Little Green Apples: Friends With Kids

James and I saw this movie last night, because let’s face it, date night is never complete without Jon Hamm (and paying for a sitter and the guilt involved in leaving your children...aaaahhh...you get my point). The story involves three couples at various stages of couplehood/parenthood (including the male and female “friends” who decide to have a baby together without the drama of a relationship so they are free to date other people – yes, it is as predictable as it sounds but it works so it’s okay). There is a scene at the beginning of the movie where the two childless couples show up for dinner at the home of the couple with children and chaos reigns – dinner is half-cooked, kids and toys are everywhere, the couple is stressed and arguing. Been there...on both sides of the door. There were several awkward and uncomfortable moments in the movie, more so because they felt very real. These moments highlighted the fact that having children definitely impacts your relationship and quite frankly, your free time. Hahahaha! Free time! Hahahaha!

Today is a dreary rainy Sunday, the kind of day where you just want to curl up on the couch with a book or a movie on TV. Except you can’t, because the minute you even THINK about such a plan, there is a child dressed in a Minnie Mouse costume demanding that you pay attention to her by repeatedly crashing into the china cabinet with her ride-on toy and laughing demonically.

Since James and I were already on Stella-watch, the to-do list was fair game.

So far today between the two of us we have:

Made breakfast (pancakes), lunch and two snacks
Washed, dried and ironed three loads of laundry
Polished a few pairs of shoes
Made a big pot of soup
Supervised the decorating of Easter eggs
Had one long-distance phone call
Vacuumed two floors (for the second time this weekend)
Sold an item on kijiji
Done some work for a client
Dismantled an abandoned fort
Dismantled an abandoned concert stage
Dusted the fans and baseboards
Written this blog post

...and it’s only 4pm. And yes, we're exhausted.

We also supervised the girls, in case anyone is worried.

After watching the movie last night, I started wondering what we did with our free time before we had kids. I must admit, this topic comes up frequently within our social circle.

There is talk of long Sundays – almost too long! – where we would wake up at 10am or later, toss out a few options for the day (brunch? the movies? (gasp) both?) I have fuzzy memories of all day TV box set marathons. Sometimes we would just go to the mall ... because we had nothing better to do. Nothing.Better.To.Do.

It is important to note that this is not a dig at those without kids. In fact, if you don’t have kids, stop reading now and go watch a movie. Or eat a meal in peace. Do it for me, please. Except don't be surprised if this gal shows up at your door:

Whatcha doin?

I can't help but feel that we should have been much more productive pre-kids, and yet we have nothing to show for our time. Neither of us wrote a novel, learned a new language or a musical instrument, we didn’t even take the time to learn how to use our camera properly. Now, the mere thought of sleeping in past 7am (without a child's elbow in your side or foot in your face) is a luxury.

Even the six-year-old-pre-teen in our house can’t get any downtime on a lazy Sunday; Minnie Mouse is following her from room to room and smacking her on the head with some cardboard when she stops paying attention to her.