Am I the only mom that struggles with time management? I feel like trying to write a blog with a 6 month old baby is like trying to catch a flying cow in tornado.. And
Am I the only mom that struggles with time management? I feel like trying to write a blog with a 6 month old baby is like trying to catch a flying cow in tornado.. And I am lucky enough to have an angel baby! (I’m sorry to you moms out there that are struggling with a collicky or acid reflux baby.. I had that with my first so I get it..I can just imagine how much rougher you have it, so I send my sympathies) My question, nonetheless still stands: How do we get more time in the day to do what we actually WANT to do, versus what we HAVE to do..Let’s be real.. Laundry is a constant.. Dirty dishes.. Let the dogs out.. Let them back in.. Oops back out..(what if I cut a hole in the wall and they can go in and out as they want?!?) Floors are dirty gotta sweep/vacuum/mop.. Ugh that toilet is getting that dirty ring around the bowl again.. ( Why do we have 3 toilets?? ) Gotta do that cuz its gross.. Oh the laundry just buzzed.. Time to fold.. Or do we leave the basket full of clean clothes and just dig out what we need all week? I mean, I COULD fold it.. But it will stay in piles on my bed till bedtime then get thrown back in the basket anyway! Oh the dogs want back in.. now it’s time for a bottle ( not for me,.. Although is it too early to have a glass of wine?!) It’s only 10:30 am, I’ve been up since 6:30 am and I feel like I have accomplished NOTHING! Who feels me here? Don’t get me wrong here folks.. I know that we are so lucky in Canada to get the time off for taking care of our babies. And I 100% take advantage of that time to give her everything she needs to thrive.. God knows I would be completely screwed if I was back at work right now.. I don’t take this time off for granted, but IS it horrible to also want to get some stuff done? I don’t think so.. We earned this time off! We GREW a life inside us while simultaneously working full time jobs, caring for our existing family and lets be honest, just showing up in life..Putting on pants and showing up while growing a life inside you is A LOT. But I digress.. My thoughts on being pregnant and having to live life as if we weren’t is a whole other topic for another time! So, as I was saying, how do we stretch the hours in day to get stuff done.. My guess is as good as any but I will say this; Prioritizing is definitely key. I try to focus on what is important to me. And to be completely honest, that changes every day. A clean house? Getting more sleep? Exercising to get rid of the baby weight? ( although I do work up a sweat while mopping so Hurray for killing two birds with one stone on that!!)Here is what is completely CRA CRA though.. Even though this was my third, I still thought I would have a ton of extra time while being off ( what made me think that?!?) Before having my baby I had made a list of all the projects I wanted to get done while being on mat leave.. You know how many of those 5 big projects I have actually accomplished being 6 months in to my leave.. ZERO..NADA.. NONE!! And I’ll be honest, I feel so guilty about it..and that guilt is put on me by me..myself and I.. My husband doesn’t care if the pantry in the basement doesn’t get completely organized!! Or that the photo albums are all up to date…but I do.. Why? Why do we put so much pressure on ourselves to get it all done? Besides the mundane day to day chores to keep a house decent to live in, I decided to add major projects. Bahahahahahahah.. Oh poor naive me 9 months ago!! I do appreciate my drive though.. It’s what gets me through 6 loads of laundry in one day. ( I call myself the “Tide Avenger” hehe)So here’s my advice, you can take it or leave it. Do what makes you happy ( unless that involves packing up your life to go live on a beach in the middle of nowhere.. Just saying,, your husband will not appreciate that- or I can personally vouch on, you even mentioning it..- even if you leave with the pantry organized..) Also, it’s OK to not get it all done. If no one has EVER told you that, let me! It’s OK!! As moms, ( and even dads) we all struggle with the want vs need vs time.. Ask for help if you can.. Hire a cleaning person if you can, or ignore the mess and draw yourself a nice bath! It will be there tomorrow too, so you can worry about it then. Don’t sweat the small stuff ( I really wish someone would have told me that in my twenties). Life is busy, and if you find something that brings you happiness in the run of a very busy, messy, spit up milk, boogie flying, endless laundry kind of day, then so be it!Right now, this blog is super important to me.. I really enjoy the emotional release I get with writing, and I’m really excited about the new friendships I am making with other moms that are reaching out to me because of it. Is my house super clean? No.. are the dogs a bit neglected.. Totally.. ( but well loved and fed and warm and comfy.. So no hate letters please!) I do get some household stuff done, but in all honesty my house is not immaculate and I am ok with that.Because, at the end of the day, I think we need to pay attention to what makes us smile and laugh and feel good.. and put more priority into that. Happy mom = Happy baby.. So take the time to find what makes you happy.. No one cares if your floors are dirty. Mine are.. But this blog got done, and THAT makes me happy. 🙂