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Wednesday, March 17, 2010

You live, you learn

We finally got Gus baptized this weekend, at just over 6 months. Mother of the year right here! Anyway, it went well enough, he cried and fussed through the actual ceremony because the poor little guy was completely ready for his afternoon nap, but other than that, success! And he looked adorable in his little baptismal bonnet. He is a boy, so it’s not often I get to put bonnets on him, and let’s just say I thoroughly soaked it up.

To be honest, I’m mostly relieved it’s over. We spent so much of last week cleaning, cooking, and preparing for the party, and I was just so spent. Entertaining is so much work and I have decided that I have NO kitchen instincts whatsoever, which makes it that much more stressful. I wish I was one of those people who could whip up a delicious meal without a recipe, but I am most definitely not. I’m not even one of those people who can whip up a delicious meal WITH a recipe. And when you’re cooking for thirty people, you can’t exactly follow a recipe, you just have to figure it out. I pretty much stressed and questioned everything… oven temperatures, timing, quantities… you name it and I likely had a mini-panic attack about it.

We went to the little Mexican restaurant down the street for dinner on Saturday night with my brother and his wife, and it was definitely a bit of a wake-up call as to the fact that we no longer have a baby that can just be carted along anywhere and everywhere. Gus was a bit of a beast to deal with, and I learned a few things:

1. Booths just don’t work. There is not enough room, period.

2. Breastfeeding in public with a 6-month old is becoming increasingly perilous. Gus swats around and squirms and pulls the nursing cover off of him, and generally just behaves like he is being tortured. It’s ridiculous. Also he is just so distracted by everything around him that he won’t really eat, even if he’s hungry. I can barely nurse him in front of the TV at home anymore, so why am I surprised when it is difficult in a loud restaurant?

3. I need to remember to bring cool toys with me. Distracting toys. Toys that Gus doesn’t normally get to play with. Otherwise, all he wants are the butter knives, beer bottles, and salt shakers. And no matter how well we think we’re doing keeping that stuff out of his reach, he’ll find a way to get them. If Gus was a Super Hero, that would be his super power.

4. I need to bring baby food. Gus wants to join in on the eating, and gets really pissed when he realizes that he doesn’t get anything because I’m a bad mom and didn’t even consider throwing a little cube of frozen squash in the diaper bag on the way out the door.

6 comments:

Berbs33 said...

Oh man reading that totally brings back memories of going out to eat with Colton from about 6 months - 24 months. Believe it does get easier but it takes a while! Sorry to hear about your stress from entertaining - it can be a lot but for the special event I am sure it was totally worth it!

Lisa said...

He's growing up so fast! I love how animated and interactive he is...so much fun!

I had to host dinner for 12 people tonight and was stressed, so I can only imagine what 30 was like. But knowing you as well as I do, I'm sure the food was delicious and fun and you were the perfect host!

Betsy said...

Ohhh I had flashbacks to a few weeks ago when Abb and I took Isla to BWW. I brought tons of toys and she kept throwing them EVERYWHERE! It was definitely stressful.

I agree with you on the cooking! I seriously have no clue either. NO CLUE. I can barely follow a recipe. We had to rent a room and have food catered for Isla's baptism. The thought of cooking stressed me out far too much!

I LOVE the little bonnet.

Liz said...

Alicia, I totally feel your pain when trying to take the little guy out to eat! It's not even enjoyable because all you do is make sure he doesn't bring the whole table crashing to the ground!

You are a super woman! I couldn't cook for 30 people! When we had Lincoln's birthday party I totally went the easy route and did lots of crock pot things (good thing we have 3 of them).

We have to get together soon for a play date! It's been a long time since I've seen Gus!

Baby Mama said...

This is mj. Great idea on bringing along baby food. Maybe it will keep her from grabbing our french fries. You have such a cute kid!

Freckles said...

no advice on bringing baby to restaurant as I haven't experienced that yet, but I will look forward to you posting your expertise on this when my baby is born and gets to that age :)