This was a very important day for my fellow mommy friend, Cathy, and me. It was the day we proved to ourselves that we could do it. We could take the girls out on our own with no husband, no other adult support - just us and the girls. Our girls were one month old. Her baby daughter was only 2 days older than my twinfants. It was the first time I ventured out alone with the girls for an outing. Sure, we’d done some errands here and there. But actually hangin’ out somewhere without my husband?
Cathy and I decided to go out to lunch, after the main lunch hour. We weren’t really sure what to expect with the girls…would they cry? Scream? Both Cathy and I were already over the nursing in public jitters. Neither of us had any qualms about pulling out a breast when our babies needed it – whenever and wherever we were. Of course, we completely understood that there are still many people out there who would feel very uncomfortable if confronted with such a scene. So, we had our blankets ready, not for us but for them. Silly, but oh well.
We started with sushi at Kamakura Sushi in downtown Los Gatos. It was the one food that Cathy and I both missed while pregnant and we were ready to indulge ourselves! Though we couldn’t dive into any sake, we were content with hot green tea. Of course, we WOW’ed the waitresses and patrons with our little ones. We had to agree that they were all really, really cute (a little Mommy pride there).
Can I just say, it was a piece of Heaven – or several pieces of Heaven! All that fresh fish tasted just as good as I anticipated. YUM! Another of Cathy’s friends joined us. She lives only a few blocks from the restaurant and her daughter was 10 months old at the time. Luckily, she also decided to nap during our meal. After our peaceful, stress-free meal, we were feeling rather bold.
So, we headed down to the park across from the post office. It was a gorgeous day for a stroll and a visit to a park. We set up blankets and waited for the girls to wake up for their next meals. At this point, we were very, very impressed with ourselves. What were we so worried about?! I mean, what’s the worst new mommies like us could face? To be honest, it was very basic. We didn’t know if we’d be able to soothe our babies. It’s something new mommies always worry about (besides the babies getting enough food) and we were no exception. Our worries were unfounded.
The girls slept most of the time we were at the park. We had to leave pretty soon after we got there because the parking meters were running out on our cars. Since Cathy still had time, we headed over to the playlot at the end of my street. Here, the girls were more than ready for their next meal. There we were, breasts out, feeding our babies. I was especially lucky. "K" didn’t wake up until after I’d finished feeding "L". This was a total piece of cake! We realized that we had been out ALL DAY LONG!
After congratulating ourselves on our accomplishments, we promised to do this quite often. We figured out pretty quickly that it was all about the preparation. If we had diapers and wipes, we were golden. It didn’t matter where we were or how long we were out. We could do it! We were real Mommies! It’s hard to express our relief and our happiness at such a seemingly small thing to anyone else but another new Mommy. I guess that’s when the mommy-bonding thing happens and we had just begun. I finally understood why all mommies share a special bond.
Adapted for Mad About Multiples blog by MommyTwinGirls who may also be found at Silicon Valley Moms Blog recounting the ups and downs of mommyhood, It's Never Easy But It's Always Fun celebrating her little triumphs in as a mommy and at Solheim Photography posting favorites from her latest photo shoots.
