Photos Taken by Amanda "Bradley" Estes - Thanks Aunt Amanda!
Over the past few days I have begun to feel a bit stir crazy. I love being at home with my baby but basically our only outings have been to doctor's offices for check ups. This germ-fearing mama doesn't want to expose her baby to illnesses which means a lot of staying home. Since today was Ryan's day off we debated taking a little venture out to Southlake. I decided that being around people was more of the germ issue than being out somewhere so I figured it would be okay to take her with us to see an early bird movie this morning. Thus our adventure as new parents taking our baby out in public began.
The first step in taking a family outing is packing a diaper bag. Diapers? Check. Wipes? Check. Video camera, baby swing, portable crib, and 10 changes of clothes? Check. Ha, just kidding with that last line, but sometimes that's how it feels when going anywhere with a newborn. You always want to be prepared.
We decided to go see the movie Contagion. You know, the new movie about a deadly virus that spreads quickly without people knowing it and without any known cure? That seems like the perfect movie to see the first time you take your baby out, right? Seeing a movie about how germs spread makes you over analyze everything you do. Did I sanitize my hands after I scratched my nose? Is her blanket touching the germs left on the seat from the person before? If I wasn't paranoid before, I am now.
We got to the theater and Eva was slightly sleepy so I decided to hold her and try to bounce her to sleep. I was so worried about her being the crying baby at the movie that I continued to bounce and rock her for pretty much the entire movie. She did relatively well and only let out a few baby sounds. Until about 10 minutes before the end of the movie when she clearly needed to be changed and started to scream. I grabbed the diaper bag and the baby and made a bee line to to the bathroom. It was my first time to change her in a public restroom and I'll admit that it's a bit tricky to pull everything out of a diaper bag while trying to safely hold down a tiny baby. After I changed her I realized that I kinda needed to go to the bathroom also, but I couldn't figure out how that would ever happen so I decided to wait. Aside from the diapering incident the only other hiccup in our movie going experience was trying to nurse in public for the first time. It's a bit awkward. We're not doing bottles yet so it's all about being discreet. Thankfully we were in a dark theater that only had 4 other people.
After the movie we were hungry so we called in Corner Bakery to-go thinking that would be the fastest option. Only when we got to Corner Bakery we realized that we hadn't called the right location. Since we had to wait for our food we decided to go ahead and eat outside (less people, less germs). Eva was sleeping in her stroller and things were going peacefully until she suddenly opened her eyes, looked at us, and spit up everywhere. If you don't have a baby and don't want to read this, I apologize. It really wasn't gross, just unexpected. We scrambled to get her cleaned up and laughed our way through one of many new parent experiences.
The best parts of the afternoon were definitely the moments when Ryan and I would look at each other, smile, and say, " I love you." A love that understands that some dates are now family outings. A love that understands that baby cries take priority over movie plots. A love that laughs about awkwardness. A love that helps you quickly clean up messes. It was a good morning.
The first step in taking a family outing is packing a diaper bag. Diapers? Check. Wipes? Check. Video camera, baby swing, portable crib, and 10 changes of clothes? Check. Ha, just kidding with that last line, but sometimes that's how it feels when going anywhere with a newborn. You always want to be prepared.
We decided to go see the movie Contagion. You know, the new movie about a deadly virus that spreads quickly without people knowing it and without any known cure? That seems like the perfect movie to see the first time you take your baby out, right? Seeing a movie about how germs spread makes you over analyze everything you do. Did I sanitize my hands after I scratched my nose? Is her blanket touching the germs left on the seat from the person before? If I wasn't paranoid before, I am now.
We got to the theater and Eva was slightly sleepy so I decided to hold her and try to bounce her to sleep. I was so worried about her being the crying baby at the movie that I continued to bounce and rock her for pretty much the entire movie. She did relatively well and only let out a few baby sounds. Until about 10 minutes before the end of the movie when she clearly needed to be changed and started to scream. I grabbed the diaper bag and the baby and made a bee line to to the bathroom. It was my first time to change her in a public restroom and I'll admit that it's a bit tricky to pull everything out of a diaper bag while trying to safely hold down a tiny baby. After I changed her I realized that I kinda needed to go to the bathroom also, but I couldn't figure out how that would ever happen so I decided to wait. Aside from the diapering incident the only other hiccup in our movie going experience was trying to nurse in public for the first time. It's a bit awkward. We're not doing bottles yet so it's all about being discreet. Thankfully we were in a dark theater that only had 4 other people.
After the movie we were hungry so we called in Corner Bakery to-go thinking that would be the fastest option. Only when we got to Corner Bakery we realized that we hadn't called the right location. Since we had to wait for our food we decided to go ahead and eat outside (less people, less germs). Eva was sleeping in her stroller and things were going peacefully until she suddenly opened her eyes, looked at us, and spit up everywhere. If you don't have a baby and don't want to read this, I apologize. It really wasn't gross, just unexpected. We scrambled to get her cleaned up and laughed our way through one of many new parent experiences.
The best parts of the afternoon were definitely the moments when Ryan and I would look at each other, smile, and say, " I love you." A love that understands that some dates are now family outings. A love that understands that baby cries take priority over movie plots. A love that laughs about awkwardness. A love that helps you quickly clean up messes. It was a good morning.
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