Simultaneous Naptime

My kids are simultaneously napping. This has never happened. I can honestly say that since Caroline was born the two of them have never taken a nap at the same time. Not even in the car.

(Andrew always fought his nap and when the baby was born it was easier to give in. I tried to have a "quiet time" every afternoon, but his room is right next door to Caroline's and his version of quiet was very good at waking the baby. So I gave that up too.)

The reason for the simultaneous nap? A nasty, nasty stomach bug that knocked Caroline out for about 12 hours and has now taken Andrew out of the game for a second straight day.

It's been really awful. He threw up every 1.5 - 2 hours for 26 hours straight. Neither of us slept much these last two nights, even after the sicks were finally over.

I'm so hopeful that he will be back up and running before Easter, and that Brian and I don't get sick. I'd hate for the kids to miss out on church and our Easter celebration. And I really, really don't want this bug. It's a bad one.

So I should be sleeping, right? The house is so quiet. I'm going to jinx it. I'm waiting....

Nope. Still sleeping. Wow. The power of a quiet house.

I got up super early one day this week. It was Wednesday. I got up before everyone else and wrote my post about playtime. I didn't open my browser. I didn't sneak a peek at Twitter. I just started writing, and it was amazing how quickly it was finished and posted and that was it.

One big idea I took away from my weekend at Blissdom was the power of focusing. It seems ironic that at a social media conference I learned that I should turn it off and not be social all of the time, but I think this is true for me.

I've always been good at focusing on the task at hand. In 7th grade I remember my science teacher telling my mom that I was always the one zeroed in on her during her lectures, and that she never worried about my mind wandering. 

I'm afraid I've lost that ability. I don't know if it's the ding of a Twitter notification, interruptions from the kids, the buzz of a new email on my phone, the TV that's too often on in the background, but it's so hard to focus right now. I'm trying to be a full-time mom, a part-time worker, a part-time blogger, a part-time hobbyist photographer, a full-time wife and friend. That's a lot even with all the help that I am so blessed to have.

I don't have a set-in-stone plan right now, but I think I'm going to try really hard to put some more schedule into my day. Setting aside blocks of computer time each week: these hours are for blog reading and sharing, these hours are for photo editing, these are for designing crafting and photographing.

Maybe then I won't feel like I'm missing something by X-ing out of all my browsers, knowing that I'll have time to get back to it later that day. I've already taken the facebook app off of my phone and I'm thinking of doing the same with Twitter. I won't get rid of Instagram though. No way. I love you too much Instagram. :)

Time management. I need some, and I think setting up chunks of time throughout my day for certain activities is the way to go. 

Also, simultaneous naps are amazing. I could really use a few more of these. I'm sure my productivity would sky rocket.

How about you? Do you try to schedule? Fly by the seat of your pants? 

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My plan for more focused computer time was inspired by Megan Jordan, and sadly I didn't even get to attend her session at Blissdom. But from everything I heard from those who were there and from the Twitter stream during her talk, I think focus was a key component. I can't wait to go back and watch her workshop once it's posted.