Anniversary Date

We had a wonderful time out on our own this past Friday night. My MIL was here for the week, and we planned that particular time so we could hopefully get out for the night. It all went really well - he did great for her and even slept for a 6 hour stretch from midnight to six - wow! That may be because he was in his cradle swing, which I recommended to her so that he wouldn't give her too much trouble. Of course we can't do that regularly, but maybe he will actually start sleeping that long anyway.

So J and I had a lovely dinner out at my favorite little restaurant down in the West Village. After dinner we strolled around the neighborhood, looking at the gorgeous town houses and playing the "what if we lived in that one" game. Then we took a cab back to our hotel at Bryant Park, and sat in the park people watching and talking. It was fun, because it was almost like being tourists in NYC. Then we headed back to the hotel, for bed...and let's just say that we had some adult fun for the first time in a LONG, LONG time (after getting the all-clear from my doctor earlier in the week). Hopefully we won't go that long again!

I still didn't get to sleep all the way through the night of course because I had to get up around 3:30 to pump, which also woke J up. Oh well. We came close. And the next morning we ordered room service, which was a total silly splurge. I can't believe we paid $100 for two orders of pancakes, a coffee, a tea and one orange juice. Wow. But it was nice to just lounge around the room before finally heading back home to our sweet boy around noon. We were away from him for just about 18 hours, and that was just about enough. At dinner we even took out the photos that J has in his wallet and admired them. But we did have some grown up conversations too, and really enjoyed just being with each other. Oh yeah, and the first thing I did when we checked in was to have a lovely bubble bath in the giant soaking tub. My first bath in an even longer time than the above activity ;-)

As for the eczema, it seems to be just a little bit better, but I'm hoping it will continue to improve. It does seem to be better in the mornings when he has gone a long time without eating. I read online that it can take 2 to 3 weeks to get all the cow's milk protein out of my system and his, so it might take that long to see results. I am being mostly good about avoiding dairy, but MIL left behind a bag of Dove milk chocolates which I need to banish from the house. And also a bag of pretzels that have whey in them - I guess I shouldn't be eating those either. But I have replaced my morning milk with almond milk, bought some non-dairy frozen dessert (it has soy milk in it though and I'm worried that soy might also be a problem), and some vegan cheddar cheese alternative. I do wish I just knew what the problem ingredient was. And in response to R, who suggested getting Mr. Bean allergy tested, our pediatrician said she didn't recommend that at first because there are so many false positives at this age, plus he'll have to get pricked a bunch. But if it doesn't clear up soon, of course I'll consider it. I just want him to get better!