I’m going to hang on to this one. Wink wink.

• The Book Beginnings and Bookends blog is back! Rachel and I announced our first book of 2011 this morning, so check it out and read with us in February!
• I started The Glass Castle last night and I’m already having to make myself put it down. And I cried in the first chapter! Seriously?
• I am 21 weeks pregnant! Can you believe it? I can’t believe I haven’t blogged more about this pregnancy, but honestly, I don’t know how to blog about pregnancy. I mean, I feel the baby move, he’s growing great, I’m eating more than usual, and I have a baby bump. It is getting more and more eventful as he gets bigger and Hudson starts to respond to the idea of having a baby around. All that said, the baby is doing great. We had our 20 week appointment last week and he looks perfect. He’s a wild little thing and we can’t wait to meet him. I can’t believe we’re halfway there. As progress is made, I’ll show more of what we’re doing around the house to get ready for our new little guy! I’ll try to get better about posting bump updates and sharing what’s going on with my appetite and sleep habits, which are the biggest things that have changed. The good news is I’m feeling great!
• We have some concrete plans for Hudson’s big boy room, but I have to move a lot of furniture before we can get started. I can’t wait to share the ideas with you!
• Hudson’s new word is “okay.” And he says it all the time when he’s asking if he can do something. He’ll say, “Outside? Outside? Outside? Okay.” I guess he does it because when I tell him he can do something I say, “okay.” Little monkey!
• Did y’all watch The Bachelor? I like Brad and I still love that he didn’t pick anyone on his season. Why should he pick someone he doesn’t love? And it’s a TV show. Maybe he’ll find love this time, but we know if he does it probably won’t last. But I sure do love the entertainment factor of The Bachelor!

• I had a dream last night that I was asked to be Dorothy in a stage production of The Wizard of Oz. This is kind of my dream role, but I was pregnant in my dream. All of a sudden it was the day of the performance and I had to have my costume ready and no one would help me. But there weren’t any maternity costumes and I ended up looking awful and completely dreading the performance. These pregnancy dreams are so strange!
• And then at some point, the dream shifted to being about breakfast burritos, so I woke up really wanting a breakfast burrito. I didn’t get one, but it does sound delicious!

I’m excited to share with you the books I plan to read in 2011. My goal was to read 12 books in 2011, but I’ve already finished by January book choice, Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks, so I’ll be moving on to February’s choice. After I found out I was pregnant last year, I didn’t read for two months, so I know that I need to leave room to take breaks if I need them.

All of the books listed below are sitting on my desk and my night stand. I have owned some for years– I’ve mentioned my problem of buying books and never reading them and then buying more books and reading those. And some of the books were Christmas gifts or just books I’ve picked up along the way to read.

My “extras” list is a little long, but I read 19 books in 2010 so I know that I could go over 12 books again this year. So check out my list. Are you planning to read (or have you already read) any of the books on my list?

January

Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks

February

American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld

March

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

April

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

May

Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan

June

The House on First Street by Julia Reed

July

The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson

August

Radical by David Platt

September

Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld

October

The Girl Who Kicked the Hortnet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson

November

The Overnight Socialite by Bridie Clark

December

South of Broad by Pat Conroy

Planned Extras: (I know I will pick up a few books here and there that also get added to the extras column)

Little Bee by Chris Cleave

Sullivan’s Island and Return to Sullivan’s Island by Dorothea Benton Frank

Sundays at Tiffany’s by James Patterson

Decision Points by George W. Bush

Spoken From the Heart by Laura Bush

The Kite Runner by Kahled Hosseini

Shepherding a Child’s Heart by Tedd Tripp

Last Night at Chateau Marmont by Lauren Weisberger

Summer Island by Kristin Hannah

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

Uncharted TerriTori by Tori Spelling

Some of you have asked, in the past, how I find time to read. Maybe I don’t watch as much TV as you think I do. Or maybe I never sleep. But I find time during the day to sneak in a couple of chapters during nap time. And I love to read before bed. TC likes to read, too, as long as he has a book that he’s interested in. So we read after we turn off the TV. And I read once I’m in bed, too. I don’t spend a lot of time in the car, so I don’t do the audio books thing unless we’re on a road trip. When I have two babies that are on different schedules, I may be longing for the days when I was able to squeeze in time to read. But for now, this is what works and I hope I don’t have to give up my hobby!

Happy New Year!

I’m not big on New Year’s resolutions. But that’s only because I know myself and I know how well I stick to the big resolutions like “maintain a certain diet” or “lose a certain amount of weight.” And, honestly? Do those things make me a better person or help make me happy at the end of the day? They tend to just stress me out and lead to disappointment.

It would be fantastic if after having our baby I could jump on the diet and exercise train and lose all those pounds in a few months. But I know it’s not going to happen and I would just rather go easy on myself and enjoy life with my family.

In 2011, I’m resolving to simplify. I want to take on fewer commitments and stop being so hard on myself. I want to stop setting standards that I can’t live up to and try to stop feeling bad about myself when I see what someone else has done or accomplished. Life is too short and I can either make things easy on myself or hard on myself. And in 2011 I’m going for easy.

I mean, as easy as is possible. I’ll have a 23 month old when our baby is born and I don’t think anything is going to be a walk in the park. But I would like to set some goals to continue working on things that I started in 2010.

I do have a few goals that I’d like to set in an effort to sleep better, worry less, and keep life simple.

1. Continue to work on being content. 2010 was about finding contentment, but I’m easily tempted by shoes and fancy cars. I sleep better at night when I am not consumed with thinking about stuff. And I mean actual “stuff.”
2. To recognize that I can’t be everything to everyone and there will be people that don’t like me. I don’t need to beat myself up or try to fix every problem in an effort to make someone happy.
3. Stop taking on extra responsibility. Maintain the commitments I’ve already made while putting most of my focus on my husband and children. I felt like I was run ragged in 2010 and I know that all of that is a result of finding my balance as a relatively new SAHM. But the extra commitment stresses me out and takes me away from my family.
4. Read more and watch less TV. I’m setting another goal to read the unread books in my house- at least 12 (the list is coming later). I don’t know that I’ll be able to avoid watching Glee, Damages, and the new season of The Bachelor tonight. But I watched a whole lot less TV at the end of 2010 than I planned. But reading makes me happy and I feel productive when I do it. And it really does help me sleep well.

So that’s it for my 2011 semi-resolutions. I want to wake up every morning feeling a sense of peace rather than a sense of dread because of unwanted commitments. This contentment thing will be the hardest, but because I’m putting it out here maybe all of you can hold me accountable. Send me a virtual slap in the face when our baby arrives and I start complaining about the size of our house and the amount of baby gear and toddler toys that have consumed my life. It’s just stuff and those are insignificant details, right?

So Happy New Year to all of you! Did you make any big resolutions this year?

When I look back on this year, there aren’t huge life-changing moments that come to mind. In 2008 we got married. In 2009 we had a baby.

In 2010 we just were.

We played with our child, dedicated him to the Lord, spent time with family, and traveled a little.

When I read my blog posts from the past twelve months, the most common theme is contentment, and my search for it.

My husband’s business grew and continued to thrive, allowing me another year to be at home with our sweet Hudson. But I found other ways such as voluntarism and event-planning to keep me fulfilled and had to learn to say “no.” My search for personal satisfaction aside from my daily duties in the home led me right back to the home. I learned that I never want to be too busy to see what my son is doing on that particular day, but will continue to take on extra responsibility as I have time to do so.

We had our house on the market and took it off about six weeks later when we realized that we do love our house and want to stay where we are.

I stressed out about planning our second pregnancy. When is the right time? What do I want to do before we get pregnant? And in the first month of trying, Baby Boy Carroll #2 happened.

I am flawed. I am always having to slap myself in the face as a reminder that I don’t need to sweat the small stuff. And I don’t need to obsess over shoes and handbags. Or what outfit I may wear to an event and then never wear it again. Sure, this is all money stuff, but trust me, I’m not “cured” yet of this and I’ve still come a long way. Just ask my husband.

I spend most of my time in comfy clothes around the house and don’t have a need for the beautiful things of which I once dreamed.

In 2010, I worried about friendship and finding the friendships that lift me up and that I can give back to. Friendships with women who have kids or don’t have kids – because to me, friendship isn’t about your children or your husband. And just when I prayed about it, wrote about it, and stopped worrying about it, those worries went away. My prayer wasn’t answered immediately, but I found contentment where I was at the time, and those worries began to fade. And I believe as a result of turning it over to God, He has blessed me with some amazing friendships this year. Some of these women are people I only talk to once a month and others I talk to every day. Some live here and many of them don’t. But they’re there for me and they pray for me just as I pray for them.

One of the most important things I’ve learned is not to judge others. We all make different decisions and live our lives differently because we are different. And I celebrate our differences. What is right for me may not be right for everyone else. But I have learned a lot about myself, my limitations, my temptations, my weaknesses and strengths over the last 28 years. And you know? In ten years, I may be reading the post and laughing at myself. At this point in my life, though, these are things that I’ve had to change about myself in order to avoid stress and unnecessary worry.

I’ve learned more about trust, staying faithful, and seeing myself the way the Lord sees me. I know that I don’t need to disguise myself with other things and that He loves me just as I am. And He’s blessing my family and me every day.

I am extremely grateful and will forever praise Him for healing my precious mother, who has shown unconditional love for her family and unwavering faith in His plan.

So I’m looking ahead to 2011 with no expectations. I don’t want to hold myself to impossible standards that cause me to obsess and turn my attention away from the things that matter most. I know my personality and committing to lose 40 pounds in 20 weeks after having my baby is not something that I need to do. It may be healthy for my body, but it won’t be healthy for my mind.

With no expectations, I’m looking forward to growing and learning and becoming closer to what the Lord wants me to become. I plan to focus on what I have instead of what I don’t. And be grateful. For the time with my husband, my child(ren), my parents and in-laws, and so many loving friends.