Take me out to the ball game

A few weeks ago I ripped off the band-aid and got a sitter for Owen. Not just for a few hours while he slept, nope the sitter fed Owen dinner and PUT HIM TO BED. I found her through a friend (a friend who is craaazy particular about her child) and really liked her when I interviewed her. Her name is Bridgette and Owen loves her. Mid-June was the first time we used her because we had to go to a dinner for Jeremy's department. I was sick to my stomach the entire day at the thought of leaving Owen. 16 months and no one had ever put him down for bed (or nap for that matter) besides me. EVER. But since we don't have family here, I needed to get used to the idea of trusting a stranger, for the sake of my marriage.

When we left for the dinner, Owen was eating happily and didn't even skip a beat to say goodbye to us. I gave her DETAILED (read: crazy overprotective mama) instructions on how to feed, clothe, and put my sweet boy to bed. He usually nurses before bed, so she obviously wasn't going to do that -- but I showed her his sleep sack, story line-up and bedtime ipod play list. Bedtime was at 8:30pm. She texted me at 8:40 to tell me he was sound asleep. (texting the babysitter = AWESOME = peace of mind)

When we got home from the BOR-ING dinner, she told me how sweet our boy is and that when they settled into the rocking chair he pointed to the door and cried a little for Mama showing the sign for "baby milk" then he snuggled his head up underneath her chin, whimpered and fell asleep. ((mama's heart is mush)) She said it was the most adorable thing she's ever seen. Bridgette is sweet as can be and is an occupational therapy graduate student at Pitt. Don't get me wrong, $10 per hour adds up quickly but I was so thankful to have such a wonderful person watching my most precious gift.

(don't think I didn't go right in, scoop up my baby and nursed him while he slept and snuggled me. I just wanted him to know I was back)

That was our trial run. The next Friday we were invited to an awesome party for our friend's Kristen & Matt's 10th Anniversary. They are from Boston and had their rehearsal dinner at Fenway park. Just so happens that on their 10th anniversary (to the day!) the Red Sox were in Pittsburgh playing the Pirates. They got a luxury box and invited 15 friends to celebrate with free food, alcohol, cake (oh.. and a baseball game)

The field is gorgeous and even though I don't care one bit about baseball it was a great way to occasionally glance at see a game. All three games that weekend were sold out and those Sox fans are ROWDY! It was almost like we were at a hockey game.

They set up a ride for us so we didn't have to drive and Jeremy and I were thrilled to have a night out where we could both drink and play. 

custom Red Sox cake - it was DE-LISH!

Die-hard fans, these two!

The Pirates are actually decent this year, as everyone says "two games above 500" (whatever that means) and they beat the SOX! For the three days they were in town there was record attendance at the games.

Jeremy took advantage of the free beer and I had two vodka/cranberry, a frozen margarita and half a bottle of white zin ( I don't even LIKE white zin!!) -- Needless to say my lips were numb and I had no idea the game had ended. "GO SPORTS!"

We had a really great time. Go Pirates! (?)