The Saga of Our First Night Out

A while back I bought a Groupon (one of those things where you buy a $15 gift certificate of sorts and get $30 worth of product) for a favorite local restaurant. The thought was that I would have tons of time to use it. Then I got an email telling me it was going to expire next week! Since I had already paid for part of it I didn't want it to go to waste, but it's not really a baby friendly place, more like a 1-2 Bar. The hubs and I both agreed it would be good to get out of the house for a short while sans baby. We just had to figure out a way to make it work on short notice. My immediate choice of a babysitter was my Mom, and also someone hubs and I can agree on with no argument. Unfortunately she had already watched my niece and nephew for most of the day. I'm sure she would have jumped at the chance to watch Tegan too, but I didn't really want to ask her to give up more of her day, especially since we would be visiting her for a good chunk of the next day. So that left the MIL.

Yeahhh...The MIL babysitting has kinda been a touchy topic around here. The hubs and I have had many discussions over it and not quite agreed on anything. We even took the MIL out for breakfast a while back to let her know we had concerns and that she shouldn't expect to be left alone with the baby any time soon. The problem is the MIL has a LOT few health problems that concern me ranging from physical limitations to mental disorders. Any number of which that could cause her to not be able to care for our daughter with little or no notice before an attack. And Since Tegan isn't able to pick up a phone and let us know when one of these issues come into play, I've been reluctant to concede on this topic. Especially since my husbands standing argument is that "She's always been this way. That's how she was when me and my brother were growing up and we turned out okay". Not exactly a glowing recommendation.

Somehow the hubs managed to talk me into letting the MIL watch Tegan for an hour or two while we went out. After all the restaurant was only a few blocks away. We could get home pretty quick if need be. And if I could get the timing to work out Tegan would be sleeping the whole time anyway. All the MIL would have to do is sit around and wait for us to get home.

It was a great plan, and it almost worked. The timing pretty much worked out perfectly and I was putting Tegan down in her crib shortly after the MIL showed up. I had just finished feeding her so the hubs and I had at least two hours before she would need to eat again. I laid out the time line for the MIL, and set up the required components for her next meal if I didn't get back in time, but assured her that shouldn't be an issue and she shouldn't have to worry about it. However before I could even get out the door Tegan was screaming. Something or someone had woken her up. At this point my resolve to get out of the house was melting a little bit, but the hubs is waiting for me. So I hurry up and grab my things and try to get out the door before all my will is gone, with a chorus of 'it will be okay' playing in my head.

We get out of the house, we get to the restaurant, we sit down at a table- about ten minutes have passed, and...the MIL calls. Tegan is still fussing, and making a good show of it so the MIL was calling to find out if she might still be hungry! Umm, NO. As we mentioned when we left she just ate (literally just ate, it hadn't even been a full hour since I had finished), and she should be good for another two hours! This did not exactly make me feel more comfortable about my decision to leave.

We manage to make it through dinner without another call. I think I made a good show of it even if in my head Tegan was crying the whole time. The hubs revealed later that I was really quite most of the time, but otherwise okay. By the time we finished dinner I was more than ready to get home.

We thankfully returned to a quiet house. I put Tegan back to bed (found out the MIL can't quite reach into the crib!), thanked the MIL and sent her home. Thus ends this saga.

I don't know how soon we will be calling on the MIL to babysit again, especially if she can't maneuver the crib. For a first trip out it went okay. I think it will be better when I'm more comfortable with who I'm leaving Tegan with. We'll find out soon enough. The hubs and I have been planning a date night for a while. In two weeks we will be going to a Twins game and leaving Tegan with my Mom. Hopefully that night will go better.