Originally published on January 13, 2015 at Franktuary.com.

I’m back from maternity leave! Oh wait, maybe you didn’t know I was gone. Actually, maybe you don’t even know who I am. Let me explain.

I’m Megan, one of the Franktuary founders, and this is the first in a series of posts about what it’s like to have a child a decade after you’ve had a restaurant. To be clear, I have a baby AND a restaurant; I did not have the baby IN the restaurant. Nobody wants that. Nobody.

Bean is thirteen weeks old – that’s three months for those of you who don’t calculate your age in weeks – and currently asleep on my lap as I type at an awkward angle over his tiny body. I’m 1,794 weeks old, if you were wondering, but again, not very helpful.* Baby ages are calculated in weeks because their development happens so quickly that, for people who are Baby Familiar, it’s easier to know exactly where they are in space and time. For those of you who aren’t Baby Familiar, like the dear twenty-something bachelor at brunch last week who asked me if Bean is one and a half years old, I will not giggle at you. I was among the uninitiated just thirteen weeks ago myself.

As an example of rapid baby development, Bean’s Nanna visited at Christmas. Around day two of her stay, he became aware of his fist and his mouth independently. Mouth was open, fist was being propelled toward it, but usually ended up in another facial orifice. By the end of grandma’s week long visit, however, that fist was consistently hitting the target. The Hubs – that’s “husband” for those who aren’t…Husband Familiar – and I are actively encouraging fist-in-mouth because it’s a great form of self-soothing, and self-soothing leads to sleeping! Not only that but it plugs the crying hole. I may have to start suggesting this self-soothing maneuver to the kitchen crew on Saturday nights.

Just kidding. We actually soothe the kitchen crew with beer.

So babies change fast, and you have to be on your toes. The restaurant develops rapidly too, though at this point we are counting its age in years. Our Lawrenceville location just hit the Terrific Twos on January 5th, and the business as a whole turned ten years old in October!

Speaking of growth and change, Franktuary’s working on an exciting expansion project coming up this year, but I’ll have to leave you guessing for now. The most imminent change in my future involves someone’s diaper.

For babies and restaurants and 2015,
Megan

* You too can calculate your age in weeks with this handy Age Calculator!