A slice of new parenthood
On Friday my husband came home after a fairly long day at work, "I had a rough day, but I'm not going to let it get me down. Let's go out."
We usually do a good job of meal planning and budgeting, but everyone needs that spontaneous splurge every now and then.
We usually do a good job of meal planning and budgeting, but everyone needs that spontaneous splurge every now and then.
We pack up the diaper bag and head out to Solana beach. We're seated at a cutesy little restaurant and the waitress comes over to share the best of the menu. She notes their restaurant is very family-friendly and a great spot if parents wanted a nice meal where their babies could accompany them.
And of course, Ella breaks down. This breakdown consisted of screaming, like the blood-curdling type scream that makes everyone in the one-room restaurant shoot a look of annoyance your way. The waitress continues to stand there uncomfortably waiting for Ella's cries to subside. She looks as though she's trying to stand by her previous statement.
We try calming Ella down by taking her out of the carseat, each taking turns holding her, and the cries subside for a brief few moments. We get a rib dinner and more fussiness ensues. One eats while the other tries to settle her down. We finish and decide it's best to leave, so we order some coffee and dessert from the restaurant's coffee bar. In getting out of the booth, my shoe falls off my foot. I try to play it cool which only makes me look more awkward, but the shoe finally finds its way back on my foot. I order our dessert and my card is declined. Confused, Tim tries his and it's declined.
#whatishappening
We opt for the credit card as this is our last option. We manage to get out of the restaurant and think finally we're on our way home. The drive will surely calm our little restless bundle of joy. But then Ella starts to scream. We realize at this point, she's gotten hungry. We were originally expecting to be home before she needed to eat again, but ran into so many curve balls that our plan failed. We pull over to a church parking lot where Tim rocks the car seat in hopes to soothe her. Minutes and a couple weird looks later, we're back on the road questioning all of the decisions we made that evening. There are few minutes of quiet.
And then, laughter.
We laughed over how being spontaneous with a child is nearly impossible, we laughed over how ridiculous we looked in the corner of this one-room dimly lit restaurant. We agreed the slightly over-priced ribs were a good call.
This is what new parenthood is all about. Embracing the curve balls, learning from mistakes, and thanking God that at the end of the day the person next to you is laughing the day off beside you and is always game to watch an episode of Parks and Rec.
Here's to new parents. We do our best.
And of course, Ella breaks down. This breakdown consisted of screaming, like the blood-curdling type scream that makes everyone in the one-room restaurant shoot a look of annoyance your way. The waitress continues to stand there uncomfortably waiting for Ella's cries to subside. She looks as though she's trying to stand by her previous statement.
We try calming Ella down by taking her out of the carseat, each taking turns holding her, and the cries subside for a brief few moments. We get a rib dinner and more fussiness ensues. One eats while the other tries to settle her down. We finish and decide it's best to leave, so we order some coffee and dessert from the restaurant's coffee bar. In getting out of the booth, my shoe falls off my foot. I try to play it cool which only makes me look more awkward, but the shoe finally finds its way back on my foot. I order our dessert and my card is declined. Confused, Tim tries his and it's declined.
#whatishappening
We opt for the credit card as this is our last option. We manage to get out of the restaurant and think finally we're on our way home. The drive will surely calm our little restless bundle of joy. But then Ella starts to scream. We realize at this point, she's gotten hungry. We were originally expecting to be home before she needed to eat again, but ran into so many curve balls that our plan failed. We pull over to a church parking lot where Tim rocks the car seat in hopes to soothe her. Minutes and a couple weird looks later, we're back on the road questioning all of the decisions we made that evening. There are few minutes of quiet.
And then, laughter.
We laughed over how being spontaneous with a child is nearly impossible, we laughed over how ridiculous we looked in the corner of this one-room dimly lit restaurant. We agreed the slightly over-priced ribs were a good call.
This is what new parenthood is all about. Embracing the curve balls, learning from mistakes, and thanking God that at the end of the day the person next to you is laughing the day off beside you and is always game to watch an episode of Parks and Rec.
Here's to new parents. We do our best.
Sounds like you are doing just fine to me!! Keep up the good (hard) work! :-)
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