After Hours

I remember the first time I thought about my "after hours" life-- you know, the life that you lead while your children are asleep at night, the things you do that they have NO idea about.

I'm not talking about anything racy here...maybe that's going on in YOUR house, but here, things are probably more "G" rated in the after hours than my husband would like!

I'm talking about the moments when you watch t.v. shows you like (not Little Bear or Curious George), read magazines that YOU like, read a few pages in a book (that doesn't have pictures in it), blog, or, if you're really motivated scrub floors, or refrigerators, which is what inspired this post in the first place...

The first time I thought about it I was on a treadmill at 9:15 at night, after Ava was in bed (Ella was not born yet) and the thought dawned on me, "I have an entire life, a version of my old life actually, apart from my daughter and it takes place while she is asleep."

I know that doesn't sound terribly profound, at it's really not (the really profound thoughts only come when I'm well slept, coffeed and have oodles of free-time to do some deep breathing, good reading, and think about all of the philisophical things in the world...so, basically, never!), but in these early years of being a mom it feels as if your ENTIRE life is about your child; what they need, how they are feeling, where they are, what they are doing...and for the most part, almost the entirety of your life is about your child, EXCEPT for those few moments in the after hours...

Now that Ava is almost 3 and Ella is 1 I feel like the separation between the mommy me and the old me are more unified...I'm more of one person now...not fighting like a frustrated toddler, throwing my hands in the air that things are not going MY way, the way I thought they were supposed to go after you have children; easy, peaceful, serene...like nothing has changed except that a quiet, beautiful baby is on the scene to survey everything going on.

Ha! Jokes on me right?

Anyway, so the moment that began all this thinking about my after hours life was last night, at about 11:30 when I was cleaning my fridge. FINALLY.

My sister, can testify that my fridge (Katie, if you're reading, please do comment) looked like something out of a frat house. It was DISGUSTING. Every shelf caked with crumbs and goo. I'm not kidding when I say goo. Something, something and something spilled in there over the last six weeks (I honestly don't remember when I gave it a good cleaning last) and then got smeared around over and over again by the bottoms of jars and jugs and cans that have been sitting on top of it.

Two of the shelves smelled like beer. Even after I washed them with soap and water! And there were unidentifiable gooey orange drips of something oozing down the back.

You ask, how in the world did you fridge get THAT disgusting... well...it's been on my to-do list to hit up in the after hours for weeks now...but really, ladies, television or fridge cleaning? a good book or fridge cleaning? shopping for spring clothes or fridge cleaning? Blogging or fridge cleaning?

That's exactly how it got that disgusting.

So anyway, here is what my status on Facebook said today:

Lisa Littlewood

has a new appreciation for all of the things I never knew my mom was doing while I was sleeping...like staying up until midnight to clean the fridge because otherwise there would be inches of gook growing in it! I love that being a mom makes me appreciate my own even more...

So today I'm thankful for all of the things my mom (and dad- I should have Scott write that post) in their after hours lives while I was a kids. The things I never knew even needed to be done, but that they did because they loved us, because they wanted the best for us, because they were responsible and caring parents who wanted to provide a loving home for their four children to grow up in.

Thanks mom and dad!

Would love to hear what ya'll do in the after hours! Leave a comment and let me know!