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Danielle Bean

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Rachel Balducci

Rachel Balducci
Rachel Balducci is married to Paul and they are the parents of five lively boys and one precious baby girl. She is the author of How Do You Tuck In A Superhero?, and is a newspaper columnist for the Diocese of Savannah, Georgia. For the past four years, she has …
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Lisa Hendey

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Arwen Mosher

Arwen Mosher
Arwen Mosher lives in southeastern Michigan with her husband Bryan and their young children Camilla and Blaise. She has a bachelor's degree in theology. She dreads laundry, craves sleep, loves to read novels and do logic puzzles, and can't live without tea. Her personal blog site is ABC Family. …
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Rebecca Teti

Rebecca Teti
Rebecca Teti is married to Dennis and has four children (3 boys, 1 girl) who -- like yours no doubt -- are pious and kind, gorgeous, and can spin flax into gold. A Washington, DC, native, she converted to Catholicism while an undergrad at the U. Dallas, where she double-majored in …
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Robyn Lee is the managing editor of Faith & Family magazine. She is (yikes!) an almost 30 year-old, single lady, living in Connecticut with her two cousins in a small bungalow-style kit house built by her great uncle in the 1950s. She also conveniently lives next door to her sister, brother-in-law …
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Hallie Lord

Hallie Lord
Hallie Lord married her dashing husband, Dan, in the fall of 2001 (the same year, coincidentally, that she joyfully converted to the Catholic faith). They now happily reside in the deep South with their two energetic boys and two very sassy girls. In her *ample* spare time, Hallie enjoys cheap wine, …
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Fr. John Bartunek, LC

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Kate Lloyd

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Eating Out Again

A first-year milestone

Posted by Arwen Mosher in Family on Wednesday, December 30, 2009 10:06 PM

On January 3, 2009, my husband and I went out for a fancy dinner. I was eight months pregnant, and as we ate delicious fondue he mentioned that it would be a while before we’d get another chance to have a really nice meal out together. I’m an optimist, so I thought it might not be so long. He’s a realist, and he predicted that it would be one year.

Although we’ve had a few short meals at nearby chain restaurants since my sister came to live with us this fall, tonight was the first time since January that we’ve had the trifecta of perfect circumstances - time, funds, and childcare - so that we could have dinner at a gourmet restaurant in town.

My husband was right: January 3rd to December 30th is almost exactly one year.

While we enjoyed salmon and scallops this evening, we remembered last year’s meal and how far away January 2010 felt then. We talked about it that night, looking forward to when our as-yet-unborn baby would be at least ten months old, crawling around and interacting. He would be so much different from the tiny newborn we were anticipating meeting soon after that.

For me, the end of the first year feels like a finish line of sorts. I love babies, but I struggle with parenting them. Toddlers, on the other hand, are great. I really enjoyed Camilla’s toddler years, and I can’t wait for Blaise to become a toddler himself.

A year ago we went out for a fancy dinner and our baby was seven pounds, floating in amniotic fluid. Tonight we went out for a fancy dinner and came home to a little guy who launched himself into my arms and waved happily at the rest of the family as I carried him off to bed. I’m grateful for the past year with Blaise, for the privilege of watching him grow through his first eleven months, but I’m even more excited for the chance to watch him grow through the next year.

Now that our little guy will be a toddler, we’ll probably have more chances for dinners out, too. Which is not an inconsiderable benefit.


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Comments
7
Filed under babies, dinner, experience, love, marriage, memories, parenting, toddlers

Comments

Page 1 of 1 pages

 
Posted by Ginny on Thursday, Dec 31, 2009 2:03 AM (EDT):

I love this, Arwen—I can so relate. 

There is something so rare and wonderful about a real, adult restaurant dinner at a place where they don’t give you crayons and balloons.  My husband and I rarely get to those places anymore, and when we do, it feels like a massive treat.  It is hard to believe that once upon a time, we used to frequent those restaurants all the time.

I don’t know about other moms out there, but I find that anytime I manage to slip away with the hubby for a real adult dinner I always end up ordering some fancy cocktail ... a blood orange cosmopolitan or something equally chichi.  I never drink them at home, so I guess it’s something about that rare confluence of restaurant/date/no kids that makes me want to live it up!

 
Posted by Claire on Thursday, Dec 31, 2009 8:15 AM (EDT):

I love the toddler years, but I also love infancy.  I would love to go back and re-live some of the infant moments again.  It was hard, but I would never want to rush or wish away something that goes by way too fast as it is.

 
Posted by Tina on Thursday, Dec 31, 2009 9:33 PM (EDT):

I’m so with you, Arwen! And, especially with my first one, I really “hated” those first few months, too. Funny, though, that it seemed to have gotten better with each one (I now have 3 great kids!)—that is, I didn’t mind everything so much. I think it’s because after the first one, and maybe even into the second one, you gain perspective and know that the hard stuff won’t last forever. Then, as you say, a year later you look back and can’t believe you made it through it or how quickly it now seems to have gone by. I never would have believed anyone after I had my first if they told me I would one day get to spend a quiet evening in a nice restaurant with my husband! But, alas, I have and I still get to! God bless you and happy 2010!

 
Posted by Claire on Thursday, Dec 31, 2009 9:41 PM (EDT):

Actually, I think having only one child (without much hope for more) has made me appreciate and want to savor every minute of my son’s infancy rather than wanting to rush through it.  (That and the fact that I had many years of child-free dinners out, so I got it out of my system enough that I can live without them during the infant phase.)  But I can see how having a second child would have that effect also, because of having learned how quickly it goes by.  Bring on the sweet, cuddly little newborns!

 
Posted by Heather on Thursday, Dec 31, 2009 11:55 PM (EDT):

My husband and I just shared a similar dinner.  We live far from both families and I don’t think we have had a real dinner out with just the two of us since my son was born (he is 16 months old!).  It was great visiting my parents and being able to have a ‘date night!’

 
Posted by A'Dell on Monday, Jan 4, 2010 1:09 AM (EDT):

Did you guys go to The Melting Pot last year?  For fondue?  I have wanted to go there for AGES but Chris refuses to recognize fondue as a legit meal.

I can’t wait for the chore years.  When do we get to the part where you ask them to vacuum and THEY ACTUALLY DO IT?

 
Posted by Claire on Monday, Jan 4, 2010 1:11 AM (EDT):

Probably around the time that they start preferring their friends to their parents.  Then you’ll be pining away for the early years, which REALLY SHOULDN’T BE RUSHED or WISHED AWAY!


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