Let the Initiation Commence

Jillian (L) and Jenna (R)

Sigh...I know it happens to to every parent at some point; somehow though, that doesn't make me feel much better. Every mom, dad, grandparent, whoever...has their story. Ours happened tonight. I wish I could say that I've learned from my mistakes; but sadly, I didn't.

We went out to dinner tonight with Jared's brother, his wife, her parents, Jared's parents, and Jared's grandmother for my sister-in-law's birthday. Now, when I say "we" I mean my family as a collective whole: Jared, Jessica, Jillian and Jenna. We don't go out often, and I don't think I need to explain why as those with one baby (or who have had one baby) know that going out to dinner with a baby is a big ol' pain and almost always not worth the effort. Well, since we don't go out often and since it was also Jamie's (sister-in-law) birthday (and also since there were going to be let's see....9 adults and only two babies) we figured we would venture out...especially since the babies were out numbered.

So we get to the restaurant, find two high chairs, get the girls settled. Most everyone goes off to order and I stay behind with the babies and grandma. Everyone comes back from ordering and right at that moment Jillian grabs Jared's cup of ice water and throws it off the table all over the floor. Annoying...no big deal, it is just water and we can clean it up but already I am feeling like this isn't going to turn out like I had pictured.

So about 3 or 4 of us are cleaning up the water and ice and all of the sudden the people at the other end of the table (those whose feet were dry) are making sudden movements towards Jillian. So I look up and Jillian has just dumped an entire bowl of cheese dip onto her lap. You think after the first grab, toss and spill I would have moved her away from the table so she wouldn't be able to reach anything else, or else made absolutely sure nothing else on the table was in her reach. Nope, didn't do a thing. I practically gave her the dish by leaving her there. Now, as Jared so kindly pointed out, we usually consider ourselves to be reasonably intelligent; however, where this double lapse in judgement came from I'll never know. I guess just chalk it up to us being "first time parents."

So we are in the restaurant and Jillian is COVERED in cheese: her jeans, her shoes, her high chair cover, her stuffed toy, her shirt. Everything. Did you know that cheese is actually kind of hard to clean up? Actually, it is downright nasty. Luckily though, after my experience with the poo at my doctor's office from when she was a tiny baby, I had a spare outfit that I was able to change her into. And change her we did, right in the middle of the restaurant. :)

Anyhoo, I suppose now that we've had our "moment" or our "initiation," as some parents call it, we can learn from our mistakes and the next time we venture out we won't have a repeat. Probably not though...what is more likely to happen is that a different oops will happen that will go down as another of those "first time parent" horror stories.

Anyhoo, enough cheese. I still haven't been able to get the sound on my camera working but I was able to get a short video clip on my phone of the inch worm/army crawl. Check out our newest achievement:

Awesome right?!

More to Come,

Jessica