We visited friends that live a couple of hours away over the weekend and last week my friend texted me asking if I would be okay with a babysitter watching all four of our kids so us grownups could go out for dinner and drinks. 

Nope. No thanks.  Not comfortable with that.  Not at all. 

That was my initial gut reaction and response to her.

The next day, I thought about how hard these last two weeks have been with the sick babies.  I thought about the (short) conversations I’ve shared with my husband about how neither of us are satisfied with the state of our relationship right now.  I thought about how nice it would be to eat a hot dinner without the stress of getting done before Theo starts throwing food or Dexter melts down.  I thought about how fabulous it would feel to be able to focus on the menu selections as opposed to just trying to pick something as fast as I can so I’m available to catch the flying crayons and kids menus when they sail to the neighboring table. 

The next day, I texted my friend and said “I’ve been thinking about it…I’m listening.”  She explained that the babysitter they use is their favorite teacher at their little girl’s daycare.  She didn’t hesitate when my friend asked her if she was interested in watching a 4 month old, a one year old, a two year old, and five year old. 

So I agreed to it.  I let a complete stranger (to me) watch my babies for almost 3 hours, can you believe it?  They were alive and well and happy when we got back and we enjoyed a much deserved night out with our wonderful friends.  Baby free.  That’s not to say I wasn’t thinking about them every second and itching to get back and hug their little bodies, but I did it.  It was muy fabuloso.  More about our weekend later.

~C~