defeated

The closer it gets to the first day of school the more anxious I become. And it's not even about Audrey being gone all day, I've already got that down pat since the girls are with my mom while I'm at work. Her being at school won't feel any different to me than her being with Gma...during the day at least. It's the evenings that have me raising my arms in defeat. With big girl school comes big girl after school activities. And I'm not exactly sure how I'm supposed to fit dinner, homework, playtime, dance, girl scouts, bath, reading, laundry, picking up, cleaning, shopping, etc, etc, etc within the hours of 5:30 - 8:30. I'm not sure exactly how to do it ALL.
The past few months have made me realize how precious my time really is. How they are only going to be this age once. And little by little I have sacrificed getting things done around the house to spend just a few more minutes with them. We have gone without bread or milk on more than one occasion because we didn't get to the store. We have dug in the back of our closets for something to wear because laundry was piling up. We have made the time to pick up and saved the cleaning for the next day only to realize we needed to pick up again.
So...
Today I interviewed and hired a house cleaner...and for the first time in a long long while, some of the weight has just been lifted off of my shoulders.