Emma and I came down to the city last night for the Pump Audio party at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square.

We haven’t had a proper night out together since Evie was born, so my sister Niki was good enough to come babysit at our nearby hotel room while Emma and I had a big night out (and by big, I mean we stayed out ’til the wee hours of nearly 10pm).

We left Evie and her cheeks propped up on the bed while we hit the town.

In the earlier part of the evening, my friend Larry (whose wife works at the Hard Rock) took us up a back staircase and along a few narrow back corridors. I thought we were going to check out Jim Morrison’s leather pants or something, but instead he brought us out onto the Hard Rock marquee, overlooking Times Square. By far the most frequent comment of the night was directed Emma’s way: “How is it possible that you just had a baby?!?”

We came inside to hear the band (whose name, sadly, escapes me now) and have our first cocktails in what seemed like years.

The night was still going strong, but Emma and I had burned through our reserves and were fading fast. Having just been hit with a cold, Emma’s vocal chords started to give out, leaving her with a very sexy Demi Moore voice (which unfortunately by the time we woke up this morning had down-shifted into Marge Simpson’s sister’s voice.)

We were amazed at how at ease we felt with Niki watching Evie. I didn’t stress for a minute, if you don’t count the 42 times I looked at my cellphone to make sure I hadn’t missed any emergency calls. We arrived back at the hotel to find that Niki had sung her little niece to sleep, the two of them perfectly happy.

We woke Evie to change her, and I broke Emma’s strict household rule: no eye contact after hours. It apparently revs her little brain up and makes it difficult to get her back to sleep. I always have a hard time resisting this, and last night might have been the worst case yet. Evie and I smiled at each other for a good fifteen minutes. As it turned out, we’d pay for this all night long: I’d be surprised if Evie slept for more than 30 minutes in a row. But you know what? Looking at the pictures now, and remembering how amazing it felt with her grinning her gummy little smile up at me, it was more than worth it.

(Emma may have a slightly different opinion on the matter.)

tags: evie, family, new york city, pump audio | link to this entry |