Saturday, September 14, 2013

7 Things that I took for granted before I had kids...


Katie R.

I used to be ridiculously annoyed before I had kids and people would tell me how “lucky” I was to have free time or how nice it would be to be single or how to take advantage of time with my husband before kids.  So this is not a recommendation by any means, there are just a few things I realized today as Joe worked and I took the kids to soccer, a local train festival and had to go in and help Wes when he was supposed to be sleeping and got a boot stuck on his foot.   So I’m just saying that if I had to do it again this is what I would take advantage of:

1.    Saturday Mornings:  I used to tell Joe my favorite part of the week was when I would wake up on Saturday mornings and lay in bed watching an old movie while Joe slept in.  Funny how children don’t realize it’s Saturday and even if they do they don’t seem to care.

2.   Going to the bathroom alone:  Yeah no matter how many times you say, I just need a minute in the bathroom there is someone knocking on the door and now that Wes can open doors forget about it.

3.   Sleeping off a hangover:  Ok, so a hangover is bad even when you don’t have kids.  And of course we could stop drinking, but we have 2 toddlers so having a few drinks with friends is vital at times.  However, before kids we could stay in bed, guzzle down some Gatorade and finally head to McDonalds around noon for some grease.  Now however, the kids  went to bed long before I decided to drink that last beer and so they are awake and ready to go bright and early.  And it is usually earlier than they normally get up and that morning they usually decide to play “band” (or something equally loud) and we are fortunate enough to have two drums so they can each have one. 

4.    A quick trip to the store:  Of course if Joe is home one of us can run quickly but if I’m alone with the kids there is no quick trip anywhere.  Between getting them dressed, in their car seats, out of car seats when Andrew forgets he has to go the bathroom, putting Wes’s shoes on at home and again after he takes them off in the car, we have now killed 15 minutes and we have yet to enter the store.

 
5.    Watching a grown-up movie:  So after watching the Lego Batman movie today 3 times, I realize that it has been a long time since I have watched an entire adult movie.  Now my kids go to bed early so I am able to watch movies in the evening but after I clean up the house and do a few nightly chores by the time we start a movie I’m asleep within 30 minutes.  And of course we could go to the theater when we get a sitter but to be honest we prefer to eat and drink.

 
6.     Going out-of-town for the night:  There was a time when we would quickly throw a toothbrush and some sweats into a bag and head to some friends house for the night.  Now a quick trip includes diapers, blankets, pillow pets, snacks and much, much more and really who invites us over for a night?

 
7.     A quiet weekend afternoon:  Remember relaxing on the couch and watching a football game or a reality TV marathon.  Yeah well those days are long gone.  This is a photo of our quiet Saturday afternoon pots and pans band.

 


Of course they won’t be little for long and even now some of these are changing and I will definitely miss it someday.  And I’m not necessarily complaining just saying that if I were on Meet the Robinsons, yes another kid’s movie that we have watched 15 times this week, I would go back in my time machine and tell myself to enjoy these few things that I would be missing for a few years.

No comments:

Post a Comment