Baby’s first night out

FAMILY FUN

Saint Patrick’s Day is clearly one of our favorite holidays so it was a must that our newest addition, Patrick, celebrate!

Baby’s first Saint Patrick’s Day

Marching of the guard

Irish dancing for all

Below are a few laughs and lessons learned.

Laughs:

• Our newborn, Patrick, was sweet as could be – he even slept through the loud bagpipes.
• Our oldest, Andrew, got to beat the Irish Rovers’ drum.
• Andrew had his first Irish dancing lesson on stage.
• Andrew held the Irish flag with the bag pipers as I balanced little brother Patrick on the other side.
• As my Mom does, my sister made friends with everyone within ten feet of us – random girls our age (my age) gave us their business card before they left for photo exchange via email; the Irish dancers, older ladies in the bathroom, etc.

Lessons learned:

• It takes at least triple the time a new-Mom expects to get out the door (challenge to find clothes that are clean for the kids and the right size for her post-baby, etc. (THANK YOU, my MOM for all your help and patience, otherwise we would’ve missed the party!)).
• Traffic in any big city on a party weekend such as Saint Patrick’s Day is horrendous; it took us over an hour by car to travel three miles to be downtown near the Board of Trade in Chicago.
• Our oldest loves extra attention and will rise to any occasion.
• If you attend an event with advanced seating, RSVP early and request seating near the front so everyone gets a good view of the entertainment.
• My parents urged me to stay in the conversation while nursing our baby, but I had to be extra modest in front of the stage – it is tricky for newborns to latch and hard to multi-task and be discreet, which meant I hurt myself adjusting under blankets and scarves, so excused myself at the rest of our weekend outings to get a better latch with some privacy.

I’d love to hear about your first experience bringing your baby out! …