Getting out and about with a baby

Thursday night was Iowa State’s football season opener. We went over to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the first half with some friends, then came home to put Meg to bed (an hour late). It was fun and I’m glad we went. Our friends called us at six to invite us to come watch the game and we were there by seven. They're always remarking how impressed she is that we still come to things even though we have a kid. Everyone knows people who have a baby and never see their childless friends again. We’ve seen this group of friends six times this summer. I think part of the reason they comment on it is that it gives them hope – you can have a baby without your life being over. They think its great we don’t sit at home every night and didn’t drop our childless friends.

However, the six times we saw these friends this summer are the only times we saw friends this summer. The reason we drop everything and come over when they call to say they’re getting together is because we spend the majority of our time at home and generally jump at the chance to get out. Don't get me wrong - we spend the majority of our time at home because I like staying in. This is the reason why I've never had many friends. I do like going out occasionally, but not often, so if I have a lot of friends, who all want to hang out, I end up ignoring some of them or constantly whining to them I don't have any free nights to chill at home. I do better with a small group of friends and a lot of alone time. I'm a homebody. But these friends are pretty much our only chance to get out, so we either take the opportunity when its available or spend the next week wishing we had.

Also, I think the main reason we can be flexible is because Meg is a flexible baby. If we’re hanging out at someone’s house, we often bring Meg. At 8, we put her to bed in the infant seat in someone’s bedroom and she sleeps there until its time to go home. Our friends love this because, again, it shows her you don’t always have to either get a babysitter or leave the gathering at 7 pm to hurry home and put the baby to bed. But the only reason we don’t have to rush home is because Meg will sleep in the infant seat in an unfamiliar room. She’s the flexible one, we’re just lucky. And, again, its not like we’re doing this every weekend – we’ve only done it a few times.

I guess I just think they give us too much credit – they compliment us on our laid-back parenting style and our willingness to go hang out, but, actually, we don't go out much and its our baby who's laid back. I do like the compliments, though...