Mommy and Daddy's First Night Out

On Friday night, Guy and I went out on our first "date night" since Ellie was born. We bought tickets to see the Goo Goo Dolls before Ellie arrived, knowing that at some point we would have to leave her with a babysitter and go have some time for ourselves. When we made these plans originally, I did not think it was going to be as hard on me emotionally as it actually turned out to be.

We asked my BFF Destinee to watch Ellie for the night, since she is the person who will be watching her during the day when I go back to work. Destinee also has a little girl, Whitnee, who is a year old and is very energetic. So, we figured a trial run would be a good idea to see how Whitnee did with having a younger baby around.

So, on Friday I spent all day getting myself pumped up to go out. I wasn't nervous about leaving Ellie with Destinee, I was just worried about leaving her in general. Up to that point I'd spent just about every waking moment with her for the past 5 weeks, so it felt strange to know that there would be a few hours where we would be apart. I pumped milk so that she would have plenty to eat, snuggled and kissed on her a lot, and even went neurotic on her for a second and took her to the doctor because I'd convinced myself she had acid reflux (which, of course, she does not. The doctor pretty much told me I was overreacting (not in so many words) and then charged me $20 for it.)

When 6pm rolled around, we loaded her up in the car with everything she could possibly need - milk, bottles, diapers and extra clothes, her music box, gripe water, et cetera, et cetera. When we arrived at Auntie Destinee's, she was (of course) perfectly content, while Guy and I were the ones who had to go back for one last hug and kiss. Finally, we pulled ourselves away and headed out, but it was all we could do not to chuck the concert tickets out the window and turn around. So, obviously it was much harder on us than it was on her.

We had a wonderful time (even though I totally forgot my I.D. so I couldn't have a beer OMG), and the band was fantastic. I had no idea I would miss her so much in just a few short hours - I had to turn my phone off to keep from checking it every 5 minutes, but in the end, it was a good thing. Ellie did great - she took her bottles no problem (I was concerned since she's been exclusively breast fed up to this point,) she slept in the pack 'n play for Destinee (even though she totally won't do that at home,) and from what I understand Whitnee did well with having her there, with the exception of a little confusion over which bottle was hers. So, not only did this little experiment help me learn to let go a little, but it also made me feel a little bit better about leaving her so that I can go back to work next week (even though I still totally don't wanna.)

So, a big thank you to my wonderful BFF for helping us to get over that little bump in the road. Hopefully, leaving her with a sitter will get a little easier each time. But, I also can't wait until she's old enough to go places like that with us!