Funny how things have changed

A year ago, when Eric and I went out, we just went. As long as we let, Zoey, our dog out before we left, we were good for the night. Now, this process involves getting a sitter for Cate or packing up the diaper bag. We're lucky we have family in town though, so usually my grandmother or Eric's parents watch Cate if we want to go somewhere in the evening or by ourselves.

Last night we got free tickets to opening night of the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company's (CSC) production of Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park. I was first introduced to the CSC a couple of years ago when we went to The Complete Works of Shakespeare Abridged (hilarious, by the way) and then two years ago I wrote a grant to get money from our PTO to fund a performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream at school since about 2/3 of the 8th grade teachers teach the play. This performance was also very well done (and they did a good job pleasing the more conservative crowd where I teach by downplaying the sexual humor in the play). It was actually because of that performance that I ended up on the email list for the company and received an email for the free tickets. It was kind of last minute, but Cate's grandparents were happy to play with her and watch her so mom and dad could have a night off.

The play itself is funny, especially the third act. We were also pleasantly surprised to see that a girl both of us knew at Miami played the female lead. Eric even ran into a couple of of his frat brothers there.

By contrast, today we did something we've done a lot more of in the last 5 and a half months though...hung out at home. It's kind of been a new phase for us. Since Cate's arrival, we've been cooking more at home and staying in our general neighborhood vicinity. Of course, we go to the zoo and the pool and the library (but I consider those neighborhood vicinity since all of those things are fairly close to our house). Anyway...we used to be "not home" a lot before we had Cate. Now, you can pretty much bet on ringing our doorbell and finding us at home.

We did take Cate over to my grandmother's today to pick up a porch swing, but other than that, we stayed around here. We were pretty lazy all morning, but headed to the pool in the afternoon. Cate now also uses her robe (a great present from her Great Grannie Shook) as a coverup to the pool.
The pool was really crowded though, which kind of freaked Cate out since we mostly go in the evenings during the week and have the baby pool to ourselves. After about a half an hour, Cate had had it. Later in the evening, we took a blanket, some books, and Eric's guitar outside so that we could hang out in the back yard.

Mommy has a sty in her eye so she's glasses-bound the next few days- Cate likes to try to pull them off.
Cate amused herself chewing on one of the books. We can definitely feel a sharp bump on her lower gum and see a little white speck- the first tooth is almost here.
She still managed some smiles for us though.
And while Cate's tambourine was inside...her and daddy still sang the teething blues in the video below.


It's definitely different for us to be staying at home so much after so much "going" in our relationship. Going anywhere now takes a little bit of planning. Sure, the diaper bag is always ready to go, but I always double check it before leaving...just in case. And on a few rare occasions, we alter our plans if Cate seems overstimulated and worn out (read..."Cate needs to stay at home or we risk a major public meltdown). But I'm actually really starting to love this staying close to home thing. I love the weekends and evenings when all 3 of us (plus the two pets) just lay on the floor and play and read or do the same in the backyard. Cate doesn't mind sitting on our laps and watching us play Wii (she'll be jumping in to play before we know it). Every once in a while, a heated Scrabble game breaks out. It's fun! And I while I miss the whole "pick up and go whenever and wherever we want" lifestyle, I don't want it back. I treasure the times we're out (both with Cate and without)...but am learning to appreciate the home times just as much too.
~ Melody :-)