Date Night Observations

Last Thursday was our first date night since Camy was born. We celebrated my birthday and Valentine's Day by going out to dinner and then to a Cirque du Soleil show. A gave me the Cirque tickets for my birthday and arranged for my mom to watch the Little One. Date nights have taken on a new meaning since becoming a mama.. and here are a few things I learned.

• Getting all dolled up is no longer good for my self esteem. 
• I have way more grey hair than I thought! Mommy needs her hair dyed!
• Being able to wear my pre-pregnancy jeans does not mean that my pre-pregnancy dresses will zip past my hips. And even if they did, they certainly wouldn't fit over my boobs!
• Putting on makeup is not like riding a bike. You can in fact forget how to do it after being long out of practice.
• My post-partum hair loss has left me in ponytails for the last several weeks to avoid picking stray hairs off myself every minute of every day. I wore my hair down for date night, and I'm fairly certain that my every move could have been traced by the trail of hair I'm sure I left behind. How am I not bald?
• When leaving Camy with my mother for the evening, I forget that she raised me and end up giving her a ridiculously detailed spiel about how and what to do with Camy and when. 
• My mom nods and says "Okay" to humor me when its obvious what she really wants to say is "Becky. Chill. I got this!". 
• It doesn't matter how excited I may be about our date night plans, walking out the door without Camy is hard
• After spending 99.5% of the last 5 months, 3 weeks and 4 days with Camy, its hard to NOT talk about baby stuff all the time.
• My husband is endlessly patient with me and my Mommy Separation Anxiety. Man, I love him for that. 
• I had forgotten how nice it is to finish a meal while its still hot.. and be able to eat with 2 hands!
• Breastfeeding has turned me into a lightweight. Half of an Italian Margarita was more than enough.

My most important observations:

• It does not make me a bad mother to take time out for myself and my marriage. In fact, it makes me a better mother. Getting out of the house and being able to chat and laugh with A was wonderful. I'm a little ashamed to admit that I have seriously neglected our marriage since becoming a mother, and date night made me realize how much I've missed our friendship.
• Camy is/will be fine being away from me for a short time every once in a while. I'm not the only one capable of meeting her needs.. I need to let others do so from time to time!