On a local parenting mailing list, a mom asked everyone how much free time other parents get. Since becoming a stay at home mom, I’ve had maybe an hour of “free time” to myself, without The Little Empress. And that “free time” was spent doing interviews for the paper that I contract with so I don’t really count that as free time.
And while I will have moments of weakness — usually after a bad day when TLE has bitten me incessantly or been unreasonably cranky for some reason — I don’t regret being at TLE’s beck and call while she’s little. As I’ve said here before, the days are long but the years are so short. TLE is our “one and done”; we don’t plan on having any more children so every precious moment we have together is a moment well spent. Being a stay at home mom, I’ve come dangerously close to taking these moments for granted. Day after day, day in and day out, “just” taking care of The Little Empress…. and yet, when I take a moment to step back, I feel so blessed to have witnessed so much of her life. Every day, she learns or tries something new. She changes day to day and I am here to see all of it. And I can’t ask for anything more, even time alone.
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Text and photographs copyrighted by Michelle N unless otherwise noted.