There is a sacred element of my and Olivia's routine that has grown exponentially shorter as the other elements of her routine (eat, play, sleep) have grown longer. What is this element, you ask? It is Me Time. Our routine has been, since she was a wee tiny thing, E.A.S.Y., which stands for Eat, Activity, Sleep, You. The Sleep and the You occupy the same time frame in the routine, and the idea here is that when your baby is sleeping, you go have mommy time. It is a welcome respite, and one of which I never grow weary, even two years after her birth.
The funny thing is, now that she is older, she sleeps less. She takes longer to eat, and she spends more time playing. But she sleeps less because she needs less sleep. Makes sense, right? Hmph. Well.
The dilemma I find myself in is this: where I used to kick off mommy time each night by 6:30 at the very latest, now I am lucky if she is in bed by 7:30, and usually it is closer to 8:00 or even later. If I am truly being good to myself and going to bed in enough time to get plenty of rest, this gives me around 2 hours each night to: clean the kitchen, clean whatever else needs cleaning, get the next day's meals in line, get the next day's clothes in line, check e-mail, return phone calls, pay bills, and, oh yes, relax. Two hours is simply not enough time for all of the above, and I know this going into it. So I end up doing small bits of everything, and I still end up staying way too late. The next day I wake up and it starts all over again. Wash, rinse and repeat.
I am not complaining. I love my baby.
Nonetheless, my life needs some order. I can't force her to go to bed before she's ready. We'd both be miserable. So I need to adapt, and that is going to take a little bit of organization. I keep hearing about this Fly Lady. I think I need her book.
I am not as young as I used to be. (If you have talked to me at any point in the last few weeks, you probably know I will be 30 very soon. Too soon.) I used to be able to work just fine on 6 hours of sleep. Not so now. So what gives? And why is it so hard for me to give up my 'me' time? Or is it really necessary for me to give it up? Maybe I just need to work harder at staying organized, and then I'll find all the 'me' time I need. Just maybe.
2 comments:
I've toyed with the idea of the Fly Lady, too. Because I get easily overwhelmed. Since I don't know where to begin, I just avoid it. I'm interested to hear how it goes for you if you take it up.
don't buy the fly lady book. my copy is flying to you tomorrow. :) it's not the gospel truth--like anything other than the gospel itself. but it has helped us improve our quality of life by like 100%. and by quality of life i mean time to relax and enjoy.
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