Back to reality

Tomorrow, Mommy, Kaylani, and me all go back to reality. A reality where I'll leave every morning by 8am (at the latest) and not get back home until around 6pm. A reality where Mommy will be home with Kaylani all by herself (and her great Mommy friends and Mommy classes). A reality where I'm not longer a SAHD, but instead, just sad. On the bright side, reality means that I still earn a paycheck and can still afford the roof over our heads and the diapers on Kaylani's bottom. And since we need a LOT of diapers for Kaylani's bottom, I guess reality isn't all too bad. Plus, we sure had a blast while it lasted!

We finished off my SAHD week in grand fashion. Friday night, Mommy and I went out for our first date since Kaylani was born. We went to Catch a Rising Star Comedy Club in Princeton and then out to TGI Fridays (ahh the suburb life) to watch the end of the Yankees-Red Sox game. The show at the comedy club was alright. Not the best, but definitely good enough. It actually made me want to pursue my undeveloped dream of being a stand up comic that I had from years ago. I used to think that I would have enough material between my mom and Mommy, but now that Kaylani is with us, I just might have enough material to last a solid 3 (5 minute) shows. But since having another "job" would take away from my time at home, it's likely that my dream will remain undeveloped.

To sum up date night, it was good. Comedy Club was perfect because we didn't have that much of a chance to talk about Kaylani. Not that we didn't want to talk about Kaylani, but the rules of parent date night are that you're supposed to focus on the date, not the parent part. Since it was our first time out, you can bet we didn't stick to the rules strictly. Maybe next time...whenever that is.

To wrap up my SAHD week, we took Kaylani to the Aquarium again, and again, she had a great time. This time, I actually think she had a better time and knew what she was looking at. She was much more likely to say "ishhh" to all the fish swimming by and banged on the glass with much more force. Part of it could be that she was wearing shoes and could stand on ledges and bang on the glass instead of having to be carried, but I'm pretty sure she just remembered from last time too because she's growing. She didn't grow too much though since she was still afraid of the "water people", but again, who wouldn't be afraid of people banging on the glass back at you next to fish. Luckily the memories didn't carry over into swim class this afternoon. Mommy was a little afraid that she'd think there were fish in the pool with her. Guess she's not that grown up to put that together.

Anyways, she's now fast asleep, and soon, we'll follow and go to sleep ourselves. We've all got big days tomorrow. Personally, I'm excited to be starting a new job and looking forward to the challenge, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't sad to be going back to work. Being home this week let me spend all types of time with my girls in their natural routines (unlike vacation) and it was a great thing to be a part of. It'll be tough to go back to work, but just so we're clear, work is way easier than being a stay at home parent. Trust me, I know from experience...even if it was only a week!

Oh, and check out these pictures from the last week. I didn't post all week, so there are pictures from the cake Mommy and Kaylani bought me for my last day at Rosetta, Little Gym, random times around the house, and the aquarium today. Enjoy!

Failed Night Out

With Abuela in town for only a few more nights, we planned on taking advantage by sneaking out for a dinner alone. No highchair, no stroller, no variety of toys to distract Kaylani, and no having to move silverware away from her until finally giving in and letting her play with them. We had planned on heading to our favorite restaurant, Sotto in downtown Princeton, to celebrate Mommy's birthday a day late. We even had a plan for our plan that involved putting Kaylani down by 8pm so we could eat sometime before 9pm and be back well before 11pm. We planned on enjoying our dinner without having to look at a monitor or listen to see if Kaylani was crying. What we didn't have was a plan for when everything went differently from our plan.

I got home from work around 6:30pm which was during Kaylani's dinner time. Word on the street was she was being a bit fussy today, so after struggling to get Kaylani to eat all 4oz of her dinner tonight, it was time for bed. By 7:15pm, Mommy was ready to nurse Kaylani, and by 8pm, Kaylani was passed out and ready to be put into her crib. So far, our plan was going perfectly. But that's as far as we got. After 15 minutes, Daddy went in to check on Kaylani for the 2nd time. With a little bit of gentle forehead stroking, Kaylani was practically asleep, but not asleep enough to get out of the room without her making a stink out of it. Literally. Kaylani got so upset that she pooped.

Poop is the one thing that gets Daddy to give in and pick her up after she's been put down for the night. So after changing her and some gentle swaying, back into the crib she went. The crying commenced immediately, and after another 30 minutes and 2 trips in, things were looking grim for our hopes at dinner. At 9pm, Daddy went in for the 5th time tonight and tried to calm her down so she would fall asleep. And just like the other 4 times, she would quiet down, close her eyes, and try and get comfortable as long as Daddy had a hand on her. But once the hand disappeared, the crying came back.

At 9:15pm, Mommy and Daddy pulled the plug on our night out. Besides the fact that Kaylani still wasn't asleep, it was also too late for us to go out because we're old and lame. Instead, we headed down to the kitchen to heat up some leftovers and settle in for our nice dinner "alone" in the kitchen while staring at the monitor and listening to Kaylani cry, just like every other night. And wouldn't you know it, as soon as we sat down to take our first bite of food, Kaylani fell asleep. Just like we planned.

I'm convinced Kaylani knew we were trying to go out. As calming and reassuring to her as I tried to be to get her to sleep, apparently she saw right through me. She cried for 1.5 hours, and kept staring at the door and the monitor to make sure we knew she was looking for us. She calmed down only when I was there, and cried all the way until we sat down for our dinner. She knew. She had to. Why else would she have been crying?

Anyways, we're planning on trying again tomorrow night. One thought is to put her in her crib by 7pm, but knowing our luck, she'll pass out right away and wake up at 4am like she did 2 days ago. Hopefully tomorrow night will go better. If not, tomorrow will just be failed night out #2.

Dinner Out

Tonight Mommy, Daddy, and Kaylani all experienced a first for dinner. For Mommy and Daddy, we had our first taste of Five Guys Burgers and Fries. But besides our dinner being delicious (I would compare it to an East Coast version of In-N-Out burger, but not quite as good), the new first for Kaylani was that she got to have dinner out with us! Before heading out, Mommy packed up Kaylani's oatmeal (yes, she's back to oatmeal instead of barley), put some milk in a cooler, and we were ready for our first dinner out.

With Kaylani strapped into her carseat and on top of her stroller (we've found out that upside down highseats don't work with our Graco carseat), she ate her dinner just like every other night. Apparently dinner out wasn't nearly as exciting for Kaylani as it was for us since she ate her 1/4 cup of oatmeal within 5 minutes just as usual. Lucky for Mommy, Daddy finished his burger in 5 minutes just as usual too so he could finish feeding Kaylani and let Mommy eat. Who knew that eating fast would come in handy some day?

After dinner, we went to Rita's for some custard/frozen ice with Dorothy, Tom, and Makayla before heading home. We were a bit past Kaylani's bedtime which meant she was out like a ton of bricks after nursing. We missed her bedtime by a little bit but it was totally worth it for the burger from Five Guys. Well, it'll be totally worth it if she sleeps for 11 hours tonight like she has this whole week. If not, well, it'll still be worth it. After all, a burger is a burger.