Parents are people, too

It's amazing how wonderful it feels to take a break from the daily routine sometimes. I'm not trying to say that I'm not happy with the daily routine and what my life is. I love my family and the ability to stay home with my girls. But taking a break and reminding myself that I am more than just "mom!Mom!Mommy!!" is important.

     We have some wonderful friends. We have an incredible church family. And last weekend a couple from our church offered to spend 24 hours with our girls so we could go do non-kid, non-parent stuff. Wow. Since all of our actual family is on the West Coast, we don't have the opportunity to "send the girls to Grandma's" ever. If they go, so do we. And chances are, we want to see the grandparents too, so we aren't about to drop the kids off and leave. All the more reason why this weekend was such a treat.

     What did we do? Kinda nothing and it was beautiful. Well, we got coffee and donuts in the morning, went out to eat a LOT, did some disc golfing and checked out some other places around town, but the main essence of it was that we didn't do much. We didn't even leave town, although we could have. But just staying here, seeing our town from a different perspective than a parent of young kids, and not having to constantly check the clock to ensure we were on schedule was WEIRD. In a wonderful sense, of course. I didn't have to change a single diaper in more than a day; I can't remember when that has happened before!

     And by getting a full night of sleep without having to wake up for midnight feedings or nightmares meant that when we did wake up on Sunday (at a very late 8am!), we were smiling instead of groaning. So now I feel a bit more refreshed; the patience meter is not hovering on empty. And with Spring Break this week, it was a perfect time to fill up the reserves. Moreover, it reminded me that parents are people too, and we deserve to be an adult sometimes. It's good for everyone when we do.

Plus, I'm pretty sure that our kids had fun too. They came home and each took a 3 hour nap. Not to mention that it sounds like they watched a whole lot of Frozen, so it was a win win all around.