Saturday, February 13, 2010

How do you do it?


This is what I wish, hope dream of. Being a awesome 1950's housewife, pretty dress nice shoes, spotless house, time to bake with the children, enough energy in a day to spend quality time with my husband when he gets home from work.




Unfortunatly this is more realistic, I just don't seem to have enough time, a typical day runs like this:

5.30am- James wakes me up, demanding cartoons. I try to get him breakfast and me coffee before....
6am- Charlie wakes up demanding to be fed and changed. Breakfast followed by half a bottle.
7am- Jack gets up sits on the lounge until I tell him to eat breakfast.
Between 7-8.30- I shower, get myself dressed, get the kids dressed, try to stick on a load of washing, usually give Charlie the rest of his bottle, pack Jack's school bag, make sure he's cleaned his teeth and has sunscreen on before we walk to school.
9am- Once Jack's at school James Charlie and I usually have something on playgroup, swimming lessons, library etc. I try to get Charlie to have a little nap in the pram or in my arms, he usually falls asleep once were in the car on the way home, has 5 minutes sleep in the car then thinks he should be up for another 3 hours.
11.30ish- Give Charlie his lunch, mke lunch for James and I, some TV time for James while I give Charlie his lunch bottle, put both of them to bed by 1pm
between 1-2.30pm- They usually both sleep, this is the time for me you say? No. This is the time I have to get the washing up done, vacum, sweep the floors, clean the bathroom, put clothes away, make dinner for the big kids and I, make pureed veg or fruit for Charlie.
2.30pm- Wake the little boys up so we can pick Jack up from school at 3pm.
3-5pm- Give the big boys their afternoon snacks, put on the sprinkler for them to play in, try to talk to Jack about how his school day was, try to keep Charlie amused and not cranky while I hang out the washing, this usually means giving him his mesh bag with some chopped up fruit in it, get in the washing from yesterday, get the playdough out for the kids to play in.
5pm- Charlie has his dinner. 
5.30- Charlie and James have a bath, Jack has a shower (he's almost 5, which means he's too grown up to bath with his brothers,apparently) which involves me trying to get charlie done quickly so I can wash Jack's hair and get him his body scrubber so he can wash himself while watching James in the bath, listening to Charlie scream the house down while I try to get them both washed.
6pm- Big boys have their dinner and Charlie has his bedtime bottle, poor kid has been up since 2.30 and is exausted.
6.30pm- Charlie goes to bed, I try to eat my own dinner, stop the big boys going crazy.
7pm- Michael gets home, we try to spend some time together and with the boys before...
7.30pm- Jack goes to bed. We try to spend some time with James before he goes to bed at...
8.30pm- James is in bed, I fold washing that came in earlier, make Jack's school lunch, do a quick tidy of the kitchen.
However long this takes then were in bed ourselves. Chrlie doesn't wake us up but James has been finding monstors ,and Jack's been having bad dreams, so I'm up at least once a night.

Now I know your saying yes but you still make it on to facebook once a day and you can blog about how busy you are. Yes I do, and yes I can. With a grumbly Charlie on my lap typing one handed is usually how I do it. Or 5 minutes to myself once the boys have their afternoon nap.
My question is how can I possibly find more time in the day to have me time? Apart from hiring a cleaner or nanny or putting the kids in care?


4 comments:

  1. You need to grow another pair of arms to get the chores done quicker = more me time!

    I find it impossible to find time for myself, with a business, 4 kids and even a hubby who is around 24/7!

    I'm still going after the kids go to bed, I think the only me time I have is 5 minutes before I fall asleep.

    We did hire an au pair to come and help but never really got a chance to reap the benefits(pretty tragic circumstances which I wrote about on my blog), and I am keen to get another au pair someday because it's what I need for more than 5 minutes to myself!

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  2. mmm an au pair does sound very inviting. I never thought having 1 kid at school would be harder than having 3 at home!

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  3. I totally understand! The way I find 'me time' is to say stuff the house and the cleaning and the washing but then that backfires because I end up spending an entire day cleaning when Chloe has her day at day care.

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  4. yep me too Shell! I either spend all afternoon with 3 crazy kids trying to clean up or wait til Michael's home and we spend a whole day doing house work together, such a boring way to spend his time at home, I'd rather he didnt have to do it at all!

    ReplyDelete

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