doing the best thing

Does your normal bedtime routine last as long as mine? I swear no matter how organized and planned I am for bedtime, it always takes way too long and I end up having no time to myself or with Tim before bedtime. Ugh. Pajamas take forever to wrestle on the little bodies. Books seem to be endless since we always start with reading two books and end up reading four or five. Brushing teeth is often a fight for the toothbrush...Mya insists on doing it first and then we have to go back over her so-so job. Prayers, while cute, last forever as we bless everything on the planet. After all that, an hour has passed and I still have a cranky, teething eight month old to put to bed. V is tricky because she will be so good some days and so bad other days. You just never know. Last night I tried getting her to sleep for a good two and a half hours before Tim came home to relieve me and my aching arms. Other nights she will fall asleep the moment her faces touches her comfy blanket.

I have wanted to write all day. I always have so many thoughts in my head but find it hard to steal personal time away from my kids. I don't really know how people blog all the time. They must either wake up way early or go to bed way late or neglect their kiddos during the day or never clean the house during down time or rarely take naps. It is almost impossible to neglect my children as they seem to always get into some kids of trouble the moment I focus on anything but them. Mya has been relentless with V. She pokes and kicks and pulls and pushes her all the time. If I am not carefully watching both of them, V's shriek normally brings me back to reality. I find it impossible to wake up any earlier than I already do and if I did wake up earlier, I know of several other things that should be occupying that time (such as cuddling with Tim, reading my scriptures, doing yoga to stretch out for my day, taking a much needed shower without kids peeking in on me, etc). I rarely write anything of much worth at night because I literally feel like my brain shuts off around 5pm after a long day with the kids. I choose to nap when my kids actually nap at the same time because a. I need some help with my sanity and b. they rarely nap at the same time. And if there is down time, I find it essential to clean my house. I just hate living in filth.

So please tell me how you find time to blog. When do you write? Any tips for me? When all is said and done, I always try to remind myself of doing the best things with my time and while blogging my life away may seem like the best thing, most times it isn't because I know there is an anxious three year old waiting for me to play with her. So while your tips may help, I will probably never be a daily blogger (even though it is my inner desire to write everyday) because I know what is more important. My God. My family. My sanity.