Things I WON'T Miss

All of you moms have heard it. "You will miss these days when they're gone," or "I would do anything to go back to when my kids were little." And I believe them. I am sure that as my kids get bigger, their problems will get bigger too. And my life will get more stressful and I will wish I could go back to the days that we are currently experiencing.

But there are SO many things I know I won't miss about these days. And I thought that if I had a list to go back and look at it, it might help me remember why these days aren't perfect. So here are the things I won't miss about raising little kids:

1. Every time I look at McKay, he is either stinky or he has a runny nose.
2. One (or more) child insisting on changing their clothes several times a day, and then running out of clean clothes by the end of the week. And then crying because they have nothing to wear.
3. The ordeal of bedtime. Physically having to take children to the bathroom, brush their teeth, and putting them into bed. Often more than once. It's exhausting.
4. Never being able to go anywhere alone. I am always followed where ever I go. Sometimes I go sit in the bathroom and count how long it takes before someone is knocking at the door. It's not long.
5. Washing urine soaked sheets.
6. Wiping sticky table and chairs several times a day.
7. No flexibility. We are tied to nap schedules and have to plan our lives (especially on trips) around naps.
8. The near constant crying and the whining.
9. Fighting with the girls over their hair--they want to do it one way (that looks terrible) and I want to make it look cute. Which means it needs to be brushed. It really shouldn't be so hard.
10. Shoes are always missing. Sometimes both shoes, but more often, one shoe is missing. And no one can find it.
11.Watching/listening to things over and over and OVER because they are just "so funny."
12. Never getting a full night's sleep, because someone is getting up. Not just babies, either.
13. Not having any personal space--no matter how many times I threaten the kids and tell them to stay out of my bedroom and bathroom, my elastics and bobby pins disappear. And their clothes and toys find a way to my floor.
14. The messes! Wow, kids are messy.
15. The destruction! Wow, kids destroy everything, making sure we never have anything nice in our house.
16. Having to physically buckle everyone into their own seatbelt.
17. Having to find, and pay for, a babysitter whenever we want to go out.
18. Never having a meal uninterrupted because someone always needs something as soon as I sit down.
19. Having to explain why things on AFV are actually funny.
20. Not knowing what someone wants because they are unable to talk.
21. Someone always wants to be touching me. Heaven forbid I try to sit down and have a conversation with my husband. I will instantly have 1-5 children sitting on me, fighting over who gets to sit on me, and crying because they can't sit on me.
22. They are incapable of vomiting in the toilet, opting for vomiting all over themselves in their bed.
23. Sleep is a bad word. No one ever wants to go to sleep. This is especially bad when we are on vacation or camping and are sharing one room (or tent).
24. I have to shuttle them to and from every activity. I'm a taxi.
25. There's no such thing as a "quick trip." Every activity takes monster preparation, even something simple like attending story time at the library. If we don't start getting ready 30 minutes (at least) before we need to leave, we will be late.