Wow! You are Supermom! But I am not hearing a whole lot of joy from the tone of your message (suppose that's why you wrote)! I say, drop one of the balls you are juggling so you can breathe a little. Since I had my son I try so hard to do everything. I have to tell you, I started screwing up here and there...forgetting something for work, or for my son's preschool. It wasn't like me (at least it wasn't like the "pre-child" me) to make those kind of mistakes.My solution was twofold. 1. Accept that while my son is young, stuff is going to be imperfect, balls will get dropped but the world won't end. 2. Get rid of something! I cut out a long commute to his piano lessons and found a local teacher. I just got our Saturday mornings back!

I have found that now I get a little more sleep and a little more time with my husband and son. It makes for a much happier life!

My opinion is find something to cut out of the schedule so you can enjoy your family and your life more.

Kitty,

My advice is the same as Robin's something has to give. I just left a full time job 9-10 + hours/day with a similar hectic life experience but my fault was relying on my parents too much where now their health is in jeopardy. Anyways, I found preparing meals during nap time gave me time to spend with the kids instead of cooking. On the weekends I spend time with the kids making the meals for the week. I have a 4 yr old, 2 yr old and 5 month old boys and they require a lot of attention. So little household chores with them helping me became important. Now my 4 year old loves to switch the laundry with me. It's the little things like that which soon became quality time together. Hope this helps and good luck in managing.

i find it harder to do this as the kids get older.  when they were preschoolers, we did chores and it was "fun" but try that with a ten year old or 15 year old and its not the same...

they are responsible for their chores now, but will 'forget' or do it half heartedly and drive me nuts if they can get away with it

i work evening shift,  4pm til 1230 am, and sometimes i dont think i will survive the next ten years :)

Thanks everyone =) I just think it will be a struggle for me until something changes for us. Hopefully I will be able to cut my work down to part time in the next year or so! Happy 4th!

Happy 4th to you too!

I hope something lets up for you soon.
Robin

Hi Kitty, I'm replying late in this chain but MAN can I relate. My schedule was the same. I haven't been on this site in months and just re-read the bio I filled out back then- you can tell just reading it I was overwhelmed.

What I personally did was took the plunge in asking my boss if she is open to flex time. I highly doubted she would be open to this as I have 6 peers on my team and if she offered it to me, she'd likely have to offer it to others so thought it was unlikely.

I asked her though and poof "Sure! No problem- do it" she replied. So now I work 8am-6pm Mon- Thurs and take Fridays off. This works incredibly well for me and with three days off I finally feel like I get the time I need for me and the kids. Not sure if you are able to do it but it never hurts to ask!

Angie