The kids are home for the summer. My mother-in-law just moved in with us last month. Time to myself? Ha. The very idea is ludicrous. It’s non-stop go-go-GO over here.
Like every mom (or at least every mom that is still holding on to that last shred of sanity), I get creative with finding ways to fit in slivers of me-time.
My current trick is to wake up late. Yeah, you heard me, I said late, not early.
My kids get up in the morning and hang out quietly in their room until I get up. The big kid is an early riser, while the younger is most definitely not a morning person. Thankfully my eldest loves to sit and read quietly in the mornings. So I get a wee bit of time to myself if I (pretend) to sleep in.
We had to switch up our sleeping arrangements to make room for Bubby. Now both girls are sharing one room up on the second floor. To leave my room I need to tiptoe past their bedroom door. Apparently I suck at tiptoeing. I hold my breath and try my best to sneak past, but my children have built in mom radar (or I sound like a herd of elephants — which is also totally plausible). They always hear me trying to go past, they always pop out eager to start the day.
Once I leave my bedroom in the morning, all bets are off. It’s time to dole out breakfast, or second breakfast. Time to break up fights and fend off whiny kids that are so, soooooooo booooooooooored. It’s time to help my mother-in-law take her blood pressure and get her compression stockings on. Time to clean up the dishes and do the laundry, and then lunch, and more dishes, etc., etc. on and on in a never ending spiral.
Which is why on Summer mornings, I crawl out of bed and drop into the cozy rocking chair that sits half a step away. I pull a blanket up over my lap, rub the sleep out of my eyes and grab my tablet. I peek in on facebook. I answer an email or three. And some days I, carefully, with the volume down ever so low, sneak in half an episode, or two, of something on Netflix.
And here’s the blunt truth — when my kids hop in to see me I often pretend I am sleeping in my chair. Yep, I’m a guilty, sneaky, sneak. The moment my bedroom door starts to creak I drop that tablet like it’s on fire, scooping the blanket over top. I half open one eye and stare at them blearily.
Time to get up?
Ugh.
But I want to see the rest of this show.
I mean, you’ve not dressed yet. You can’t go downstairs naked, kiddo.
Back already?
Oh wait, that outfit is um… too warm, for today, you better get changed just one more time.
Oh gee, that was really quick. But what about your sister? Is she dressed? You better go check on her. We can’t go downstairs until we’re all ready…
I procrastinate for a bit more, sometimes sending the girls back and forth to find just the right doll or book to bring downstairs with us, and then once we’re all on the ground floor I might still stumble into the bathroom, tablet in hand, and sneak in another minute or five of my current fav show. Shh. Don’t tell on me, k?
Forget binging, sneak-streaming is the new trend.
According to a recent Netflix survey, 95% of moms say that they had more time for themselves before motherhood, and now, over half (58%) admit to sneaking in TV “me-time” while juggling a busy schedule, with some even hiding from their kids for just a moment of peace.
Now that my secret’s out I wonder if I’ll get away with “sleeping in” tomorrow. Thank goodness my kids don’t read my blog. (Nah, who am I kidding. My mother-in-law reads my blog, avidly. I am so screwed.)
How about you folks? How are you sneaking in a little me time this summer?
 | Disclosure: I am a member of the Netflix #StreamTeam, and as such I will be providing thoughts and suggestions about what’s currently showing on Netflix. As always my words and opinions are my own. |
Do you feel like your drowning from no time? I do and only 3 to 4 hrs sleep, We need to change this life is to short but how….yikes and you have a mother in law and my mom will be with us soon, maybe I need a rocking chair!
I do. It’s been a harried couple of months. We are still trying to find our new normal, and I am hoping things will settle a bit. But yes, I do feel like there is NO TIME. Never enough time. And it sounds silly and maybe a bit backwards, but on the days where that little voice in my head talks me out of “wasting” time on myself doing “nothing”, I feel more harried not less. The 15 or 20 minutes I carve out for myself by procrastinating on starting my morning, saving that time for something else doesn’t make any noticeable difference in my “to do list”, yet taking it for myself does make an improvement in my mental outlook.
ME-time is SO important! <3