Day one of my personal challenge to find 30 minutes of me time a day was a lesson in why I needed this challenge. Badly.
I work a desk job. I must commute to work. However, I am fortunate enough to work for a company that is sympathetic toward working mothers. This allows me a certain amount of wiggle room when circumstances arise. When Little Dude has a big doctor’s appointment and I also have an appointment the same day, for instance, I can plan ahead to work from home. It’s a privilege I don’t take lightly, and one that I try not to abuse.
On this particular day, I was reminded that there are, indeed, only 24 hours in a day, and that I must choose wisely how to allot my time.
This was the plan for the day:

- Drop in on an old co-worker.
- Take Little Dude to an ultrasound at the hospital. He had an infection three months ago and it was a routine followup.
- Get hair done. I’ve been putting this off since I decided to do the “mom chop” right before Christmas.
- Visit doctor to figure out why the heck my hands won’t stop tingling and going numb. It started mid-pregnancy and has only gotten worse. Picture walking around 24/7 feeling as if your hand fell asleep. This wasn’t originally on the agenda, but I got chewed out by several people close to me about neglecting my health. Again.
- Therapy appointment.
- Make and/or eat dinner.
- Somehow squeeze in 5 30-minute pumping sessions so my kid can eat.
- Somehow corral a 6 month old until Aunt J comes over and/or Dad gets home.
- Somehow complete my 8-hour work day.

Ignore the bags under the eyes and the cranky infant in the back seat (not pictured here). No more mom chop!