​I actually really dislike that question these days.  As I’m nearing my mid 30’s, I’m starting to realise that

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a) I’m getting old,

b) I am not that cool anymore and

c) I care what age other people think I am.

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In a group of mums I’m no longer the young hip mum that I used to be (well in my mind at least) but am instead the weathered down, knackered, stressed out mum I vowed to never become.

You see when I had my daughter and was a first time mum, I mooched around going for long walks and chilling out with my baby in cool, hip Sydney cafes and restaurants thinking I had this baby thing sussed.  Not to say I wasn’t struggling with breast feeding or wouldn’t have killed for a decent night’s sleep, but I was doing all those things you do when you have your first baby.  Running, walking, eating out – ALOT and basically determined that this baby wasn’t going to change our lives which of course, as we all know, is ridiculous.  After all, why would you have children, if it wasn’t to change things? 
 

We now have 3 and I can count on one hand how many times we’ve eaten out in the last 12 mths and as for going for walks or running forget it.  Has anyone tried to go for a walk with 3 children.  I have.  The first time, my then 2.5 yr old thought it’d be funny to run away so I ran after her with 1 twin strapped into the baby Bjorn, whilst enlisting the help of a 10 yr old to watch the other twin so I could stop my daughter from running into the road. 

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Undeterred, I attempted a second time (6 mths later) with daughter on the scooter.  45 minutes it took to walk a 7 minute trip to the park.  Forget it. 

I am a mother of 3 in my mid 30’s I say to people, however in my head, I often feel like I’m still in my 20’s.  A time when weekends were spent drinking, socialising, sleeping and reading the papers whilst weekdays were for working during the day and catching up with friends or fitting in a trip to the gym in the evenings.  Simple times, but were they appreciated?  Of course not, they were spent dating and figuring out careers and nursing way too many hangovers.

I asked my husband how old he saw himself as and without hesitation he replied 16.  He was serious too, which explains the dirty laundry still not making it to the basket and a couple of other things.
Having said the above, although I miss being young, free and single I would never change it.  I know so much more now and that career of mine, am now Managing Director of our household and have 3, sometimes 4 people reporting in to me.  Not bad for a woman who sometimes forgets to brush her hair.

Lastly, one good thing about being stuck in my 20’s is, I used to frequent many nightclubs and like to think I can hold my own on a dancefloor (did someone say moonwalk?).  So, when all the latest and greatest hits are blasting out of the radio, I can dance with my kids, make them laugh and pretend am in a nightclub and not in my living room, surrounded by debris and dressed in my daggy home clothes. 
 

What age are you stuck at and why?