Meet the Shaneyfelts

2025 Goals + A Look Back at My 2024 Goals

Happy Tuesday! Now that January is about halfway over, I finally want to talk about my goals for the year LOL

Before I share my 2025 goals, let’s look back at last year’s goals and see how I did! You’ll notice that I made very low stakes goals because I knew that having 2 babies at once would be much harder.

2024 Goals Update

1. Have a baby.

Check! Merritt came a few days after her due date, and I had a great labor! Thankful that I got to experience my water breaking and going into labor on my own. Hindsight is always 20/20 and looking back, I kind of wish I didn’t get the epidural. I didn’t get it until I was 7cm dilated and ended up having to start pushing at 9cm (so I didn’t really get much relief), but then I think about how uncomfortable it was for them to move my cervix out of the way each time I pushed and the epidural probably helped mitigate some of that pain.

2. Work out again.

That did not happen like I thought it would. Life is just a little harder with 3 small children and I don’t get as much free time as I used to. But that’s okay! We’re now in a new year!

3. Find a natural deodorant to start using.

YES!!! I had heard or read all of the horror stories about swapping to a natural deodorant and how it required your armpits to basically detox from the aluminum. I’ve read where people would even break out in a rash until their armpits got used to the baking soda in natural deodorants. Well, I did my research and decided on this deodorant. It’s been the BEST!! There’s been no detox at all and I’ve used both the Blue Tansy scent and Lavender scent.

4. Read 15 books this year.

I read 25!!!!! And this was probably why I didn’t work out any last year too haha!!! I will add my favorites in to Friday’s post because I have a couple of favorites from last year.

5. Try making sourdough bread.

Nope. Way too ambitious of a goal for last year.

Now let’s go over my goals for 2025!!!

1. Go to Disney World!!

We’ve booked a trip for our family to go this fall and we are so excited! Banks will be the same age that Harrison was when we took Harrison, and it was such a fun age for DW. Merritt will be about a year and a half, and I think that will be really fun, too.

2. Cut down on seed oils in our home.

Have you read all of the things about seed oils and how they were even created? (We can thank Rockefeller for them.). Toward the end of 2024, a study came out linking seed oils with colon cancer since those who are getting colon cancer are getting younger and younger. After that, I’ve decided to really make sure that I’m buying better-for-us food that doesn’t include seed oils. I’ve noticed seed oils in some of our “healthier” processed foods that has really shocked me!

3. Read 20 books this year.

I set my Goodreads goal for 20 books this year. It’s a low bar, but I’m one of those people who can’t stand to not hit a goal like that so I don’t want to spend the end of this year stressed and trying to read constantly in order to meet my reading goal. I’ve already read one book and am in the middle of another, so I feel like next year I will set my goal much higher.

4. Start running again.

I miss running!!!! It used to be like therapy to me. Last year I sold my Peloton since I never used it and really was over the whole spinning workout, and my MIL gave me her old treadmill. Dustin set it all up in the garage, and now when I get a chance to work out at night, I’ll get on the treadmill and walk on an incline. Once I find a good high impact sports bra, I’m going to start adding in running to my workouts.

5. Work on spending quality one-on-one time with the kids.

Back in November, Harrison’s school had a night where you visited and learned how to play a game with your child that was supposed to help their brain development. Dustin stayed home with the babies because we knew it would be crowded, so I told Harrison we were going on a date and asked him where he wanted to take me to eat (Chick-fil-a was his choice haha). He had the best time and talked forever about our date and when we were going to go on another. Because of that, I want to make sure this year (and forever) that I make sure to spend quality one-on-one time with each of my children. Merritt won’t really know any better right now but go ahead and normalize it to where my children expect it and look forward to it. This is also a goal I have for Dustin, too.

Those are my goals for the year. I’d love to hear your goals for the year below!!

Friday Favorites! (1.10.25)

Happy Friday from our snowy house! We’ve got snow here this morning and I’m so excited to take the boys out in it when Merritt goes down for her morning nap!

Today is our firsts Friday Favorites post of the year and I’ve got a few things to share with you!!

one

Harrison got his hair cut this past week and it was much needed! I love his curls, but he was in major need of a hair cut since it had been right before my birthday in October for his last hair cute. Here’s the before…

…and here’s the after! So much better!

two

Our first Sunday picture of the year! Last June I started taking pictures of the kids on the couch together like this, and it’s really become one of my favorite traditions each week. And they really do love taking pictures together–except right before this one where Banks kicked Harrison in the eye ๐Ÿ™‚

three

I’m currently reading two books right now and I’ve over halfway done with both of them. One is a book I’ve wanted to read for a while and got it for Christmas and the other is my book club’s book for this month…

I’ve listened to so many podcasts with Casey and Calley Means that I’ve wanted this book for a long time. It’s been VERY interesting. I’d say part 1 (which was lots of medical talk) was the least interesting just because it’s content that I’ve heard them talk about on all of the podcasts. But starting in part 2–that’s what got my attention. The chapter on lab results was so informative because they explained there’s a range that medical professionals consider normal, but honestly, there’s a different range that’s considered optimal. She gives those numbers, too. For example, fasting blood sugar should be below 100. After that, you’re pre diabetic until you become type 2. But she explains that really, you want to be below 90 for fasting–and she explains all the reasons. I find that so interesting, and also motivating because you can fix your issue before it really becomes an issue. Shouldn’t prevention be the purpose of healthcare?

Only the Beautiful is our book club book this month and I am really enjoying it! The first half of the book is told from the point of view of Rosie, and man, her life is really sad. Last night I just started part two and it’s told from the point of view of Helen (someone Rosie knows, but distantly), and it picked up in the time period where Rosie’s story left off. I know they will intersect at some point, and I’m anxious to pick the book back up to see how it happens. As of right now, I HIGHLY recommend this book and I feel like I’ll probably keep this opinion because last year, I heard nothing but great things about this book!!

Okay, that’s it for today! I’m about to cook breakfast and then get ready to go out in the snow.

2024 Year in Review: Part Two!

Today I’m going to recap the rest of 2024. I ended up having to break it up into two parts because it was past my bedtime while I was writing part one (which you can read here!).

August

Harrison started kindergarten (cue me crying because I could not believe he’s old enough to be in kindergarten). Part of him being in kindergarten means that he rides the bus to my school with other kids whose mom works with me. He gets to my classroom a couple of minutes before school is over and my 7th period now looks forward to Harrison coming in the door every day haha!

The babies also started “school” so my morning now consist of dropping off at two places on opposite ends of town. Both babies have excellent teachers!

My nephew Wiley (my sister’s son born 4 months before Merritt) is in the classroom next door to Merritt so they got their picture together on the first day!

September

Harrison played soccer and was on my friend Maribeth’s team (her son is Harrison’s friend). We had a GREAT team full of great kids and parents and I think we only lost two games the entire season?

These two went to a bunch of Alabama home games this fall…

…while we cheered from home! We can’t wait for the day when the five of us get to go to the games!

October

I celebrated my 37th birthday with my family at my house. Here’s what I’ve decided as a mom to small kids–I’d rather celebrate my birthday at home vs eating out because I can’t relax at a restaurant right now. I know moms to small kids understand haha!

We had a rainy Halloween and only Dustin and Harrison went out for candy for about 30 minutes before the rain poured, but we all dressed up to get pictures! Both babies are wearing Harrison’s old costumes!! I told Dustin the money spent on those costumes was well worth it haha!

November

One of the Thanksgivings we went to was at my aunt’s house and my sister and cousin (who grew up like a brother to us because we were always together) got a picture with all of our kids who were born so close together! So far Merritt is the only girl in this group and I’m sure she’ll be bossing these boys around in a few years.

We did a walking night at the Galaxy of Lights this year instead of doing a driving tour like we’ve done since Harrison was born. The last time we did a walking night was before Harrison was born and we agreed that they’ve really upped their game on the walking tour and we’ll never drive the garden again! Walking the lights was magical!

December

We had Santa pictures made and Harrison was the only one to look at the camera and smile.

We dedicated Merritt at church and had a celebratory lunch back at our house! I also wished I wouldn’t have had Christmas cards printed already because I would have totally used this picture since everyone is smiling!

We were also sick a lot of December with parainfluenza, RSV, and the flu–yuck! (We currently have the flu at our house while I type this)

Harrison sang at church for our church’s 9 Lessons and Carols night!

We had a great Christmas this year even though we missed Christmas morning with my aunts and dad. Merritt had a cough and runny nose and we didn’t want to get the newest baby sick–turns out Merritt had RSV and then Harrison and Banks came down with the flu a few days later (along with my sister and nephew).

It’s been a wild 2024. Very exhausting and I’ve felt constrained to the house a lot–taking a quick trip to the grocery store isn’t as easy as it used to be. But it’s really been full of lots of cuddles, hugs, and kisses, and cheering each other on.

I remember being asked how many kids we wanted by our fertility doctor and Dustin said probably two and I said three thinking it would never be possible–yet this year proved differently. What a blessing the three of them have been and I am excited to watch them grow in 2025 and become even better friends!