So tonight our small group got together to celebrate Christmas with one another. Since the women decide the plans for the most part and none of us wanted to cook or host, we brilliantly decided to eat out. It sounded like such a lovely plan, fried chicken at the KC famous Strouds at their original location. Let me tell you how that worked out for our family....
The evening began with Matt calling after work to make sure I knew this place was way the hell away. I told him Mapquest said it was only 30 min from our house. He however was coming from a different direction, fighting different traffic and it took him almost an hour. Once he got close, he got lost and was the last one to show up at the restaurant....grumpy husband.
I was dealing with my own set of circumstances prior to dinner. I had a long afternoon of running errands that were all taking too long, culminating in a 50 min wait at the post office to mail something off. Rowan had completely missed her afternoon nap and had been up since 1:30. I was rushing home after the post office nightmare to feed her, change her and load her up again in the car. I was flying around the house grabbing Christmas presents, extra diapers, lullabies for the car ride home, and toys to distract her while we ate. I got her dressed looking cute and put together but had no time for myself. So no make-up, work out clothes, messy unwashed hair Rachael is what showed up for dinner. When did I turn into that mom who looks like she rolled out of bed to go anywhere? Geez.
When we arrived we found out that Annie had called to make reservations only to be told they don't do reservations on Monday nights because they are always so slow. She said there would be a party of 10 arriving at 5:30 and they poo poo'd her worrying saying there would be no problem with that. Well what do you know, it's freaking packed. So with three kids who all have bedtimes in the 7 o'clock hour, this is already shaping up to be a mess. We waited for a long time and the kids busied themselves by running around being crazy in the lobby. Ingrid was holding Ro and trying to protect her from an onslaught of cute little boys who wanted nothing more than to play with my baby and talk to Ing. These little boys' dad seemed unaware that they were basically crawling all over Ingrid. Ingrid was doing so well with the boys telling them to be gentle but it was 3 vs 1. They started with touching Ro's hands and giving her high fives but that progressed to them touching her binky and stroking her face, to which the germ potential was too much for me to handle anymore. Really father of these boys, when is it acceptable to let your kids touch other babies in public? I was being as nice as I could for as long as I could. I took Ro and went to go change her diaper to get away from the commotion. The bathroom had some sketch changing station in a stall that barely fit Ro, and she is not a big baby. She kept trying to roll off of it and its latches were all shaking, sweet. I was thankful it was not a poop and I could change her fast, just jinxing myself for later...
Finally our name was called and we went back to our table. Noah put on his big boy face and happily ate food once he got situated in his high chair, one kid down. Daisy and Ro however seemed to be on hyper pills. Daisy is 2 and in the middle of potty training and her parents, in their rush, didn't bring her diaper bag. So every 20 min or so she would say she had to go potty and one of them would have to crawl out and take her, not knowing if she was crying wolf or not. With no back up panties and pants, you can't take your chances. Ro was delirious by this point and totally slap happy. She was tearing through the paper menu, throwing her toys on the floor, and drooling on everything. All this would have been fine if we weren't at the smallest table ever in the middle of the restaurant. One by one all her toys got thrown to the floor and some even stepped on til we had nothing left to entertain her with. We were quickly approaching bedtime/feeding time and food still hadn't arrived. Matt and I kept passing her back and forth while eating our appetizers. While she was sitting on my lap I felt the rumble begin. She proceeded to fill her pants for the next 3 minutes while I was imagining cleaning her on that jankity changer. When she concluded, she was wiped out. Her eyes were heavy but there was so much stimulation all around us that she could not snuggle in. She kept frantically looking around and getting all archy. By then it was her feeding time and the food was just arriving at the table. Matt held her while I inhaled my food. It tasted so good and I just wanted to savor it but if I didn't eat fast, she was going to have a melt down. As I was stuffing my face, I heard an uh-oh. I looked up and Daisy was drenched in a water that had been spilled on the table...her dad, who was holding her, got a cold bath to the crotch as well. So in a matter of 5 minutes, Daisy, Julie, Rowan and I were packed up, wishing everyone Merry Christmas and on our way to our cars yelling at our husbands to save us some cinnamon rolls.
We got to Julie's car and I got out stuff to change Ro while she stripped down Daisy and covered her in scarfs and warm things she found in the car. Daisy then inquired why Ro did not poop in the potty. Julie explained Rowan was a baby and uses diapers, not a big girl like Daisy. Daisy then asked if mommy pooped in the potty.....yes Daisy. Does Rachael poop in the potty.....yes Daisy. A good 15 sec pause later, Does Matt poop in the potty? Ha, yes he does too Daisy :) I then tried to feed Rowan who was completely distracted by flashing lights outside, Daisy chatting and being in the car. I threw in the white flag and headed to my car with her to take her home to bed, now a good 30 min past her bedtime. She luckily fell asleep right away and transitioned to bed just fine. Matt called me when he left and told me how expensive our meal was. I added up in my head what we ordered and told him that was not right. He later figured out they added in gratuity automatically and not knowing he tipped on top of that. Merry Christmas to you waiter.
Reflections on the night
-Eating out with Rowan is a bad idea at this age especially far from home, it makes cooking or hosting look like a walk in the park.
-Always carry sani wipes
-Make a list of why having a kid is actually fun for Mike and Whit, because after tonight they may be double thinking their timeline
-Be thankful for having children awesome enough to not have full fledged melt downs while their parents try to participate in fellowship
-It is great to be in the company of other moms who own up to the fact that life is not perfect after a child comes along. Try as you may, some ball gets dropped.
-Our small group, crazy as it is at times, is so great and rolls with whatever comes up. They are the best second family we could ask for
Even though that was the most chaotic dinner/evening Matt and I have had in awhile, I just have to step back and laugh and what my life has become. Nothing this type-a personality would ever ask for but beautiful all the same. :)
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