We’ve been slowly working toward this over the past year, but here it is: my oldest is finally at an age to babysit. Do you know what this means???
I’M FREE!!!
Free to run to the store and grab a carton of milk without working out a schedule with my husband. Free to get coffee. Free to make a doctor’s appointment at 10am on a Wednesday. Free to have a date night whenever I want. Free, free, free as a barn swallow! Free to do what I want any ol’ time! Ahahahahahaha!
New mamas, I will tell you this — just like every other milestone, this one seems to both take forever and sneak up on you before you’re ready for it. Hang in there.
But my new freedom means the kids are getting older and want more freedom, too. Which is hard.
I’ve spent more time in the car dropping kids off during the summer than I did during the school year. They’ve got band clinics and sleepaway camps and volunteering commitments and hanging out with friends (sidenote: the only advice I can give you for being a Cool Mom is that they no longer have “playdates,” they now “hang out.” Beyond that, I’m hopelessly uncool. Which is fun in it’s own embarrassing way.)
When my kids were little, we’d wake up in the summer and decide what we wanted to do that day. Hot day? We’d head to the pool. Lots of energy to get out? We’d go hiking or to a park or somewhere on an adventure together. Everyone tired? We’d have a home day and do crafts or get some new library books and chill.
But now everyone has their own plans and agendas. And they are good things, things I want these kids to be doing…but I don’t get to come along anymore. I miss our carefree days together.
One of the few times we’ve all been together this summer
This was always the deal, wasn’t it? That we’d get these tiny babies, and hopefully raise them to be smart and independent and self-sufficient, and in return they wouldn’t live in our basements when they were 40. This is good progress we’re making. But it’s hard. On days when they’re making me proud learning new things or volunteering in the community or doing their big-kid things, I miss them. I can now count on one hand how many summers I have left before sending my oldest off to college.
I love the people these kids are becoming, but this summer has been bittersweet.
Fellow BabyCenter blogger Tara wrote about her kids growing up this summer, too. You can read her thoughts here.
For kids’ activities and easy recipes, you can find Laura at Peace but not Quiet, and on facebook and Pinterest.
