A Week In Glendale, CA, On A Joint $130,000 Salary

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Occupation: Communications Manager
Industry: Nonprofit
Age: 29
Location: Glendale, CA
My Salary: $45,000
My Husband's Salary: $85,000
My Paycheck Amount (2x/month): $1,300
My Husband's Paycheck Amount (2x/month): $2,100

Monthly Expenses
Rent: $1,625 to rent a small two-bedroom house. My in-laws own the property. They raised our rent, and we are actively looking for a new place to stay. Having your in-laws as your landlord is not ideal.
Student Loan Payment: $0 (We paid off my college loans shortly after getting married. Our cars are also very old and paid off.)
Utilities: $300
Car Insurance: $445
Cell Phones: $200
Internet: $65
Dental, Medical & Vision Insurance: $100
Pet Insurance: $38
Coffee Of The Month Club: $35
CSA Produce: $12/week
Netflix: $14
Hulu: $12
Gym: $17
HSA: $300
Roth IRA: 15% of my husband's paycheck
401(k): $600/paycheck for my husband and $375/month for me

5:30 a.m. — Baby's up for the day! And so is the rest of the family. I put him in his bouncy chair so he can entertain himself while my husband and I get dressed and pack our cold brews to take our dog for a walk. Between no sleep, all the coffee, and not enough time to go to the gym, my baby weight is not budging. I've been making an extra effort to make sure we squeeze in walks whenever we can, because the exercise is good for all of us. We get back in time for my husband's 6:30 a.m. meeting.

8 a.m. — While he takes his meeting in the office/nursery, I put our son down to play, get myself ready for work, make breakfast of leftover cachapa (Venezuelan corn cake with beans, shredded chicken, and fried plantains) from Saturday with four scrambled eggs on top, and pack lunch — panzanella salad using beets, mint, purslane, and Armenian cucumber from our $12-per-week CSA produce bag, plus a chopped tomato, sliced red onion, olive oil, red wine vinegar, and feta. I pack two slices of whole grain bread to toast at work and mix into the salad. After kissing my baby and husband goodbye, I leave for work. On Mondays, my aunt picks our baby up at 8:30 a.m. and takes him to her place to babysit.

10 a.m. — My morning is filled with meetings, work, and browsing upcoming deals for Amazon Prime Day. Everyone is having their sale this week for some reason. No bueno for my bank account. I place my first online order of the day: a king-sized Martha Stewart quilt set and two sets of Pyrex glass Tupperware. I've had these items in my cart for ages. I think my husband has reached his limit of me complaining every night about the comforter being bunched up inside the duvet cover and it being too hot, so I'm finally making the leap. Plus my friend gave me a $25 gift card for my birthday that I still have to use. Considering how much these items cost full-price, it's practically a steal. $140

1 p.m. — Traveling has always been a major priority for our family, so ever since our baby was born, we've been trying to figure when and where to go for our first big family vacation. We decided on London, Paris, and Belgium this winter, when I'll be able to take time off from work. We booked our flight last week using all of the points that we've accrued on our credit card. We use our credit card for nearly all of our purchases (and pay it off in full every month), so we've accumulated enough points to book three roundtrip seats to London on Air New Zealand. We basically got a free flight by buying things we would have bought anyway. I see a couple of my “watched” items that I want for our trip go on sale — a baby book called The Dot and the Trtl Neck Pillow in coral for our long-haul flight — so I buy them. $20.25

2 p.m. — More things on my list go on sale. I buy a dark green midi skirt and metallic permanent markers, which I use to write labels on spice bottles to make them easier to find. $22.50

2:30 p.m. — Our big boy has already outgrown his Nuna car seat, so when a convertible car seat with great reviews goes on sale, I pounce. Another great part about these sales is that I use our Amazon card, so we get 5% back on every purchase. $126.50

5 p.m. — Between doing work, keeping an eye on my Amazon watch list, and inviting my coworkers out to lunch at Faith and Flower for DineLA Restaurant Week next Tuesday, my day has sped by, and it's time to go to Whole Foods for groceries. When I'm a couple of minutes away from home, one of my best friends texts me asking if she should still come over. She's having her son next week via repeat C-section, and I have a bag of newborn diapers for her to pick up. I had forgotten that she was coming over, but thankfully my house is between work and Whole Foods. I postpone my shopping trip to go home and speed-clean the living and dining rooms before she arrives.

6:30 p.m. — It's amazing how much your relationships with your friends change throughout life. I've been friends with this lovely lady since the sixth grade, and I love that we have shared so much together. After she leaves, I make a snack of mashed avocados mixed with Trader Joe's Cowboy Caviar to eat with leftover tortilla chips. It's ready just as my husband gets home with our dog, and my aunt shows up with our baby. I give all the creatures a hug, then put our son down for tummy time while the grown-up humans snack. We do our bedtime routine — diaper change, read a book, bottle, white noise machine, and put him in his bassinet with his pacifier. Having a consistent bedtime routine means that he rarely fusses when it's time to sleep.

7:30 p.m. — The husband washes dishes while I head out to Whole Foods. I was hoping it would be less crowded since it's later, but no such luck. I buy a dozen free range eggs, two containers of Wallaby nonfat Greek yogurt, formula, a Mary's whole chicken, two racks of humanely raised baby back ribs for my husband to smoke this week, sushi for his dinner, and two slices of pizza and samosas for my dinner. I love going to Whole Foods so that I can eat Italian and Indian food simultaneously. $142

8:30 p.m. — I get home and my husband is in the middle of his evening meeting. I put the groceries away and eat my dinner while researching the last leg of our December trip. My husband joins me after his meeting, and we decide to stay in Brussels and take day trips to Bruges and either Antwerp or Leuven. He sneaks a couple bites of my pizza and a whole samosa. I find a super cute Airbnb and book it right away. Four nights in Brussels comes out to $420, but the app lets me pay for half now and the rest closer to our travel date. $215

10 p.m. — It's bedtime for me while my husband feeds baby.

2 a.m. — My little guy is hungry, so I make and feed him a bottle. Apparently he also has no intention of going back to sleep anytime soon. I leave him in his bassinet to entertain himself while I lay in my own bed and send a message to our Airbnb hosts asking if it's frowned upon in Belgium to take babies to bars and breweries. We use the “pause” technique outlined in Pamela Druckerman's Bringing Up Bebe, which means that we don't rush to soothe our baby when he is fussing. I listen to him to make sure he is okay, but around 3 a.m., he comforts himself and goes back to sleep. No intervention from either of us, and he has learned to fall asleep on his own pretty well.

6 a.m. — I wake up to the dog jumping in our bed, the baby crying, and my husband feeding him. We hang out for a little bit before my husband has to take his meeting. Then I take a shower, wash our son, get both of us dressed, make a breakfast of yogurt, blueberries, and Pure Elizabeth granola, pack our lunch of panzanella salad, start a load of laundry, and head out at 8:30. On days that I shower, I don't have time to do my makeup. I also usually eat my breakfast in the car while I'm stuck in traffic. This is one of those days. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, my husband drops off the baby and dog at his parents' house. My mother-in-law is retired so she helps out with babysitting a lot.

10 a.m. — Amazon Prime Day is still going on. How is it a “day” if it's really two days? And why is happy hour three hours long? Not complaining, just curious. The grey version of the Trtl travel pillow (for my husband) goes on sale, as do a mandolin and a pack of 136(!) colored pencils. I buy them all. My coworker may or may not give me money for the colored pencils. This is getting out of hand. Someone stop me!!! $52.75

2 p.m. — Meetings, work, and more meetings. My mom texts me because she misses my baby and wants to come over after work. Who am I to stand in the way of a woman and her desires? Plus, I could use the help around the house/babysitting while I make dinner.

5 p.m. — Before leaving work, I sign up to run the Manhattan Beach 10K on my organization's team, which means I have to raise $400 to donate. I get home, pop the wet laundry into the dryer, and then my mom arrives. She washes the dishes while I start cooking dinner: Country Captain Chicken from My Two Souths cookbook with brown rice. My husband gets home with human and fur children in tow. My mom plays with our boy while I continue making dinner.

7 p.m. — This recipe is taking wayyy longer than I expected. I finally pop it into the oven and it still has another hour in there. My husband makes the brown rice and seasons the ribs to marinate overnight. Now that I'm free, I do the baby's bedtime routine with my mom. She leaves shortly after. While dinner finishes cooking, I relax by reading the book for my brunch and book club. We're meeting next Sunday, and I'm barely halfway through it.

8 p.m. — It's time to eat! Thank the Lord. This dish came out incredibly delicious and beautiful— I'm pretty sure it's one of the best things I've ever made. While we eat, my husband and I discuss the possibility of fitting Amsterdam into our trip this December. It's a city we've always wanted to visit, and we'll be so close. We decide to shave off a day from both London and Paris and spend two nights in Amsterdam before heading to Brussels. We have 15 nights total, so I think it's doable. I request the date change from our Airbnb in London. Now we wait with bated breath.

10 p.m. — The little bubs is hungry, and I tell my husband that I'll take this feeding and he can take the 3 a.m. feeding. I need a full night's sleep. He tells me to go to bed and he'll take this feeding and the next one. Best father and husband award goes to this guy.

6 a.m. — I feel like a new woman. I can't remember the last time I slept for eight hours. I spend the morning playing with our baby until he's ready for his first nap of the day. Overnight, our London Airbnb host confirmed our date change. During tummy time, I call our hotel in Paris to see if it's possible to change the dates. I'm worried, because the deal we got was for a non-refundable room. They are so nice and accommodating. Cutting our stays in London and Paris short gets a refund of $350, which we can use toward our room in Amsterdam.

7 a.m. — I put the baby down for his nap. While my husband is in his morning meeting, I make a breakfast of custardy oatmeal with spiced baked apple slices. I thinly slice two Gala apples, sprinkle them with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, allspice, and cardamom (all the warming spices I can find in my rack), and bake them for 20 minutes. As the apples bake, I make oatmeal as usual and whisk an egg into it with the heat turned off. It makes the oatmeal super creamy and adds extra protein. I top it all off with bit of Pure Elizabeth maple almond granola for crunch. I also make coffee. When my hubs is done with his meeting, we eat breakfast together (he calls the oatmeal “magical”), and I get ready for work. On Wednesdays and Fridays, the hubby works from home and takes care of the baby. Today, he gets a break until 10 a.m. While I get ready, he sets up the smoker outside and puts the ribs in. I leave for work at around 8:30.

12 p.m. — My morning is filled with researching ad placement and marketing strategies for an upcoming event and watching a Hootsuite webinar. Before I know it, it's time for lunch. I brought leftover Country Captain chicken and rice for lunch, which I heat up. My coworkers and I eat together on the patio.

4 p.m. — More marketing research, photo sourcing, and social media work. I manage not to spend any of my own money, but I do spend $420 of company money to buy tickets for the Cause Conference in San Diego for our team. I also come up with an idea that will save the organization $5,000. It's a good day.

5 p.m. — My husband already has the ribs and smoked corn ready when I get home. We nibble on a couple of pieces of ribs together and talk about our days before he has to leave for a work happy hour. The baby hangs out in his high chair with me while I make the side dishes: herb roasted potatoes and zucchini and a salad of kale (from our CSA bag), smoked corn, tomatoes, balsamic, and olive oil. As often as possible, I bring my son into the kitchen with me when I cook to explain to him what I am doing and let him smell and touch the ingredients. I want him to know how to cook and have an appreciation for all foods. As I'm wrapping up making the side dishes, my baby shows cues of wanting to get ready to sleep. We go through his bedtime routine and I put him in his bassinet for the night.

7 p.m. — Baby's asleep, dog is chilling, husband's not home. I fix myself a plate of amazing, delicious food that pretty much took all day for two adults to make and eat it while watching The Handmaid's Tale. I love having alone time to unwind. Also, my skirt and The Dot were delivered today, so I try on the skirt. It's too frumpy, though, and I will be returning it. Would you judge me if I said I read the baby book by myself and thoroughly enjoyed it?

8 p.m. — One of my besties from northern California and I decide to Skype because her husband is away for work training for seven weeks. Lots of great things are going on in their lives, and I love how we've been able to keep in touch and visit each other even though we're long distance. Right before I returned to work from maternity leave, my husband and I took a road trip up north with our son, who was about two and a half months old at the time. We visited my mother-in-law's side of the family in San Francisco, spent the day wine tasting in Napa and Sonoma with one of my friends, and spent another day in Mendocino County with this friend, her husband and their family. Our baby was amazing in the car and majority of the trip. Everyone says he's a very calm baby though. We have nothing to compare it to, but I hope he's not spoiling us for baby #2.

9 p.m. — My husband gets home from happy hour. We get ready for bed and cuddle a bit. I feed the baby when he wakes up, and then we both go to sleep.

2 a.m. — The baby is up for food, and I'm supposed to be sleeping, but his fussing woke me up. Also, I have to pee. Not being able to sleep, I take advantage of this opportunity to book the two nights of our stay in Amsterdam. $315

6 a.m. — At some point I fell asleep, to be woken up next by the sound of the baby crying from hunger. I make him a bottle and feed him. He doesn't usually eat much when he first wakes up. We hang out and play for about an hour while my husband takes his meeting. Then our son takes his nap while I get ready for work.

8:30 a.m. — I get dressed, pack us lunch, and make us a breakfast of Greek yogurt topped with sliced plums from our CSA bag, a light drizzle of raw honey, and some granola. It's been so hot that I don't want to cook much these days. The doggo is being super cute and cuddly in our bed, so I lay down with her for a bit. It's Thursday, so my husband drops our baby and dog off at his parents' house on his way into the office.

11 a.m. — I do more research, respond to emails, and then hop onto our monthly conference call with the marketing agency that gives us a performance report. After that, it's time for lunch — leftover ribs, roasted veggies, and kale salad, which I eat on the patio with my coworkers. Today there was supposed to be the farmers' market stand at work where I pick up my weekly produce bag, but no one was there. I call and nobody answers. It's so strange, because my profile on their website says that it was delivered today. I wonder what's going on.

2 p.m. — I have a call with a major magazine in the city to discuss ad placement and the possibility of them becoming the media sponsor for one of our upcoming fundraising events. This is so exciting. Once we hang up, I call my boss with the news. She is thrilled, and we discuss next steps.

5 p.m. — Instead of leaving work on time, I get caught up in a conversation with my coworkers about self defense and our shared recurring nightmares of being attacked and not being able to defend ourselves and the different ways that one can get murdered. It's a riveting conversation, but alas, the family awaits my arrival.

5:30 p.m. — I make it home, and my husband helps me make the soft scrambled eggs for the avocado toasts we're having tonight. Then he asks me to clean something up, and I don't like his phrasing or tone and take it the wrong way, so we get into a heated argument. We angrily finish making our dinner of whole grain toast topped with mashed avocado, soft-scrambled eggs, and Trader Joe's Everything but the Bagel seasoning but instead of eating it, I need to put the baby to sleep. While I do that, the husband washes the dishes as a reaction to our argument. Then we eat (half pretending that we're not mad at each other). My husband finishes eating first and the baby is crying again, so he makes another bottle and feeds our son. Then he hangs out in the bedroom for a bit so we can have space to cool off. In the meantime, I work on our vacation itinerary.

7:30 p.m. — The husband comes to tell me he's sorry and we talk, drink wine, and eat chocolate ice cream. Having a baby and being constantly sleep-deprived makes us both sensitive and prone to miscommunication. But we've been together for 12 years and know how to quickly work through any issues. One thing leads to another and surprise! It's sex o'clock. The amazing thing about the baby being on a routine and schedule is that there's lots of room for spontaneous sexy time.

9 p.m. — We get ready to sleep, and I crawl into bed while my husband watches TV to wait for little bubs to wake up for his next feeding.

12 a.m. — Yesterday my husband told me that his mom didn't give our son any tummy time or put him down for naps. It frustrates me sometimes that we have to rely on people who don't take care of our son the way I would or the way we want them to. But I can't complain about free childcare, especially when it means our baby gets to bond with his grandparents. The problem is that when our baby doesn't nap enough during the day, he's a terrible sleeper overnight. Just as I suspected, he's up and not happy about it. He has a little milk and passes back out.

2 a.m. — I wake up in a panic because I had a dream (nightmare?) that I was pregnant again. What kind of cruel joke is this, subconscious?! The baby is also up again. I nudge my husband to stick our son's pacifier back in his mouth. It works.

5 a.m. — The child is up again. My husband gets up and asks if the baby slept through the night. I guess he was still unconscious during the whole crying-pacifier debacle at 2 a.m. Sometimes, the only way our baby sleeps is if I'm holding him. My husband puts the baby in my arms and says he'll wake me up at 7 a.m. because my boss will be in the office and I need to be at work at 8:30. The baby and I fall back asleep at 6.

7:30 a.m. — Husband wakes me up. He said I looked like I was enjoying my sleep too much. Whomp whomp. On Fridays he doesn't have his morning meetings, so he takes care of our son and this morning, he makes breakfast and coffee while I take a shower. He loved the custardy oatmeal with baked spiced apples, so he makes a valiant effort to recreate it. I speedily get dressed, pack my lunch, and hug and kiss everyone goodbye. I eat breakfast in the car.

12:30 p.m. — This morning, the preschool in our building had a water fun day, so my coworker and I spend an hour taking pictures and posting Instagram Stories. The rest of my morning is filled with wrapping some items up, like the marketing report I have to present to the event committee on Tuesday, and calling the printing company to order canvas photos for our new site. Then I eat my lunch of ribs, roasted veggies, and kale salad outside with my coworkers. Afterwards, I meet with my boss to talk about the marketing and PR strategy for our upcoming events. Then my coworker and I meet to discuss the content for our Twitter Chat next week.

4:30 p.m. — It's the weekend! I drop my coworker off at home, since she's on my way. Then I call in a takeout order of a beef roll, pan fried pork buns, dan dan noodles, and sea salt cream iced black tea with boba from Pine and Crane, our favorite Taiwanese restaurant. I park, walk over, and pay. While I'm waiting for the food to be ready, I read my book. $38.50

5:30 p.m. — When I get home, the baby is sleeping. According to my husband, he slept for three hours straight before lunch and was already asleep for an hour by the time I got home. I chalk it up to him catching up on his missed sleep from yesterday and overnight. Getting Asian takeout and watching a movie on Friday nights is a tradition leftover from my college days. Tonight we decide to watch I, Tonya. With thirty minutes of the movie left (that's 7:30 p.m.!) our little guy wakes up. We pause the movie to play with him and do tummy time for about 30 minutes, and then I pop him in our Lillebaby carrier and we take our dog for a walk around the park. It feels great to be active.

8:30 p.m. — We get back home and do baby's bedtime routine. Once he's in his bassinet, he eats more and falls asleep. My husband and I finish watching the movie. I go to sleep after while the hubs stays up to play video games.

1 a.m. — Baby's up again to eat and then falls back asleep.

3 a.m. — And he's up again, but I know he's not hungry because he just ate. I bring him into bed with us because that usually puts him to sleep quickly, and he stays asleep for longer. But not today. For the next two hours, we play a fun game of me putting the pacifier in his mouth, him falling asleep, pacifier falling out of his mouth, him waking up crying, and so on and so forth in 30 minute cycles. Babies are an enigma.

6 a.m. — Husband wakes up and makes a bottle for the boy who eats for maybe 30 seconds and passes out again.

8:30 a.m. — The baby alarm, a.k.a. crying, goes off and we get up for the day. I feed the little guy and then he hangs out in his bouncer while I take a quick shower and give him a bath. I get both of us ready while my husband does laundry.

9:30 a.m. — I kiss the hubby and fur baby goodbye, and my son and I are off to pick up my aunt. Once a month, all the women on my mom's side of the family get together for a ladies' lunch which consists of drinking wine and catching up on each other's lives. They take turns hosting, and this month is my mom's turn. After picking my aunt up, the three of us head to my parents' place to help my mom cook. I eat a breakfast of cereal when I get there and make myself a cup of coffee with their Keurig, which I pour over ice.

11 a.m. — Months ago, I had made an appointment for a haircut at a salon that specializes in the DevaCurl cut, but this date was the one that worked with everyone else's schedule for ladies' lunch, so I have to leave early. I leave my baby at my parents' house so I can drive to get my appointment in Beverly Hills.

2 p.m. — My hair is done, and I feel fabulous! It was so great to have the time to relax and get pampered. I just wish I hadn't been thinking about missing ladies' lunch. The cost of the haircut is $120, plus a 20% tip and $4 for parking. $148

2:30 p.m. — My mom texts to let me know the baby is out of diapers, so I head straight to Target. If I buy two boxes, I get a $10 gift card to use on a later date. Usually I buy a ton of other stuff I don't need at Target, but today I successfully only purchase what I came for. $52.50

3 p.m. — As soon as I get to my parents' place, most of the ladies start to leave. I make myself a plate of salad, macaroni and cheese, roasted potatoes and spinach, and artichoke baked wontons.

4:30 p.m. — I drop my aunt off at home, and then go to the Coffee Commissary to meet up with a couple of girlfriends. I'm a little early, so I browse the boutique clothing store next door until my friends arrive. Then we head into the cafe where I order an iced chai latte and a decadent chocolate chip cookie — it's the best. $8.50

6 p.m. — We catch up on each other's love lives, and they give me advice on what to do in Amsterdam, since they were just there. One of them has to leave to go to her cousin's engagement party. I call my husband to see what he's doing for dinner. He says he has to feed his parents' dogs — my in-laws live around the corner from the coffee shop. We decide that he'll meet me here after feeding them so we can have dinner together. He arrives half an hour after we talk, and I order a BLT with fried egg and he gets a pork belly brown rice bowl and an iced coffee. $30.50

8 p.m. — We get home and put the baby to sleep. I read more of my book club book while hubby plays video games. Then we both go to sleep. Saturday nights are wild in our house.

6:30 a.m. — Last night, our baby slept like an angel! He only woke up once at 3 a.m. for a feeding, which my husband did, and then fell back asleep. It's amazing what a night of sleep can do for your mental, emotional, and physical well-being.

8 a.m. — With our newfound energy, we do a load of laundry each and get ready to go out for breakfast. We were supposed to meet a new couple whose son was born a few days after ours, but they cancelled yesterday. It's quite hard making new friends who are parents now that we're so busy. I use the Peanut app, which is like a dating app for moms, and connected with a woman nearby a few months ago whose son is the same age as ours. We had been trying to get together since then and last week we were finally able to meet her, her husband and baby. They invited us to their house and we brought coffee and muffins with us. The six of us hit it off, but they're moving to Japan in a few months. We'll just have to visit them.

9 a.m. — The human and fur babies are both packed and ready to go. We head over to Division 3 for a quick breakfast of biscuit sandwiches, iced coffee, and French toast in a cup. There's outside seating, and our dog finds a playmate while I manage to hold our baby in my lap and eat my sandwich with one hand. He's becoming more and more interested in meal times, but he's still not ready for solids. $27

10:30 a.m. — We get to the dog park so our fur baby can expend some energy and socialize. The weather has been so hot lately that there are only a couple of dogs at the park. I wear our baby in a carrier and he takes a nap while the dog plays. We stay as long as we can but worry about all of us overheating. My husband and I have a big date day planned and drop our pup off at my in-laws. They have two other dogs, and our pup can sleep there overnight.

12 p.m. — After dropping the doggo off, the three of us head to Trader Joe's to shop for the week. I pop the boy into the carrier again, and we're off. We buy bananas, apples, cabbage slaw, spring mix, bell peppers, lemons, avocados, potatoes, brussels sprouts, Muenster cheese, free range ground turkey, and free range eggs. The menu for the week is a sort of turkey chili with peppers, spicy black beans, and organic super grains from Whole Foods (which we have in our pantry), topped with cabbage slaw and avocado, and then grilled cheese with homemade tomato soup, and a chicken sausage (that we already have) baked with potatoes and Brussels sprouts. It's going to be goooood. For some reason that I don't remember, my mother-in-law gave us a $70 gift card to Trader Joe's, so we use it and it still has 18 cents left on it.

1 p.m. — We get home, put the groceries away, and the husband decides to take a nap. The baby is awake, so we hang out until my parents pick him up. They're taking him back to their house so he can swim in their pool, and we can relax for a bit. An hour later, I'm hungry, so I heat up the last of the ribs and potatoes and make a plate with the smoked corn, tomato, and kale salad. My husband looks so peaceful sleeping, but I wake him up to eat. We don't get many opportunities to Netflix and chill now that there's a baby in the mix, so we take full advantage. There's a new show called Amazing Interiors, and it turns out to be as great as the title suggests. We eat and watch and watch and watch.

3 p.m. — After devouring three episodes of this show, we get frisky and head to the bedroom. Then we cuddle the hell out of each other with no threat of a baby waking up and crying. It's glorious.

5 p.m. — We get ready for our big night out and leave for our dinner reservations at Everson Royce Bar downtown. And we're able to find free street parking! When we get to the restaurant, they seat us on the incredible outdoor patio, where there's a DJ and games. It's the perfect summer hangout. We can't stop giggling because it almost feels like our pre-baby days. We each get a burger and share an order of fries and an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie. Many glasses of frozé are also enjoyed. That stuff is dangerously delicious. $88

6:30 p.m. — After leaving the restaurant, we begin the trek to The Forum for the Imagine Dragons concert. In our pre-baby days, we loved going to concerts and music festivals. Our son was even conceived the weekend we went to Bottlerock Napa. It takes an effort to maintain parts of our pre-baby life and do the things we enjoy as a couple, but we're able to make it happen with a bit of planning. For this concert, we bought the tickets months in advance, maybe even before our son was born. Parking at the venue turns out to be $25. Once inside, we decide to buy two bottles of water. (The alcohol is way too expensive and I already had enough to drink at dinner.) $35

11 p.m. — The concert was amazing — one of the best we've ever been to. We get to our car and are able to exit the parking lot at record speed. It takes us half an hour to get home and my parents drop off our baby a few minutes later. We manage to transfer the little bubs into his bassinet without waking him very much. We dream-feed him a bottle, and he stays asleep. It's way past our bedtime too, and we're exhausted. Life with a baby is strange and wonderful. I think I'll sleep well tonight.

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