Celebrating with Children

A few weeks ago I asked Chris how he would like to celebrate our one-year wedding anniversary upcoming on January 28. He replied, "I was thinking that we could eat dinner at home, in shifts, one of us walking John while the other one eats." Of course, this is funny because it is what we do every night and probably the only thing we could manage to do.

Our anniversary gift to each other is that we had framed our papal blessing and photos of meeting Pope Benedict XIV at a general audience on our honeymoon. We had wanted to arrange for the framing a month ago in order to have the items framed and hung on the day of our anniversary. But life is so busy with John that we still had not managed the errand until the twenty-seventh. How providential! We approached the framing shop and discovered that all custom framing was 50% discounted! Thank you, God!

The Saturday evening before our official anniversary, we did try to celebrate by eating dinner out at a loud, family-friendly Italian restaurant. The evening started out well enough with John smiling and cooing before we set out from home.




Alas, John's mood crumbled quickly. He cried in the car during the 15-minute drive to the restaurant. We bundled him into his stroller and I waited outside while Chris put our name on the waiting list. By the time Chris returned to me, John was howling and I told him we were heading back home. What were we thinking?! John has only allowed Chris and I to eat dinner quietly together one time in his eight weeks of life. Why did we think that tonight would be the second time John cooperated?

We drove home with John in tears. See the photo below of John crying upon our arrival back home.

Chris ventured out again and picked up dinner from a mom-and-pop Mexican restaurant. Which we enjoyed. While eating in shifts. Just like we'd planned in the first place.