The hardest adjustment to having kids just might be getting used to a different perception of time. Especially how much you can accomplish in a certain given time. This goes both ways. With the kids around I can get the usual things done, a half of a load of laundry that will have to be run again because it has started to stink, dishes rinsed, breakfast made (after finding mine still in the microwave from yesterday), garbage bagged and ready to be taken to the alley... over the course of a day. But, give me an hour to myself and World Peace is within my grasp, and watch out when John and are on the move together.
When we're out and about running errands is a plan in logistics as well. Today the lovely Auntie came over and spent the morning with us. We'd planned to run to sign our tax returns then take the kids to an indoor play place. No problem. Plan was to leave the house at 9:30, I thought making it to the playground within an hour. We had the kids bundled and loaded in the car by 9:45am, signed our tax forms a half hour later and were off. Oh yes, a quick stop for coffee. Auntie ran in and got the coffee while I nursed Noah in the van. I noticed that it was a sauna in the backseats. I apparently had the heat on the hottest and highest settings. No wonder the kids cheeks were bright red and they'd been falling asleep. 10 mom points. By 11am we'd made it to the playground only to arrive with three sleeping kids, still hot from the sauna-van.
Now generally I'm fairly anal about getting the kids to our destination early for the day. This serves many purposes. I like to get there before a lot of others, and leave to get home to eat and nap. I may have taken the "sleep when the baby sleeps" a little too seriously. I still need my afternoon nap, laundry, dishes and garbage be dammed....and I'll structure my day around it.
Well the playground was closed this day, and we ended up just taking a walk outside. I figured they'd been cooped up in their roasting car seats, in winter jackets and hats for almost two hours by this time. So we pulled out the double stroller, and away we went. Ten minutes later we were back in the car headed home. It was probably hovering around the mid-thirties today and we had no gloves or boots. So back to home we went.
On the plus side I got to have a long over-due extended conversation with Auntie with relatively few disruptions, a cup of great coffee with steamed milk, and a morning out of the house. And as much as I tried, the coffee got to me and I didn't get a nap afterall.
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