My daughter turned five in the middle of June and she asks me daily how many days until she gets to go to Kindergarten, today the answer was 40. Only 40 days! No matter how excited she is to start school it saddens me to think this will be the last free time in her life where we get to go on vacation without worrying about school breaks, homework, parent meetings, or how many days she is gone from school.

This summer we have been out of town at cabins or trips every weekend except one since Memorial Day and the weekend we were home we had a wedding to attend. We are very fortunate to have so many places we can go to be on lakes and have a mini vacation each weekend. The downside to being out of town so much is I have to maintain the house, the garden, the pool, the lawn, unpack, do laundry, re-pack, grocery shop, fill up the truck with gas, and get all of the errands and important things finished during the week. I still want my kids to have fun on weekdays, so we fit in a daily trip to parks, zoo’s, museums, water parks, beaches and play dates when we are at home.

I am savoring every one of these weekends and weekday experiences hoping that my daughter is creating memories and learning experiences that she will take with her into her school days. I know I will still have each summer to share with her when she is in school, but my days as a stay at home mom are numbered with only one kid at home, so these fun summer days are so precious to me.

There may only be 40 days left of summer before my daughter is in kindergarten but that is 39 more days of fun with my little girl before she is a big kid in kindergarten. Enjoy your summers with your toddlers, they grow up unbelievably fast!

When I find out that my friends are pregnant or trying to get pregnant, I always tell them one thing, journal what you do every day for a week, so you know how you spent your days before kids. I have tried but I honestly can’t remember what I did with all of my free time when I worked 9-10 hours per day and thought I was soooo busy before kids.

When I was a full time working mom I envied the stay-at-home moms because I thought it would be so much easier. Now that I am a professional mom, there are occasional days where I would love to work full time again. When I worked full time I had daily adult time, lunch and break time to make personal phone calls or exercise and had time to myself with my thoughts. I was able to use my break times to run errands like pick up dry cleaning, go to the post office, run to Target, or get tabs for the car without having two kids to control while you try to communicate to the person behind the counter who is irritated that I have kids with me who are fighting over who gets to hold my purse.

I honestly thought that I would have so much more time to get stuff done if I did not work outside the home full time. I remember telling my sister that I would always have a clean house as a professional mom, have time to make home cooked meals nightly, never have a dirty laundry pile, and I also remember her laughing at me and saying you will see, the more you are home, the messier your house gets.

I adore my kids and love that I am able to be a stay at home mom be able to teach them and show them new sights, and bring them so many places I would not have time to go while working. I love being the primary person to teach them our families values every day and not have to worry about their safety or the lack of attention they are getting while I am at work.

In an I attempt to write this quick post i have cut up an apple, wiped a butt, did the potty training cheer, broke up two disagreements, read a book, kissed away tears and typed one handed while the other arm held my little guy. I wish the younger me understood the extra energy that is needed to be a good mom, how an attentive mom is always on and present and how exhausted a mom can be at the end of each day. If I would have understood how much work it is to be an attentive mom, I would have been a been a much better friend to my friends with kids.

Whether you are a good stay at home mom or a good mom working outside of the house you have my respect! I am sure you understand how different your life is with kids than it was without.

Below is a copy of an article from the column Tell Me About It published in the Washington Post by Carolyn Hax, that I thought was funny and insightful. Enjoy! (Click on the image for bigger view.)