Time (Mis)Management

Anyone who has kids and works from home (or even anyone who just has kids) will confirm what I am about to say: there should be 40 hours in a day.

My days lately go like this:
Colden wakes up around 6:30 or 7:00 in the morning. (Sometimes after a night of not sleeping, as I have discussed earlier.) I sit up in bed with him for a few minutes and check my email while he has his morning cup of milk, and then I jump in the shower while he watches Baby Einstein. I get us both changed and dressed, then I make breakfast. We eat breakfast and I clean up the dishes and get things out of reach of the dog so that he doesn't finish cleaning the dishes for me while I'm otherwise occupied. (Ha!)

By this time, it's usually about 8:30 or 9:00. So I start answering emails and writing blog posts and checking message boards on About.com to see what's going on. Colden is usually good for an hour or two playing by himself, but then he wants to hang out with me, and watching me bead or work on the computer is just not fun for him.

I give Colden his snack around 11:00 along with a glass of juice or another glass of milk, and then we let Moose outside, go say hi to the chickens, and run around the yard for a bit.

We come back inside around 11:45 and I make lunch. If I'm lucky, we have leftovers that can just be heated up quickly. If I'm not lucky, I try to make the quickest, healthiest meal that Colden will eat, which very often is macaroni and cheese.

After lunch, I clean up the dishes again, and if the dishwasher is full, Colden will start it for me. (He's such a good little helper.) Then we read a story and have a little glass of milk, and Colden will take a nap. Sometimes he won't nap right after lunch, though, or if it's a Thursday, we go to Lake Placid for tumbling class.

And of course, there are Friday morning play groups, and trips to the vet to get Moose's blood work monitored, and all the other things that go along with life. (Like diaper changes, phone calls, illnesses, etc.)

Once or sometimes twice a week, I will have a singing group rehearsal in the late afternoon/early evening, and so I trek up to Plattsburgh. If I have a gig and a rehearsal in the same week, then there are two nights that I go to Plattsburgh.

All of this can add up to an incredibly stressful week (or month) where I feel as though I am constantly trying to get caught up, and my to-do list just keeps getting longer and longer. Sometimes I wonder if I am really just bad at time management, but then I realize, I somehow manage to get an incredible amount of work done while taking care of Colden at the same time. I know other women who have tried to work at home with their toddlers, and they have all given up in favor of going back to work at a "normal" job, although their jobs will cover the cost of child care.

So, because I love my job at About.com and I love designing new beading projects and teaching, I am giving up the singing group at the beginning of May so I can focus on the work that is bringing in money and so that I can have a little more time to spend with Tom and Colden.

Oh, and I forgot to mention - somehow, in between everything else, I am now trying to make it to the fitness center two or three times a week to get some serious exercise. I'm tired of being the fattest mommy at play group!