LOL Yeah - I always read the posts about babies and preK parents and chuckle. I never knew how much HARDER it was when they grew up! Mine are MS and hot damn, I spend 30 min every morning doing something related to them whether it's about school stuff, emails, appt, activities, etc. The carpools for sports, the weekend activities, the worries about college...whoosh! And forget about going to sleep at 8p and the weekends - ugh - my bedtime seems to be way before theirs

I never knew the mental challenges and work that is exhausting coupled with the actual hours they are up because the whole 12 hours of sleep as a baby was awesome!
I find it interesting that so many people talk about staying out of the workforce when kids are really young only to return once they hit school age. But you know once they hit that end of MS/beginning of HS ages, it kinda starts all over again in terms of really wanting to be there for your kids emotionally and mentally. You hope you did well in laying the foundation but whether they may have developed learning disabilities or something emotionally even hormonally impacting them, it really isn't just a straight line of less time and energy spent on a kid as they get older. It is easier in that we can do more as a family together but I don't think it's as easy as I thought it would be when they were 5! Hah!