Beckham will be 10 months old this week. I’m already starting to think about his 1st birthday party and I can’t handle it. How did that happen so quickly? As any parent knows, the saying “The days are long but the years are short” is so painfully true. While these past 10 months have seemed to fly by, having two kids now has had it’s blessings and challenges, and has kept me very busy during the long days.

I knew after I had Beckham I would be busier, but I naively thought I would somehow be able to keep up with my blog. And that just hasn’t happened at all. Here we are after 10 months and I have only managed to write one measly post in that time. It frustrates me because I follow other bloggers… some stay at home Moms, some working Moms, and I just can’t figure out how they find the time to do it all! Taking care of your kids, house, work, and somehow squeezing some time for yourself in there too. I look at my day and it is jam-packed from Beckham’s first early morning cry, until the end of the day when I can’t wait to pass out in my bed. If there’s any “down time”, like when Beckham’s taking a nap, it’s a competition between whether I should clean up the mess of dishes, baby food, toys, laundry, or take a shower that day. Then time’s up and it’s back to taking care of Beckham, picking up or taking Kinley Rae to school, dance class, or whatever activity she has that day. At the end of our day, when the kids are finally asleep, my hubby and I cherish the brief time we have to ourselves to eat dinner together and watch a little bit of tv. Then it’s time for sleep before Beckham gives me my first middle of the night wake up call. So as I analyze my day, I realize it’s all about choices and having to make some sacrifices. Do I skip a shower? Or instead of taking time to relax for a bit at the end of the day with Joe, do I take the time to blog then? Or do I get even less sleep and go to bed later or wake up even earlier? Selfishly I guess I’m not willing to give up those things!

So how do YOU do it? Whether it be blogging, or just getting some time away for yourself, how do you make it work?

I feel like there’s something I could be doing differently, because there are plenty of other people and bloggers with busier schedules than mine and they’re getting it done. Sometimes it gets to me, and makes me feel like I must be doing something wrong to not be able to find time to get everything done that I want to. As if us Moms need another reason to think we could be doing something better?! So to make myself feel better, I’m going to assume those bloggers I see with their seemingly perfect lives and regular blog posts have some help hiding behind the scenes. Maybe there’s a babysitter or nanny that watches their kids so they get some extra time to themselves. That’s what I’ll tell myself anyway!

To get this time to finally write a post, my sweet husband told me to get out this weekend and take some time off for myself. Which he basically had to push me out of the house because I felt guilty leaving and not spending this time with my family. So I’m using this brief time out of the house to finally get back to my blog, and get back to a little time for me.

So how do you find time for yourself? Do you get up extra early? Or do you sneak away from the kids by yourself on the weekend? It’s not easy, and clearly something I need to work on to save my sanity. But I know it’s important, and taking the break will even make me be a better Mom. Or so I’ve been told : )