Rookie Moms

Over at momready.com (which is packed with tips for busy parents) Elisa writes about a night out for fun and fundraising.

Sometimes moms just need a night out! Although I adore my children, I find I’m a much better mom if I occasionally get an evening out with friends to just have fun and break the bath time, bedtime routine.

Sure, dinner is fun and so is an occasional movie, but how about something different that you don’t regularly do with your significant other. The other evening I participated in a great night out. Some friends of mine had organized an evening of Bingo. This wasn’t just any Bingo, mind you, this was charitable Bingo with a twist.

There were 20-30 women invited (the more the merrier) for a fun evening of eating, (possible drinking), and gift exchanging. Everyone was asked to bring a wrapped gift (the minimum value of which can be determined by the host or the group as a whole), plus $5.00 to be donated to a pre-designated charity (this amount can also vary), plus a delicious dessert. The wrapped gifts were all placed on a table.

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Jeff Pfaller is the rookie dad and blogger behind 365parents.com. He published all 365 posts into this this eBook, 365 First Time Parenting Tips: Infant Edition, for other first-time parents.

Jeff is also a recent transplant to Chicago, one of my favorite (pre-kids) cities of all time. He was kind enough to share his version of “A Week of Windy City Fun” with us — Enjoy!

Looking for stuff to do in the city by the lake, Chicago? There’s something for everybody, no matter who you are or what you like.

Animal Lover Monday
Head up to the North Side (be sure to deck the little guys out in Cubbies> gear) for some wild fun at the Lincoln Park Zoo. The best part? You get to see tons of animals. The second best part? It’s all free!

Beach Bum Tuesday
It got Chicago the World’s Fair way back in 1893. It got us a bid for the Olympics in 2018. The best part about this town is Lake Michigan in the summer. You can walk along the beach and through parks from Bryn Mawr and Sheridan all the way to Navy Pier. Grab a stroller, some sunblock and your best people watching specs.

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Rally some other friends with babies for a camping adventure. Pick some place close enough to home that you can be delayed getting out the door and still enjoy much of the day outside (also easy to return home in case the comforts of home are needed!).

Holden loved the sleeping-in-tent experience. We purchased a tent big enough for the pack-n-play. If you go with a younger baby, you may be able to get away with the moses basket… or, heck, if you’re already a co-sleeper, maybe you can all snuggle into a few zipped together sleeping bags!

Then again, you can always forgo packing the car and just practice in your backyard.

When we first added Goodnight Moon to our bedtime ritual, I thought, “This book is sort of boring.” After a few months, I thought “This book is painfully boring.”

One day, my friend Sunny said, “I see new things in that book every time I look at it.” What?

So I started paying more attention and here are my suggestions to keep your interest level tolerable as you read Goodnight Moon. Maybe it works with other books, too. You’ll have to tell me what you’ve found.

• The bunny is in a different position in bed each time the bed is pictured. Check it out.
• The mouse is in a different location on each page.
• The clocks advance in time as the moon’s position changes.
• How many of the words in this book do you know in another language? Test yourself and brag to your baby. “Luna!” “Cama!” “Conejo!”. No fair if you or your parents are immigrants.
• The light and dark areas of the pages vary. The art is better than I first thought…
• Is this a living room or a bedroom? Or… a studio apartment? Where’s the kitchen? Who made that mush? Think about it.