Introduction

So my big plan for the new year got hatched back in October when I absentmindedly forgot to renew my driver’s license a week after we'd moved into a new house and apparently lost a box of important papers...with no documents to prove my ID I found myself unable to drive until new copies arrived. That got me thinking, how would I survive without my driver’s license?  How would it change my life?  The first thing that came to mind was the money I'd save...our old gas guzzler drinks about $40 a week in gas and then the insurance costs add up too, plus maintenance...hmm.  Then I thought about alternative travel... public transportation would be a must and I'd definitely need a bicycle. But I have a toddler to tote about too, so I obviously need a mode of transport that could safely include him.  Then my mind focused on the health benefits of all this added exercise and then all of a sudden my point of view started to change...suddenly this crazy train of thought was starting to sound like a good idea, as a challenge of sorts.
My mind raced with fanciful ideas of me buzzing about all over town with Jack in tow in one of those sporty little bike trailers, which if you don't know me might sound plausible...BUT this is me we're talking about!  I'm a couch potato with an excess of more weight than I care to admit here.  I don't particularly enjoy activity and I really love my new house which makes leaving it even harder.  And let’s be honest I've made lots of new year’s resolutions and not a single one ever amounted to half the life changing experience I dreamed they would be.  So what's the difference with this idea?  Well, nothing except now I've got Jack.
The moment I found out I was going to be a parent I quit smoking with seemingly no issue, despite the fact that I'd tried what must have amounted to a hundred times before with no success in the 10 years prior.  Jack, a yet unnamed mass of cells, gave me the inner strength to make necessary changes for not only his health but for mine too. 
Now, as Jack approaches 2 years old I find myself with serious fears about the examples I've been setting for him and if I'm going to be honest with myself I must admit that I feel guilt.  Not that famous parental guilt that every mum feels when feeling a little less than perfectly patient with her child or for giving in to a particularly tedious tantrum...no serious GUILT!  If I don't make some changes my bad habits will be ingrained in my sweet little boy’s life and that's where I draw the line.  Jack will inherit plenty of annoying traits and bad habits (obviously!) but there are some that I refuse to pass on.
So that’s how this crazy idea got hatched and now I just have to put it into action.  This month I'm getting a bike and I'm hanging up the car keys for the entire year. I hope to lose some weight, gain some strength, show the struggles of alternative travel in a small town setting, save some money and some fossil fuel...quite the tall order, so lets just take it one day at a time:)