More time…

I had planned to write a post about the 29th of February because I chose to look at this day as an extra 24 hours that we wouldn’t normally have. Emma and I made a list and consciously spent those hours doing things that we would like to do more of.

I had so many things to write about but it took me two whole weeks to finally sit down one night and put it all together and at about 1.00am, just as I had almost finished, I couldn’t believe it but Blogger crashed! There seemed to be a problem with saving so I thought it was a good excuse to get it done and then hit the publish button. Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out that way and I lost everything. Devastated.

Anyway, here are some pictures of some of the things we got up to on the 29th of February.

Emma and I had a morning dance off in our pyjamas.

Chloe thought it was very funny…

We went to the park for morning tea and a play…

And a sleep…

I thought this an opportune time to practice my photography until Emma got fed up having her photo taken. She told me it was really annoying and that I should come and play with her instead. So I did. Asides from being outrageously fun, I have discovered that playing with your child at the park is the best workout ever!

When Andrew got home, we topped off the day with a visit to the hospital to visit our friends Clare and Kim and their new baby Isaac (so adorable!). Then Andrew, Emma, Chloe and I headed down to the beach for fish and chips for dinner. Such a perfect way to end a beautiful family day!

Andrew and I were talking the other day about how busy we constantly seem to be. Between working, parenting, socialising and taking care of our domestic responsibilities, there is hardly room for much more. We reminisced about our life before we had kids. We used to be very spontaneous that’s for sure. I also had so much “me” time I didn’t know what to do with it all. Our house was always clean and tidy and I didn’t really have to try too hard to keep it that way.

These days, I don’t get to read as much as I used to, we hardly watch any TV and anything we do watch is usually taped for viewing at a later date. Trying to balance everything and still make for a happy household can be tough at times. There is always so much to do and everything we choose to do feels like it has a trade-off. I certainly don’t wish that we didn’t have kids but I do miss having all that extra time!

I really want writing to be an important part in my life but I have been really struggling to fit it into my weekly routine. Writing at night time when the house is silent works best for me right now but when I write at night, the trade-off is sleep.

I have a novel in my head that I started writing notes on about 2 years ago and I would also like to have a go at writing short stories. I have no idea when I will get the time to do any of that. But I will try. I need to because it is so important to ME.

Time has become something very valuable to me. As I am getting older, I find myself getting annoyed when I am forced to spend my time doing something that I would rather not do. Maybe this is just an opener for the cranky old lady that I will become in the future.

I often imagine how easy life would be if it didn’t revolve around money. If we didn’t have to work, we would have SO MUCH more time to do everything that we want. If I had more time, I would spend it with Andrew, Emma and Chloe doing things that we love. I would catch up with family and friends more often and I would also spend a lot more time on me – exercising, relaxing, reading and writing. I can only dream…

If you had more time, what would you do with it and more importantly, what would you do for yourself?