Date Nights

With my parents leaving 3 weeks after Mikaela was born, Austin and I didn't think we'd have a chance to get out for any date nights. But we've actually been on two date nights and Mikaela is only 7 wks old. Definitely a better track record than what we had with Naomi.
For our first date night, our awesome friend Soo-Jin volunteered to take both girls the Saturday before Valentine's day. So Austin and jumped at the opportunity to go see a movie and try a new restaurant (Soo-Jin even recommended a fantastic restaurant!).
While we were out relaxing without the girls, Soo-Jin worked her charms on Naomi and had her working on an art project, Naomi's absolute favorite activity. She worked on painting a heart shaped box, which she still lovingly carries around with her today. In Naomi's 2.5 years of life, we've only ever had one non-family member babysit Naomi, and that was her daycare teacher. So naturally I was worried at how things would go, especially since Naomi isn't exactly Miss Personality when it comes to hanging out with people outside of her everyday routine. But Soo-Jin won her over and with the exception of a meltdown at bedtime, they had a great time. Mikaela, in true to her nightowl routine, slept for most of the evening until after Naomi had gone to bed, and was wide awake, ready to party when we got home.

Dinner at Rebecca's

We went on our second date night when Austin's mom and sister were here. They graciously told us to go out one night, so we went to Morimoto's to try the yummy Omakase.

It was definitely a treat to get out and I'm eagerly awaiting our next overnight visitors so we can use them again for babysitting services =)

Blurry Dinner at Morimoto's...notice my hair is 12 inches shorter

Another view of my new haircut (another bonus of having my mother-in-law and sister-in-law visiting was a trip to the hair salon)