A few weeks ago, I was talking with a friend who told me "well, having a baby won't change our lives that much." It was all I could do to hold back my laughter. (Keep in mind, we were having this conversation at a housewarming party where I had to microwave a cup of water in order to heat up a bottle to feed a screaming baby because I was too modest and nervous to nurse him amongst a bunch of non-parents.)
Today, I am laughing at that statement once again.
My sister is leaving tomorrow for a short trip to Vegas and too send her off, my mom and I decided to meet her for lunch in Ellensburg, 30 minutes away. (The hubster is working on his Masters degree at Central, so we are currently bunking up with my parents.)
I thought it might be nice to stop at the college to visit Jon during his lunch break. After 10 minutes of driving around the campus to find a 'Visitor's Parking Lot', I threw Bennett in the stroller and started the hike towards the Rec Center. We arrived to find a table full of silent grad students, pencils grinding away at their homework. (A perfect place for a 3 month old and his talkative mom) I chatted a bit with Jon and then decided it was probably time to head to Wing Central. My absolute favorite place to eat in Ellensburg!!!
By this time, Bennett had discovered his wet diaper and was starting to get hungry. Made a quick stop to change his diaper on a random table in the Rec Center. Got a few weird looks and an awkward comment about my "nice changing table", but seriously, wet diapers call for desperate measures.
Made it back to the car and figured I should probably try to feed him since a dry diaper hadn't fixed the problem. Of course today was the first day in 3 months I hadn't worn a nursing bra. But instead decided to try out my new, cute, wireless, XL, teal, over-the-shoulder-boulder-holder, since I packed a bottle to warm up at the restaurant. (Plan=Failed)
Thank goodness Jon walked back to the car with me so he could fold up the stroller as I got situated to feed the babe. He also dug my nursing cover out of the diaper bag to avoid a weird, boob hanging out, run-in with a college student. 10 minutes later, we were finally en route to deep-fried, hot wing, deliciousness!!
Let's assess: so far, I'd say this trip is MUCH different than it was last summer.
Finally sat down at Wing Central, wedged Bennett's car seat in the booth next to me and got ready to order my delicious lunch that I had been anxiously awaiting. And......boom, fussy-pants continued. Of course, ANOTHER wet diaper. And no changing table in the bathroom at this college hangout. With Gramma and Auntie's help, we managed to change his diaper on my lap in record time. Now I knew he would fall asleep.
NOPE! He loves to fight taking a nap these days and still seemed hungry. I asked the waitress for a cup of hot water about half full. She looked at me with confusion at first and then said "well, we'll have to microwave it, because we don't have anything hot back here." That was fine and dandy. Just had to wait a few minutes for the water to get hot and then a few more for the bottle to warm up.....She finally brought out some barely lukewarm water in a plastic soda cup. (Yeah, not gonna work.) So, my mom convinced me to "Just feed him, hun. You don't know anybody here."
Alright. I was going to do it. My FIRST OFFICIAL public nursing!!! Clumsily got ready and....in walks one of my ex-boyfriend's friends. Awesome. (BTW, I think I nailed the 'act like you didn't see him' routine) And then, out walked the cook. Somebody else I knew.
By this time, I was so hot and sweaty you would have thought I had just finished running a 5K. Meanwhile, our appetizer had been brought out and I managed to eat about 5 fries, left-handed. By the time I was done feeding Bennett, there wasn't a crumb of Fahrenheit Fries left. DAMN!!! Guess Mom and Sis were as hungry as Bennett.
Out comes our meal, that I had crazily agreed to split with my sister. Didn't cut it quite in half, so ended up eating about 1/3 of the burger. By this time, Bennett was still unsettled so I shoved a few more bites of burning hot streak fries into my mouth and headed out to the car. I figured I had driven everyone else in the restaurant crazy enough and just needed a change of scenery. Got 2 quick rounds of Candy Crush in before he started to cry again so decided to give him a driving tour of my alma mater. He fell asleep instantly once the car started to move.
Sooooooo....let's assess once more. Compared to my past experiences at Wing Central, which often included a cold beverage or two, relaxed conversation, a long enjoyable meal, and a belly ache from eating WAY too much, this 30 minute, frantic, debacle, in which I left still hungry, was not quite the same.
So yeah, I'd say that a baby, does in fact, change your life in major ways. The best kind of ways. Even when it gets pretty crazy being Bennett's mom is way better than anything I used to do. It's just different.
I remember, as if it were yesterday, the first time we took Waylon to a nice restaurant. We knew the chef so, as he always did before baby, he dropped by to say hello. Jeff wad holding Waylon ad he greeted said chef. Our sweet little 3 month old baby took one look at the chef, busted into full on screaming tantrum mode. In a matter of ten minutes we concluded he had no intention of calming down, changed our order to "take-out", paid the bill and ran out the door mortified. We literally hadn't even left the parking lot before the kid was cooing from the backseat, evidently pretty pleased with the outcome of his efforts. That was the last time he won those sorts of battles. Now it's a walk outside so at least one parent can enjoy the meal and then, if he hasn't settled down, we swap. Sometimes you just have to pick your battles. I've had so many people assure me that most people either don't notice or totally empathize with you in those situations. And the ones who are super annoyed? Just remember they will be there someday...
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