Five months after welcoming baby Ava, Melissa Rycroft and her hubby Tye Strickland just can't seem to get used to nights out alone.
"It's weird that we're having a date night out and we don't have our daughter with us," first-time mom Rycroft told Us Weekly at Thursday's HTC EVO 3D launch party in West Hollywood. "We know she's in really good hands; it's just weird to be here."
Wed to insurance agent Strickland since December 2009, Rycroft, 27, says baby Ava Grace has strengthened her marriage.
"I am a firm believer that if your marriage can survive a newborn, you can survive pretty much anything!" former Bachelor contestant Rycroft told Us. "It's trying, it's tough, it's hard [to have a child]. You are operating on very little sleep with very little patience, but at the end of the day, it's [about] teamwork. You've got to do it together."
The new parents are already relishing in a few of Ava's major milestones.
"She is talking all the time [and] sleeping through the night. These are big milestones for us," says Rycroft. "[And] she is a breath away from getting a tooth!"
Adds Strickland: "She's at the point now where she really recognizes us so when we walk in the room and she hears our voice she'll turn and smile. It's the best feeling in the world!"
