We did it!!

We left Mollie with a babysitter....and it was a success on both ends! Matt and I were co-hosting a baby shower for our dear friends, Mike & Kendra, last Saturday night and my parents were not in town. That means we needed outside help. While my parents have been great about watching Mollie here & there for a little bit, this was the first time we'd be leaving her full bedtime routine and putting her down for the night to someone else. Our very sweet intern at work, Sarah, was the perfect girl for the job. I'm thankful we didn't wait any longer than 3.5 months to hire someone for an evening. It really helped me let go of some of that nighttime control and feeling like everything has to go EXACTLY as planned for Mollie to go down for the night correctly AND sleep 10+ hours as she consistently does. Mollie & Sarah both did excellent and Molls didn't make a peep all night! Whew. It was a great learning experience for me & another thing I can check off my list as being nervous about, but accomplishing:)

I'd typed out contact numbers and other important notes/information to keep on our fridge. As many years as I was a babysitter myself, I tried to remember what it was that I liked to know and have ahead of time. We put together a great list of all of our doctors, local emergency people, neighbors, etc. Then another list of Mollie's feeding info, tips for things around the house, nighttime routine all spelled out (haha) and the list goes on. I don't want a sitter or family member to feel they have to follow it to a 'T', but I do want them to know what we do & it seems to work fine:) I also need to be better about leaving planned dinner options for the sitter. That always bothered me when I couldn't find anything to eat at someone's house. Glad we have a fridge full always!!

One confession though..I had told Sarah ahead of time that Mollie spits up a LOT, but forget to mention to bring an extra shirt or change or clothes. And no, I am not exaggerating, we have multiple outfit changes a day & should have prepared Sarah better! Of course throughout the night, she is texting me updates (this is why I adore her) & she did tell me M had a HUGE spit up after her bath. I didn't ask too many questions at that point, as I knew I'd be home soon and she'd tell me what I needed to know. After all, spitting up big time is just Molls' MO. So, we come home and Sarah has her cardigan all the way buttoned-up, proceeds to walk to the laundry room & show me her camisole that's hanging on the door handle drying. She had to wash it in the sink. Then next to that is a pile of clothes/towels that came from earlier in the evening..Mollie spit up on her bunny bath towel, then Sarah had to use it to wipe the floor where some spit up occurred, as well. Welcome to our world. To create a visual, this is a picture from a 24hr wash load (of just Mollie's stuff!) Sat- Sun. Probably about 10 burp cloths, 8 outfits, 10 bibs. Yeah....that seems about right:)

We're grateful to have Sarah as a sitter and also look forward to another night out. Although, I'll also confess that I look forward to having my parents back, as we don't have to pay them nearly as much;) It did Matt & I great to get out of the house for a night, spend some time solo with friends, but really, at the end of everything, we are 100% happy spending our time together at home, sitting on the back porch together after Molls goes to bed and having our alone time then. Much cheaper, comfortable and like they say, there's no place like home.