My biggest challenge

As a mother, I think one of my biggest challenges is finding time and keeping my patience. As a working mother who commutes a fair distance, I face time constraints constantly. We all wish we had more time in the day. If I had even two extra hours in the day, then maybe I wouldn't be impatient when I have to wait for Ceilidh to wash her hands at a snail's pace. Or when it takes Devlin 5 minutes to decide which breakfast cereal he will consume that morning. If I had some more time, I would take an extra 5 minutes to cuddle with Aisling when she wakes up. Who am I kidding - I still take that extra 5 minutes of cuddle time, and then curse myself and the traffic as I break the speed limits to shave off 5 minutes from my commute time.
Then I wonder, what if I didn't work outside the home? Would I feel that intense pressure to get out the door on time? Or would I be more relaxed about the fact that Devlin is still in his pyjamas and he's got less than 10 minutes to change, brush his teeth and get out the door to school? Without deadlines and without having to watch the clock, would I approach the day with a more serene attitude?
If I had some extra time in the day, maybe I'd finally get around to sewing up the holes in the socks that keep piling up on my dresser. Just the other day, Devlin reminded me that I was not doing my job as a mother. He pulled on a holey pair of socks, then poked the hole to make it even bigger to illustrate what I have been neglecting to do in my motherly duties. (By the way, why does every pair of socks spring holes with him?)
Or with some extra time, maybe I would actually bake cookies from scratch (sans saliva), or fold fitted sheets to fit neatly inside the linen closet instead of folding them haphazardly and then scrunching them to fit on the shelf.
If I had an extra hour, I could neaten the piles of unread books on my night table and actually start reading one or two. Or get around to the pile of parenting magazines with articles about "time management" and "de-stressing one's life". If I had an extra hour, I could sit down and start teaching Devlin how to tell time, or practise counting with Ceilidh (she gets confused after 5). Or have the patience to sit with Aisling as she sits on the potty (another blog topic) and "tries" to pee. Or exercise some more. Or spend an extra 10 minutes having a face-to-face conversation with my spouse.
Yes, I know, I could easily find those extra hours if I gave up one thing - sleep. But that's non-negotiable. Even less sleep would mean even shorter tempers for me. So, instead I live in a cluttered home, with an ever-growing pile of holey socks and dust bunnies that are procreating in my closet. I race from home to work, and back again. I produce edible and usually nutritious meals in less than thirty minutes and sometimes bake cookies with the help of Pilsbury. I send emails to my husband and have quick conversations while bathing the kids. I sleep on wrinkled sheets and revel in getting 10 minutes to cuddle with my children while we read bedtime stories from the teetering pile of books.