I knew parenthood would usher in an age of giving up certain things on my end. Sleep was quite obvious. Perhaps a good share of warm meals. Choice of evening literature. But the list continues to grow for things I just didn’t seem to anticipate slipping from my grasp as little ones made their appearances.
1. The living room floor. At any given time you can anticipate something to be clustering it up, if not a permanent stain or the dog trying to consume the last of the milk spill. Currently H boy is using a down throw from the living room to cover up anything with large surface area: the toy box, coffee table, footstool, his sister…
2. Bathroom time as private time. This morning 3 of the 4 of us were in the 2nd smallest room in this house.
3. The best or last swallow of food and drink. Between Miss M’s obsession with anything cup-related and H’s love for food, I have to keep my best snacking for sleeping hours.
4. Showering. I can be quick, but do you know how much they can get into in a 5 minute window? It’s either the house stays [relatively] clean or I do. And no one yells when I smell.
5. Looking cute. By the time I get them dressed and together, we’re lucky if I have both shoes on, let alone mascara. So those few victorious times (today is one of them) are celebrated.
I’m curious what other things parents have given up that they never imagined to be part of the parenthood deal.
I miss spontaneity and long conversations with my wife. My daughter has been gone this week to the grandparents. We spent probably 4-5 hours in the hammock talking.
Yes, adult time with the husband has been lost. I have noticed even with two children, we could still find time to ourselves when the kids were napping but now that we have three, the momments are almost nil. We have to make a real effort to connect on a weekly basis.
I agree with paul; alone time with my husband is something that even with two children could still be achieved, but with three children, the possiblilities of adult conversation of any quality is almost nil. It has taken more of an effort to connect on a weekly basis.