Date night sans the baby

So Jimmy and I used to go on dates all the time. I have actually blogged about them and they have their own date night label (very sad the last one was last November right before we found out little Charlie was on the way...) because we wanted to do surprise date nights and they were super fun!!! When little Charlie came into our world, especially during the previous (and first) 3 months of his life, we all went on our dates together. That looked a little like this:

Brittany: I don't feel like cooking tonight. Want to run to Salty Iguana/Maloney's/Johnny's? (All bars/hopefully quick in and out places within a 2 mile vicinity of our house)

Jimmy: yes (this guy never passes up a chance to go out to eat...)

Then we feed Charlie, put him in his car seat, rush there, sit down, order immediately, pray he doesn't get fussy, one of us holds him after our food comes (as he started to get restless in his car seat the minute they brought the food out if course). One person scarfs their food down without speaking, Charlie is passed to the other person and then other plate of food is inhaled without a breath. "Check please". Strap Charlie back in, pay the bill and run to the car.

We are probably a waiter or waitress's dream because there's not a spare second to complain even if they bring out the wrong item. Seriously we have this down to a science.

Well two Fridays ago I got an email from Groupon informing me that the groupon from Plaza III Steakhouse that I bought before this sweet little booger was born was about to expire. I noted the expiration date (which is Nov 12) prior to purchasing thinking to myself and saying to Jimmy "we will have PLENTY of time to use this after Charlie gets here". Ha.  I severely underestimated how much work AND just how much in love we would be with this little man.  Because in the beginning, I just refused to leave him.  We went out for 2 hours for lunch on my birthday weekend, but hurried home.  With the groupon expiring and some anxious family members to watch Charlie, we bit the bullet and decided that last Sunday was the day.  A dinner date without Charlie.  Bittersweet, right?

Here are some pictures my mom snapped before we hurried out.  I would have liked to get more dressed up and did my hair - but you know, I would much rather spend time with Charlie so there you have it.

Wife and husband (wearing my necklace for the first time!)

Before leaving our babe - he liked TV...

And guess what?  We went down to the plaza at 4PM, shopped some at H&M (where we bought 2 sweaters for Charlie, duh), talked about how weird it is to be out without our little man, and then had to have real conversations with each other (what a concept, right?).  It's funny how fast your marriage can become so focused on the everyday to dos and making sure everyone gets to the right place at the right time with all the right stuff.  Easier said than done.  But it was nice to walk around, talk about Christmas presents, how nice it is outside, how we are each adjusting to parenthood, how much we miss Charlie at that moment and wonder what he's doing, and eat dinner at a normal pace.  However, I still found myself inhaling the food...but had to force myself to slow down.  Especially since we were the first ones at the restaurant right at 5PM...we could take our time.

It was nice.  Nice to be on a date and know our baby is being well taken care of.  We are thankful that we have our families in town also so we can get little nights away and come back refreshed, remember why we fell in love with each other and started this whole family and come home to our sweet little boy right in time for bathtime and bedtime.

In the mean time, we will stick to the majority date nights with the little man.  They seem to be more entertaining anyways and keep these special nights in our back pocket.