Dan's 35th, a Night on the Town

Last night we went to a new club for dinner and then for drinks with Dan and Jen, from down the street, for his 35th birthday. They always pick the hip and trendy places and it was such a great night. It does emphasis the fact that I'm not 25 anymore and can't party all night long -- not that I ever really could anyway.

Dinner at the 33 Club on Wells was fantastic. The sea bass was exquisite and my filet - spelled fillet on the menu, turns out that both are correct - was wonderful. There were 10 of us, so five couples. 3 have small children. One couple is "trying" and the 5th couple is recently married and looking forward to the day when they can join in on our funny kid story conversations using their children as the subjects instead of their nieces and nephews. It's so nice when you get to spend time with wonderful people who are willing to discuss such a broad range of topics and always include you in the conversation. Unfortunately, we don't see this cast of characters very often since they are Dan and Jen's friends and birthday dinners only come once a year, twice if Jen has one too. There is talk of reviving our kickball team this coming Spring so we can all see each other more often. I'm all for it because these friends are all such beautiful, quality, caring people and it's nice to be included on the invite list. I haven't met a friend of Jen or Dan that I didn't enjoy immensely in the three years we've known each other. They always travel in good company. I hope for the same for Ada growing up.

So last night at dinner, it's about 9:30 and I check my phone for messages. Sure enough, there is a text from our friend Negin. She came over with her son Bardya to watch Ada while we went out and her husband stayed late chasing a deadline at work. The kids had a blast and were running through the house screaming and chasing each other and just having the best time when we left, but... when it was time, Ada wouldn't go to sleep. I think it's in part due to Bardya being here and he is so much fun since he is a few years older and can really play with her. It doesn't help matters that the kids were screaming and distracting me so I told Negin to turn on the light, read books, put her in the crib and Ada would fall asleep. I didn't tell Negin to turn off the light and shut her door. Oops! Ada's bedtime is at 8, mind you, and she goes down like an angel for us, of course. Not last night.

I got a text from Negin at 8:30pm that said "Ada doesn't want to go to bed. All she wants to do is dance on the table." Wow, that's always a reassuring text when you're out to dinner. What happened to my perfect little Sleeping Beauty? They must really be having fun. Poor Negin didn't get a break. Ada finally gave up, after a few crying spells and a couple chances to come back out and play some more, around 9:45. She never did sit down long enough to read a book.

Knowing that, I start today with mild trepidation. It's 9am and she's not made anything close to resembling a peep. We didn't get to bed until 1am. I can't sleep in because we have a condo association meeting at 10am upstairs and I need to go early to make coffee. Rick has a soccer game at 10 that he may not be attending at this point. Hopefully, Ada will make this a lazy Sunday and just sleep it off. I won't be surprised by a 4 hour nap later on. We can get back on track Monday. That's what Mondays are for right?

Moral of the story: Good times with friends are worth losing some sleep over. That's why we have naps, and Sundays.