Things I Miss
So I’m 9 months into my maternity leave and my world has changed massively from last year and immeasurably from 2 years ago. When we got married 2 and ½ years ago, we spent 3 weeks exploring Asia. Exciting adventures, afternoon snoozes by the pool, dinner and drinks out. Feels like a world away now. I’m not complaining by the way, I love the way our life has evolved around our little man and how our days pan out now, but there are a few things I do miss about my former life as a carefree non-parent!
Lay-ins
This probably is the most obvious one. Even if I do have a lay-in at the weekend, I probably only lay in until 8am and I feel a bit guilty for my husband having to get up with Austin.
Work Trips
Over the years, I’ve been lucky enough to work at some great companies and often there’s been opportunities to go on some pretty fantastic work trips. Day trips to London to cool offices like Google and Facebook. Evenings or lunches out, being wined and dined at fantastic exciting venues.
We were fortunate enough to be nominated for a number of marketing awards over the years, so we got to attend a number of posh award ceremonies and, once or twice, we even took home a prize!
Some of the offices we visited were awesome. Rooftop views, office bar, even the reception furniture was funky. I remember one place serving fresh waffles to the staff and visitors on arrival and another one had a giant cow in the waiting area.
Late Night TV Bingeing
This is totally a thing of the past. This goes hand-in-hand with the early mornings. I struggle to stay up past 11 and much prefer to be in bed by 10pm these days. It’s not worth making the following day harder by staying up until 3am, snuggled on the sofa with my husband, just watching ‘one more episode’ of this or that.
Romantic Dinners Out
This is something we used to do a fair bit of and now we’ve only done once in the 8 months since we’ve had Austin. I do miss going out for dinner, but I also love that we now cook amazing food, sit at the dinner table, put on some music and enjoy each other’s company this way. I love cooking, but I hate prepping and my husband loves prepping, so together we are a pretty good team. I know we actually have a lot of people around us who would babysit if we asked, but I don’t miss it enough to inconvenience people on a regular basis.
Using My Brain
Okay, obviously I still use my brain, but not as much as I when I was at work. I miss complex spreadsheets, management meetings, working with my colleagues to come up with solutions to challenges, marketing plans and co-ordinating lots of things at the same time. I’m lucky to still have my blog, so I can still work on things I love and challenge my grey matter that way.
Fully Focused Conversation
This is the hardest one for me. Austin is nearly always with me, so whenever I’m having a conversation, I’m only partly in that conversation. I always have to have an ear out for Austin, even if I’m not holding him at that exact moment. Is he okay? Is he crying? Does he need a nappy change? Is he hungry? He’s a child who needs a lot of attention and a lot of entertaining, so it’s hard for me to have a fully attentive conversation if he’s needs me to play with him.
What do you miss about your pre-parent life? I bet there’s loads more you’d add?
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Disclosure: This is a collaborative post with Apres Furniture