Life Change Challenge

So here's the deal.  I am tired of knowing what I need to do to take my life to the next level and not doing it.  It's almost embarrassing because they really are just very basic things.  So, I'm making one small lifestyle change each week in order to become the type of wife, mother, and daughter of the King that I keep saying I want to be.

Here are the changes I've made so far:

Week 1:
I got the boys back on a sleep schedule so that I could get enough sleep.  They have always been on a great schedule, but I made a rookie mistake and allowed them to stay up late when family came to visit from Minnesota.  It has been unbelievably difficult to get them back on track.

If I didn't know better, I would say it was a conspiracy.  Seriously.  Every night, without fail, at least one of them will stay up in their beds until at least 11.  Yet, they still wake up at the crack of dawn.  Who does that? Children who are plotting against their parents for household domination.  That's who.

Week 2:
I trained the boys to stay in their rooms until I come get them in the mornings.  This means I am no longer risking personal bodily injury if I hear the two year old and four year old wandering around while I'm trying to take my shower.  I also spared myself from the (ahem!) creative breakfast concoctions my 9 year old likes to sneak down to the kitchen to prepare for me.  The boy gets very creative with cold foods.  See conspiracy theory above.  A dramatic decrease in stress levels is an added bonus. 
 
Now, I'm rolling into Week 3.
This week, I am focusing on going to bed no later than 10 and waking up no later than 6:30.  This is huge, because I have not made my personal sleep needs a priority in over nine years.   I am a third generation night owl and it has been very hard to switch over my sleep patterns with the increased responsibilities of motherhood.  How many of you know that little ones do not care if Mommy stayed up until 3:00 in the morning because she's convinced herself that she is most productive in the middle of the night? Yeah...I told myself that lie, too.  I believe that this one change is going to be the catalyst for effective change in the overall quality of my life.  It has to be! 

I want to get the basics down so that hopefully I can put those on autopilot and focus on the other more creative pursuits I would like to add on to my life. I have this really bad habit of jumping ahead of myself,  because routine becomes mundane and I just don't think boring is a good look for me.  However, mediocre womanhood  is not a good look either.  I didn't see that in the fall collections on the runways this season.

So, I'm hoping you will join me every Monday when I report on how I'm coming along and reveal my new life change.  Since I'm posting this weekend, I will wait until next Monday to post my next personal challenge.  If you would like, it would be helpful and encouraging to me if you joined me in this challenge by posting your own weekly challenges in the comments section or on my facebook page.  I can do this alone, but accountability is always nice.  So, who's in?