How things have changed…

As many of you know, our little boy is now a week old and in an effort to take advantage of how much he sleeps during the day (please note that I said he, not us since he is up all night crying), my mom decided to invite Adam, Aiden and I to dinner. 

Picking a restaurant was easy since all I really wanted were raw oysters (a big no no when you are pregnant), so we ended up at McCormick and Schmicks.  Back in my working days, Adam and I often visited McCormick and Schmicks for Happy Hour, where we ordered a bottle of wine and talked shop all night.
This visit to McCormick and Schmicks was a little different. We first had to make sure baby was very well fed so he would sleep through dinner.  Easier said than done when you are breastfeeding but I will spare you the details.  Then we had to make sure we knew what to pack in a diaper bag since this was the first time we were leaving the house for longer than 1/2 an hour (not that baby needed anything since I stuffed him so full of milk he was passed out for hours). Then we had to make sure I had taken all of my pain medication so I would not pass out while at the restaurant.  After all the preparations, we were off.

When we arrived at the restaurant, we parked in the underground parking garage which forces you to walk into the restaurant via the bar area.  As we walked through the suited crowd of businessmen/women seated at the bar, my husband carrying our newborn child and me wearing my maternity clothes and flat Ugg Shoes, I realized how much my life had changed.  Not that long ago, I was one of those suits sitting at the bar with no rush to get home.

As we were leaving the restaurant, my family walked ahead of me and I took my sweet time walking through the bar.  I looked at people's faces and tried to pick up their voices as I walked by. Then it hit me. I did not feel sad about the life I was leaving behind. I was not jealous of the lack of responsibility some of these people had.  Instead, I felt a sense of comfort, a sense of fulfillment by the life I knew I was walking into. It bought a smile to my face for I knew I had been there, done that, and was now on to the next one. 

Im ready for this phase or better said....I am going to embrace this new phase of motherhood with open arms and an open heart. I already know that it will be much more fulfilling than any life I left behind.