The Mommy Who Tried to Save Time

Now that I am back at work and juggling a husband, 2 kids, housework, work and the ever elusive thing called sleep, I must be more organized and efficient.

When I attempt to be more organized, I’m always reminded of a book that I loved as a child...The Man Who Tried to Save Time. I really don’t remember why I loved this book, but it was always my favorite.

The main character is a very efficient and organized man who wants to find ways to be even more organized and save more time by doing so. So he does things like getting dressed for work the night before, sleeping in his clothes on top of a made bed. So in the morning, he has saved time by not needing to get dressed or make up his bed. It’s brilliant!

He gets even more extreme and starts eating breakfast before he goes to bed. Now he doesn’t have to eat breakfast in the morning! Then instead of eating eggs and drinking coffee, he just combines everything in one big bowl. He buys a month’s worth of groceries so he isn’t bothered with frequent trips to the grocery store.

But then he starts suffering from the effects of saving all of this time. He has become lazy (because he just sits around now that he has all of this free time), wrinkled and not so happy about how things are going. People also think he’s a little strange for ordering breakfast when he goes out to dinner.

But the book to get to me thinking about how a mommy can save time.

Now that I’m back at work, I’m pumping breast milk to send to daycare for Macey. When I get home from work, I wash her bottles from that day and get the bottles ready for the following day. I do as much as I can to make things easier in the morning. I label all of her bottles, put them in the Ziploc bag and put them back in the fridge. So in the morning, all I have to do is grab the bottles out of the fridge and put them in the cooler bag. If I get a little bit ahead, I make bottles for the following day as well. Now I’ve got bottles 2 days before I need them! I’ve even started writing the labels that are required for her bottles ahead of time.

If I wanted to take it to the extreme and be brilliant like the man who wanted to save time, I could pump at work; leave work and take the bottles for the next day to daycare. That would mean I’d just have to bring all of the bottles, nipples, rings, caps and labels to work with me. Easy peasy. Now I don’t have to get bottles ready after work and I won’t have to remember to take them out of the refrigerator in the morning! Why didn’t I think if this earlier?

Now that I’m on a roll, I’m sure I can think of other ideas. I could dress the kids in their clothes the night before and put them in the car in their carseats. Now I don’t have to get them ready in the morning and I’ll be assured that they will be ready when I’m ready! I just have to jump in the car and go.

To make the evenings less stressful, I could use my free time in the morning (now that I don’t have to take bottles out of the fridge or get the kids ready) to make dinner. I could even set the table and put our food on our plates. Now, when we all get home, dinner will be on the table!

Being efficient and organized are just part of my nature…it’s probably why I do what I do (Quality Assurance). But I do have to stop and remind myself to relax sometimes and not work so hard to seemingly make things easier for myself. Thinking of ways to save time can be stressful and ironically enough, time consuming! If I really did take Macey’s bottles to school the day before she needed them, it would take me a good 30 minutes just to drive there. Add that to the prep work that I’d have to do anyway…whether at work or at home and I really haven’t saved myself any time at all.

I can spend my extra time holding Macey when she gets home, playing a card game with Mitchell or just relaxing for a few minutes.

This poem is a great reminder to all parents, not just mothers, that our time with our children will be gone before we know it.

I was sitting on a bench while in a nearby mall,

When I noticed a young mother with two children who were small.

The youngest one was whining,"Pick me up," I heard him beg

but the mother's face grew angry as the child clung to her leg.

"Don't hang on to me," she shouted as she pushed his hands away,

I wish I'd had the courage to go up to her and say...

"The time will come too quickly when those little arms that tug,

Won't ask for you to hold them or won't freely give a hug."

"The day will sneak up subtly just as it did with me,

When you can't recall the last time that your child sat on your knee.

Like those sacred, pre-dawn feedings when we cherished time alone

Our babies grow and leave behind those special times we've known."

So when your child comes to you with a book that you can share,

Or asks that you would tuck him in and help him say his prayer...

When he comes to sit and chat or would like to take a walk,

Before you answer that you can't`cause there's no time to talk.

Remember what all parents learn so many times too late,

That years go by too quickly and that childhood doesn't wait.

Take every opportunity, if one should slip away

Reach hard to get it back again, don't wait another day.

I watched that mother walk away her children followed near,

I hope she'll pick them up before her chances disappear...