An Evening of No Parenting

It's been quite awhile since we've been sans baby. There was one evening this past winter when Stephen and Asher were snowed-in down at his parents' house, but other than that, I haven't spent a night without my child since last summer. I was agonizing over this all day long - actually I began fretting last night - because I remembered how heartbroken I felt the last time when he spent the night away from us. When I got home from work tonight, though, I was a little surprised: it didn't feel too bad not having to turn my mommy switch on.

Don't get me wrong - I miss the little booger like crazy, and when I was informed that he cried for twenty minutes before finally falling asleep, I was this close to jumping in the car and driving forty minutes to...I don't know, wake him up just to tell him Mommy was there and everything was going to be okay? I didn't, though; as hard as it was, I let the umbilical cord remain detached.

But it's definitely different now than it was last summer. He was so much smaller then, and more helpless. Letting someone else care for him overnight felt like letting someone else take your prized childhood teddy bear or blankie away for a night. AND THE WORRY! But now? I don't know; could it be everyone was right? That there WILL come a day when I'll be thankful and even begging of grandparents/relatives/friends/someone, anyone to take my child off my hands for a night or two? That used to seem like a ridiculous thought to me, but now...I can appreciate a little time off, I think.

So what did us two crazy kids do with our responsibility-free evening? The question really should be what DIDN'T we do! First, we went to fabulous Costco to look at patio furniture. Gosh, that was exciting! Then, we had a FANCY dinner at Boston Market - with COUPONS! We ate for half price, baby! We got really wild and crazy after that and went to the mall. Things got a little sticky there when I saw a baby with Easter Bunny ears on - he'd just visited the Easter Bunny and it reminded me that we need to take Asher out to see the Easter Bunny and then I started thinking about Asher and that I was - *GASP* - semi-enjoying my time out without him and then I felt like a bad mom and wanted to go home and cry into the mountain of dirty laundry on the floor of my closet because that's where bad moms like me belong - on top of a pile of dirty laundry. But, Stephen suggested a less crazy way for me to direct my emotions by leading me to all the kiddie stores. We found a bucket hat for Asher for this summer at Children's Place, a really-dorky-for-an-adult-but-super-cute-for-a-two-year-old Christmas sweater at BabyGap, and a bunch of stuff on sale for next winter DIRT FREAKIN' CHEAP at this new store, Crazy 8. This place is awesome! They are owned by Gymboree, but the stuff is a bit more hip (less cutesy) and WAY less expensive. We wrapped up our evening out with a short trip to Target, where I bought CURTAIN RODS. Wow, I know!

Now that we've been pampered by an evening off, I'm looking very forward to Asher Bug's return tomorrow. I'm sure after two days of toddler wrangling, Marmie and Grandfather will be looking very forward to Asher Bug's return home, too.