KELLY BROWN Mum's The Word...Ladies' night is a welcome change and I was out until midnight!

On Saturday I enjoyed my first girlie night since my baby daughter was born, with my two best friends, and it was fantastic to be out.

Not that I don’t adore my little family, but there is lots to be said for getting away from it all for the night.

In years gone by we would have gone to a few pubs, gone to a club and ensured it was gone midnight before we even contemplated going home – often via the kebab shop.

But now they are far tamer affairs, suitable for us grown-ups (even if we don’t always feel like adults!).

After a drink we bagged a table at a cheap and cheerful chain restaurant and settled down for a good old-fashioned natter which covered the three ‘Bs’ - babies, blokes and... books.

We planned to stretch out our meal for as long as we could, but it turned out we didn’t need to even try as our waitress seemed to have her own definition of good service.

This consisted of taking our order half an hour after we sat down, bringing us our food and then grabbing the plates when she had eventually spotted we had finished.

No ‘are your meals okay?’ and the notion of pudding was not even an option. We even had to ask the cleaner for the bill!

But this gave us ample time to catch up and chat about our lovely kids, our lovely men and our very grown-up everyday lives and jobs.

There was as well time to chat about the more fluffy stuff in life, including a chat about ‘that book’ which all femaledom seem to be talking about.

The rather naughty Fifty Shades of Grey seems to have done for some women what the Harry Potter series has done for some kids – got them reading.

And for the rest of us it has made for amusing chatter over a cuppa or a drink – even for those (like me) who have not read it yet.

It was great for just a few hours not to have to worry about nappies, cooking tea or doing the ironing.

And I even managed to come home just after midnight – by four whole minutes.

See, I still know how to live!

** It’s a girls’ world for us – and we love it!

It’s a case of ‘no boys allowed’ on Mondays.

While my hubby is at work and my son is at nursery I’m enjoying girlie days with my new little lady.

We have joined a baby group and also enjoy little chats together on our walks.

But I get the biggest smiles when we are just cuddled up on the sofa and having little chats in out own little girls’ world.