Make time for youself

One thing that Rhonna's challenge really stressed is how important it is to make the time for yourself. This has always been something quite important to me and something I really strive to do. I feel that as a mom you are torn in so many different directions: your children, your husband, your friends, your hobbies, your home, your responsibilities and duties, that chocolate in the cupboard...Sometimes you feel like a piece of meat amongst a pack of lions-everyone yanking you in different directions!

You meet someone, you fall in love and for a while it is just the two of you. Wasn't it great? Remember the lie-ins, the sleep-ins, breakfast in bed? The "what-shall-we-do-today" whim on a Saturday morning? Remember the times you didn't feel like cooking and suddenly decided to go out for dinner? There was no last minute dash to arrange for a baby-sitter, run around grabbing nappies, bottles {Although thank goodness that is all over with now!} so that by the time you two were ready to leave, you were so past hunger and were on the verge of eating each other!

Now days...being a mom..everything runs according to a schedule {*shiver-I hate that word*}
Planning is required, routines are needed. Budget is a word now in your vocab. In fact, as moms we are so organized we could be the sectary for a small country! Imagine: We can find it, we can plan it, we can make it from scratch (especially if it involves anything to do with cardboard, cello tape and paint) We know how to turn peanut butter, noodles and cocoa pops into a meal, we have eyes at the back of our heads, we can sense impending danger, can foresee spillages and falls, forecast lies and catch out the smartest of cheats.

Yes it is hard work being a mom, it is a challenge, but also a blessing and privilege . Underneath that title though is still a person, a woman. Not someone who sorts colors from whites, unpacks the dishwasher, scrubs play-dough off shoes, holds out her hand when her toddler wants to spit out some disgusting gob-filled green mush. There is the person your husband fell in love with-she is still there, you just have to look past the broom and mop.

What your marriage is, is like the best {or worst} example to your children. How they will grow up and enter into it depends on what they learn from you. So they also need to see mom and dad as two individuals who like to go out and have fun.

I always see these couples at restaurants in their say, 50's or 60's, eating a meal. Even when their forks are down and their mouths are empty, there is no conversation at all. They stare blankly past each other, lost in a world of their own.. Not even attempting to talk about the weather. That scares me the most. I would hate to be like them. I don't want to look at my spouse one day , when my kids have left home and say "So...what do you like? " staying in touch with them is about making the time for yourself to do what you enjoy, what makes you happy so that you have something to talk about.

I guess I am writing about this cos It is something I think all of us should do, more so being a mom when your time is so torn between everyone and everything. and It is my 9th anniversary on Wednesday and we are going out to eat and I love that special time! I am having my hair cut and styled and we have a baby-sitter and I can't wait to drink a glass of wine and hear music in the background not "Mommy, can you come wipe my bum?" echoing from the distance! I don't have to stare into the depths of the freezer and wonder what the heck I am going to make out of a lamp chop and what looks like either a packet of frozen peas or some worms my kids have frozen....bliss!!

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Enjoy and see you tomorrow and if you read this..tell me how you make time for yourself-whether it is 15 min a day or 2 hours a week?