Sunday Night Soak

Something incredible happened tonight...something that has never happened before...

Both of my kids were in bed before 6.

6 o'clock, I say!!!

What does a Mama do when her kids are asleep by 6, and her husband is working late (yes on a Sunday)?

Take a bath.

I seriously can't remember the last time I took a bath. Maybe before I had Val? Two years ago??

We have a fairly large bath tub in our master bathroom that serves the sole purpose of collecting the hair that falls out of my head when I blow my hair dry. Yes, I cleaned out said hair before I took a bath tonight.

This tub also only gets cleaned once every 3 weeks by our cleaning ladies, so it gets pretty dusty and hairy over those 3 weeks, so if I ever want to take a bath I have to time it so it is a within a few days of when the cleaning ladies are here so that it is really clean. I know what you are thinking, why don't you just clean it yourself and use it more often? Because by the time I realize I might actually have time to take a bath, I don't have the time to clean the bath tub and take a bath...you get me? Sure you do, you are a mom.

But tonight the kids were asleep more than an hour before they usually are, I don't have dinner to make for my husband and I, the baby shower I have been preparing for in all my spare time was yesterday, I don't have any decision to be made on the house at the moment, and our cable box in the family room is on the fritz...bath time!

Let me make you even more jealous by telling you how great this bath was...

30 minutes of warm bubbly goodness. 30 minutes of uninterrupted silence. 30 minutes of awesome.

I forgot how rejuvenating it can be to soak in silence. Sounds so silly but it is so true! Every day I take a 3-4 minute rushed shower while Val is napping. I might have a minute or two of extra time here and there to stand under the blazing hot water and have a moment to myself (I don't mean any funny business, just me doing nothing), but taking this 30 minutes to myself to relax and unwind (especially after a weekend where I was out on the town until 1 AM both nights - more on that in the next post) was truly heavenly (as my grandmother Ming used to say - she was also a lover of baths.)

I think I might make this a weekly ritual - a Sunday Night Soak. And I think all you other overworked, stressed out Mamas should do the same. Find that 30 minutes at the end of the week to have some peace and quiet to yourself. Have dad put the kids to bed and unwind in a hot bath, close your eyes and soak up the silence. It is awesome.