Why Your Friends With Kids Are Too Tired to Hang Out

I get this question a lot from my friends that have no kids. They always want to know why it is that I never have time for them after my long day of "doing nothing." First of all, jerk, if you think that I do nothing, come stay at my house for a day. I'll go to work for you and leave you with my list of to-do. Not unlike most parents these days, everything I do in a day, I do alone. Super mom is a title that EVERY mom should have, especially ones that are single parents, work from home and don't ditch their kids on the first person that will take them.

To my childless friends, I say; "What time do you get up in the morning? Do you get up, shower, have a cup of coffee, read the paper and then head out the door to work?" Most of them say yes. Well, my day starts at 5:30AM. I do not get a few minutes of relaxation, I wake up and have to immediately start working. At 8:00AM Hail wakes up and he has to be fed, changed, burped, and dressed. All these things take my undivided attention for approximately an hour and a half before first nap time.

First nap comes. This is my one chance to shower, get a cup of coffee, edit some work, clean the kitchen, start a load of laundry and maybe have some toast. There isn't always time for toast.

When Hail wakes, he will will have to be changed, fed, burped and now he wants to play. So for the next three hours, my undivided attention is needed while we sing, dance, learn new things, work on feelings and emotions, and then finally ten minutes to wind down in his swing while I switch the laundry and he falls into second nap.

Second nap. Work furiously until Hail wakes up, two hours later.

when second nap is over, it is time to eat, burp, and change diapers again. After this, it is play time again. He will be more energized now after two naps and will and will want to play "10 little monkeys" (this is my upper body work out as it takes a lot to bounce a baby continuously for ten rounds of monkeys jumping on the bed). Then it is time for a story, a snack, tummy time, which requires undivided attention so that he doesn't roll off the couch, scoot into something and hurt himself, and then time to play in the swing while I attempt to make myself dinner. If we are having a bad day, I have to hold him and cook one handed.

Dinner time is the time that he will want your attention because he is most fussy. Eating one handed is a major part of being a super mom. This part of the evening will probably be more fussy than any other. This is largely in part because he will fight sleep. He will fight and fight for nearly four hours until he passes out hard.

Time to go to work again. This is important that you get little sleep so that all financial goals can be made to ensure diapers, clothes, soap and everything else that you need.

Now, keep in mind that all of this is only attainable if I have nowhere to go that day. If I do, then I have an extremely fussy kid because naps are missed, feeding is often delayed and they don't always get changed when they want to be. This makes for frustration on an already tired momma. So after the sleep deprivation, working around an infant, providing undivided attention to teach, feed, change, burp and play with someone that cannot do anything for themselves, perhaps, my childless friends will know why I have no time for them.