Balance

I need a time management class.  Or, better yet, a super-helpful fairy to put an extra couple of hours into each day.  The fairy would be a big help.  If you have one in your acquaintance, I’d really appreciate an introduction, people.  I’m not above bribes on this either.  Just saying.

In life Before Tucker, I worked in marketing.  I got a huge rush from being part of an amazing team, seeing our ideas realized, watching the industry take notice and participate in what created additional revenue.  It was awesome.

Except, I worked a lot.  It was fun work, but I was online every night after coming home and most weekends as well.  Which was fine.  Perfect, in fact, for a long time.

Having a baby at an “advanced maternal age” (an actual humiliating medical term that was at the top of all of my doctor’s forms) changed that for me.
I couldn’t imagine hiring a nanny so that I could continue on my career path. I’ve not regretted my decision for a minute.  Okay, fine, I maybe regretted it a teeny tiny bit  for five minutes on the days when Tucker asks for a 143rd game of chase.  But mostly, I’ve felt really lucky to be able to stay at home with my one and only baby.  Once we started speech therapy, evaluations, searching for a diagnosis and trying to figure out whether or not Tucker has autism, it made even more sense.

Note: if you chose the nanny path, or a similar one, I totally get it.  I’m just saying for our family, me staying at home with Tucker made the most sense.  This isn’t about every family, staying at home versus working or anything nearly that deep.  It’s just about me, and my family.  Cool?  Cool.    

Why am I telling you this?  Because, for the first time since my maternity leave ended (yes,
I worked while on maternity leave – exhibit A to the above decision), I’ve committed to something more than a fleeting freelance project.

I’ve signed on with a really cool company to work 20 to 25 hours a week.  While I’m excited and “first day of school” nervous, I’m also feeling anxious and overwhelmed.

Why?

Finding Ninee.

I know.  Totally dumb, right?  On one hand, I realize that Finding Ninee is a (mostly) non-revenue-generating creative outlet.  Some might even call it a hobby.  But, I know better.

And, you bloggers know.  You know how awesome it feels to write something or draw something or make something, post it and feel honest-to-goodness pride.  You understand how rewarding it is to make true soul-sister friends that you’ll likely never meet.  You read their blogs, have them read yours and seriously bond, right?

So how am I going to balance my time with Tucker, 20-25 corporate marketing hours/week and Finding Ninee?  I’m honestly not sure.

I do know that there’s no way in hell I’m going to abandon Finding Ninee.
I love him (yes, he is a him).

However, I have been thinking a lot about balance.  Some days, I sit at the computer at 10:30am, get totally sucked into writing, reading other blogs and drawing crappy pictures.  Next thing I know, it’s 2:00pm and I haven’t eaten lunch.

Here’s how I figure my time is broken up.

So tell me, please.  How can I fit 20-25 hours in for a really cool company that I think is might seriously be going places while maintaining Finding Ninee, too?

Sadly, the obvious things, like cutting down on showering, are already pretty much maxed.

I’m trying really hard to not be a total whiner with this post, but also want to say that I truly don’t know whether I’m doing the right thing.  And I certainly don’t know how to manage my time well enough to do it all.

Bloggers.  Mommies.  Tell me.  How do I balance?

Vote?  Just click the button on your left. The contest page will pop up.  All you have to do (if you want – PLEASE), is scroll down the list, find Finding Ninee (it’s number 58 or something – thank you HUGE), and give me a nice orange thumbs up.  Actually, I think the orange thumb turned into a heart today.  Which is even more like a kiss than usual.
Please vote every day until Feb. 13 at 7pm at which time the contest will be over.  Thank goodness.