As you know, I've got a 2 1/2 year old and a 1 1/2 year old. I love my children dearly, but I've also come to realize that I miss having time to myself and time alone with my husband. Granted, I get that time when the girls go to bed, but even when they're in bed, I'm still in Mom mode - listening for coughs in the night, bed escapees, etc.
Luckily for me, my husband and I are blessed with relatives who love our kids as much as we do and said relatives will occasionally offer (or are bribed into) to watch the girls for the night. At a house other than ours. This doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's a lovely, lovely thing. My husband and I get some quality time together, we get to sleep in the next morning and the girls honestly have fun being the center of someone else's world for a few hours.
As lovely as it is for the girls to be gone for a few hours, and as much as I enjoy the peace and quiet, I have a dirty little secret:
Whenever the girls are gone for the night, I sleep with something of theirs - a blanket, a teddy bear, basically whatever I can find that smells like them.
My husband, of course, finds this highly amusing. And, quite honestly, so do I. But I continue to do it, whenever they're gone for the night. And I'm sure I will for some time to come. I'm hoping to be over it by the time they go to college. I figure that should give me enough time to adjust to the change.
