There are few things that you dread more when going out on a date night than getting a call from the baby sitter, except maybe a tornado or a flood or something. And as far as I know those aren’t common in Cape Town.
I repeatedly reassured my Mom before we left that they slept through the night before, they are not sick and they went to sleep fine, there will be no problems. But with these two, you can just never be sure…
So out we go in the pouring rain with the anticipation of a great date night. We arrive at the Waterfront and already I can feel my body start to relax. We wondered around a little bit before getting our tickets to Prometheus and then queued in the never ending line for the pop-corn and snacks. And before we knew it, that call came…
Just as we were collecting our boxes of goodies my Mom calls… I’m thinking there are still people around, so I doubt theres a natural disaster, it must be the kids! She says that they both woke up. I can hear the terror in her voice, but I’m all like, “That’s OK. Just take them to our bed and let them calm down.” Then she was all like, “I did and Kyla vomited all over your bed and the toilet and the floor, and now they are both hysterical.” Oh… OK… Now I’m quickly calculating in my head if going home to inevitably find them sleeping is even worth it (um, the answer is obviously no) or place a fake calm in my voice and reassure my Mom that she’s got this and that they will settle soon. I went with the latter, knowing that my Mom was probably secretly wishing we would come home, but telling her to not worry about the vomit I am sure they will settle soon.
My Mom handled it like a seasoned veteran, which of course she is. They were asleep when I checked in again 15 minutes later. Thank goodness! So we got to watch our movie in relative peace and calm only to return home to vomit smelling sheets.
Was it worth it? Well to be honest, I felt like the movie sucked, so in that respect a resounding no, BUT to get to spend time away with my husband and have someone else deal with the vomit for a change – HECK YES!
Thanks again Mom for dealing with it all so well, and, um… How about a repeat next Saturday… 😉
Hello, I haven’t written for a while. Since this post will add so much to all your lives I thought I’d share my account of it. So we are in the line and I get an sms from Cindy’s mom (Dawn). I immediately realised that I’m getting this sms because Cindy didn’t hear her phone and now some valuable time has passed, and things got a little hectic, so she had to message me in her desperation for an answer. I reply with the location of the dummy and tell her to let us know how it goes. In about 3 seconds Dawn starts calling and I think,”Darn, I shouldn’t have said let us know, because here comes bad news.” All I hear is coughing and screaming – “Oh no… here goes this date night.” Within all the noise I can hardly hear Dawn, but hear the word ‘vomit’, and I’m like ” Oh no, do you want us to come home?” Realising what I have suggested, and in the dread of hearing the imminent answer, I swiftly handed the phone to Cindy, besides I had to pay for the pop corn. So as Cindy has said, Dawn was a real trooper. Despite a seemingly “successful” date night, all I could think about through the entire movie, was that when we get home I can’t just collapse and go to bed, but I will have to clean up the explosion of vomit from the ceilings, walls, and impossible to reach places. We finally get home to find that Dawn had cleaned up all the vomit – what a star. Stella job Dawney-pooh.
Whether or not Prometheus was good or not I can’t decide, so I guess it was pretty mediocre. However, if you enjoy all the alien clichés such as them popping out of stomachs and climbing into peoples mouths, you will love it.
If you want to know why we do Date Night’s and want to get involved in doing them to check out our little Date Night Challenge and get excited to spend time with your spouse!
6 comments
It would have gone a whole lot differently had i known Riya didnt have a dummy when she went to sleep (unheard of, but had been forgotten at Ga’s – spare one on bathroom window!!!!), here i am trying to search the bed for the lost dummy, trying to keep Kyla asleep in the process while Riya tossed and turned and cried and rolled onto her sister… eventually i had the bedside light on trying to look under the bed for the dummy. by that time Riya had lost it and Kyla was crying and both wanting Mommy. i thought Riya was the one going to vomit, but no, Kyla all comfy on mommy’s pillow decided to give it all up there and then… rush her into the bathroom for her to continue it into the loo, but not very successful. then to try and find spare warm clothes for Kyla was the next challenge…. Once i had located the spare dummy and washed it off things calmed down a tad…. definitely checklist to be in place for next time. dummy, check; total outfit for both girls, check; water bottles and lids; check; facecloth, check……Rescue tablets for Nana, check! lol
Well done Nana!!
Well done Granny – i like the idea of a check list next time – LOL !!!
well done Dawn!! Cindy and Seth totally need to buy you a huge bunch of flowers and CHOCOLATES! I would have lost my marbles!
Hi Cindy, not sure if this will help or not, cos your post doesn’t mention whether you did or didn’t do this, but thought it may help in the future, I’ve always found that “sneaking out” or leaving when your child/ren don’t know you’re going is not the way to go. There may be crying when you leave but at least they know upfront. Generally they will recover before you have even driven away. I feel that the other way round breeds mistrust and an insecurity that you may “disappear” at any given moment. So even if they are going to sleep before you leave explain to them that you are going out and Granny will be there to look after them, that way if they wake it’s not a sudden shock to find you gone. If at all possible, let them say goodbye to you and let the babysitter put them to bed – maybe they are still too young but in the future… just my 2 cents worth, hope it’s of some help…just what I’ve learnt along the way:-)
I put them to sleep before we left with lots of cuddles and kisses, but you are right I didn’t tell them we were going out and that if they woke up that Nana would be there. The last couple of times I tried that, they worked themselves into hysterics before we even left and ended up with vomit everywhere already so we didn’t end up going! (They know how to work the system). But I think I will explain it a lot clearer the next time.