GUITLY as charged...

So this isn't an Emotional Development question for children, it's my OWN emotional development question! Is that allowed in this category? I hope so... I need help! So I'm hoping any of you Smart Mommies can share your thoughts-
I think my biggest challenge with being a mom is this constant nagging guilt I feel. If I'm running on the treadmill, I feel guilt because I'm having my girls zone out in front of a TV show for an hour every morning while I run and shower. But if I don't run I feel guilt because I'm not taking care of myself. If I say "I can't play with you right now, I'm cleaning/cooking dinner/etc" I feel guilt because I should be paying more attention to my kids. But if I play with my kids, I feel guilt because my house isn't getting any cleaner and there are a thousand projects I should be doing. If I practice my music lessons I feel guilty because it takes time away from my kids and house. But if I don't practice I feel guilt because I'm wasting money on lessons and not helping myself develop talents. If I am strict with my kids I feel guilt. But if I am too lenient I feel guilt. And the list goes on... I know, it's ridiculous.
I know there is a HAPPY medium somewhere, and several times I feel like I've found it- where I can enjoy the moment and not worry about other things, and enjoy my children and be content with how things are going. But all too soon it slips away and the guilt starts creeping in again.
Does anyone else struggle with this? Is this just a common factor of being a mom? What do you do? Any good books/scriptures/quotes you can recommend? I would love to read your insights of how you enjoy being a mom, move past guilt, and be satisfied with your efforts as a mother without being guilt-ridden. Please share!!!

Anxiety help?

Ok gals. We seem to be having a severe issue with Brigham (4) with anxiety. Since Adam's return from Iraq (now 3 months ago), he has had a really (and I mean, REALLY) hard time anticipating typical routines like bath time, bed time, soccer, cleaning scrapes, etc. Literally, he freaks out screaming and yelling and fighting me for as long as I would last, I'm sure. I've tried prepping him verbally, but honestly I'm just sick of the FIGHT every single time. He's always fine once he's into it, it's just getting him over the anticipation, I guess.

Do/did your 4 year olds have a hard time with this? Any ideas on how to help him?

Another Special Time Idea!

This is a little addendum to the "Kid Date Night" post earlier. It's such a great idea to give kids their own time with us parents. I just thought I'd add my own experience and thoughts.

My mom and dad had something similar to a kid date night but called it a "Special Time" for me and my sibs all growing up and we LOVED it. The only difference was that, because there were 4 of us, we each got a "special week" of each month. During our special week, if we went to the store with my mom, we got a special treat. One of the nights of the week we got to stay up and have a "special time" with my mom and dad where we got to pick a game and treat. Then my parents would write us a little note in our "special time notebook"(one of which I still have and treasure!). And all during the week would be my mom's designated time to think about just us, and focus on our needs- whether it was replenishing our clothing, helping us with a certain school project, praying for something specific for us, etc. Not that she wouldn't do that at other times during the month! But, that week she just had it scheduled in to do those things for each of us- so noone got overlooked.

Make sense? Just thought I'd add these other ideas as options to the Special Day idea. We do this with my 4 and 2 year olds and they love it. They also love their Daddy Daughter Dates on the weekends. Usually this is just going to the pet store to look around, and then getting a treat. Or going to a park with ice cream. Or even just going to the store and picking something out. They just crave that one-on-one attention, and I can tell it's really good for their daddy-daughter relationship. That's all for now!

Kid date night

This came from my cousin Tricia Weinert in a comment but I love the idea and I need to make some categories so I'm moving it:

The latest great idea that I've heard and tried came from the magazine Family Fun. (A great magazine with LOTS of fun ideas, crafts, foods, birthday ideas, physical movement, articles etc.) The idea was to assign a special night of the week to each child. We are going do this every week so we don't forget. So we put most of the children to bed and the child whose special night it is gets to stay up a 1/2 hour past their bed time. That child gets one on one time with both of the parents. We play games or whatever the child wants to do. We were trying to do date nights with the children once a month but we were always forgetting and this seemed like a great way to spend quality time with each of our children.