<p>You know, I actually have to keep my teeth clenched together and breathe through them rather than open my mouth when I am around cute juicy babies. Otherwise I swear to the God I don’t believe in that I am always terribly tempted to bite their little fat arms. In fact, I did use to bite my son, gently, on the arm when he was a toddler. Well, biting is the wrong word, but just sort of worry his arm a little with my teeth. I stopped when one day, I had been on a business trip, I came in to say goodnight to him and he said to me, “Mom, bite me.” :eek:</p>
<p>True story. He appears however to be relatively normal.</p>
<p>I have come to believe that for some of us mother love is fiercer than previously understood by scientists…So, in regards to the OP, I expect I will never “get my life back”. Don’t really want it. Like the activities, glad to have them back, but I bet most of us actually welcome the Class 6 hurricane that child-rearing brought to our souls.</p>
<p>DrDrewsMom, If you “win” then I must “lose.” Your youngest will graduate when you are 48; I was 48 when my younger son was born (almost 49)! The pregnancy was a real shock. I thought I was sick until I was over 4 months along. But I haven’t really lost - my younger S is a delight.</p>
<p>BHappyMom, I’ll bet you didn’t have your two as late in life as I did!</p>
<p>Raising kids was the best, most fun, most rewarding experience in my life. When I say “getting my life back”, I didn’t say it was going to be better. :(</p>
<p>My mother used to say she would be going to my younger brother’s HS graduation in a wheelchair (see was 33 when he was born). She almost made it to his 20th HS reunion, passing away a few months after her oldest grandchild’s HS graduation. </p>
<p>Yes, I am glad I started early. One of my best friends had her first at 19, and is now a three-time grandmother. You never know.</p>
<p>katiamom - I only will be working Sat., Sun., and Christmas vacation. Teaching skiing is not a way to make money. I need my real job to pay the bills.</p>
<p>NYMomof2 - Whoa Momma! You win!!! I bow down to you of course one of the great things about being an older Mom is you do have a grasp of the really important things in Life…I brainwashed my son on a regular basis and by the age of 4 he knew that when mom was old and in the ‘home’, he was to come and rescue me at least once a week and take me out for Lunch & Strong Drink… ;)</p>
<p>dstark - re “getting your life back” it’s like finding an old bellbottomed brown suit in the back of the closet - it doesn’t fit anymore…and you can’t believe it was ever yours…My DH & I have been having some fun dates lately discussing what we want to do differently once the last one is gone…and ‘touch wood’ as long as we remain healthy it is an exciting time of life. :)</p>
<p>It seems just yesterday that we were watching Barney and Power Rangers on TV, collecting Pokemon cards and looking everywhere for a Red Ranger costume. My son is now a senior in HS and daughter is a freshman. Funny thing is they still watch Power Rangers and Pokemon sometimes!!!</p>
<p>BHappyMom, I’ll have to start brainwashing my sons now - I hope it’s not too late!</p>
<p>DrDrewsmom, You’re right; we were financially secure and my career was well-enough established that I was able to coast for a while. There are advantages to having kids so late, althought it was not what we chose. It took us 9 years to have the first. But we were so happy to have the kids that minor details like advanced age don’t really matter.</p>
<p>Sometimes I look at the photos of them when they were all sweet and young, learning how to talk (we were convinced they were all geniuses) and wish I could have them back that way, just for a day. I appreciated them then and don’t regret anything (well, much) but those days are gone forever. sigh.</p>
<p>And then I think about how much WORK it was and can’t believe the running around I did with the older ones, with a younger one and even a baby in tow. It’s truly a job for the young and fit!</p>
<p>I haven’t done any brainwashing on my girls, but did make them promise to take care of me when I had Alzheimer’s disease. I sweetened the pot by reminding them if they promised me now, I wouldn’t remember later anyway, so they might as well their mom happy. </p>
<p>massmom: my grandmother didn’t get married until she was in her 30’s, which was old maid territory for her generation (she was kind of a wild woman, I think she was engaged 6 times before she finally settled on one guy). Then she had 6 kids. Maybe it kept her young though, because she lived to be 101.</p>
<p>Irishmomof2 - My grandfather didn’t get married until he was in his mid-thirties. I just found out he never graduated from HS, went to work after 8th grade. He worked until forced into retirement at 70. Short break for WWI. I have a picture of him I found when cleaning out my mother’s house. He must of been 20 or so. Everytime I look at it I can see my brother and younger S. It’s amazing. Just framed it, ripped corner and all.</p>
<p>When I worked for the Computer Science department at Carnegie-Mellon, I remember meeting a student named Rikki Borge, the daughter of Victor Borge (an old favorite of mine). When I ran across a Victor Borge special on one of the fundraising nights for the local PBS channel the other night, I wondered, “Whatever happened to Rikki?” To my amazement, she then appeared in the local studio about 5 minutes later. I was shocked that she was so old. And if she is old, what does that say about me?</p>
<p>It’s kinda funny. Hubby is considerably older than I am & when we’re together with my friends, he always remarks at how young they are, forgetting I’m the same age (late 40s). He & I are aging pretty well, for the most part (more gracefully than many of our peers in any case).</p>
<p>Loved the years with infants, toddlers, early childhood. Teen years have been more of a challenge–not because the kids were difficult but due to chronic health issues with each of us. I’m hoping that the end of puberty will allow their bodies to settle & for all of us to enjoy some calmer happy times before they have serious attachments & make serious commitments–to schools, work, partners, etc.
Am very grateful for the steady, loving support of my spouse through the ups & downs of raising our two darlings, especially his willingness to keep working to help pay for their tuitions & increase his pension.</p>
