Squeezing time from an inflexible schedule.
Being back at work has been great for me, and I think being at day care has been great for Sami so far, but I don’t consider this to be completely hammered out just yet.
I need to improve my health and fitness. I’ve been working on eating habits for a while, because those have been fairly easy to control. I’ve regulated my sleeping habits by necessity, as I get the longest stretch of sleep by going to bed not too long after I put Sami down. So far so good.
The last stand is exercise: I’m racking my brains trying to figure out where I can carve a half hour here and there to work out.
Here is my typical weekday:
5:30 – 6 AM – Day starts.
Wake up, get washed up, dressed and do Sami damage control. Last nursing, get Sami diapered and dressed, have coffee if I remembered to make it. Gather up necessary items for me and for Sami for the day, and get out the door. Hopefully Ben has moved his car.
6:45 – 7:30 – driving Sami to day care, dropping her off, driving to work. Sometimes earlier, sometimes later depending on traffic, but I am usually at the office around 7:30.
7:30 – 9 AM – most productive hour and a half of every day. Hands down. (Except now that Ben has started getting here earlier, a little bit less so.)
9 AM – 4 PM – work, work and work some more. Since I can’t stay late to finish things, I really just bust my butt all day to make sure things are being done according to schedule.
4 – 4:30 – administrative work crap; filing, uploading reports, assessing what is left to do for the next day
4:30 – 5:30 – going to get Sami and driving us both home. Blah traffic.
5:30 – 8 PM – hang out with Sami, make dinner, give Sami a bath and read books, playtime, bedtime.
By 8:30 she is usually out cold, without exception. She will probably wake up around 12 or 1, and if I’m lucky go back down until shortly after I get up at 5:30-ish. Sometimes I’m not that lucky.
I don’t want to break into the evening time with Sami, because that is essentially all of our time together during the week. By the time Sami is asleep, I am completely wiped. The thought of putting on a yoga video even for 15 minutes is incomprehensible. Given the choppy nature of my nights of sleep, I don’t see waking up earlier as an option.
So is it possible for me to squeeze out more time? (Especially moms who have made this time, tell me how you do it!)
Perhaps this is not a solvable problem at the moment; just a question of getting Sami through teething so that she sleeps more soundly, and then being less exhausted myself, and then taking that half hour or hour after she’s gone to bed.
I really need this fitness kick, for the energy boost and because I want to fit back in more of my clothes. Weekends are easy, just trying to keep my house clean and indulging my cooking/baking frenzy are a workout enough, but I also have time to play at the park with Sami and go for walks. Two out of seven days isn’t nearly enough, but something is better than nothing, eh?
Sphere: Related Content