Ringing in the New Year when you're a new parent

Remember how last year I was determine to go out and celebrate for New Year's Eve, since it was our last end-of-the-year celebration before we became parents.

This year I wasn't sure what to do. One of our babysitters is in the States on vacation with her parents. I didn't want to book of the other two babysitters so Benny and I could spend a night fighting traffic to both go out for dinner and to drive the babysitter home at the end of the evening.

When a co-worker asked if I wanted to attend her family New Year's Eve party (and she lives walking distance from our house), everything just fell into place. Until I got the invitation.

The party started at 8 p.m. Olivia normally goes to bed at 7 p.m. What's a new parent to do?

Our options:

1) Put Olivia to bed earlier and then pull her from her bed after a couple of hours of sleep to take her to the party. Hope for the best.

2) Keep O awake all night and leave the party around 10:30 p.m. when she has a meltdown from being overtired.

3) Get O ready for bed and tuck her in her stroller as though she is going to bed. She will fall asleep on the way there and sleep in her stroller during the entire party.

We tried option No. 3.

First we went out for dinner at 5:30 p.m. at a family restuarant on the Air Force base. Olivia loved being in the high chair pulled up to our table and watching the waitresses busily walk past our table. She enjoyed a meal of Cheerios while Benny and I had a Italian dinner for two for the combined price of $20.10 (I still can't believe how inexpensive that was.)

We got home around 7 p.m. We let Olivia play for a while (which she loved because she thought she tricked us into forgetting about her bedtime). Then we gave her a bath, put her in her pajamas, and headed to the party. She fell asleep two blocks from our house.

We wheeled her into the house and parked her in a quiet room. We thought we in the free and clear to party. Nope, at 10:30 p.m., guess who woke up confused and sleepy.

Within a few minutes, she was acting her usual friendly self, trying to grab the karaoke microphones, grabbing at the family's Christmas tree and chewing on their guaitars.

I figured we would stay until she fell asleep or had a New York-sized meltdown. Neither one happened.

Notice the red countdown clock behind me. 14 minutes until midnight.


Five minutes to midnight.


10

9

8

7

6

5


4

3

2

1

HAPPY NEW YEAR!



We left the party at 12:45 a.m. when Benny and I were exhuasted, but Olivia was still going strong.

Luckily she fell alseep on the way home and quietly stayed asleep as we transferred her to her bed. She woke up at 7:45 a.m. in time to watch Iowa State beat Minnesota during the Insight Bowl.

It was wonderful that Olivia was such a happy baby during the party. But I have a feeling that it is a hint of her life as a party animal and a night owl. Bedtime looks to be the toughest time of the day at the Volkmann household.