When I was very pregnant, people would frequently tell me to “sleep now” (because apparently you cannot sleep ever again once you have kids?).
There are things I’m definitely glad we did before E came along, like hopping in the car and taking a random day trip a couple of hours away for seafood, or going out to very nice restaurants. And traveling to Italy!
Life has changed – like, a lot – but I love being a mom. It is definitely hard to get time to myself now that my 24/7 is catering to my little one, but I’m lucky to be able to squeeze in some time for myself here and there.
How do I find time for myself?
During the week T and I take turns putting E to bed. We also take turns cooking dinner, and I won’t lie – I now see doing the dishes as getting some “me” time. (welp… there’s something I thought I’d never type out.) We’ve had a “rule” in our house for forever where whoever doesn’t cook has to do the cleanup. Some nights, though, I volunteer to do both!
But the number one thing I do to find time for myself? I ask for help.
Whether it’s at 11:30pm and the baby is screaming (and I am just exhausted), or a random Friday and I just need to go to the post office and grocery store by myself… I ask for help. I’m extremely lucky to have family in the area, which I know is a little luxury. But aside from family nearby, I make a point to ask T for help when I feel like I need a moment to myself. It could be because Sprout is velcro-ing himself to me and following me around the house, and the baby is hungry, and I also just carried a pile of laundry into the living room to fold… but I have no problem dropping everything and saying, “There’s a bottle in the fridge and I’m going out to the grocery store.” Yes, I’m still doing chores, but there’s something about wandering through a grocery store with no worries of whether the baby will wake up that gives me some quiet time.
On the weekends T takes the baby downstairs in the morning and lets me sleep in, which is my one morning of quiet. After his two weeks of paternity leave, I stopped waking him up at night to help me with her, so it’s just me and the babe when she gets up (frequently) in the middle of the night. I’m hoping this sleep regression (or whatever it is) goes away soon so I can start getting more rest!
Want to hear what other moms do to find time for themselves? I’m linking up with a group of bloggers (who are moms!) today:
Laura (Have Need Want) | Heather (My Life Well Loved) | Samantha (The Samantha Show) | Caitlin (Confessions of a Northern Belle) | Lauren (Outfits & Outings) | April (April Golightly)
Asking for help = a MUST! When we lived in Georgia we didn’t have anyone to ask for help from, but now, it’s everywhere!