sigh.
even the title of this post just feels so, disappointing.
I know I am not the only working mother out there, so how do you all do it? How do you manage a career, a family, a partner your children, and a home where you do not feel like you are totally failing at any one given moment? Lately it just feels like life is just one trade-off after another. You decide to go out and exercise, and then your house suffers because you don't have time to sweep.
You attend the extra work meeting but then you miss bed time.
You have a great night at home with your wife and never are able to connect with your sister.
I could go on.
What ends up happening is it feels like everything...it all just becomes mediocre. Like I don't have the time to put any intention or active energy towards it, just the time and energy to react and to respond.
I knew that adding a newborn into the mix was going to be adjustment but I was not prepared for this. Not prepared for feeling inadequate and off balance. Flailing.
There are days that I feel like I have mastered this parenting thing, today is not one of those days.
so how do you do it?
I'm sorry you're feeling overwhelmed. To me, it feels like the days and time in general are going very quickly because they're so filled. I don't feel the mediocre feeling though. Our schedule goes something like this- 7am wake up, one of us takes care of the kid while the other gets ready for work; when the other one is ready and downstairs we do the trade off. He's brought to daycare by 8:30. We both work til 5 then go pick him up. One mom takes care of him while the other makes dinner, and dinner-making mom spends time with him while the other mom cleans up after the meal. We do the bedtime routine together starting at 6:30/6:45. He's in bed no later than 7:30 and then we take care of chores, phone calls, or in my case, do graduate school work. By 9pm we're usually snuggling together on the couch.
ReplyDeleteWe definitely "work for the weekends" but such is life. Your family make-up is different than ours, but I hope you're able to fall into a better or more fulfilling routine soon.
I prioritize and I refuse to beat myself up over what's NOT done. I do what I can and my top priority is my kids and my wife. Once they have what they need (both time and care wise) then everything else falls into place.
ReplyDeleteDoes my floor wait another day (or sometimes until the end of the week?) absolutely. But we always have clean underwear!
(hugs)
ReplyDeleteSome days, I feel totally on top of it all.
Other days, I could write this post myself (like today).
Hope tomorrow is brighter.
A big {{{HUG}}} to you. Sorry to hear you're overwhelmed and hope the weekend feels like a good, deep breath.
ReplyDelete