My mother-in-law, MJ, was up last week from Florida.  She wanted to watch Maia overnight, and while I was hesitant about it for awhile — because of 1) my boobs 2) that’s a long time not to see my baby 3) Maia being in a strange place with a relatively strange person — Chris and I decided that we could really use the time with one another (and the full 8+ hours of uninterrupted sleep).

So we drove out to where MIL was staying at her brother’s house, a drive of about an hour, and got Maia settled in there.  We went over any last-minute instructions we had — which to be honest, there really weren’t.  Maia snuggled into her grandma as we kissed her goodbye and walked away, and I heard her squealing and laughing as the door shut behind us, so that was a good note to leave on.  Even if my heart did clench a little because seriously? Didn’t she miss us?!

Chris and I ended up going into Toronto and eating at Milagro (warning, the website is Flash and plays music, because this is 1997, right?), where I had two large margaritas and an amaaazing steak dish.  The bartender, who was also our waiter, was really hot in that sort of American Eagle way, you know, the chiseled jaw and sandy blond hair and … well … let’s just say I apparently made it VERY CLEAR that I thought he was totally do-able, which might have had something to do with the two margaritas but I’m not saying for sure either way, because Chris ribbed me about it the moment we left the restaurant.

After eating, we headed to Second City Toronto theatre to see the show “Shut Up and Show Us Your Tweets”, which was hilaaaarious.  One part had me laughing so hard I was literally crying.  It had very little to do with Twitter other than the opening skit, but there was this:

Smirnoff Vodka, lime juice, and Rose’s Blue Cordial.  It pretty much tasted like raspberry lemonade.  Did I enjoy it?

Ohh yes.  I enjoyed it so much that I had two.  You know why I had two?  Because after my margaritas, I needed to continue drinking to ensure that I would not end up with a headache.  That’s completely logical. Poor Chris.  He’s always our designated driver.  I guess that’s what happens when you’re a control freak and have to be the one driving the car.

After the show, they had an improv set, but we ended up leaving before that started.  It was almost 10pm, and the drive home is about 35 minutes, and we were both feeling a little sleepy (fuck we’re old).

We talked about Maia off and on, but we did try to talk about everything else in our lives.  You know, like my job, his hopefully upcoming job training, my NaNoWriMo novel (he’s so good at helping me hash out plot points, even when we get into fights about them), the dogs… sometimes, though, there would be silence, we’d look at each other, and he’d say, “I’m sure she’s fine.”

When we got home, I agonized over whether or not to call MJ to see how the night had gone, but she had sent us both an email that soothed my nerves:

Hope you’re having a wonderful time.  Maia is just fine.  She had a nice dinner tonight. We played for a while and read her book.  She wasn’t ready to go to bed so we went down stairs and she played around.  She was a bit fussy but she was really getting tired.  I took her upstairs and put her blanket around her. I rocked her for while and she fell asleep within 2 mins.  She has been asleep since 7:30pm.

I made her a nice mixture of homemade applesauce and strawberries for breakfast. I bet she will sleep through the night.  If not I will rock her back to sleep. See you tomorrow.
Love you both,
Mom

Of course, I didn’t sleep through the night myself; I woke up a few times wondering where Maia was.  It was sad to wake up and know she wasn’t there next to me.

When MJ brought Maia back to us the next morning, I was SO HAPPY to see her, and she was just as happy to see me.  She wanted to nurse, and nursed longer than she has since she was a newborn.  I seriously thought my boobs were just going to give up and fall off my chest, that’s how long she was there.

As it turns out, Maia didn’t sleep through the night either (she rarely does), but MJ pulled her into bed and they slept that way.  And yeah, I totally cried when I heard that because seriously, HOW CUTE IS THAT.  Of course, Maia roams all over the bed when she sleeps, so MJ didn’t have a very restful night.

It was so nice, though, to have a date night with Chris.  We needed it.  It’s easy to forget to look at each other as spouses as well as parents.

Now I think I’m a date night addict.  I totally want to toss Maia at her uncle and aunt for a night and be like SEE YA.  That’d be nice.  They’re moving into a house with three bedrooms and they don’t have kids, so they can make one of the rooms hers.  I mean, that’s reasonable.  Right?