Getting Ready

If you're like me, it's easy to spend Saturday and Sunday doing things at random. (Eew, the living room looks awful: time to vacuum! Yikes, we're outta cereal: time to shop!) Before you know it, the weekend's over and all you have to show for it is a clean carpet and a box of Grape-Nuts. Want a more satisfying break? First, tame that weekend stack o' scut work by squeezing in extra chores and errands on weekdays. "My husband works later in the day than I do, so once a week he gets up early and runs most of the weekly errands," Acosta says. "That makes weekends less stressful." Amy Karhu of Scarsdale, New York, tosses laundry in the washer on weekdays before heading out the door with baby John Charles. "Then I throw everything in the dryer when we return." She fends off weekend deep cleaning by doing quick, regular cleanups during the week. "Whoever invented the Swiffer mop and duster and those Clorox wipes is a god!"

Next, on Friday night or Saturday morning, ask yourself, "What will have me saying by Sunday night, 'That was such a great weekend!'?" says Amy Kovarick, a life coach, mom, and stepmom in Santa Barbara, California, who hosts the Internet radio show The Empowered Mother. Let each member of your household pick one main event for the weekend, and discuss why it's important. (Pick something on your baby's behalf, too.) What you choose is up to you — from weeding to watching Weeds — but make it something you're really eager to do. Then plan around everybody's top picks, shoehorning in less-important items where you can (not too many, though!). "We all need to give ourselves permission to fit things into our life instead of trying to fit our life into this impossible expectation," Kovarick says. Among her favorite tricks: "Scan down your weekend list and ask which things can be combined to get two for one." On a recent weekend, for instance, Kovarick leafed through a book on child development she'd been meaning to get to — and had a pedicure at the same time. "I was so happy for that half hour," she says.

Family Time

"What would make your baby think, 'That was the best weekend ever'?" Kovarick asks. "Probably just a fun bath, with Mom and Dad laughing with her! Or lying on the bed and being tickled!" Or — for 8-month-old Raine Hollingsworth of Tuscaloosa, Alabama — sitting with her parents on the living room floor, watching the family dog chase a ball. Says her mom, April: "All we need to have fun is each other."

So feel free to put the zoo and other glamour destinations on hold — and be grateful that, for now at least, your kid is a cheap date. When your family does venture forth on weekends, chances are you can skip the nap anxiety that often plagues new moms. Many babies do fine snoozing in a car seat or stroller, or even missing the occasional nap — especially in the early months, before a real schedule sets in. Seven-month-old Leila Gonzalez of Micanopy, Florida, has taken countless car-seat siestas, says her mom, Jennifer Fong. "When she's asleep at home, I turn on some music — classical, rock, jazz — so that when she naps outside, she won't be as disturbed."

2-for-1 family time and a chore "When our daughter was a baby, my husband and I would make focaccia or lamb cacciatore on the weekend," says Tiemann, Ph.D., author of Mojo Mom: Nurturing Your Self While Raising a Family. "That's live entertainment, having Mom and Dad cooking in front of you. They're stirring and looking at you and waving — there are constant opportunities for interaction." Other good chores to do together: raking leaves, washing the car, or building those Ikea chairs that have been in their boxes since your second trimester. family time and friends Forget that pre-kids standby — meeting pals at a restaurant — and ask them to join you for a playdate or picnic instead. It'll probably be more relaxing than two hours at the Olive Garden, where you may wind up passing around a squirmy baby more often than the breadsticks.

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