Thursday, November 13, 2008

Night Out at the Seattle Symphony

What you are about to read will either make you laugh, or cry. I am the one who actually experienced it, and I did both.

For about 6 weeks now, Will has been planning on taking me to the symphony. It was to be our first dressy date since Preston was born. The tickets were purchased, the babysitter was lined up, and the dinner reservations were planned.

The night was Tuesday evening.

I had considered everything I needed to get done in order to be ready and knowing I needed to leave no later than 3:15pm, I started counting backwards to estimate my schedule.

Ok, 10 min to load the car. 15 min to feed Preston. 15 min to eat lunch. 1 hour to get ready. 20 min to shower. 15 min to feed Preston. 10 min to dress him. 15 min to get diaper bag ready. 10 min for diaper changes. 45 min to work out. 3 min to look up directions and print out.

I need to start doing all of this by 11:30am.

Everything was going great.

I had been pumping milk for the last day so that I would have enough to give our friends (aka the babysitters) to watch Preston all evening. I went to the fridge around 1pm to do one last pump. I found the bottle of milk (only 6 oz of the precious stuff that I was able to spare so far) had tipped over in the fridge and drained to the bottom of the fridge floor.

I was devastated. If you have breastfed before, you know how hard it is to come up with extra when you are trying to simultaneously feed as well. What was I supposed to do? Now Preston would not have any milk for the rest of the evening.

I tried to stay calm, going over in my head "Okay, I could try to pump some more but there still won't be enough. There is none frozen in the freezer. CRAP! He is going to have to have his first taste of formula."

Well, Preston won't even take a bottle. So giving him some new type of milk AND a bottle? I felt sorry for our babysitters already.

I continued getting ready, all the while Preston was fussy and crying and needing my attention. I hadn't eaten lunch yet, it was already 2:30 and I was supposed to leave in 45 min. So the easiest thing I could think of, was to make a smoothie and drink it while I was getting ready.

During this: Fussy baby, fussy baby, and more fussy baby. I am even more behind schedule.

I go to my closet to pick out what to wear. I look at my huge selection of fancy dresses knowing that I only fit into, oh, maybe 2 of them. But I grab 5, starting out with trying on the ones I knew probably wouldn't fit, and ending with the ones I knew did fit.

Well, it was of course the last dress I tried on that was the only one that fit. Put the dress on. Preston is crying to be fed.

Take the dress off, feed him. Put the dress back on.

I go into the bathroom seeing how it is now 3:15, I still have curlers in my hair, and I am not even remotely ready to leave yet.

I reach over to grab something off the bathroom counter and knock my glass of strawberry smoothie over. It falls and spills all over my makeup, into the bathroom drawers, onto the floor and splashes all over the front of my dress. And the ONE dress that fit me, I remind you.

I am crying at this point but trying not to because I don't want to have to redo my makeup on top of everything.

I am able to remove most all the smoothie from my dress. I hurry and put my shoes on. Preston is miraculously being good. I take my curlers out and realize again how much I hate my hair since I cut it all off.

I grab everything and take it down to the car, realizing I left some things upstairs. I start the car and run back up the 25 stairs only to find I locked myself out. I run back down the stairs and grab the keys from the ignition, and go up again and grab what I need.


I drive 15 min to the babysitter's house and realize as I am almost there, that I forgot Preston's formula and his jar of applesauce. This was a necessity that I bring it, being that he does not have any breastmilk.

So I have to turn around and go all the way home and get his food. By this time it is 4:15.

Finally, I drop everything plus Preston off at the sitters and leave to go pick up Will from work. It was 4:30. And our dinner reservation was for 5pm.

After this point though the evening actually ended up going really smoothly. Our date was lovely. The food was fantastic, the concert was fun, and it was nice to be together. But WOW. The part leading up to the date? Hope that never happens again!

8 comments:

Lisita said...

Oh Jenn - I'm so sorry but welcome to Motherhood. It's the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. It took us 6 months of trying and trying to finally achieve our Valentine's date. I'm glad you stuck with it and made it work. A lesser mom (like me) might have given up earlier and not gone. So glad you had a fun evening! I also wanted to tell you our favorite tips for helping MG sleep.
a) We have a bedtime/naptime lovie that she ONLY gets during that time. It makes it look forward to the time she gets with her special lovie (blanket).
b) We found that having a bedtime/naptime patter really helped. We stay consistent.... we changed a diaper, read books, said prayers and then I always sing her I'm a Child of God before every nap/bedtime.
c) We found that sticking to a routine as much as possible worked well for her.
Hope you find soemthing that helps you. Every child is so different so follow your gut - you'll know what's best for him. I did have to let her cry to sleep more than once. It broke me heart but she quickly learned. Ah, the joys of motherhood! Good luck!

Jenni said...

I totally totally feel for you! I remember sooo many instances like that.. I think I will always remember them too. They make you greatful for all the good little moments you have every day. Kudos for still goin out, I might have bailed at the spill of the smoothie and called Pizza Hut!

So how did Preston do with formula & the bottle? You have me curious...?!

McClains said...

I am sorry, that is no fun...I feel for you. Bad news is...it just gets worse with 2 kids! I literally have to plan to be out the door 45 min. before I really need to be because everything always seems to go wrong. =) Looks like you had fun though, how did Preston do? Enjoy those moments alone with Will, they are so hard to get.

The Thomas Family said...

I'm so impressed you all go out babyless. Luke and I have only left Noah once for 2 hours and he's 14 months. Way to keep the love alive.

Dan Thomas said...

Things have a way of working out. (When you do what you should.)

NelsonFam said...

I dumped a whole bottle of breastmilk a couple of weeks back and I cried too! I laughed at myself because I was "crying over spilled milk" but that milk is like gold - it means a couple hours of self time that sometimes you so desperately need.

Jenni said...

Awe thanks everyone. :)

To answer the big question about whether or not Preston took the formula, he apparently did not. He did eat 1/2 of a jar of "rice cereal with apples", but when they made up the bottle of formula he turned his nose up at it. They even tried to put a little bit of the applesauce on the nipple of the bottle to get him to drink it and he still pushed it away and cried. LOL. So all he ate that evening was his 1/2 jar of applesauce. He was asleep when we picked him up, but when we got home he woke up and was pretty hungry/cranky.

Anonymous said...

Jenni-I was wondering why I had not heard all the details of your date day/night. I am sure you did not even have time to read my email until several days later! Wheww! What a day-I am glad that you were able to enjoy yourself so much at the concert. It made all that other stuff worth it-right?! :) I am happy to say it does get better-it just takes time. Motherhood is most challenging and difficult thing you will ever do but it is also the most rewarding! Love ya-N

PS Your hair looks awesome-I know you don't like it but I think it always looks terrific! :)