Life after kids - do you think about it? #EmptyNest

I have two kids (both boys)... a seven month old and a four year old. The seven month old has a hard time sleeping longer than two-hours at a time at night, doesn't nap during the day, eats like there's no tomorrow and is generally a good baby. The four year old is addicted to electronics, loves Fisher-Price toys, has a mind of his own and is also a good kid. I love being a stay-at-home mom (most of the time) and I agree that it is the hardest, most unrelenting, unpaid job... unless you count dirty diapers as payment in which case I'm filthy rich. But there are times when it just gets overwhelming and it's then that I think about life after kids.

I can't wait for those years when it'll just be the Hubster and I. I know I'll miss our kids being kids, but I can't stop thinking about sleeping in, staying up late, drinking regular coffee without worrying about the baby getting the caffeine in the breast milk, selling the minivan and getting a mini coupe, going out to eat in the middle of the night... there is so much that I miss about our old life. I thought about it so much that it made me feel guilty for wanting it so soon. I mean come on... the kids aren't even in school yet!

So one day the Hubster and I are in bed and I casually ask him if he ever thinks about life after kids and as it turned out, he does! Whew... Now we stay up at night sometimes and talk about what we'll do when it'll be just us two again. We have a mental countdown (17 years and 5 months to go) and a list of things that we want to do.

Sometimes though, I feel bad talking about being an empty nester. As though I don't enjoy my life, my kids or our family. Which, by the way, I do. Other times, thinking about the future is the only thing that gets me through the day. Am I alone in this? Tell me I'm not. Tell me that you do too. Tell me that you have travel plans, tell me that you have a list of things that you're planning on doing once the kids are grown and out of the house, tell me that it doesn't make me a bad Mama for sometimes wanting them to grow up faster just so I can have some time by myself and with the man I chose to live the rest of my life with. So tell me... am I alone in this?