Ahhhh - small children - nothing quite so delightful and so exhausting all at once!
I offer a perspective from *the other side* as my little bundle of joy is 6'1", 200 lbs., and 22 - years not months.
While I certainly was not a perfect mother, we had a lot of laughter in our house. I've loved him like crazy every day of his life, made sure he knew it, and I did the absolute best I was able to do at the moment in every moment. So with great wisdom and insight (*snicker*) I offer my thoughts -
1. There's no better arena for living in the now, being present in the moment, than when you're with your child. Always be with them when you're with them. Twenty years from now you'll see how quickly it's all gone by, and many things that seemed like such big deals at the time are really quite inconsequential.
2. Like AndyMartin said - schedule time for yourself, encourage your partner to do the same and nurture your relationship with that other parent. The kids WILL grow up and they WILL move out and their need for you WILL diminish over the years. You need to still have a you when that happens.
3. Early rising was the key for me (you can do it emilytrey!
). Having the silent house to myself for an hour or so every morning gave me time to read, pray, meditate, and wrap my head around my day. I found things to be more of a struggle whenever I gave in to sleeping in.
4. And when the kids are older and participating in extracurricular activities, I suggest setting guidelines and limits. My son's thing was sports. He could play whatever he wanted - one sport/one team per season. I've known many families over the years with multiple children playing multiple sports year round. Chaos ensues, parents and children are over-tired and overwhelmed, and the family rarely has any real time together.
Most of all, have fun and don't take things too seriously. It is just life after all. Kids are amazing and resilient and (if they pay attention) their parents will be, too.
I think you'll all be just terrific!