Little luxuries

The biggest luxury for me these days is "me time". (Well, and sleep, of course, although we're pretty lucky because Baby Jane is a fairly good sleeper. Somehow, we're all still managing to be sleep-deprived here, though.) I only get time to myself in bits and pieces, usually when the baby's napping or after she goes to bed. I've become pretty good at using those little snatches of time well, but it's still hard to manage. Particularly since just a few short months ago, I was completely in charge of how I spent my time.

Today I was able to spend larger chunks of "me time". Mr. Jane took over almost all of the baby care today (except for the feedings), so I had most of the day to myself. It was exactly what I needed. Holed up in my home office with a big pot of decaf, the lavender candle burning, and music going, I was able to make significant progress on a particularly tricky part of the newer journal article. It felt almost decadent, to be able to think deeply for such long stretches of time! And I even got out to see some friends, too, later in the day.

It's amazing how little things like that can be so restorative. And how my definition of "luxury" has changed so drastically since I became a mom.