On Missing Life Before Kids

I have a confession.  I'm not supposed to say this because I'm a Mom and we aren't supposed to say this, but I'm going to.  In a minute.  Deep breath.  Alright.  Here it goes.  I, Casey Lynch, miss life before kids. 

I miss sleeping in past 7 on weekends.  I miss a clean house.  I miss being able to watch whatever I want on TV.  I miss days when I only had to do laundry once a week (instead of 3 or 4 times).  I miss cooking without the stress of hearing kids fighting, crying, and screaming.  I miss date night.  I miss being able to read a good book all in one day.  I miss using the restroom and taking a shower without an audience.  I miss being able to walk out the door to run errands without needing to pack up the whole house to take along with me.  I miss the ability to be spontaneous.  I miss me-time.  I miss being able to focus on my husband.  I miss a life where the only person I have to worry about is myself.

I asked quite a few of my parent friends to weigh in on this, and the answers were all pretty consistently the same.  Thanks for your help, guys!  I am a stay-at-home Mom.  My good friend Anna, works and admitted that she misses being able to do something for herself after work without feeling guilty about missing time with her little man.  My heart broke just a little about this.  The guilt is insane.  I miss not having guilt about doing things for myself, too.

I miss life before kids in the same way I miss being little, miss high school, miss college.  It would be fun to go back for just a day or two.  That's all it would take until I wanted to be right back where I am because this family, these kids, are the best part of my life so far.  They have taught me who I am.

Because who needs to sleep in when you get to get up and snuggle with sweet little sleepy baby bodies?  Who needs a clean house when so many memories are being made?  Who needs TV when you have a sit-com happening in your house 24/7?

Date night means a lot more now that they are so few and far between.  I get to focus on my husband and reconnect with him then.  It's fun to learn that we still really enjoy each other's company.

There will be a day far too soon when I have all the me-time I can handle.  I will once again be able to do whatever I want whenever I want.  I have a feeling I'm going to very desperately miss having kids under foot "stealing" all of my me-time.  I've come to really cherish the few minutes I do get to myself, but if I'm honest, I get so much more joy out of giving them my time than I do out of having all of my time to myself.  

I will forever worry about my children.  Isn't that kind of the point of life, though?  Having people that you love so completely that you can't help but worry about them and pray for the best for them?

So, yes, friends, go ahead and miss life before kids.  We all do from time to time for one reason or another, but don't forget to hang on to every moment of right now.  It's going to be gone before we know it.  Once I've changed the last diaper, wiped the last nose, had the last dinner-making dance party, snuggled the last early morning little body, I'm going to want it back if only for a day or two.