Author: Nikki

Those of you who know us, know that we are busy and that we have always been busy ever since we started dating. Adam will tell you that it’s because I over schedule us because I can’t say no and try to please everyone (all of which are partially true). I usually say because we (yes both of us) like to be social and like to do a lot of different things. This made us schedule “us weekends” where we don’t make plans with anyone and have a date weekend once a month.

Then, in November, Casey Jayne (if you don’t know how her name was chosen, that’s a story of it’s own) was born and in January she came home to live with us! Since then, busy has been ridiculous! We haven’t seen many of our friends (and really only have seen those who have called and said how about we go do x on date y – hint – if you’d like to see us in the near future this is a good plan) and we have been exhausted. Someone…Casey…likes to wake up at 5am and requires a lot of attention. She has a strict schedule that makes sure she gets enough sleep to play and run around like she likes to (all while hopefully not getting so tired that she gets bitey…or mouthy as her favorite groomer calls it…it sounds nicer that way).

We are very excited that her baby teeth, aka razor sharp needles, are gone, so now those who do see us will notice I don’t have nearly as many scratches on my arms. Instead, she has fairly dull adult teeth, and I have bruises instead., She doesn’t bit like she did, but when she does, she likes to pinch with her front teeth. Most days I think it hurts less now. Also, this is the signal for bed time, so it doesn’t happen all that often.

So, now instead of running around town like chickens with our heads cut off, we run around the house and the yard like chickens with our heads cut off. We go on walks around the neighborhood, we play ball, we throw sticks, and we practice Casey’s training. We new our schedule and life would change drastically when we got a puppy, but I know I didn’t completely grasp just how much change it would be (sounds like some kid advice we got a while back, thanks Meggie #1).

I guess what I’m really trying to say is, we’re busier than ever but in a very different way. Casey is a very playful girl and loves everyone. If we haven’t seen you in a while, we’re just busy and you should call/text/email/facebook and let us know when you’d like to do what with us. We’ll try to work it in. Our schedule is further complicated by Adam’s job transition that requires him to travel for several weeks in May and June for training. Please understand if we just can’t right now and have to push out to August. We’re just busy, and Casey is a little baby (almost 6 months old!) and still has a strict schedule to keep us all sane….well, saner than we she gets off her schedule.

Or is it?

I’ve been telling myself for, oh, since my last blog post that I should blog regularly, whatever that means. I’m not sure if it’s weekly, daily, every other day, or what, but it’s certainly not every few weeks. I’ve started a couple of blogs and quickly forgot each one and I don’t want to do that again (and I thought Adam would post too). So, here I am weeks later, because I feel like I have no time. But tonight I’m making time.

In reality, I understand that I have the same amount of days, hours, and minutes as everyone else. I feel like I cram more things into those hours and minutes than I should, but I’m trying to make the most of it…right? Sometimes my hours are too full for me to appreciate them, like yesterday. I had 3 meetings back to back to back (this was mostly self-inflicted) and I just felt rushed all day. Nothing was wrong, the only thing that didn’t go well is a co-worker lost her phone, it was just rushed and I felt like a rushed mess throughout the day.

A co-worker recently said that things feel much slower here than where she’s from (up north…a huge metro area). I want to go there…where it feels much slower, where I feel much slower.

Tonight Adam is out to have dinner with a friend, and Casey and I are home. Normally, I’d be rushing to make dinner so we could eat, then Adam would rush through the dishes so we could get Casey out, then we’d rush through something else to do something else, then one of us will just give up and go to sleep.

Eventually, one day, maybe, I’m going to learn to quit rushing. Hopefully, that will be about the same time that I stop complaining that I have no time and learn to prioritize appropriately. Rather than doing every little thing that “needs” to be done, I have to figure out what needs to be done and do that, and learn to say “no” what doesn’t need to be done.

How do you determine what needs to be done? How did you determine when and how to say “no”, especially to yourself?