Lessons in Time Management

I used to be so arrogant about my opinion of stay-at-home-moms. I thought they had all the time in the world to look after their babies, run a household and on top of it all, sit on the couch all day eating bon-bons, looking pretty.

I had a boss recently whose wife had a baby, in addition to two older boys she had from a previous marriage. He’d come to work and complain about how the laundry was piling up and the house was a disaster, and why wasn’t his wife doing her wifely duty? I remember a comment I made that went something like “what could she possibly be doing all day?” Yes, I was arrogant (and ignorant).

Now I know what mom’s do all day. Priority is of course, baby. The Schedule revolves around Nikolas and what kind of mood he may be in on any given day. Each day is broken up into 3 hour blocks of time between feedings, and I have started to prioritize my to-do list for the day. Sometimes it’s a challenge to even accomplish one thing, like eating, and sometimes I’m able to get lots done in a day, such as having a shower AND getting that laundry that’s been sitting in the dryer for 3 days folded. I have learned that if I want a shower for the day, it’s best to get it done before Matt goes to work. Of course, there is plenty of playing, rocking, swaying, singing and just enjoying my boy as much as I can.

There are some days when I get so stressed out looking at my to-do list. It feels like it keeps growing and growing and I’m hardly getting anything accomplished. Last Sunday, I had to tell Matt he couldn’t go to a friend’s house to watch football, because I needed to clean our bathroom, which hadn’t been touched since I was pregnant. How sad is that? I also got our Christmas cards ordered last Sunday and I just went onto the Walmart photo centre and quickly put an order together, just to get it done. I was hoping to create custom cards this year, but no luck. Maybe next year we’ll have fancy cards; maybe not.

Every day as something new happens in our life, it’s always in the back of my mind that I want to record the moment, and wish I had more time to write down all these wonderful experiences. However, writing is at the very bottom of my priority list. I’ve had a great idea about how I can get more time for writing: it’s pretty much guaranteed that Nikolas will sleep when he’s in his car seat and we leave the house. And now that winter is here in full force, I’m looking for reasons to get us out of the house for a change of scenery. So why not pack up the baby and the laptop and head to a coffee shop and write? Nikolas will be sleeping, I get to leave the house for awhile AND I get to write, which I’ve been craving lately! We’ll see how next week goes and if this idea will actually be put into action.