This is an outing for beginners: go to your favorite outdoor breakfast venue. You have about five more months to enjoy cafe culture. For your sake, I hope that some of this includes the warmer months. Once your baby crawls, she will not tolerate your fondness for people watching or spacing out, so live it up now. Pack up a journal, a trashy magazine, or a pile of thank you notes and head to a cafe. Park the stroller right next to you and breathe in the fresh air.
If it’s raining, this outing is even better. You need to get out of the house and your new favorite coffee shop is a place you can go sit for an hour or two and just be proud that you went somewhere on your own. Yes, you can take the baby out in the rain or snow. Your mother surely took you. (Well, not me, ’cause I was born in San Diego). Go on, that hot chocolate has your name written all over it.
If you go to the same place every day, they will quickly remember you and your baby and probably your order. This might make you feel special. If you were me, you would take this on as a challenge and purposely seek out a place where they ask for your name so that you can arrive to a personalized greeting.
Before you leave the cafe, buy some treats for dessert tonight. Que magnifique!
Did you complete this challenge? Use any of these methods to tell us about it:
- Comment below.
- Share a picture with us on Facebook.
- Name your destination on Twitter and use hashtag #rookiemoms.
- Or, post a link in the comments to your own blog post about this challenge.
Baby too old for this? Try Activity #183: Find a kid-friendly coffee shop















Alec likes this… makes him wish he were the rookie mom.
I made ham n cheese one night and put a picture of Paris on our table just to remind hubs that once upon a time we were in Paris eating ham n cheese at night. It made him smile.
(And was a really easy dinner for me to make!)
heh. i used to do this even before i had a baby but had totally forgotten about it. Come october I will be doing this again.
[...] Pretend you’re in Europe – sounds heavenly! [...]
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Sigh. I LOVE this. This was, by far, my most favorite activity when R was born. Actually…in the spirit of full disclosure, it’s still one of (our) favorite activities. While I can’t sit and read a trashy magazine, I can do a bit of people watching. The downside? I now have a 3 year old who loves steamers…hunh. Still think it’s worth it.
[...] Not ready for this yet? Start with our very first challenge. [...]
I have decided to play along with the challenges! Week one was so fun! Playing outside cafe in Chicago in January with an infant is tough. We made the cafe level at Whole Foods in Lincoln Park work for us. I purchased a hot cider, brought my own US Weekly and sat up in the upper level over looking the busy store traffic. My little man was entertained for almost an hour. We even felt comfortable enough for a good old public breastfeed session. This is one challenge we will repeat soon!
[...] specifically, given that I love cafe culture and all things crafty, your Week 1 (pretend you’re in Europe) and Week 4 (visit the fabric store) challenges totally speak to me! I was very lucky when Laurel [...]
[...] ready for this yet? Meet your friends at a cafe instead. Baby too old for that? Find a kid-friendly coffee [...]
Hello I just wanted to know how r u suppost to enjoy yourself if u have twins to have to carry along with you and you dont have friends to share anything with? I would love to join a group I am 32 yrs old I have a 6 yr old and 11 month old twin girls I could go on and on would someone please email me back and help me on what and how to not feel like a nobody ect. thank you susanne
I wish I started this challenge sooner, but I was stuck in a haze from a c-section and on the couch for the first three months! Does Starbucks count as a cafe? I am now in suburbia, and I think that is my closest substitute to a real cafe…
To the poster before me Susanne- Try Meetup.com, I joined a lot of moms groups in my area through that.
Ahhh! So nice. Our first adventure out together, just me and the baby.