These are my people. Even the toddler.
Yesterday I turned 36.
Ok. I’m cool, just had to let that sink in for a minute.
Having 2 kids with an 8.5 year age gap means that the four of us often go in different directions. If Ethan has a rugby game and it’s pouring with rain, either Dave or I will stay home with Nix. When I depart to deliver E to pool training, battling rush hour traffic on Lincoln Rd, Nixon will stay at home with Mum. If there are errands to run or events to go to at nap time, one of us hits the road and the other stays home with bubs. This is how we roll. But it kinda sucks. Going places as a family is kinda the point of having, you know, FAMILY.
So yesterday Dave was hounding me all day about what I wanted to do for my birthday dinner. My lazy-girl inclinations were screaming fush ‘n chips however my birthday girl sensibilities won and I suggested taking Ethan out to eat with Dave and I. I know no-one believes me when I try and explain why taking Nixon to a restaurant doesn’t immediately spring to mind as one of my Top 5 things to do on my birthday, so I won’t even go there. All I will say is that it is very, V E R Y stressful.
My limited birthday dinner guest list was overruled by Dave and we headed out to eat at The Flying Burrito Brothers with Ethan, my Mum and Nixon in tow. < I highly recommend TFBB as a kid friendly place to eat, they have high chairs and the food comes out quick! >
Thank goodness! How wonderful it was to sit down with my favourite people in the world and share great food and appreciate just how lucky we are to have each other. I’m pretty sure the other diners weren’t all up the good vibes but hey-ho, ’twas ma birthday bitches and I’ll bring my cray-cray 22 month behemoth out to eat if I feel like it! And, I think I’ll start doing it more often as well.
Dave and I ate out all the time when Ethan was a baby and toddler. We were living in San Diego at the time and food was cheap plus, Ethan was a very different child to Nixon. Nix struggles to remain in his high-chair at home for the duration of a meal, so expecting him to do so in the new/exciting environment of a restaurant where there are people to woo, nooks and crannies to explore and food to steal off of every table is laughable.
But laugh we did. Our reservation was for 6pm and we were in the car and on the way home by 7pm! Bam. I’m not going to lie. I found it fever pitch stressful, it felt like we were running the amazing race, hurtling towards the next food drop, hoping it would arrive before Nixon lost his shit and rappelled from the high chair. But we were together on my birthday. I may not have eaten much of the avocado salsa before Nix commandeered it for his own high chair entree but I enjoyed my shrimp fajitas and my delicious glass of wine and most of all I enjoyed my people. Being out in public, as a family, with all of my people. Even the littlest one xx
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I love this post. I have an 8 year old, a 5 year old and a 2 year old, who i all love very much, but going out in public with them stresses me out big time! So glad I’m not the only one; I totally feel your pain;-)
We did dinner out at lone star last week. Me and hubby, master 9, master 7, master 5 and miss 9 months. I hear ya!
I am ten years younger than my brother. In our family I was "that" child – I am sure you'll know what I mean by that 😉 – and I think most of my family members are still slightly traumatised from having had to live with me.
But on another hand, even now that I no longer live in Estonia, my mum still tells me that at birthday parties and friendly dinners they share stories of "Oh, do you remember when Maria did…?" and laugh together. As much as it was hard, I think it also made them bond because they were united in the mission of handling/raising "that" child and it was an exceptional experience.
And once I grew up enough to be independent, I became a lot of fun.
I relate to it a lot when you describe what Nix is like, for many reasons 😉
OMG I hear you. I hear you so loud and clear. With my dynamos 18 months apart the stress of taking two intense super charged small people out for dinner was enough to make me forgo any treat. But now that they are a little older we have found a family friendly restaurant with a kids room. Bliss. And as the kids whizz back and forward (and back and forward) from the table to the kids room I just keep eating and drinking my vino xox
Happy Birthday! Families big and small and sprinting or slow… are the best!