Things I miss and things I love

Wow, it's been a long time since I've had time or energy to post an entry here! 
The fall was basically hellish, with Big Sis starting school and a long arduous transition period (she loved being there, but hated the process of getting ready and leaving home to get there); Mr. C being really busy at work, and me starting three new part-time teaching jobs.  I was pretty much a wreck by December!
Winter has been smoother, although it's been the winter of illnesses in our house as well as many others' houses, as I've heard... we are hanging on for real spring to arrive!  Amazing, though, what a bit of warm sunshine can do to make everything seem ok again.

So, having found at least part of my sense of humour again, I was musing in the shower this morning about what I miss from my B.C. (before children) life.  Here, in no particular order, are five of those things:

1. Hot tea.  Being able to make tea when I decide I would like some, instead of finally getting around to it an hour later; then being able to drink it before it goes cold.  Not just a few sips - I mean the whole cup.

2. Privacy.  Privacy seems to have become extinct in our house!  This morning during my 10-minute shower, I had no less than four different visits by the girls, throwing open the shower curtain to show me something.  Gone are the days when I could choose when to go into the bathroom, do any number of bathroom things by myself, and not be a) accompanied and/or pushed aside ("no, wait, *I* need to go now!") or b) calling through the door to answer questions, referee fights, etc.


3. Clean floors and furniture.  I'm not a clean freak, but I like it when our floors are clean.  Ditto for the furniture.  So the constant trails of crumbs, bits of food, marks from crayons and markers, and indeterminate smears can drive me batty some days!  I sweep.  I vacuum.  I mop.  I de-cat-hair and dust things.  I bought a slip-cover for our now-ratty-looking loveseat, so it would look neater and be easy to keep clean.  I do all of these things, frequently, and mere hours later it is impossible to tell they were done at all!  I like that our house looks like a family home, where little kids live, but I remember the days when I didn't step on something crunchy/smushy every time I crossed the floor...


4. Movies.  I miss the ability to watch a movie.  At the theatre.  At the early OR late show.  I have never been a big movie-watcher, but I miss the ability to go if we want to!  Mr. C. is much more of a movie-fan, and I wish I had known that it would be virtually impossible to get to the movies after children, so that we could have gone more B.C.  Between exhaustion, bedtime routines, the difficulty of finding a babysitter, and the costs associated with a child-free night out, we have been to exactly ONE - that's right, ONE - movie together since Big Sis was born in 2006.  sigh.  (We were, however, quite proud of ourselves because we managed to rent, and watch, TWO movies over New Year's day weekend this year... Now we're only 2 Harry Potters behind!)


5. Talking with my husband.  We talk all the time, of course, but I really miss the space and time to have great conversations, walking and talking, mulling things over, dreaming about the future, etc.  We are trying to have a "check-in" chat every two or three nights, where we just take 10 mins post-bedtime routines, before t.v, computer time, cleaning up, or whatever.  This is good but challenging!  We've sort of fallen out of the habit over the last month or so, and the less we do it the harder it is to keep it up.  It's really important to us both, but it still somehow gets pushed to the back burner as we try to deal with all the "in your face" tasks that remain at the end of the day.  But we're trying. 


Of course, there are countless things that more than make up for these missing elements of our former life.  Bedtime snuggles; discovering new children's books, and re-discovering old favourites, during our daily read-aloud times and weekly library trips; the giggles of the girls as they plot and play; family sing-a-longs; seeing my husband as the amazing father I knew he would be... these are just a few of the things I love about our life.  I can't imagine "our family" as just the two of us, and the time B.C. seems so far away it might as well have been another life.  But some days, I just really want a hot cup of tea!