It's Friday night. Michael is just taking a shower and I'm just over here boiling
my pump parts and starting to pack because we've decided to go to visit my parents tomorrow and
we're actually surprising them. I live for surprises so they have no idea we're coming
and they know that we have a birthday party in Queens in the morning and then they think
we're not coming until Sunday but we're actually coming right after the party. Very excited about
that. Just eating a quick glutino (gluten-free Oreos) and I had something I wanted to share.
I don't have a tripod to use at the moment. As you can see, we're starting to pack for our trip.
I was having this talk with my friend recently who also had a baby. We were just saying how
one of the things that we didn't really realize before having a baby that
is such a big aspect of being a new parent is the fact that your life turns into this schedule,
that is if you decide to be a scheduled type of family which we are. I actually really want
to talk about this more in-depth but my knees hurt. To schedule or not to schedule; that is
the question. I know it's like a big thing amongst parents to talk about having a baby on a schedule
and actually my TikTok video that went the most viral is my schedule with a seven-week-old baby,
and there are loads of comments on it that are super nice and really sweet and then there are
also loads of comments of people who are really concerned that I'm on a schedule with Milo. Then
you have follow-up comments from people that, like, work with babies saying that it's actually
really good for babies to be on a schedule. I don't know what the actual answer is. I'm sure
some people are going to comment below and tell me if they think scheduling is good or bad. We as
a family believe that scheduling is crucial. I know that it can kind of feel a little bit
like "where's all the spontaneity" and we can't just like do things on the fly because we have a
schedule, so I understand the drawbacks of it, but the plus sides of it massively outweigh that for
us. And those include things like: having the ability for me to know when I can make plans,
having a schedule of when I'm gonna work versus when I need to nurse or pump, knowing when he's
gonna be down for naps so that I can make activities for him. He has music classes, he
has a mommy-and-me group, and personally, I feel like he and other babies thrive on some sort of
routine and schedule. Done. All that being said, this is what I was talking about with my friend is
that as a new parent your whole life just becomes this schedule and especially on weekends when you
kind of feel like, okay, the work week is over now it's time to relax. There's no relaxing. I have
something in my eye. Yikes. There obviously is some relaxing and there's time off from work but
the baby's wake-up time is still the same time and they still have their naps. If you want to be
having a weekend, meaning like, traveling around and driving places and going to do activities,
you kind of do need to plan it all around this new creature's schedule. And that's been
something that's honestly been a little tough for me and Michael. In planning this upcoming weekend,
Michael and I just had this dinner together where, like, the whole dinner was us planning
exactly what time we're gonna leave this party and then exactly what time we're gonna get in the car
and ideally what time he's gonna wake up and when we're gonna feed him and when we're gonna
put him down for the next nap and if we're here we need the pack-and-play and if we're there we
need the bottle. I don't know. It's really a lot of coordination. So I'm not trying to scare any
potential new moms, I just wanted to share that for any other parents that might be dealing with
life changes with a newborn you're not alone if you feel like all of a sudden your life has
become about coordinating someone's schedule. If you feel like you are a personal assistant to this
baby you are not alone. It's another big thing - packing with the child. This is something I spoke
to my mommy-and-me friends about a lot. When you have a baby it is impossible to travel light. If
someone is like a minimalist mom please send me your information. I would love to talk to you,
because every time we travel and we go somewhere, even if it's for one night to my parents' house
which is 30 minutes away, we end up bringing suitcases. I mean, it is a big deal. Like,
my parents don't have a crib at home so we have to bring our pack-and-play which for people who don't
know what that is, it's like a pop-up crib play yard thing that's a big thing. We keep that in the
car trunk. But like, if someone was not driving, like, if someone was taking a train or traveling
some other way, like, you have to carry that. Then you've got the stroller and the car seat, which
thankfully our car seat is our stroller, so that is a big time saver and space saver. If you're
nursing then you need all of your, like, nursing equipment and pumping equipment if you pump. If
you are bottle feeding you need all of your bottle parts, and bottle brush cleaner and nipple tops,
and obviously, all the baby's clothes. Now that Milo's swimming we need his swimsuits and his
sunscreen and his hats. And you want to make sure he has teethers because he has a tooth coming in.
You don't just want him, like, chewing on the cat's toys at my parents' house so we got to make
sure he has teethers. By the way, I'm like pulling all this stuff out of here. He also has his baby
oatmeal from Gerber and his purees that we have pouches of that we have to bring. You always say
you want to travel light and then the packing time comes and you leave the house with five bags, so
it's really difficult, but we're learning and growing every day.
You see the different textures on the spoon?
*kisses*
He loves you!
Can you crawl to this dinosaur for mama?
Hi!
You want mommy's camera lens?
It's Saturday morning. What I was talking about regarding packing. This is what I mean. So just
for this trip for the weekend, we have a suitcase. This is Michael and I are sharing this suitcase.
This is my purse where I also put all of my like personal pumping stuff. This whole bag
is stuff that's too small now that was Milo's that we're bringing home to store in my parents' house
for like future babies. That's a gift for the birthday boy. And then that doesn't
even include Milo's stuff, so there's two bags in his room; one is his bag of clothes,
burp cloths, his things like his monitor, his sound machine, his sheet for the pack and play,
teethers, his food, and his kitchen supplies. That's all in one bag; and then another bag
is his diaper bag with like diapers, wipes, diaper rash cream, and medicine. We're bringing infant
Tylenol because his tooth is breaking through and it's been kind of questionable each night
as to whether or not he's going to need a little Tylenol.
Here's what I'm wearing to the party.
I have a new tactic for clothing that I want to tell you about. I'm taking you to the office for a
second. I have a new method, a new go-to method of picking out clothes in the morning because
I found myself when I look in my closet I either think of outfit options that I've already worn and
already put together and they just feel not creative and not new or fresh in any way,
or I look at all my stuff and I have that honestly silly feeling of "I don't have any clothes."
I'm in, like, this zone right now in my life of extreme paring down. Pretty much every weekend
I go through my closet and stuff in my house and I create large donation bags. That's kind of my
mantra for the moment: "Do less. Have less. Want less. Live with less." I have this new thing that
I do, would highly recommend it, go on Pinterest. Type in "cute *insert season here* outfits."
Cute summer outfits. Cute spring outfits. If you have one article of clothing, say, biker shorts,
that you want to wear but you don't know how to style it, "cute biker short outfits." Scroll
through Pinterest find an outfit that sparks your fancy, and then make your own version of that
outfit with things that you have. I've discovered old tank tops that were buried in the back of my
closet that I kind of forgot that I had and now that i'm seeing them on Pinterest styled in a
certain way i'm getting re-inspired to wear them. Things that I was kind of over before I'm feeling,
like, wow I never thought to pair it with pants like this or shoes like this. That's actually
really cute. So my new thing in the morning is to wake up, go on Pinterest, type in "cute
style inspiration" and then emulate an outfit that I see from there instead of having to just
pull it out of my own head. Sorry, I'm waiting for Michael to call me because... That was a fun game!
Yeah, that's good. Okay. Not only do we have Michael's cousin's seventh birthday party
today but tomorrow we have my friend's kid's first birthday party. So Michael's at this kid's store
looking at toys as gifts and he is gonna call me again after he does some looking around.
But back to where I was. I think some people are really creative and love waking up in the morning
and picking out outfits and combining things in interesting ways and being stylish. I have to
be honest, that never came naturally to me. I'm creative with a lot of things in my life and I
actually have to say I am decently creative when it comes to picking out outfits and combining
colors and patterns. It's just not enjoyable to me. And I know that is enjoyable for a lot
of people. For me, it's like a stressful part of my day. It's Michael again. Hey.
We're going to this party now. I'm probably not going to vlog
but one other thing that we are doing today that I'm really excited about is after the party before
we go surprise my parents we are actually driving to a town out of New York City in the suburbs.
A town that we are considering for our future family. And we have started looking around at
homes. As you probably know, we're here until next July, at least that's when our lease here ends,
but we are starting to look at homes which is exciting. And so we're going to one of
the towns that we're interested in to just drive around and peruse. And I'm excited about that.
Look at daddy!
He's six months.
I just have to turn the camera on because this is a big moment. Look where I am. If you know
you know and if you don't know I'll tell you. As a new mom, I've been sitting in the back middle
seat every time we get in the car for the past six months. Every time we drive Milo is in his
car seat and I sit in the middle next to him in case he cries to attend to him and Michael's up
here alone like he's an Uber driver. This is the first moment Milo's asleep in the back. I figured
"why am I sitting back there he's asleep" and so I climbed on up and
I'm hanging with Mike in the front seat and I just feel like it's the old days again.
It's good to have you back. And we're just driving up out of the city having a day. We're going to
some new plant-based gluten-free restaurant that we found to grab some falafel sandwiches, and
then it's off for the surprise at my parents'! Thanks for coming to my vlog.
We're back in our typical arrangement.
We're surprising my parents now. We just got to the house.
Allie's here. Allie's here! She's gonna carry Milo into the backyard. Oh my God, we're so excited!
She's gonna carry him around and say to my parents "look what I found on the driveway."
Are you here?
Should I? Okay, yeah.
Oh my God, guys, look what I found on the side of the house.
Surprise!