"Before we had kids..."

One of the benefits of this photo tagging project I have undertaken, is getting to relive our marriage and lives to date.  (I'm almost done with 2011 in case you were wondering, which you probably weren't).  For so many years we were so focused on getting a baby that it seemed like all we thought and talked about.  But when looking back on those years, and the ones before, I am struck again and again about how much fun we had pre-Luke.  We still have a lot of fun and Luke makes me laugh every day but it's a lot different from the freedom we experienced the first 7 years years of our marriage.

Besides our vacations, this day in particular stood out: September 29, 2007.  (I was 24 and Matt was almost 24).  We had been married almost 18 months.  It was a Saturday and we spent the morning and early afternoon in our pajamas, watching The Office season 2 on DVD, and building matching Lego Snow Speeder sets.

from Brickfile.com

Because it wasn't enough to buy one set, we bought two so we could both have one.  Just typing that makes me smile.  I know I'm shattering all sort of expectations of how cool we are (hahahaha) with this post but, to me, this is a perfect example of maximizing our pre-baby lives.  Here is why:

1) We slept in until probably around 10.
2) We had lots of little choking hazard sized pieces all over the coffee table and floor, well within Luke's current reach.
3) We got to do exactly what we wanted when we wanted to. 

I know I should post something much more hip like going out with friends or taking a crazy vacation (both of which we did too) but it's something about this completely lazy and happy Saturday morning that makes me feel like we really enjoyed our pre-baby days to the fullest. 

Probably brought on by my project but lately we've been talking about our "before we had kids" a lot.  The sleeping in, staying up late, making smoothies at 10pm (the noise now would wake Luke easily), leaving the house at night, the running to the store without working it around naptimes, picking a vacation spot without really thinking about the drive time or how kid friendly it might be, Sunday afternoon naps, taking the jet skis out, skydiving, etc.

At one point Facebook let you write something under your profile picture (many versions ago) and for a long time mine was "Parents always talk about "before we had kids..."  This is our "before we had kids..." gotta enjoy it!"  I remember thinking that a lot and I really feel like we did a pretty good job.  It's amazing how fast I started saying that though "Before we had Luke we...".  Life was certainly different then. 

Being a parent is both exactly and nothing like I thought it would be.  It's both harder and easier.  It's exhausting and yet incredibly rewarding.  I love our son and am beyond glad he is in our lives.  But I am also glad we spent the years before him doing things we can't easily do now.  I don't think I have any regrets how we spent our "before we had kids..." lives which makes finally being parents all the sweeter.