It may seem daunting to do a trip with a baby, and it's true it's not always a picnic, but it is important to continue to have a life once you have a little one in the mix.
Here are some things I learned for our first driving getaway...
1. Survival isn't selfish
Sometimes, you just have to prioritize your little family. If something is totally daunting and overwhelming before it even happens, chances are it may not improve in the moment.
This isn't to say you should go somewhere and then stay in bed hiding with the baby (temping, I know). But if you have already had a busy day, maybe going to dinner or going out around town is just going to be too much.
Take it from someone who had dinner at 10:30 in a restaurant where the staff were more lax with masks than the staff at an all-inclusive are about IDing and the music was so loud you had to google hearing damage in infants.
2. Check accessibility of possible
A tragic part of being a parent with a stroller is that you realize how inaccessible the majority of places are. Hot tip, you don't want your husband to have remove every item from the stroller, fold it up and then hoist it over his head to enter restaurants past the hostess podium. Although he looks fiiine doing it.
3. Enjoy yourself
It seems obvious to the layperson who has never stripped to breastfeed amidst crashing waves in front of a beach full of people, or the casual cool cat who doesn't need to change diapers in the sand, but it can be tough to step back from it all and enjoy your baby having firsts and being freaking awesome about sleeping in a playpen.
4. Pass the baby around
Especially for those pandemic babies like mine, being held and played with by others is a healthy thing that also gives parents a blissful break (even if it is only for 15 minutes or times, conveniently before the first sign of fuss). Just let them hold the baby for a while and relax those weirdly jacked-from-holding-small-human arms some recovery.
5. Always take photos
I know, I know, it's important to live in the moment. But you're going to do so many beautiful things with your little one that they just won't remember. It's so nice to think that when they are older, you will be able to look back and show them these memories.
If I've learned anything it's that life is short and your family and life circumstances can change in an instant. When you have these pictures, it's a little perfect piece of what life was like in that moment, and it's worth holding on to.