the simple things you miss...

[lola88]

... once you have a baby

What does everyone miss? I miss long showers and time to shave my legs

Not so much baby, but being able to go for a pee in peace. DS1 is 9, DS3 is 3 and I am still pestered if I dare go to the toilet.

I miss not having 2 minutes to poop to myself

I miss not being able to get up and go to the pub, shops or in fact, anywhere

I miss not being footloose and fancy free!

The spare money for more frivolous purchases. It's partially the economy now but with so much going on childcare, I miss just popping out to buy something non-essential. I got a towel out of the airing cupboard yesterday and realised we'd bought it as a beach towel for a foreign holiday a few years ago. I've no idea now when we'll next go abroad, and can't imagine ever browsing in a shop to see what beach towels they have, we'd just take the biggest ones out of the cupboard. It's just not a cost we can justify now.

just the idea of being able to browse the shops and buying some clothes for me, rather than DS.

Oh, and to stop my post killing this thread dead, the ability to eat a meal to myself without having to swap / share it with a two year old who fancies what mum's eating.

whenever I bought some clothes I would take them home, try them on with the various other things I'd thought they'd go well with, prance around in front of the mirror for a while and then hang them back up neatly.

now I just order on line, what i hope will fit and half the time i keep it even if I'd tried it on in a shop I might not have actually bought it.

And my kids are both at primary school.

It was the inability to do a simple thing like walking out of the door to buy a pint of milk without it turning into a NATO exercise requiring a good half-hour preparation.

what Cogito said .Hot cups of tea. My six pack. Being able to eat my dinner with both hands and not having someone stick their fingers in it.

Like Cogito, when they were tiny I used to missed going to the postbox or corner shop without a big faff. I used to phone DH to stop off on his way home as it was just too hard to do these things myself!

Now they are older and I have more freedom, there's not much I can't do, but I am more restricted than pre-children, and have to be at certain places at certain times. I don't walk much any more, as it takes longer than driving, and I can't spare the extra time that must be why I'm so flabby.

Sunday lie ins lithe Stevwrights Sunday love songs - dd2 is seven and i still mourn this. That could be because dp and i relationship gone to shit tho :(

Being able to go to bed and sleep when I'm exhausted

Spontaneously staying late after work for a drink on a sunny day (have to get back for the kids now).

Going out for dinner (more to do with money though really)

what Cogito and poshbird said!
Being thin
My six-pack
Being able to go out for a run and not come back until I felt like it, rather than being tied to a 30-minute timescale (hence the above)
A wardrobe full of quirky, semi-impractical clothes
Having the energy to read complex books: my copy of How The Mind Works has been gathering dust for two years, but I can never get very far after I've read Stick Man to DD for the 900000th time.
Pottering- sort of cooking, as opposed to how-long-will-DD-keep-herself-occupied sort of cooking.
Occasionally I miss my monthly cleaning frenzy, which is really sad.

What festival said.
I miss doing stuff outside the house when DH is at work...having free time from around 7pm-11pm every evening & being 'trapped' inside watching tv/ps3 playing gets boring. I probably wouldn't be out during those hours, but knowing I can't makes it worse, IYSWIM?

Waking up because I wake up. Not because I am woken. Having a haircut without trying to entertain a toddler at the same time.

I used to really miss pottering around the house. Now I've got a little bit of time to do that (2 hours a week to be exact, in term time), I just can't do it anymore! I've lost the knack and everything seems too quiet and odd without them in the house. It's a tragedy.

The cinema. DH and I used to have those Unlimited Cineworld cards and would go to the cinema at least twice a month, sometimes once a week. Since DS was born (he's 14 months) we've been to the cinema once (which compared to some parents I know is quite an achievement in itself already haha).

Also: just having a whole day to myself to do whatever I want.

Being able to wear heels. I can wear court shoes for work but little else. I exist in flats. Heels just hurt too much. I used to wear them as a matter of course!

Being able to walk the dogs before and after work. I now have to have a dog walker as otherwise I'd have to get DD up dead early and the walk would take forever (ooh look, a leaf, ooh, a pebble, ooh a stick etc) and in the evening she's too tired.

Being able to pop to the corner shop in the evening just because I can.

Cooking. I love cooking and baking but rarely cook something even remotely fiddly or consuming now as meals need to be quick as the moment DD sees me start she's literally hanging off me starving hungry.

Weekend lie-ins!

Being able to go to bed when ill.

Waking up naturally, without a doubt. On the rare occasions it happens, I am like a new woman.

Going for a walk down the fields with my dog early on a weekend morning and an occasional lie in.

I miss not being able to just get on and do housework when I wanted/needed to. I also miss having a spotlessly tidy house, and that feeling of achievement from having made it that way (since generally it was a shabby mess and cleaning it up again was an achievement).
I miss being able to make homecooked meals from scratch and having it ready in time for DH getting home, I miss being able to do nice things and spending that little bit more time to make him happy - now it's all about the baby.
I miss being able to take the dog for walks when I wanted to, rather than when LO is settled enough to be able to.
Oh once BBQs get going I will also miss the lovely cocktails I had on those hot summer days, dear god I will miss those!
I also miss not getting thrown up on every day.

We never had spare money for luxury goods/nights out/holidays anyway so that's why I'm sad and miss all the things like the ability to do housework.

Just being able to to pop out anywhere quickly. Also Saturday nights out. That's money and sitters though. Also having time to put my make up on in peace and quiet.