My life

So I am at a weird stage in my life.

I am no longer the Mom of "young" kids.

I no longer carry a diaper bag. I don't have a stroller. I don't know what is going on with The Wiggles, or if the Wiggles are even on anymore. I don't have wipes in my purse, or a bag of cheerios.

I've moved on from juice boxes to Gatorade. From playgrounds to arcades. From
Mac-n-cheese to chicken wings.

No more naptimes. No more time-outs. No more asking "do you have to go potty?"

We don't have night lights. We don't have toy buckets in the living room. We don't have a high chair in the kitchen.

It's been like this for awhile. It has slowly crept up on me. I have tried to ignore it, but it's hit me. It hit me like a ton of bricks.

I am now an "older" kid Mom.

It's weird to me because I am so young. I became a mother at 21, so my entire adult life, I have been a Mom to young kids. I have had a kid with me at home for the past 12 years. And now I don't, and I almost don't know what to do with myself.

All my other friends still have young kids, so they always get together for playdates at the park, or mommy nights out, or craft days on rainy days, but I am not a part of that anymore. I don't have a kid to bring to playdates, mine are at school. And apparently I don't need a night off, because I have my days off.

I think part of the reason it stings so bad is because I am supposed to be a part of the young kids club still. I am supposed to have a baby. I am young, I am at the "baby" age still. I was prepared to have our baby. I was excited to have our baby. I knew that my kids would all go off to school, and I would have a baby home with me. I was a little nervous about having kids in two completely different stages, a baby and big kids, but I was so ready to welcome a new giggling face into our crazy bunch. I was ready to have her be our "peace of mind." I was ready for her to ground us, and to help the "big" kids learn to care for others. I was ready to do it again. I was excited to do see things through a babies eyes again. I was so happy to see my big kids see things through her eyes. It was going to be fun.

Now, that stage is over.

We had our baby, she just couldn't stay with us.

We had that excitement. It was just short lived.

We had that peace. And now she has hers.

And now we are a big kid family. We stay up late on Saturdays and watch movies and have slumber parties. We can all go out to dinner and eat with out having to take turns. We can go see a movie without having to walk out. We have a baby-sitter in our house. We have soccer games and dance recitals. We have chores and x box. We have conversations in the car, and cookies after school. We have Mutual (Young Mens)on Wednesday, and Scouts on Fridays. We have homework and school projects. We have crushes and fights at school. We have late nights with friends. We have allowance. We have care free car rides.

So I've moved on from one stage to the other. I'm sad that I don't get to do the baby stage anymore, but I gotta say, I LOVE being a big kid mom. It's so fun, that I almost don't have time to miss what I can't have.