date night!

Brian and I had our first official night out! With the grandparents in town, we took advantage of free babysitting and went out to an early anniversary dinner celebration. Brian and I make four years on Nov. 19 so this was our "Yay, we're still married!" + "Omg, we haven't been out to dinner in 7 weeks," treat.

Getting ready for, and going out to dinner post-baby was noticeably different than pre-baby. Pre-baby, you just got ready. You take your time, change outfits once or twice, try on different kinds of jewelry and you're out the door!

Post-baby was a whole different story. It went down like this:

1. Stand in closet for 10 minutes to find something nice to wear that covers my post-baby belly.
2. Try on 4 different heels to match chosen belly-hiding outfit that used to fit me perfectly and are now either crazy tight or do not go on at all. Decide to endure the pain and stuff my feet into now tight black heels.
   
3. Put Camden down for a nap in his swing and take a shower.
4. Get out of shower and start makeup. Hear Cam downstairs fussing a little. Know that Brian has him and continue with eyeliner.
5. Eyeliner on and Camden's crying has turned into wailing! Go downstairs to see what the fuss is about. Notice Cam's red-faced, I'm-so-upset cry. :( Ask B if he's checked his diaper...nope. (That's what happens when dads are woken up from naps by a crying baby. Instinct is just try to calm, but thinking of next steps takes a little while longer)
   
6. Take Cam, check his diaper and yup, poop it is! Change him and look at the clock. It's been 2 hours since he ate and his last feeding was a small one. Hungry baby. Ask Brian to make Cam a bottle and feed him while I finish getting ready.
7. Think about how I need to pump before we go, and strap on bionic woman pumping stuff. Might as well kill two birds with one stone! Head back upstairs to finish my makeup.
8. Makeup done, hair done and pumping done. Rush downstairs to store the milk and wash the pumping equipment. Then back upstairs to change into my dress and add jewelry. Jewelry!
   
9. Now that I'm ready, take Cam from Brian so daddy can get dressed.
10. Camden seems tired. Cradle him and watch him fall asleep pretty much instantly. Hold him and smile.
    
11. Brian comes downstairs. It's now 4:45pm and our reservations are at 5. Woops. Oh well! Insist that we still kodak moment this outing. Grandparents snap photos of us before we head out the door.
12. Get in car and comment on how NICE it is to go out.
13. Arrive at restaurant and feel like our old selves, sort of.
14. Sit at table, happy to be on a date but think about what Cam is doing...is he crying, is he sleeping, is he being good for the grandparents?
15. Have dinner and glass of wine! Try really hard to talk about anything other than Camden or something related to Camden.
    
16. Enjoy being together as a couple without the baby but miss baby every second we're away.
17. Arrive home at 8:30pm to our perfect little boy. :)
    

Life with a kid will never be the same. But in a good way. Everyone says date nights are important but I've now realized just how important they really are. Sounds silly but the night out rejuvenated me and, I think, helps both of us be better parents. It was HUGE to be able to get dressed up, go out together and enjoy being a couple for a few hours. We loved spending alone time together but the nice thing was that we missed Camden together as well. Going out made me very happy and happy parents make for happy babies!




ready for our night out!


mmmm mmmm, king crab.


happy anniversary and welcome to parenthood!