How do I slow down?

My mind is on overdrive all the time - I'm not exaggerating.

It takes me a minute to wake up and get out of bed, but once I'm up - I'm UP and ready to do stuff.

The other morning I woke up early with Ben. When it was time for breakfast, I thought - perfect - I'll put him in his highchair in the kitchen, let him watch Bubble Guppies on the computer while I empty the dishwasher.

Then I realized it was Saturday - and thought it would be nice to  make pancakes for Katie and Dave - so I mixed up some pancake mix and then started emptying the dishwasher - Benny was happily eating in his highchair and then I realized - 

WAIT.. I'm wasting time, I could be cooking the pancakes and in between flipping them, I could be emptying the dishwasher.

So that's what I did - I made pancakes while I emptied the dishwasher and cleaned the kitchen and Ben ate his breakfast. 

This is how my brain works all the time. 

It's wonderful for getting things done around the house, but I find that any time the kids are being quiet or are playing happily, my mind is running through the neverending list of things that need to be cleaned, cooked, packed, organized, folded, washed, dusted, vacuumed, etc...

I am incapable of just sitting and enjoying them. I always feel like I need to be doing something around the house.

I thought that working from home would allow me to do some of these household things during lunch breaks of while on conference calls, but that is just not happening. Even at work, I am a multi tasking freak - I have 2 monitors and 2 computers to work on so if one is busy doing something, I can hop on the other one to do other things. I wear a headset because I need my hands free to do other things while I'm on the phone.

I even have about a half hour each day after the kids leave the house, before I start working, but that time is usually spent cleaning up the kids morning messes, making breakfast and showering. 

I am proud of the fact that I can multi-task most people under the table on any given day. I'm always thinking about maximizing efficiency and getting 2 things done at one time - but I'm sad because now that I work, I am doing this all day, every day and it's starting to make me bitter. 

I'm thinking of hiring a cleaning person to come in and do all the big cleaning for me so that I can erase that from my never ending list of things to do, but then I feel like a cop out because I think that cleaning ladies are an extravagance. (we never had one growing up so I have to adjust to the idea what it's "OK" to have one)

But, even with that, I'm hesitant about spending the money and what if the people I hire are crazy or weird or take stuff or break things?????

UGHHHHHHHHHH

What other things can I do to make myself slow down?  How can I switch my multi-tasking mind off and turn on my relax and enjoy the kids nonsense mind on? What things do you do to make sure that you have a balance of fun along with  getting everything done around the house without losing your mind?