James, it sounds exactly how my own attitude has changed, due to my new family commitments, AKA 'annoying kids' I dont play as regularly as I used to, although sheer boredom will often lead me to extended bouts of guitar excess... much to my family's displeasure...

I find that if you play things that are always challenging, john petrucci style solos, and meshuggah type rhythms that are demanding on both hands, your chops will always get back to speed. I have trouble playing some of the stuff I could rip out effortlessly when I was 16 these days, but if I WANT to go back and play it, I know I can, but it will take a while, and my hands will hate me for it. I guess guitar ability is like a muscle, you need to exercise it every day or it begins to whither away.

Try a more laid back approach, I find using legato instead of flurries of alternate picking for 3 note per string scales helps me when I'm struggling to reach mach 3

One Little thing I learned back in high school, from the token virtuoso guy there (always one) was to add taps to a solo to make it faster, now it can be hard if you have to bring your hand from the normal playing position to tap out the note, but sometimes I hold my picking hand over the 12th fret and just tap the note after I pick it to sound it again. As well, if you're tapping, try sliding the pick over several notes at once, it can be a real cool trick if you find a nice lead to work it into

At the end of the day, dont worry, just make sure you force yourself to pick the guitar up for a couple of hours a week, and with more effort, your chops will return and it will be like you never lost them