- Heading home in rush hour Memphis traffic. Thankfully, I’m not driving. My Mom thrived in Memphis traffic, but I’ve never been a fan of risking my life. I used to drive in the DC, Metro area traffic and I didn’t like that either. I still recall my first day in rush hour there on the Beltway. I began to cry and beat my hands against the windshield. Then I noticed the poor guy next to me. I really had him worried for my sanity. Anyway, I keep peeking over at the baby in her seat, who currently remains awake and I keep saying little prayers under my breath that she’ll fall asleep before she decides she’s done with not being held. She’s starting to make inpatient little grunts, so it will really be a miracle for her to fall peacefully asleep in this stop and go. Chloe is also without nap. I can see her rubbing at her eyes and bouncing around as best she can in her carseat to fight off the evil hands of the sandman trying to drag her under. She amazes me. She could give James Bond a run for his money, if fighting sleep is anything like resisting torture tactics to elicit information. But, alas, even a warrior can only fight so long. She has given up the fight and gone the way of the nap. Bailey, on the other hand, went full on shrieking eels from Princess Bride. I had to employ the pacifier. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes she acts like I’m sticking a baseball bat down her throat and gags and sputters. Other times she suckles it like the sweet, purple, rubber nipple it is. Thankfully, today it worked and she is suckling her way to drowsy town.
- Why Memphis rush hour you ask. We are coming back from a fun filled day at a place called Incredible Pizza. It was a lot of fun. I’m glad we went. When invited, I almost said no. You never know how a young baby will react to a long car ride and a day out away from familiar routine, but I really wanted Chloe to go. They offered to just take Chloe, but the thing is, I really enjoy seeing her have a good time. The excitement on her face makes any struggles worth while to me. She did have a good time. The trip was different with two, instead of one. But I recall it being different before one, as well. I love playing games. When I used to go to kid’s parties at places like this, I would run around with tokens, getting tons of tickets, just like one of the kids. I even worked at Chuck E Cheese in my early twenties as a game room attendant. All I had to do was go around playing the games and winning lots of tickets to inspire little patrons to spend more tokens. After you have a child, you still get to play, but you spend more time playing games that are fun for them and they get all the tickets! Sorry basketball game and skee-ball. A majority of your tokens will now go to a pink car that jostles it’s tiny rider up and down, but not too fast thankfully. Today was even more of a transition. Bailey couldn’t play at all. Can you imagine?! All she could do was lay in her 800 lb infant carrier and nap intermittently. In between brief naps, she insisted on eating quite frequently. And since she’s so darn cute, I couldn’t just sit her down and take off. I had to keep an ever present eye on her. I joke. She actually did really well. She never got fussy. She ate and napped. And don’t be fooled. I got to play too. Others watched her while I rocked out at laser tag. Talk about fun!
- At one point, my Mother-in-Law watched Bailey while I took off after Chloe. We were out of $ on our play card, but she was happy to just run around from game to game, testing out each one. At one point, she sat in every seat of each race car game, turning the steering wheel and changing gears. There were like 20 of them in a row. It’s amazing what you’ll put up with when you see your kid is having fun. After the extensive test drive session, I suggested we go get something to drink. We took off for the dining area and got some fountain drinks. I also got us each a slice of pizza from the buffet. As we sat down together to enjoy our snack, it hit me what a nice moment it was. It was just the two of us, and I had really missed that. I love the baby, but Chloe will always be my first little baby. I hated for the moment to end, but as I saw her chomp on the last bite, I knew we better head back. It made me realize that I’ll have to make time for more moments like that in the future. The only thing missing from the day was my best friend’s presence. I know Ben would have had a blast. I love how he’s such a kid at heart. We love to play and I will definitely be returning there with him, if only to kick his butt at laser tag!
That is all 🙂