How and when do you find the time to...

I've been tagged in this meme by the lovely Belfast Mummy.  It was started by Sex, Drugs, Rocker and... Stroller and now it's my turn!

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Please post the rules.

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Here are the questions...

How and when do you find the time to...

....do your laundry?

This is a bit all over the place to be honest!  If the children's clothes don't look dirty I don't wash them, or I'd spend my entire life washing!  I usually end up putting a load on in the evening after they've gone to bed, forget about it until I'm ready to go to bed, then end up having to deal with it when I should be going to said bed.  Oops.  I usually do a load on a Saturday morning which will involve the children's sleeping bags and their sleep time cuddly toys - need a quick turnaround on that one...  We used cloth nappies until they were 16 months old and I really don't miss the washing involved with that!   

....write a blog post?

Either at lunchtime when they're having a nap or in the evening after they've gone to bed.  And I've had a lot of very late nights since I started blogging, especially sorting out the technical stuff...  Yowsers I am so not a techie...

....look after yourself...i.e. wash your hair, paint your nails, take a bubble bath etc?

Bubble bath?  What's one of those?????!!!!!  I tend to either jump in the bath with the children (they think me washing my hair is hilarious, and the shower head is the best toy ever invented) or I get up early for a shower before they wake (luckily they don't wake until about 7.15).  I don't always manage to dry my hair though - sometimes I have to let it dry on its own then I look like a scarecrow for a couple of days...  I occasionally paint my toenails but have to do it so quickly it looks a bit rubbish, and Little Man was so confused by them the other day he tried to pull them off...   

....spend time with your other half?

My dad comes to babysit every so often at the weekends so we can go out for dinner which is really precious time!  In the week, some evenings after the children have gone to bed The Daddy goes to the gym or, now the nights are lighter, fishing.  But we do have the evenings to ourselves.  We have had a bath/bed routine since the children were 6 weeks old - we've always put them to bed by about 7.15 and once they're in bed that's where they stay.  It meant we got our evenings back fairly quickly, which we desperately needed in the early days!    

....do fun stuff with your LO?

All the time!!  They are the main priority during the day, even if it means I don't get other things done.  We go out most mornings - twins group once a week, a trip to the supermarket, the park or our local play cafe and I'm going to start taking them to the library (they're obsessed with books!)  When they were younger and having milk feeds it was more tricky - I couldn't really feed them on my own if I took them out so I tended to pop out to somewhere close by so I could be back in time for their next feed, or sometimes I might go further afield if I had a helper with me!  The first year with twins is really tough, it's definitely more flexible now.  

....spend time with family?

My dad lives just round the corner so we see him a couple of times a week (he was my lifesaver in the first couple of months, he came round every day to help with feeds), and my aunty comes over most Friday afternoons.  I have a brother who lives 2 1/2 hours drive away, with his wife and 4 month old baby, so we don't get to spend time with them as much as I'd like.  When they come to visit we make the most of it, and my two love their baby cousin to bits!!

....socialise with friends?

Most of my friends live a long way away so I don't get to see them all that much.  My bestest friend, and the children's Godmummy, comes to stay whenever she can.  I've started to build a new network of friends since becoming a SAHM and we all have twins.  We go out for a meal occasionally and leave the boys in charge of the children!  

....prepare an evening meal juggling a baby/toddler bedtime routine?

When the children were babies I would get our meal ready after they'd gone to bed.  It did mean we ate fairly late but it was the only way round it.  By the time they were about 9 months old and were eating meals themselves, I was getting fed up of preparing food for them then having to start all over again after they'd gone to bed.  So The Daddy decided he would try to get home from work by 5.30 so we could all eat together, and that's what we do now (luckily he works 15 minutes away).  I get ready what I can while the children have their lunchtime nap.  

....deep clean your house?

Deep WHAT????!!!!!!!!!!!!  I do a quick flick round with a duster and the hoover when I can (Little Man LOVES the hoover, he even has an exact replica of my Dyson...)  The bathrooms and kitchen are a weekend job when The Daddy is home with his extra pair of hands.  

....do the food shopping?

I mostly shop online.  I have a veg box from Abel and Cole and use Ocado for everything else, then we pop to the supermarket in the week to pick up any bits and bobs (like milk, which we get through litres of!)    

....bulk ironing?

Ooh no, no, no!  Put it in the tumble drier and shake it, baby!  The Daddy irons his own work shirts (although I have a theory that he sneaks them out of the house to be washed and ironed by his mum...) 


I am tagging
Multiple Mummy
The Mini Mes and Me
Fiona at Coombe Mill