Now that my kids are a little older and can keep themselves occupied without my help, I’m noticing that I don’t fall into bed drop-dead exhausted at the end of the day anymore. In fact, I actually have a fair bit of free time. I vaguely recall getting to this stage when Justin was about Brayden’s age, but of course at that point I was pregnant again, so I knew I’d be busy again soon enough.

So I have some free time, but the problem is that I don’t know what to do with it. In months past, when I spent most of my time chasing kids around, if I did get a free moment all I wanted to do was have a nap or just relax in front of the TV — I had no energy left for anything else. But now I need something to engage my mind. I’m really looking forward to the San Diego trip, not only because it’ll be a nice getaway but also because I can make a scrapbook of the trip. It’ll be a good creative project to keep me busy.

I can totally understand why so many stay-at-home moms go back to work once their kids are in school. It’s not just because Mom gets bored. For me, it’s a validation thing. Right now, when anyone sees that I’m a stay-at-home mom with two young boys, they look at me with a bit of respect, because God knows it’s an intense job. But later, when my kids are more self-sufficient, and people ask, “So what do you do?”, I think I’d have trouble answering them. It just doesn’t seem nearly as impressive to say you’re a stay-at-home mom when your kids aren’t even home most of the day. So we’ll see what happens in a few years.