promises of an open time slot

I'm starting to get that just posting on a regular basis, let alone writing a short story while running my own business and having a little one at home is a goal much like a plan to exercise at the end of the day.  It doesn't seem to happen.

I have great ideas when I'm in bed about to go to sleep, so I write them down in my journal with very big plans to develop them in the morning.  However, much to my dismay, morning comes very early and I'm... um... not an awesome morning person.  So, before I know it, I hear the call that acts as my alarm every day, "Mom! (pause.) Mom! (pause) Mom! (pause. pause. pause.) Moooooooooooom! (pause.)  Dad! .... " and so it goes.  There isn't a snooze button, by the way.  What I would give for a snooze button.  Sometimes he will sit and talk to his "guys" in his crib for a while keeping himself entertained, but the monitor is on and well,... he's funny.  He organizes them, throws them overboard (then you hear, "uh-oh), and runs back and forth in his crib talking in a language where there is no translation.  By that time, I'm up and it's time to start the day.  This is when I vow to do some writing at his nap time.  Ha!

Nap time comes and I am well into my business day.  There are emails to be returned, dog clients to be soothed and marketing to struggle through and then, all of a sudden, "Mom!  Dad!  (pause. pause. pause.) Dad-dy!  Mum-my!"(did I forget to turn my alarm off?) and we're off and running with the afternoon of either appointments for me and Dad is the afternoon entertainment or I am.  By the time his bedtime comes, I'm ready to shut it down for the day.  A TV show, some dinner and a glass of wine with my husband, and we are always aware that our new alarm clock is not able to be reset for a later time.

Now, let me be clear, I love my life.  I love that I don't have to set a real alarm anymore.  I love figuring out where to take him to watch him explore a new environment.  I love just talking to him and hearing him try to make words with his mouth.  It is really a humbling experience being a mom.  I'm lost some of the time, feeling guilty about something some of the time, laughing some of the time, rediscovering the excitement of a train or fire engine going by a lot of the time.  I love it.

It's just taking some doing to carve out some space for my creativity to really flow for more that a 5 minute period.  I'll find the space.  I did today.  That's a step in the right direction.

What do you do for yourself?  When do you do it?