I don’t have the opportunity to do a lot of the things I used to do or would like to do. I don’t get a chance to take Sadie or Muggles out in the evening. I never get to exercise anymore which really bothers me. I don’t have time just to sit and spend with DH. If I do find time, I’m usually falling asleep. I’m up early, go to bed late, and never sleep in on the weekends. How can I with a baby who takes to heart the saying about the early bird?
DH’s right, I need to start putting her to bed earlier. That may be contributing to her poor sleep at night (that and the eight month sleep regression thing). But as I told him this morning when he brought it up, I don’t know when I could do it. I started her bath and the bedtime routine right after pumping last night. The only thing I did between coming home from work and pumping was make dinner. No sitting down or relaxing at all. I hesitate to ask DH to take on the occasional night time routine since he’s busy as well. I hate to add on to his load just to make mine easier. He's stressed enough now.
How can I get so little done in six hours? I get home at 4:30 and rarely manage to get to bed before 10:30. Where does the time go? Let’s see, two pumping sessions and cleaning up afterwards takes a minimum of an hour. Getting her bottles and my lunch ready for the next day, 15 – 20 minutes. Feeding her twice, 20 – 30 minutes. Dinner from preparation to clean up, 2 hours on average. Bathing her, 20 minutes. Bathing me, brushing, flossing, and getting ready for bed, 45 minutes on average. Her bedtime routine, 30 – 40 minutes. Add that up, you get about 5 ½ hours. I didn’t include changing after work because I don’t often get a chance to do that. Nor did I include feeding the girls or taking a few minutes with DH to discuss our days. I also usually try to find time to play with her. Is it any wonder I can’t find time to exercise?
I’m not really complaining. There is no way on earth I’d trade places with anyone. There’s no way I’d give up what I have now to have more time. I take one look at Kathleen and am amazed that we have a baby. I never thought we would. I never believed I’d have kids in spite of wanting children so badly since before I met DH. The fact that Kathleen is here is surreal, plain and simple. She's our miracle. We can't imagine not having her in our lives. My lament is that I wish we could manage our daily lives to find more time for the other things that need to get done and for ourselves. We need to work smarter. I don’t know what we’re doing wrong.
Well, I’ve started doing one thing I think will help on the weekends. I’m taking a Magic Eraser to the shower floor when I notice it getting cruddy during the week. That takes more hard scrubbing that it should on the weekends. I’ll have to reinstate 5 – 10 minute yoga session before my showers or while she’s playing to get in my exercise for the week. I can do yoga while I watch her. It’s a pain, but at least it gets done. Walking over lunch is tough during the hot weather, but I'm hoping taking the stairs every morning (seven flights) helps. I can always hike between the buildings through the tunnels. Two circuits and the stairs should add up to about 30 minutes. If I can find the tunnel to the Forum Building and the return tunnel in Keystone Building, I can add a fifth and sixth building to the circuit and another ten minutes or more.
Work smarter.
This why I'd never trade my life now for one with more time.
No comments:
Post a Comment