Finding time to read
Well, that is an interesting topic. And I need to note that there are times that I don't read much--the two weeks I was occupied with visiting my grandmother and attending her funeral, for instance, or when my babies were small or my toddlers roving destruction machines . . . For whatever reason, Heavenly Father does not have any babies or toddlers in my home right now. There are whole days I think "Hmm, I'm still on page 34 of that book, wonder if I'll ever finish."
But there are things I have done to carve out time. The first--deliberately infect my family. :-) My dh loves to read, too, so that was easy already. And a main goal of my parenting has been to get my children to love to read. So far I'm 3 for 3, and consider myself blessed. So the whole family happily reads--together, separately, separately in the same room. On a recent evening, we did have the Olympics on, but we all had something out to read, and even the 5yo was at the dining room table "writing" a book. (very cute--I'll have some adorable things to share later about his first authorial attempts, lol)
Another thing I did was to institute a mandatory quiet time in the afternoons. This took place during nap time as soon as I could get a little one on a nap schedule. Even after naps are given up and before the child can actually sit and read for long, I keep a quiet time--they can go to their rooms and play with puzzles or legos or whatever. I will be transitioning my 5yo over the next year or so to reading during part of his quiet time. It takes some determination and training, but this has been a non-negotiable in my home since the first days.
We often read in the evenings, out loud and separately. I can often find some time for my own reading right before bedtime.
Another thing I've needed to do is adapt my own reading style. I used to be a totally engrossed reader who could read right through a meal and never miss it. This would cause some consternation among the hungry hordes here. :-) Every great once in a while I do get pretty lost and have a hard time pulling myself back to the real world--but by and large, I don't do that anymore. I can now read while partially paying attention to the rest of the family, carrying on a low-intensity conversation with them while they watch TV, for example. I can read in 5-minute bits while waiting in a doctor's office. I can even read while making dinner. :-) I reward myself with 5 or 10 minutes with a book when I get something done around the house that I've been dreading. I would definitely rather read in this imperfect way than not read at all, so it works out pretty well.
These are things that work for me. Naturally, I'd like to read even more. :-) But I do treasure the time with my family while they are all still here. I have trouble with the balance at times, like any mom. But I do know that reading is like breathing for me, and I wouldn't last long without at least some. It's been too big a part of how I make sense of and interact with the world around me, for too long. There are days I probably should have paid more attention to something else rather than read, and there are days where I end my day feeling slightly desperate because I did not get time to reorder my mind by reading.