Yikes! Where did the time go?!

Already it's 3:00 in the afternoon. Now that I have two little ones, the days really fly by for me. And I'm always doing something! With that said, I rarely make a dent in my task list on the days I'm home alone with the kids. Maybe that's the way young mommyhood is supposed to be. And most days it doesn't bother me that much... I just do what I can, make sure I'm paying attention to my kids and taking advantage of little opportunities to teach LittleMum something new or read to her or play with NatureForce. That's the most important thing, after all. At the same time, when am I going to get all my tax information together for my accountant? Or when am I finally going to get caught up on the laundry?

Regardless of whatever else is on the list, these things take priority:

• Feeding kids, especially NatureForce. That's a never-ending job, eh?
  
• Changing diapers and clothes. When LittleMum has a poopy diaper, giving her a bath. Sometimes that means two baths a day, which always takes more time than I'd like.
• Feeding myself. As a nursing mom, I feel like I'm hungry all the time but often wait longer than I should to eat .
• Reading my scriptures, praying, getting some spiritual practice in during the day.
  
• Exercising and showering. There are some days when this doesn't happen, but most days I make this a rule. In fact, I have this weird requirement for myself that I can't shower until I exercise, which means that I've got positive and negative motivation working for me - I hate the grungy feeling (negative motivation) and I'm know I'm going to feel much better when I exercise (positive motivation). This was working much better for me when I was exercising before the family got up.
  
• General straightening up. This takes so much time it makes me crazy.

That's what I've done today, with the addition of unloading the dishwasher and putting clean laundry away. LittleMum and I watched Between the Lions (I'm pretty sure LittleMum likes it; I love it... but it's a tad annoying to be singing the "Chicken Jane" song all day after that) on PBS this morning, I held NatureForce to help her go to sleep, and LittleMum and I read a couple of books.

So all of this stuff is worthwhile and necessary, I know. I'm getting back to the point where I can get up earlier if I get to bed early, because NatureForce is now sleeping through the night (hallelujah!) and I am no longer "zombie mom." Hopefully that means that I can begin to exercise and shower again in the morning, before the kids are up. I did that the other day, and it actually worked quite well.

So, now that NatureForce is asleep in my lap, I'm going to put her down (cross our fingers that she stays asleep) and try to get more things done. It feels like the day's almost over...