2016 is here. Time to pack up the holiday decorations and get serious about making those New Year’s Resolutions. Your gym bag is packed and your intentions are good, but life with kids can throw you a curve ball just when you think you’ve got it all figured out. Maybe you want to sleep more, expand your cooking repertoire or spend more time enjoying your family. Make it a family affair – your kids are really trying to help keep you on track!

Cook More.
If they’re like my kids, they probably don’t eat much and are pretty picky so you won’t have to aim very high on this one. Maybe try a new mac and cheese recipe and call it a day.

Sleep More.
Since they demand that you lay with them until you both fall asleep, just give in and spend the night in your kid’s room. Or better yet, just let them sleep in your bed and go to bed when they go to bed. You’re bound to get more sleep this way!

Spend More Time With Family.
Lucky for you it’s winter, so this one should be easy too. No doubt your germ monkey will be sick with every illness in the book because ’tis the season for fevers, colds, cough, runny noses and random rashes. Just when you feel like you can’t possibly get it all done at work, you’ll get a sick day home with your little loved one. You’re bound to get caught up on work while home taking care of a sick child, right?

Be More Organized.
How could you resolve to be more organized if you didn’t have so many things to keep straight? Just think, if you didn’t have kids there would hardly be any room for improvement here. But thanks to ballet, violin, soccer and more birthday parties than you have toes, you’ve got plenty of material to work with. Luckily, your house will run so smoothly that your husband and kids won’t even notice all of your hard work.

Exercise More.
This one is the easiest of all. Everything you do for the kids requires extra steps. Just when you sit down to eat, someone needs more milk. As soon as you plop yourself down on the couch with some popcorn and a movie, someone calls from their room that they need another drink of water before bed. When was the last time you walked somewhere slowly as a mom? (Well, not counting the family walk around the block that you intended to use as exercise but the kids used to stop and kick each snow pile.) We’re always on the go, and doing so quickly. Don’t think of kids as demanding. Think of them as tiny little trainers, urging you to move more quickly to fulfill their every wish.

All kidding aside, I wish you a happy new year and hope that whatever resolutions or goals you make for yourself for 2016 involve lots of self-care for mama. Don’t forget to take care of yourself first so that you can be grounded enough to take care of your little ones with a clear mind. Happiest of New Years to you.