Eating at restaurants... Not so easy!

Kyle and I on New Year's eve 2007/2008 (I don't miss these bar days!)

Pizza Express, that's better!
When Kyle and I were baby-less we loved going out for romantic dinners; we would have drinks, appetizers, drinks, main courses, drinks, and dessert! I loved how we could take our time, enjoy each others company and just completely relax!

Once Sienna came along our dates changed a little, not a lot! If and when we did go out to dinner we would bring a lot more than our wallets... A diaper bag filled with the following necessities:

a bottle of breast milk

cloths

bib

diapers

wipes

one or two outfits in case of explosion(s)

Typically, in the beginning, Sienna would sleep through the entire outing and we would go undisturbed! Of course we wouldn't drink, and we would eat as fast as we could, just in case she had a screaming fit (which never happened, but we didn't want to be "those parents with the screaming baby in the middle of a restaurant ruining everyones meal..." (of course people who would even complain about a baby crying are childless, what do they know!)

Slowly but surely our meals out have changed significantly... By around three months of age, Sienna would smell the food and refuse to let me eat without eating at the same time... I didn't mind, Kyle would cut up my food, she would eat and fall asleep under the blanket, I would gently put her back into the car seat and she would sleep for the rest of the date.

Kyle and I have become speed-eaters of late... We know we have about fifteen minutes before one of us has to pick her up and play with her, or hold her while she takes in the restaurant atmosphere!

Now when we go out to a meal our list of essentials has changed:

Sienna's lunch bag filled with the following:

ice pack

tupperware of blended veggies and/or meat

yogurt

spoon

water bottle

mommy's diaper bag filled with the following:

diapers

wipes

change of clothes

stroller

ergo carrier (essential if she does fuss and get tired, daddy just walks her up and down and she is out like a light)

Things that we hope not to use:

diapers and change of clothes

(a flipping baby on a change table 4 feet of the ground, not easy to deal with and quite terrifying!)

Side note:

I am not sure if this has happened to any of the other moms but one of the first times I can remember going out to eat with Sienna in tow (she must have been a couple of weeks old) a hostess gave us a kids menu and crayons and asked if we needed a high chair! Yes, my two week old baby has head control and can color already, I know, it's a miracle! Sigh, naive 16 year olds.

A recent dinner out to Pizza Express was a little trying on Kyle and I... Sienna was fussy right from the beginning and clearly too tired to be sitting in a busy restaurant. She was constantly trying to grab things of the table, especially the menu and daddy's beer, knives, forks, and as soon as I would put a toy into her hand she would peer over the edge of her high chair and look down mischievously as she dropped it on to the floor... Of course the waiting staff, and fellow patrons, kept coming over and picking everything up but eventually gave up as they realized Sienna's game... Then the pizza arrived, the waiter put it down a little to close to Sienna (thanks a-hole)... I wasn't looking and all of a sudden Sienna's fingers went right into the piping hot tomato sauce and she began to scream, splutter, and of course, stop breathing. Kyle took her to the bathroom and ran cold water over her fingers... These kinds of nightmarish things happen all the time with toddlers... Oh how I long for the days of a quiet newborn, but at least now Sienna is more entertaining for all of the people around her!
All in all we are very lucky with Sienna, she is such an angel when we are out; flirting with the waitresses/waiters, smiling at people at surrounding tables, and never screaming her head off like other children in the restaurant.
The next step is a portable DVD player...