Reveling in Bedtime

Once you become a parent, none of your time is really "Yours" anymore.  It is now owned by another human being.  Someone who calls you mother or perhaps father now has taken over your world.  Weekends may allow for some sleeping in, but rarely am I woken up because I am done sleeping, I am usually woken up by someone else's internal alarm clock, namely my son's.  From the moment they are awake your world revolves around them one way or another.  
For me it's getting ready for school and trying to make it to work and then coming home and playing and juggling things to get dinner in time and cleaning and bath time and bedtime rituals.  And after 10 times of my son getting up for a hug or a bandaid or a drink or to hug the dog and now he needs a kleenex and another hug and to see the stars and hug the cat and now another drink....  and then there is that sweet freedom when he finally stays in bed and actually falls asleep.  And you want to jump for joy and party (but not too loudly of course or you might wake him).  This is the time in the day where you actually fully exhale the stress of the day and try to take the time to do something completely selfish like work out, or watch an adult show on the television or read an adult book.  I know that I love every moment spent with my son but I also love the time when he is asleep as well.  I don't feel bad about loving this time.  I know that I need it for my sanity.  I know that every parent does.  I actually feel kind of lucky that in my singledom I don't actually have to share any second of this time with anyone right now.  I get to watch what I want to watch and do what I want to do and not have to worry about entertaining another person or keeping them happy.  I have been reveling in this selfish time of mine, and I must say that I LOVE bedtime.  I also love sleep which means that I of course love my own bedtime.  Getting completely comfortable in my bed with the covers and the pillow just right and feeling the exact right temperature!  I try to never spend this time doing things that I could do when Liam is awake or that he could be apart of.  Such as cleaning, or cooking, these things are easily done together and I prefer to spend this time on something that can only be done alone or with other adults.  Needless to say, this time is the sweet release, the freedom from all of the catering to another person and getting to cater to yourself.

My favorite ways to revel in post bedtime Mommy Time are:
Working Out
Watching something on TV
Blogging
Reading
Eating Ice Cream and not having to share
Eating anything and not having to share (or hide in a closet or sneak around the corner so that you don't get caught haha)
Drinking Tea
Playing some Stupid App game on my phone
Taking Pictures of the Dog & Cat sleeping adorably
Perusing the Internet
Catching Up with my "Social" Life  and trying to keep in touch with people in the real world
 Etc.


What are some of your favorite ways to revel in this time?