Supermom Series 3: Making Resolutions with Melanie

Melanie and Robby have been friends of ours for a loooong time. In fact, my husband and Robby go way back (as in boyhood years). Melanie is one of the most genuine people I know. She has endured a lot in her young life, yet keeps such perspective and honesty. Not to mention they have the best Halloween costumes every year! I am so happy to have Melanie with us today answering my Supermom questions:

What is one thing you plan to do in 2011 to:

• Be a better mom

• Be a better wife

• Be a better self

Gotta love Halloween 2010 (wish you could see the eye makeup):

One thing I plan to do to be a better mom is spending more time with my daughter Gracie. We have big plans for this year, and I want to make a conscious effort to remember to do fun things with Gracie instead of just manage the fun things she does by herself. She is very good at playing by herself and keeping herself entertained which makes me think she doesn't need me to play with her because she's content. But I know she still needs my positive attention and I hope to give her more of that this year.

One thing I plan to do to be a better wife is to go out of my way to do something nice for Robby every day. I'm blessed with a wonderful marriage, and hard working husband, and I'd like to try and remember to show my appreciation by doing something for Robby that I know would make him happy. It can be anything from leaving him a note, to a back massage. I'm just going to remember to pick a time during the day to specify what it will be.

One thing I plan to do to be a better self is to keep a journal that will document my emotions and frustrations, and will also double as a gratitude journal. I deal with depression and I also have some bi-polar tendencies, and I've been taking medication for these issues for 10 years. Starting this year, I'm tapering off my bi-polar medication. I've just started this process but I can already tell it's going to be hard. So to keep myself from getting frustrated with this decision, I want to keep a journal specifically for how I'm feeling, then follow each entry with 5 things I'm grateful for just to keep perspective. I think this journal will be good not just for my medication adjustments but also through other big life changes that threaten to ovewhelm me.