When O was a newborn I feared the night because I knew that as soon as that sun set we were in for some unpleasant and very exhausting hours. This girl loved to scream at night and the fact of the matter was that even when it was Ben's turn to be "on duty," I could hear her screaming through our hollow core doors (I always swore that I was going to get a solid door for our bedroom before having a second child. Oops. Never happened). So in anticipation of each evening and in an attempt to make each night a better night, Ben and I would come up with a new plan.
Night one: "Okay, tonight we're going to swaddle and then feed."
Night two: "Tonight we're going to feed, then swaddle, then rock."
Night three: "Maybe we'll just feed her tonight. Maybe she doens't need to be swaddled anymore."
And so on and so forth.
I was constantly trying to find the secret combination of things that would allow our little one to sleep peacefully (and therefore allow us to get some rest).
And now three years later I'm still trying to come up with plans and secret combinations - only this time it has nothing to do with sleep. Instead it has to do with something even more scarce nowadays - time.
Time to get it all done.
Time to do it well.
Time to not feel like you're drowning under a to-do list a mile long.
Time to spend with your kids.
Time to spend with your spouse.
Honestly, most of the time I feel like I'm falling behind in each and every one of those categories and so at the beginning of every week I find myself trying to come up with a new plan on how to get things done.
Two weeks ago it involved running home during my lunch break and spending 30 minutes doing a load of dishes and folding laundry. (Coming home to a house that is not a complete disaster? Awesome!)
Last week it involved spending a lunch break grocery shopping so that we would have one less chore to do over the weekend.
And this week it involved joining Costco in the hopes that if we can buy some things in bulk, it will result in fewer trips to Target and the grocery store and that'll allow us to spend more time just being together.
Because really, that's what I want more than anything - time to just be together - snuggling on the couch, reading books, telling stores, and laughing.
Man, I wish they sold that in bulk at Costco.
* Pictures from our recent day at the Puyullup Fair, where I ate my weight in scones and fried food...and then felt completely disgusting afterwards.
Oh, didn't you know? More time with your family is right between 80 inch televisions and 2 gallon jugs of tequila. No, seriously, I feel ya. And I'm sure I'm going to be feeling ya even more when I head back to work in a couple of weeks. Eek.
ReplyDeleteWell I just ate a lemon tart and chocolate brownie in one sitting at the orders of a colleague who gave them to me for my upcoming birthday, and I feel disgusting too. (But oh they were good.)
ReplyDeleteTime. Yeah. Um.
Actually, do you have a dishwasher? Because if you don't, you NEED ONE NOW. I'm all for the simple life and blah blah but that is just a non-negotiable for me.
No other tips sorry except to appreciate the fact that you love your family enough to want to spend more time with them. That was the only useful conclusion I ever came to.
That O has a million faces and each one is awesome.
You sound like you have it all under control. . . you are grand!
ReplyDeleteSmart thinking in the lunch hours there! Good luck on the hunt for the elusive time...
ReplyDeleteYep. I'm there with you. I grab most of my time between 7:30pm and midnight or 1am. Then I do it too many days in a row and get sick or crash right after the kids. We don't clean our house until the weekend, usually. My husband does most of the grocery shopping now while I do other things...anyway, hang in there! Getting both kids to bed earlyish and knowing they'll both probably sleep through the night is HUGE.
ReplyDeletewelcome to the beauty that is costco! have you seen the modern family episode when mitch and cam go to costco together and mitch goes all costco crazy and gets the flat bed cart??? hilarious! hoping that more time finds its way to you my dear twinnie!
ReplyDeleteOh time. Where does it go? That's why I rarely sew anymore. Sigh. Aaaaand Costco. I can't believe I haven't blogged about our recent purchase of a ginormous fridge in combination with a Costco membership in hopes of saving time and money. Not happened yet. I wish I could purchase time at Costco. That would be nice.
ReplyDeleteTime.....I so wish I knew how to get some more - I often feel that just one extra hour a day would suffice....
ReplyDelete