What do you miss being able to do?

[Patiencedeficit]

Much as I love being a parent to 2 adorable/demanding DDs (4 years and 4 months) there are some things I miss being able to do... like having as much tomato ketchup as I like with my peas, eating a chocolate biscuit before dinner and reading the Sunday papers with a coffee (uninterrupted). These are of course minor things and I will no doubt miss having tiny children around one day... What things do you miss?

i'm sensing lots of peas-with-ketchup after bedtime

Uninterrupted sleep.

Going out with DH occasionally.

Evenings out in general.

Easy shopping.

Cooking for pleasure rather than struggling to find things which fit around everyone's intolerances / allergies / fussiness.

Enough adult conversation to keep me fully sane.

Being able to wee in peace, or do anything for 1 minute without interruption for that matter.

I miss being able to just leave the house, without it taking 10 mins.

I miss sex too, Im a single parent and haven't indulged since conception. Actually, scrap sex - I miss cuddles, and the ability to meet someone to give me them.

I miss sleep.

I miss head space. Im permanently aware of DS, even if he is asleep. I never relax.

I miss long, lazy showers.

I could go on here, but Im beginning to make myself fed up!

Sorry sillymilly! Didn't mean to make you feel fed up.

My mother has told me that the 'head space' never changes and that she is still permanently aware of me even now I am 32. Poor mother. I think I am beginning to worry about her just as much though...

@nickel. Yes lots of peas and ketchup when no one is looking.
Also chocolate biscuits when no one is looking...
DD: 'are you eating something mummy'
Me: 'umm.. mmm mmm mmm (hastily finish mouthful) - no'

Sorry I meant @ nickel

DD eats homemade cheese biscuits (cos they're got no cow's milk in- they're made with vitalite and goat's cheese), so I eat good biscuits at the same time.
well, as good as "Freefrom" biscuits can get. :(

I miss Silence.

Oh there's so much I miss, that I sometimes find myself wishing I hadn't had kids

Going to the loo/ having a bath/ de-fuzzing in peace
Being spontaneous.
Nights out at the theatre/ dancing/ even cinema
Having some disposable income
Socialising. My best friends have distanced themselves from me since I had children.
Being able to hop on a train/ in the car and just go to visit friends or family who live hours away.
Watching a film/ TV programme in peace.
Lie-ins
Going out without constantly being on 'toilet alert'
Holidays that feel like a holiday. Family holidays are mostly just surviving in a different place with the added inconvenience of not having all your usual stuff with you.
The house staying tidy when I clean it - now I find it hard to find the motivation to clean and tidy, because what the hell is the point?
Knowing that my bathroom is in a presentable state should unannounced visitors show up. With 2 little boys, I just never know what they might have done up there.
Shopping - DH and I used to enjoy browsing shops/ trying things on etc - now we go, buy and get out asap as it soon becomes stressful.
Wearing nice clothes
Travelling - it's just too expensive to see the world with children in tow
Adult conversation. OK, DH has never been great at that, but at least I had plenty when I had a FT job.
Doing admin tasks eg filling in forms, writing emails, other miscellaneous stuff without constant interruption.
Spending the evening with DH trying out new recipes/ cooking for pleasure. With children to get in bed cooking is a chore, even more so because DSs are so fussy.
Having the house to myself in the evening. I teach music lessons from home because it's the only work I can fit around DC, but even though I need the money, I still feel relief when one of my pupils cancels and it means there will be no external interruptions.
Living without guilt. The constant guilt hanging over me because there is so much more I could/ should be doing with my DC but don't because I have no energy or they have just wound me up so much that I have to ignore them for a while to avoid snapping.

I miss my old life so much :(

Whoops, didn't realise quite what an essay I'd written there .

Spontaneity. Time alone, just to think would be wonderful. If I ever have any childfree time I always end up cleaning . Adult conversation that doesn't involve anything to do with small people.

And sleep. A whole night's unbroken sleep. DS is only 3 months so I know it will improve but think I need to be more proactive with DH to ensure I have the odd hour alone. Sometimes I really envy him going out to work.

I miss not having to think. Not having to consider everyone in my family's movements/needs/feelings at all times.

twolittlemonkeys - are you me? Apart from the teaching music part, not even a tone deaf person would learn music from me. Otherwise it was like reading my thoughts!

Watching X Factor very loudly with lots of wine

Eating a nice meal - if DD (4m) is awake then we throw food down us before she starts to get upset and if she's asleep we throw food down us in case she wakes up!!! DH has promised me a nice meal out before I go back to work (he has until January!!!)

Managing to pee without it stinging (DD only 8 wks)
Having a poo/shower without shouting 'I'm coming' (like she understands it!)
Not worrying
Being able to reach things....iPhone always just out of reach during a long feed!

.......however it took yeeeeears to get Squidger, including a miscarriage and 2 rounds of ivf.....really don't miss all that 'am I ovulating...am I pregnant...is that my period' angst. God it was exhausting and so draining and made me so insane. Poor DH - I was crazed.

X

Being able to just pop out for dinner/a drink/a trip to the cinema at a moments notice - now its all needing to diarise and sort out a babysitter etc. Being able to go away for a holiday with just a trundle bag of stuff.

I guess I miss the spontaneity and lack of luggage a childfree life offered...

you need to drink more water.
:)

that bloody child-not-being-able-to-let-me-out-of-her-sight!
I can't even take my shoes off when I get home if she's seen me first - you should have heard the howls! It sounded like I'd left her and was never coming back!

Eating in places where the decor isn't in primary colours and the chairs covered in wee-proof plastic

Nipping out to the shops past 7.30pm when DH isn't at home. I recently almost forgot i had a 22mo DS soundly asleep upstairs and even got my shoes on before realising i couldn't go out or Social Services would be after me.

Having a luxury poo without the handle creaking and slowly turning downwards followed by "Muuuummmmmyyyyyy!!!" I didn't realise just how much i prized my luxury poos back in the day.

Other than that we roll along pretty much the same way we always did and DS comes along for the ride with us. We play our own music, which he loves, we take him most places we go (including music festivals) and we've just 'grown' to accommodate another little person though thankfully he is adaptable enough to accommodate us too! Wouldn't swap it for the world.

I miss never being able to totally relax as you do before kids, because at the back of your mind, you know they might wake up or feel ill at school.

Leisurely weekends where we could do exactly what we wanted.

Re the chocolate biscuit, can't you just hide in the kitchen for a minute while you eat it. That's what we do

Having a long soak in the bath on my own with a glass of wine and a book.

Messing around at the piano without DS saying "mummy, can you play the Wombles again?" and trying to climb on to my lap.

I miss sleep I really really do I haven't had a full nights sleep in 4 years