How to find time to blog (when you have a baby)

When you have a baby, you have less free time. And I mean much, much, much less.

If you want more free time, you probably shouldn't be a mum.

That's how it works, at least in my case and in all the friends I know. If you have a secret formula that can teach others to have a baby and yet have more free time, trust me, you will be a billionaire and worshipped by parents all around the world.

The truth is, the advent of Angel meant that I could no longer read a novel, watch a movie, take a good long bath or write a blog entry, in peace. This is not forgetting that we are stuck in a foreign land where the kid has a tendency to stick to the mummy as if there was an invisible superglue binding them together. I'm not really complaining about that, because I love the fact that at least one person in this world wants to keep me in sight all the time and there's somebody who can't do without me. Well, she's also the one person I can't do without too.

However, that said, it means that my only free time every day boils down to her nap time. That works out to only one and a half hours each day for me. Or less. Since I'm an avid blogger and I love to do art and craft (both which take up long hours), I have devised my own set of tactics on how to free myself up so that I have more time to blog.


#1 Play a game of hide and seek
Kids never get tired of this all-time favourite game. Take turns to go and hide and when it's your turn, hide into the study room where your laptop is located and conveniently close the door after you.

Pros: You will be the winner at hide and seek and at the same time earn for yourself a 10-15mins worth of free time while your toddler searches frantically for you around the house.

Cons: If your kid is smart, he/she will come banging the door and unless you can withstand the wailing and hammering (or if you can afford to switch to a steel door), you eventually surrender.


#2 Engage the help of Barney, Dora and Hi Five
Watching TV is a good way to distract your kid who loves the moving visuals, fun songs and mass dancing. To make yourself feel better, try to play something which is more educational like Brainy Baby (though I must admit the non-educational ones usually work better).

Pros: The toddler sits on the couch obediently and watches TV while you sneak into the room to use your computer and work on uploading pictures to your blog. Giving him/her a snack or two might help to prolong his/her attention span too.

Cons: Watching too much TV is not good for his/her eyesight and you risk turning him/her into a TV addict. Anyway, in my case, it usually works for at most 15mins and she will come tugging my hand to go sit on the couch to watch with her. Well, someone just can't bear to be lonely.


#3  Let the kid join in
Sometimes when I just want to check my email, I let Angel join me instead of me joining her. That means she will sit on my lap and look at the computer screen with me.

Pros: As long as she's close to you, she doesn't need to get into crying spells to attract your attention. I usually manage to finish checking my email (by the way 99% are junk mail which I just have to hit delete) or upload pics from my SD card to my hard disk. A bonus is that Angel also takes the opportunity to use the keyboard to learn her alphabets and numbers.

Cons: There is always the risk of radiation. Besides, judging from how the kid will be battering your keyboard or scratching her nail across your screen, you'd better be able to buy a few more laptops. I once tried to write a simple blog entry, but it ended up gibberish because Angel would type as I typed. So once upon a time became oncjefhoe u8fnposen a3rh t;i'smen. And I gave up.


#4  Turn to daddy for help
On weekends, I try to keep a little more time for myself by sweetly asking jw to help look after her. That said, I'd like to think of weekends as family days so it would be selfish of me to indulge in my own pastime. But well, a couple of hours won't hurt, right?

Pros: The superglue now turns to her next prey and you are freed momentarily. This would be when I start to write more detailed blog entries but at the same time spy on my two loved ones playing happily in the living room. With a tinge of envy.

Cons: You would no doubt be sacrificing some family time for your own interest (which sometimes is fair since daddy also takes time to watch his soccer games). Just don't go overboard. You also risk getting nags from the hubby on how you are indulging in a hobby that doesn't pay a single cent but yet takes up hours. Just remind him gently that being a mum is a 24/7 job and doesn't make your bank account expand too.


#5  When all else fails, this won't. Just be prepared to be a zombie.
My ultimate tactic is very simple. Just wait till it gets dark around the house and you hear snoring before you sneak out of bed, turn on the night light and sit in front of your laptop for a finally peaceful time to blog about anything you want.

Pros: You basically get a few hours of alone time to blog or do art and craft, more if your kid sleeps through the night. You don't have to do it secretly or sneak around the house anymore and best is you get to enjoy serenity and be able to concentrate in your writing.

Cons: You end up looking like a zombie the next day and yawn every 5 mins. No, you don't get to wake up late just because you slept late and hey, being a mum doesn't entitle you to any medical certificates or day off. You have to wake up by 8am as per usual and carry out your mum routine.

Well, to be frank, my most loved tactic is #5 because it is the most amiable method without harming my loved ones. All I need is to sacrifice some sleep and let's just say I do it pretty well after all my four years of training in Hall 6. I also use #2, #3, #4 at times but I try to limit their use because I don't think they are the healthiest methods around nor do they do much good to my kid or family life. I don't recommend #1 actually because it's never fair to let your child cry just so you can do your own thing.

So, if one day, you see that I'm blogging much more than usual, you know what's happened. No, I haven't left my kid behind doors, I've just fully mastered the art of being a zombie.