Grrrr...

You know how when you go to a restaurant and someone has a crying baby, it's all weird and awkward and kind of annoying? Before we had a baby, I was the grumpy guy that would always be muttering, "What's up with that baby? Why don't they pack up and leave if all their baby is going to do is cry? Clearly their baby isn't ready for a restaurant."

Today we went out for lunch with two other couples (one of whom is expecting a baby in October!) and we brought Parker along. He was a superstar champion awesome baby, sitting quietly in his little high chair, eating his little smorgasbord of pasta bits, peas, cheerios, and beans, and generally being very pleasant and nice to everyone around. He was smiling and doing his victory-arm-thing, and being super cute and everyone was having a great time!

Then a couple came in with a little baby, maybe 3 months old, and they sat right next to us. Their baby wasn't really crying per se, but the noises this baby was making might as well have been cries. Or yelps. Or something. Every time the other baby made a noise, Parker would do a pouty lip and then start crying too. Now, as a parent instead of a spectator, you just want to get your crying baby out of the public eye, but I don't think it's really as bad as you think (unless pre-parent me is sitting at a table next to you). We were pretty embarrassed because of the crying, but everyone was like, "Oh, he's fine! He's so cute when he's sad and crying!" I guess people love babies even when they cry, but I wish that other couple and their loud baby would have sat further away. Grr.

Quick edit: April read this post and said it sounded like I was annoyed with Parker crying, but that's not the case at all -- he's the best baby ever. We would take him away from the other crying baby and he was totally cool and happy again. But then we'd bring him back to the table and the other baby just wouldn't stop making crying noises, and Parker would get rattled again. So the fact that the other baby was so loud and kept freaking out our baby was what annoyed me. Whew.