So I purchased a voucher from Deal Find for $65 at the Taj Mahal Indian restaurant in Halifax and J and I decided Saturday night would be a great time to use it. Back before the baby we were able to just jump in the car and head out for a date night whenever we pleased. Now it is a little more complicated.
Step 1: Secure a babysitter.
Because we live about 40 minutes away from the restaurant it was just easiest to deliver miss Lila to J's mother who lives 10 minutes from the restaurant than to have her come to our house.
Step 2: Make a reservation.
Normal people go out to dinner around 7:00 or 8:00pm. In our past life this would have been our choice as well. We opted however to make a 5:30pm reservation so that we would be able to pick Lila up after she ate her supper and she would fall asleep on the way home.
Step 3:
Pump.... pump... pump.... pump..... For anyone who has breastfed you know the joys of sitting for hours hooked up to a breast pump. I, for some reason, am only able to pump about 1oz. per 30 minutes. Lila drinks about a 5oz. bottle... so lets see, that is 2 and 1/2 hours of pumping for one bottle. Yup. No wonder we don't go out for more date nights! Oh, and she is still nursing every 2 hours. So it usually takes me two to three days to pump enough for one evening out and this is if I can pump more than a couple of times a day which would require Lila to sleep or entertain herself for these periods of time which doesn't usually happen.
Step 4:
Pack up Lila's stuff. I used to laugh at my friends who had babies and would arrive at parties with huge bags of stuff, bouncy chairs, booster seats, you name it. Now I understand their pain! So for a 2-3 hour stretch at Nanny's house I packed:
- A change of clothes (pants and shirt)
- An extra sweater
- A hat
- Two sleepers (one to change into before heading for home and an extra incase something unfortunate happens to the first one).
- A bib
- Toys
- A booster chair
- Stroller (always in the trunk)
Step 5:
Pack Lila's supper :
- Peas and corn
- Ground beef and black beans
- Cup of water
- 1 bottle of breast milk
Step 6:
Shower, dry hair and attempt to apply makeup, all while Lila is sitting in her bouncy chair in the bathroom with me either looking very unimpressed or screaming in my arms. It is very challenging to apply mascara with one hand and a kicking, screaming baby in the other!
Step 7:
Get dressed. Easy enough right? Well..... I can't wear yoga pants and a sweatshirt to the restaurant so maybe this process isn't so easy. Most of my pre-pregnancy clothes do not fit even though I weigh at least 10 pounds less than I did when these clothes did fit..... and the ones that do fit are just ugly and unappealing to me. Finally I settled on a pair of jeans and a black shirt. Fancy.
Step 8:
Change a diaper, dress Lila in something that is not stained and prepare to pack the car. I put all of the items that need to go in the car out on the deck by the stairs. Take Lila down to the car and buckle her in. Run back up for all the stuff and load it in the car. This takes 2-3 trips. I think I should be much skinnier than I am with all the running up and down stairs that I do! Perhaps in another month my wardrobe choices will be much greater.
Step 9:
Drive to the babysitters. As we are driving, realize we are 30 minutes late.
Step 10: Call the restaurant and push the reservation back by half an hour.
After all this we did end up at the restaurant where we had a lovely dinner. Maybe we should do this more often!!!
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