Monday, May 17, 2010

How do you do it?

Okay all you fabulous, talented, hard-working ladies out there. And yes, I am talking to you, too. I want to know how you do it? You blog, sew, scrapbook, read, make jewelry/hair accessories, cook fabulous food, exercise, do photography, decorate your homes, do woodworking, paint, help other people, and many, many more things; and your kids are taken care of. Your houses are clean, your laundry is folded and put away (enough of the time). You check and reply to your emails and do your church callings, too. And I want to know how you do it? I am not looking for words of encouragement. I am not being hard on myself, and I do recognize I have a young needy baby at the moment. I want to know how you do it. Do you stay up late, get up early, neglect your housework on and off? Do you wait until your husband is home and let him take over the kids awhile, put them in front of the TV, drop them off at grandma's, get a babysitter, or trade with other moms? How organized are you to get all this done?

I am finally starting to feel like I might be able to handle life again, but that just means I can buy and prepare meals, stay caught up on the laundry (enough), and get everyone where they need to go. That doesn't cover all the other things on my to-do list. So again, I am not looking for affirmation, just how it works at your house.
I am waiting your juicy tidbits of wisdom or confession. (You can email me if you don't want your answer going public :)

6 comments:

Cailean said...

I get this question a lot because of my calling and school volunteering, in addition to family life. I never have an answer that seems to satisfy the person asking and honestly I don't really know how I get it all done. I think the answer is that I don't get it all done. I read once that if it appears that someone is "doing it all" then often something very important is falling by the wayside. I don't always get certain things done each day, like housework, but I've decided what is important to get done each day and those things are accomplished. So the real answer is finding ways to streamline your time, decide your priorities, and then be easy on yourself if you don't "do it all." Life isn't about checking things off a list or appearing to have the cleanest house. You have to find what makes you happy as a person, mother, wife, etc. And then do those things.

Amber said...

LOL!! Ummm... I am pretty sure no one person is doing ALL of those things. We all have the same 24 hours in a day so if some wonder woman is out there doing it all, go her, but something is being sacraficed. I wrote a post about this recently, because I have heard it all too often. So funny. People see only what that person wants them to see. And of course that is the best the most crafty, creative, happy children, scrumptious food, clean house... yadda, yadda, yadda...
Anway after my forever long monologue, we should take a walk to the park with the kids and enjoy this gorgeous spring weather.

Braydan and Jessica said...

Dido what they said :) It's funny cause I thought that YOU were the super woman: clean house, sewing, baking, cooking, church, cutting hair, etc. I think you're doing awesome. I only have two kids, so my day is less hectic probably. But here's what I do: make a list every morning. At the end of the day, if everything is crossed off, THEN I do my fun crafty stuff or blogging. Most of the time it doesn't happen though. Also, people think I read, but I "read" from my ipod :)

Braydan and Jessica said...

A confession I just realized when I looked in the mirror: I often sacrifice "getting ready." I shower, run a comb through my hair, and go on with my day :) Whoops.

Kirstin said...

I just try to copy you! And it helps when Luke invokes the help of our slave laborers.

angel said...

I'm with Jessica. I thought YOU were the one doing it all, and I just couldn't imagine how! For me, it's mostly about structure and routines. I get up with Elijah at 6 and pray that I'll be able to get dressed and read the scriptures before the other children wake up. Then I read to them from the scripture readers, feed them breakfast, have them help put away dishes from the drain rack, get them dressed, brush their teeth, and do their hair. By that time, I'm exhausted, and we're hungry again. :) Then I try to do some little preschool activities with them -- really simple stuff, like have Joshua practice writing and involve Elisabeth in a game or some songs or something. Then we eat a snack. Then it's "helping time". I dream of folding one load of laundry and doing one other cleaning task during that time. It's fun when the kids are really involved and spray the bathroom mirror or help me run the vacuum or something. Sometimes it works out. Sometimes it takes way too long. Sometimes we have somewhere to go. Usually I end up with a lot of cleaning to do at night. After that we eat lunch and clean it up, read stories and get the babies down for naps, and then play outside or something until it's time to make dinner. I get out a new toy or something for the kids to do while I make it. It's always a simple one, and it usually takes ten times longer than I think it should. We try to eat at 5 so we can do the bedtime routine right after that, get the kids in bed by 7, and have an "evening". In reality, dinner doesn't happen until about 5:30 or 6:00 and one child or another has a really hard time going to sleep, and I end up doing dishes at 10pm or later. I have often collapsed in bed with my clothes on because I was just too tired to do one more thing. One night, when I was extremely exhausted, I got up with Elijah at 3am or something and decided to change my shirt at that point so I wouldn't have to worry about getting dressed in the morning. The routines do help me a lot, but it's pretty much a juggling act, constantly decided what's most important at the moment. A lot of times, opportunities to do something special as a family are more important than cleaning up the messes.