The time we gain
My husband and I tease that if we had one week without Vivi, we could catch up on everything in our life and get ahead of the game.
But you know what we'd probably do? The same amount of work we would do with her.
I think it's so silly to think, but sounds logical, that if we were free-willing kidless people again, life would be sooo much easier. The fact is, you adjust and you fit in what you need to.
I can't pretend that I'd be a better manager of my time than the current single or kid-free population. Because when did that happen? When did I become suddenly super focused of my own freewill.
Don't get me wrong. My sister definitely sleeps more than I do and probably reads more too. But she still has time suckers that tempt her to watch 12-hours straight of The Good Wife on a Saturday instead of clean out her closet just like I would. Whether we get stuff done, is not determined SOLEY by the number of peanut-butter covered hands crawling all over you for attention. What we do is also determined by our determination and what we make a priority.
I'm learning this lesson the hard way. If I choose TV at night instead of reading, I'd love to say reading is more important to me, but my choices don't really reflect that.
Instead of fantasizing about 12 solid hours to get something done, snap back to reality. When have you ever used 12 solid hours to get something done?
Look at the time you do have and use it wisely. There's an old law of science or physics (or something I never earned an A in) that I used to reference when I was a wedding planner. The amount of time you have to plan a wedding whether 6 months of 2 years, you will use. You won't finish planning early and not have a thing to do for the last year. It just doesn't happen. We will fill up the time we are given to complete a task. So if I've got 20 minutes to design an invitation, I'll do it. If I've got an hour, I'll do it in an hour.
Maybe instead of longing for one free day to catch up on life, I should see having kids as a blessing in regards to my productivity. That time you would have spent laying on the couch all afternoon neglecting the dishes is actually time you spent playing with your kids .. while neglecting the dishes.