Who else out there tries to hide in their house and never take their kids anywhere? Is it really just me?! I mean, we are at the stage where we are out-numbered… my middle guy is a runner. My oldest has *very* selective hearing most of the time. Having kids was our biggest motivator to never eat out. I cook, or my husband cooks, or we are all hungry. Going to restaurants as a family right now is more of a chore than a fun time out. My oldest will eat so nicely but my crazy 2 year old won’t sit still unless we put on you-tube. Yes, I am that mom I swore I would never be. When you are trying to survive without having the screaming child at a restaurant, you will do anything. And now with an infant that needs to be held, we take shifts to grocery shop. I have to really work myself up to a day out.

We tried to go to a movie last when I was pregnant with our smallest little, and it resulted in me chasing my two year old up and down the theater stepsister the first 30 minutes. It makes me feel bad as a mom too, because my oldest truly enjoys those outings and will do well and will listen, but my middle guy has a really hard time sitting still. We end up buying the movie on dvd and watching things at home a few months later. At least this way, my younger boy can run off and play if he wants to. And I don’t have to chase him.

It’s been about 8 months or so since the last time we tried to go to the movies, but we decided to brave it again. I have to say, we not only survived, but us parents got to watch it too! Seeing my oldest and his cousin laughing and enjoying themselves, my middle son relaxing on his daddy while watching, and my daughter nurse to sleep while it played was a beautiful 2 hours of calmness. Maybe we can do this more now that our middle guy is nearly 3.

It does get better, moms. Eventually I won’t be terrified to sit down in a restaurant again. It may be 4 years from now when my youngest is ready… but until then I don’t mind getting take-out and watching movies on our couch. I just enjoy the time we get as a family, wherever that is.