Winters in my neck of the woods are Brutal.  Yes, that’s Brutal with a capital B. It’s cold, I mean frigid.  And it snows.  A lot.  I live on the tippy top of a mountain in a really small town and the winters around here make me all itchy because there are weeks that I can’t get out of this town due to treacherous travel conditions. 

So, every year in February and early March I start to get a really bad case of cabin fever.  Most years I can contain it with a quick shopping trip or lunch with a friend on a day that it stops snowing long enough for the plows to clear the roads and the ice to melt.  This year was different. This year, the weather was especially bad and usually on weekends. And, I had a baby.  So, leaving the house and the town was even more difficult leading to a “woe is me, I can’t do anything” attitude that would have given my 15-year old self a run for her money. 

And then, about 3 weeks ago, something wonderful happened.  It stopped snowing.  The sun came out.  The snow melted.  And I got out of the house.  I met a good friend for drinks (twice!) in the last month.  She has a little boy two months older than C so over a couple glasses of wine and fried calamari or bruschetta appetizers we compare notes about being new mothers, what our husbands are up to and how our professional lives are handling the impact of motherhood.  We laugh and we vent.  We look at pictures of the other’s baby and ooh and ahh over their smiles, their eyes and their chubby cheeks. 

On these nights, I get to put on cute clothes and touch up my make up.  I get to come home past my bedtime.  I get to spend a few hours just being… me. 

In addition to my wine with friends nights, I also had a date night with my husband and wonderful walks with my husband and my daughter.  We may not be out of the woods yet.  We’ve had snow fall well into April, but these few weeks of spring weather have made all the difference in the world. 

I’m writing this post as part of Theta Mom’s Time Out Thursdays.  Visit her site to grab the button, write about your own hour or more spent on your own this month and link up!  If you’re visiting from Theta Mom, “Hi!”  I will be making my rounds late Thursday evening and throughout the weekend.

OK.  So my entrance into this (public) Mommy blogging thing is a little cautious.  I’m still a little unsure about my ability to entertain or inform readers; outside of my mother who tells me I’m fabulous at everything. 

Since deciding to change URL’s and “go public” two weeks ago, I’ve spent the time between the baby’s bedtime and my own perusing the interwebs finding and reading other Mommy bloggers for inspiration.   There are blogs that make me laugh, blogs that make me cry, blogs whose titles or layout make me wish I had a teensy little bit of creative ability and blogs that give me an idea of what might be in store as C grows.  One of my brand-new favorites is ThetaMom and I’ve decided to join in on her Time Out Thursday blog posts. 

Instructions are to take one hour per month for yourself and then write about it.  That’s easy right?  The only rule is that the one hour must be something you enjoy and sans child.  “OK,” I think to myself.  “What have I done in the last month that did not include my baby girl and could be categorized as fun.”  I thought back over the last week and my mind went…. work, home, work, bath the baby, play on the internet, work, shave my legs, hair cut, work, home, bottle, diaper.  I’m not even sure there was a bubble bath in there.  So I went back in my mind a little further.  Same pattern except it includes a dinner out with my baby, my husband and my mom. 

So, then I think.  Holy shit.  I may not be able to play this game after all.  BUT WAIT!  Hold on…  let’s go back a little itty bit further.  There were a few blissful hours when we traveled to DC that my MIL stayed with C, while Craig and I went for dinner and drinks.  That, my friends, was on December 29th.  Almost an entire month ago. 

I have a dear friend who is full of fabulous parenting, relationship and style advice.  And she preaches about date nights.  PREACHES I tell you.  “Once a month,” she says.  “Once a month you must ditch your kid and go out with your husband.”  How did I miss this?  How did I let an entire month go by without any time out with my husband but without our daughter.  The three of us had a wonderful day last week shopping and going to lunch, but there were three of us in the car.  Therefore it does not count. 

I hear my friend in my head again, her voice is getting louder as she says, “Date Night, Krista.  DATE NIGHT.”  Okay.  Message received.  So, on this Time Out Thursday I am committing that by the time it comes around a month from now I will have a date night with my husband to blog about.  Or maybe drinks and shopping with previously mentioned fabulous friend.

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