On Saturday night we had a most epic
fail on the babysitting front.
About two months ago I managed to arrange four media tickets to an awesome one-night-only concert in Durban - The 80's Rewind concert. But this was not just a 'tribute' concert to all the great bands of the eighties...No, this was the ACTUAL eighties bands themselves - live! I'm talking the likes of Rick Astley, The Village People and Spandau Ballet (to name a few)...In. The. Flesh.
One of my bestest friends is also the biggest 80's music freak I have ever met, so there was no question as to who I was taking with me! We decided to take our husbands along too. Because sometimes we're nice like that :)
The weekend rolled around and it started with a bang on Friday night! We had a suprise 40th for another
friend of ours' husband. We all got involved in the planning and esecuting of the Surprise Superhero Party - he's a leap year baby so it was actually only his 10th birthday! Everyone dressed the part (I was Indiana Jane and my DH was Superman. Obviously.)
Our little man's biggest big sister, M, who I think may love him alllllmost as much as me, was the designated baby sitter for Friday night. It was a big night for me because I decided to put my big-girl panties on and even let her bath him and put him down (usually I would've done it all for her and just let her sit with him after he was asleep). I said goodbye and downed a drink as soon as I arrived at the party. And then I gave myself a good pat on the back when I hadn't phoned her by 7.30pm to check that he was asleep! Look at me, clever mommy, letting go...Well, sort of!
The evening was a great success and although we got home quite late, we didn't go too crazy. We were saving ourselves for our big 80's party the following night! Saturday morning I had to attend a ladies talk and by the time I got home from that it was nearly my little man's nap time again. Our nanny, Nanny M, was our boy's designated babysitter for Saturday night and was due to arrive at 3pm. The concert started at 4pm.
At 3.30pm I was all dressed and ready to go. I had my denim shorts, luminous earrings and arm bands, side pony tail and bright green nail polish on - I looked like something out of a Madonna music video!
And then I phoned Nanny M to find out if she was running late. It turned out that she was still at home, waiting for her own babysitter to arrive! She couldn't get hold of them and it didn't look good!!! At first I was angry. How could she let me down like this? I had given her 6 weeks notice about tonight! But then I realised that she had been let down by someone else - and it was out of her hands. She's a mom just like me and she had no one to look after her babies. How could she look after mine?
I made a decision then and there that I would stay home and let my DH go with our friends. He offered and tried to insist that I go, but I was suddenly overwhelmed by a need to stay at home with my baby. I can't explain it. I guess because I hadn't been around to put him down the night before and had been out that morning I was just missing him...I'm not sure...but I decided to stay. And I'm so glad I did.
The team left for the concert and I took off my earrings, wiped of my nail polish and packed a bag for the beach. The minute my little man woke up we grabbed a snack and headed down to the water. We had such a wonderful time. We played in the sand, I caught a fish for him in his bucket (yay me!) and we swam together in the beautiful, luke warm water. Going to the beach isn't something new for the two of us - in fact we do it together almost every afternoon when I get home from work. But on Saturday I really took the time to get down to his level - and it was so much fun! We spent ages on the beach and when I started getting him ready to go home for dinner and he started to cry I realised I didn't want to go home either...we were having too much fun!
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| Moms best beach day ever! |
After dinner I ran a big bubble bath and climbed in with him. Again I took the time to really get onto his level and we played in the bath together for ages. After he was dressed, we read stories and cuddled on the bed. I delayed putting him down. I couldn't get enough of him.
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| My little squishy bum... |
Eventually I tucked my little sausage in and sat down on the couch. I was sad that I was now home on the couch with nothing much to do while my hubby and friends were singing "YMCA" and "In The Navy". But I was also completely content.
My night alone with my little man was an absolute dream and no amount of shouder-pad wearing, shuffle socks-dancing, 80's fun could compete with the amazing date night I had with my little boy.
