More me time?

I used to have this warped sense of the amount of time that a stay-at-home mom had on her hands.  I'm not sure why - I was fully aware of how much time I didn't seem to have during the summer months when I wasn't teaching and instead, home enjoying the kids.  Needless to say, since Marilyn was born in May and last year's school year came to an end, I have found out the truth about stay-at-home mommies and how much time they really do have (or not) to themselves.  It's true... being a Mom, working or stay-at-home, means being needed by your little kiddos.  But I have found out that I am now needed 24/7.  That doesn't leave much time for "me" time at all.

As the summer is (hopefully) fast approaching, the time will come where I am FINALLY finished with course work for my M.Ed.  In terms of time spent, that means I will have back nap time and evening time to do other things.  Additionally, with Marilyn turning 1-year old in the very near future, I will no longer be breastfeeding - which also means that I won't be spending (what seems like a very significant amount) of time in the wee hours of the morning and in the evening pumping milk for her.  That also means I will have back more time to do other things.

What will I do with more time on my hands?  What are those other "things" I might be thinking of?  In my ideal world, those new things will include:

1)  Instead of getting up in the early A.M. to pump milk... my plan for more me time will include still getting up at the same time (if not slightly earlier), but instead throwing my running shoes on, grabbing my reflective belt and iPod and getting a good run in before Brian heads out the door to work.  By that time of the year, the sun "rise" will be around 4:30am and to me, there should be no excuse not to get up and exercise.  If I can do that a few times a week... I will really be feeling good.  Two summers ago, I did this same thing and it really did work out well and I felt great while I got some much needed me time at the beginning of the day to exercise.

2)  Instead of spending nap time hours & evening hours doing coursework and pumping... my plan for more me time will include some blog time, some time in our at-home little mini gym that is in our heated garage, do a better job at cleaning (I mean really cleaning) the house and lastly, I would love to be able to go back and one-by-one, complete each of the kids' baby scrapbooks.  The last one might be a lofty goal... but I will be hopeful and diligent about it.

Cheers to planning for more "me" time.