As your baby grows and your life before baby seems to be becoming a distant memory, it's more important than ever to find a little time for yourself. It's essential to try to keep everything in balance. Here are a few tips to help make sure your days at home continue to be some of the best ever.

Ask your spouse for help. When you both pitch in, household, child-care and baby-care chores are easier and more fun. Do only those things that are truly necessary to keep up the house; everything else can wait.

Keep meal preparation simple. Now's not the time to try out those elaborate and time-consuming gourmet recipes you've always wanted to make. Instead, fix quick healthy meals that don't take a lot of grocery shopping, preparation or clean-up. If friends offer to bring over dinner, by all means let them.

Avoid scheduling too many social events on weekends. Enjoy your weekends as a family. Play together, eat together and rest every time your baby naps. If you want friends to visit, remember your house doesn't have to be spotless.

Use an answering machine to screen calls. No one has time for unnecessary calls, especially when there's a baby in the house. Return important calls only when it's convenient and disregard solicitation calls.

Let baby cry a little. Don't jump up every time you hear a whimper. Your baby needs to learn how to calm himself down and fall back to sleep. You'll be helping to teach him as well as reclaiming a few precious minutes for yourself.

Get help if necessary. If you can't keep up, relax! Call in extra troops - a cleaning company, a baby-sitter or someone to run errands. You may have more help available than you realize.

Don't hesitate to ask.

Find ways to use feeding times for yourself. Take advantage of what's otherwise downtime by playing soft music or listening to books on tape while baby nurses or has a bottle.

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