Time for a Date Night . . .

Greg and I have a $25 gift card to Chili's (most of our dates are paid for by gift cards we get as either gifts, reward programs on our Visa, or from his work), and Greg really wanted the family to go out to dinner last night. I was less than enthusiastic. The last two times we've taken the girls out to dinner, I've come home a complete bundle of nerves. They're both really pretty good kids, not yelling or throwing breadsticks at people in restaurants or anything. But when we're there it feels like I'm on high alert. There's trying to keep Ellie from getting fussy (she's awfully impatient). Then just keeping Ellie fed, while keeping the sizzling fajita platter out of reach, the water where it can't be pulled off the table, the black beans where she can't stick her little fist in them . . . it's a full time job. I barely have time to feed myself. I'm also trying to make sure Annie's eating more than tortilla chips.
Greg, on the otherhand, seems to enjoy eating out so much and all I can figure is we're experiencing the event much, much differently. I'm experiencing it as the Mom. Last time we went, right as we were getting ready to leave (in the snow), Annie accidently knocked an entire glass of water on the two of us. Ice water. In my lap. I had to walk out of Chili's looking like I'd peed my pants.
So when Greg asked last night if I thought we should go to Chili's for dinner, my response was along the lines of, "Well, we could do that . . . or we could just stay home and stick red hot pokers in our eyes and save on gas." My suggestion was we leave the kids with a sitter today and go without them. I for one, will probably enjoy my food a lot more that way!

Ellie's given up on babbling or vocalizing in cute baby tones . . . she now just grunts and growls at us. And she finds it hilarious. It's this really deep growl, and you'd never believe it's coming from such a cute, delicate little girl. I was on the phone with my Mom the other day when Ellie was doing it, and she asked, "What is that?!" She was pretty shocked when it turned out to be Ellie . . . I think she thought our disposal was having problems or something. The main exception to this is when she calls out, "Mommommom!" while crying, just to make me feel bad. It's kinda mind blowing we're getting so close to this kid actually being able to communicate (and walk, and do all those other things my baby should be too little to do!)