Birthday? What Birthday?

So apparently I suck at this blog-writing stuff. Between school, housework, grocery shopping, cooking, taking care of Bear, and trying not to look and dress like an un-showered Kevin Federline (really though, is there any other kind?), I can barely find the time. I supposed if I'm going to keep up with this then I really need to set aside some time every day (or at least every other day) to write. Okay, I put it in writing, so now I have to do it.

My birthday was a couple weeks ago but M was on call so we really couldn't do anything. Since his birthday was Sunday (and he was on call again) my mom came the weekend between our birthdays so that M and I could go out to dinner for the very first time without Bear.

I'm not quite sure why, but I had a lot of anxiety leading up to that weekend. Bear was starting to sleep better at night and then all of the sudden something changed (Teething? Growth spurt? 4-month waking? Who knows..) and he was back to his cat naps and constant night waking. The fact that he wasn't sleeping also meant that he was a horrible, cranky mess. Because of this I think I was terrified to leave him with my mom for fear that he would be completely unmanageable and I would come home to a screaming, overtired infant and an exhausted Nana who was never to return. Ridiculous, right? I ended up breaking down and confessing this to my mom over the phone after one particularly horrible night. She told me that I was being crazy and that there was "no baby that Nana couldn't handle."

So Saturday night we got all dressed up and headed out for our 5:30 reservations (early bird special anyone?) at the best steakhouse in the city. Since I can't eat soy or dairy due to Bear's MSPI I had my awkward conversation with the waitress, asking her if she could please make sure none of my food contained butter or was marinaded in anything that I didn't know about. I had a glass of red wine and M had some fancy Mad Men-esk drink that I can't remember the name of. Our steaks came out a short while later and were unfortunately grossly undercooked. M likes his steak a little rare and even he couldn't stomach the meat on the plate in front of him. Not wanting to say anything, we decided we'd just take them home and toss them on the grill. This turned out to be a good idea because it was around that time that the toddler in the booth behind us starting having a meltdown. (Seriously people? We live in a super kid-friendly city in which there are literally hundreds of great restaurants that would be perfect to take even the littlest kids too. I really don't think your 2-year-old is going to enjoy himself in the fanciest steakhouse in the city on a Saturday night.)

On the way home we decided that we definitely needed to stop at Walgreen's and get some candy. After deciding on Twizzlers, Mike and Ikes, and Starbursts we headed back to our apartment. Bear was still awake (it was only around 7pm at this point) so I gave him a bath and put him to bed.

Overall our little birthday celebration was pretty uneventful. I'm sure it was a mixture of anxiety over leaving Bear, exhaustion, and just plain getting older, but it didn't seem like much of a birthday at all. Long gone are the college days when I would celebrate my birthday like it was a national holiday (yes, I was that girl at the bar) and I'm okay with that. I have a 4-month-old now and better things to worry about than planning some huge, elaborate party.. until Bear's 1st birthday, that is;)

The three of us before dinner. Bear was clearly thrilled to be taking family photos.