Party of four

By Published On: October 1st, 2015

It’s been really dreary and gray over the past few […]

It’s been really dreary and gray over the past few days and through last weekend here in Atlanta. I’m not complaining, though. With the heat starting to look like it’s a thing of the past, I am welcoming the cooler days of fall with wide open arms. We spent the majority of the weekend lounging around at home in pajamas. It was glorious. Anaïs was entertained by her toys, books, imagination and a little Netflix magic. Akira was relaxed and took so many naps which enabled Jesse and me to get much-needed shut-eye, even if it meant that it was the middle of Saturday afternoon.
Before we knew it, it was already 5 o’clock, and we had done absolutely nothing with the day. So, before we lost it completely, we set off to run an errand before heading out to dinner as a party of four!
6 weeks (9 of 14)To be honest, I was a little nervous about how we would fare with a fresh baby out and about on a Saturday night. When my mom came to visit, we all walked to our neighborhood Mexican restaurant where Jesse and I felt like we were floundering under Akira’s seemingly endless cries. He had recently been fed. He had already had a diaper change. He had been sleeping for a while, so, surely, he wasn’t tired anymore, right? Right? We had to take turns bringing Akira outside and away from people, so we wouldn’t disrupt other diners while he wailed.
We were that family. You know what I’m talking about. Admit it: We’ve all been guilty of muttering our annoyances under our breath when it’s another person’s kid who’s making all the noise. But when it’s our own child? Oh, no. Our child would never do that. More importantly, we wouldn’t be those people. Well, we were so wrong. It felt like it in that moment, anyway. Then again, there was the time when Jesse’s brother and family came and we all wanted to try a relatively new restaurant in town. Akira slept through our entire lunch while we feasted with nary a peep coming from him. It’s all still trial by fire, so off we went.
We decided to check out a new-ish Japanese restaurant that had, hands-down, the most authentic Japanese cuisine I’ve had in quite some time. While we ordered bowls of ramen, fresh nigiri and takoyaki, our little man slept soundly in his car seat. We even indulged in some sake and Japanese craft beer and entertained Anaïs with having her propose toasts and clink glasses. We were voracious and trying to eat as quickly as we could. It was like a race against time: Is he going to wake up? He’s totally going to wake up right now. We need to eat as much of this as we can when we can! By the time we got our check, more than an hour after we had arrived, Akira had woken up rested and happy from having taken such a long nap. The owner of the restaurant came by and told us how cute Akira was and gave us some kind words of encouragement about the whole parenthood thing. We did it! We were the cool family with a quiet infant and a well-behaved toddler.
I was so proud of our little unit, and a feeling of relief washed over me. I live for these family outings. They’re what get me through those too-late nights or ungodly-hour-early mornings. The weekends are so much sweeter with no agenda and time spent with the people I love. I can’t wait to see what the next few weekends bring.