Weekend Time

Blink.Back at work.

Two full days at home and I have little recollection of where the time went. Sure, yesterday was easy: Church for my niece's baptism, then a three hour nap, in laws coming over for a visit, but what did I do with the rest? I struggle to find time to get all of the little things done like dishes, laundry, grocery shopping that don't infringe on my already limited time with my Little One.

I look at the weekend on Friday afternoon and breathe deeply thinking this time the time will go satisfyingly slow enough for me to catch up on all my errands, spend loads of time with Baby and Hubby, and still get myself together before the week starts again.

Time has become a difficult thing to manage in the last month. I've always been good at coordinating our household efficiently. I could fit 5 hours of work into 2 if I wanted to - I was a marvel at errand running, cleaning, organizing... now falling behind. It doesn't stress me out as much as it just feels disappointing that I can't somehow stand between the brick walls of 8am Saturday morning and 10pm Sunday night and, with my superhero arms, push those barriers out to three or four days.

It's challenging too, how much of our time is pressed upon by others. Sitters that linger once I get home, my mother in law wants to come over a lot since she doesn't have anything to do during the week, family get-togethers in a season of birthdays, christenings, mother's and father's days... I like seeing other people, but then our time alone with Baby gets gobbled up. I have a consistent feeling of "didn't I just see you yesterday?" every time I turn around. Time management isn't rocket science, but it definitely feels like working on a rubik's cube - trying to get all the little parts to line up 'just so'... Starting with this weekend I think it's best to change one element at a time rather than working with all of the little pieces:

So, after two weekends loaded with extended family stuff, I'm putting our little family in quarantine for awhile. I don't yet know how to shoo off the sitters respectfully once I get home, but I'll figure that one out later. I just want quiet - no grandma voices, no other kids around, no big travel plans, just our little nest of three. I'll have to start planning the week and errands to work around that so our weekends can be more relaxed. I think my short term strategy may be to do errands before the Baby wakes up in the morning, if I can.

We'll see how it goes.