— 1 —
I haven’t managed to get back to the salon to get my fingernails redone, and the teal blue polish needed to go — so earlier this week, I removed my own gel nail polish for the first time. HOLY MOLY. What an ordeal. I managed to get it all off, but it took literally an hour (maybe more) and was a giant pain in the butt. My nails look a bit funky underneath, so it’s probably good that they will get a week or so to “air out” before I get them repainted.
— 2 —
I had a rather ridiculous email exchange with my Homeowner’s Association earlier this week. See, my grand idea for Emma’s birthday next month was to rent our neighborhood’s clubhouse, invite people over there, and have a pool party! The clubhouse patio opens directly into the pool area, which has an awesome kiddie pool and splash pad. Fun! And easy, right?
WRONG.
Apparently I’m not allowed to do that. Why? I don’t know, but I was informed that my deed restrictions explicitly say “Use of the Pool during a Clubhouse rental is strictly prohibited unless the renter separately contracts for pool rental”…oh, and you can only rent the pool on off-hours — i.e. before 10 a.m. or after 8 p.m.
Our HOA is dumb.
And I have no idea what we’re going to do for Emma’s birthday now.
— 3 —
I haven’t told the story of our trip home from Jamaica. Phrasing it that way — “the story” — makes it sound more dramatic than it really was, but it did have one notable moment. We flew from Montego Bay to Atlanta before connecting on to Houston. Around 9:00 on Sunday night, we were accelerating down the runway in Atlanta to take off for Houston…until suddenly we were braking. The pilot aborted the takeoff!
I’d never had that happen on a flight before and it was a little nerve-wracking. We ended up having to get on a different plane and were delayed almost 3 hours…and didn’t get home until 1:30 a.m. as a result.
— 4 —
I had a dentist appointment on Wednesday morning at 9:30, so instead of going in to work for an hour, I stayed home. I took a leisurely shower, spent 20 minutes sewing, and another 20 minutes reading a document for work. Mornings are usually so quick — I never dawdle on weekdays — so finding myself with a spare hour on a Wednesday morning was unexpectedly pleasant!
— 5 —
Emma recently went through a phase where she hated baths. I don’t know what prompted it, but it culminated right before we left for Jamaica with me basically forcing her writhing body into the bathtub and scrubbing her as quickly as possible while she sobbed. My mom seemed to have better luck while we were gone, and then her baths last week were touch-and-go — we were able to avoid additional meltdowns by chatting happily and distracting her with questions. And then this week? Totally back to normal! She’s playing and laughing in the bath like nothing ever happened.
Sheesh. Toddlers make no sense sometimes.
— 6 —
In other Emma news, we finally turned her car seat around to be forward-facing just before we went on vacation. I thought it would make it a little easier for my mom to get her into the car, but it turns out that it doesn’t really make much of a difference in that department. But now that she’s been turned, it would be difficult to revert to rear-facing because she LOVES being able to see everything outside. I now drive to daycare with a chorus of “truck! big truck!” and other babbling from the back seat.
— 7 —
There was an interesting discussion on one of the local moms FB groups last week about when it is/isn’t appropriate to bring your kids along to events like a baby shower, bridal shower, or wedding. I thought the answer was pretty clear — and for the record, my answer is that I would take Emma only if 1) it was advertised as “kid friendly” or if 2) I cleared it with the host in advance — but apparently a lot of people assume kids are invited to everything? That seems rude to me. What do you guys think?
(Linking up: 7 Quick Takes, hosted by Conversion Diary)
Yes, I agree. Unless explicitly invited or some indication is given that it is OK to bring kids — assume not for adult functions unless your kid is old enough to sit in a corner and entertain him/herself.
I guess that’s what gave me pause though — is it really ok to bring your kid even if they can entertain themselves? Even in that case, I would still ask.
Depends on the event.
I would assume a shower or a bachelorrette/bachelor party is adults only (and female adults at that) only unless otherwise advertised. Though that said, sometimes flower girls, etc. are invited to showers.
For a wedding, I think custom is that the invitation should always specify on if children are welcome or not based on how its addressed (to the family vs. Mr and Mrs, etc) and people who are serious about no-children weddings will double specify. With weddings, even if they do invite children, you probably still need to consider the type of wedding it is to see if it is better/worse experience to have your children along (my family almost always invited children, but the events weren’t always the most fun in the world for said children… except when I Was the only kid in the family and go to ride in a limo that stopped on the way to the wedding to double park at the toy store to get me a prize!!)
For more informal invitations (e.g. going to someone’s house for a BBQ, etc.), I would inquire, but I would assume generally children are allowed/invited. I would, for instance, never invite you guys or the Mendecks to my house without assuming you may want to bring your childrens…
Also I would think in ANY of those circumstances a nursing mother of a very very young baby should inquire if circumstances demand.
That particular situation came up as well, and I do agree that in that case, it’s probably appropriate for someone to be able to bring their kid.
I was really thinking of more formal events — not just dinner at someone’s house. For showers in particular, my assumption would always be that it’s no kids but the discussion on the FB thread seemed to indicate I would be in the minority on that!
My general assumption is that kids are not invited to showers unless stated otherwise. But the last baby shower I went to, the host expressed dismay that I didn’t bring Isla and there were lots of other kids there. (She knows Isla well.) So I guess next time maybe I’ll ask if it’s a baby shower and the host knows Isla.
As for weddings, usually all the invitees are stated on the invite. I’ve never been to a no-children wedding, so I would be a bit surprised if Isla was excluded froma wedding.
Weddings are a different category for sure. In my experience, kids are usually invited. We are invited to a wedding this fall, however, that requested no kids and as a result, it’ll probably be just me attending alone. It’s a bit of a bummer that we won’t both be able to go, but it’s also their right to choose whether or not they want kids in attendance.
Honestly I do not take my kids to things that are not kid focused. It is no fun for them or me. I’ve seen too many people spend wedding receptions chasing their offspring instead of enjoying their friends.
HAHAA. On my dad’s side, there has always been a lord of the flies approach to children, family wedding receptions kind of release the children into the wild and hope the collective adult population of the wedding keep them alive and fed until they fall asleep on a chair or in a corner – they kind of run in packs. By the time they hit 13, its more of a matter of controlling the other grown ups from slipping them cocktails.. 🙂