Ultra Music Festival. Mom, Baby, & Family.

Our very first trip with an infant was for a family trip planned with my parents, sister, brother, and sister in law. Before our trip to Napa, I decided that we all needed to get a little sun and also because I couldn't do it alone I asked my parents to come with me to Miami. My husband has a huge event each year for work at the Ultra Music Festival and I always try to go. This would be the first year going as a mom and my first time bringing my baby anywhere so it made me feel comfortable to have my family there as my "team Isla" to help. I'm sure Isla would have liked to come to the concert but it was way past her bedtime so we relaxed in the sun and took nice walks during the day and then my parents were nice enough to wine and dine with Isla at night and get her off to bed while I enjoyed some adult fun with my sister and friends. only 4 months old and already a club kid.

Baby's 1st Flight

Recently my family started the tradition of going away on an annual family trip together. Isla's first big trip happened to have been this one. We took her to Napa with us. I basically spent a week making lists and notes and going through various scenarios to try to figure out the my best "game plan" for making travel smooth. In case you care, or in case you are currently in the same boat here's my exact "run of show" for my travel day. I know that sounds totally bananas but it really took the stress out of it to actually play out exactly how I would go through the airport with an infant that was smooth and required the least amount of crap to travel with!

Good Luck!

  • Arrive to Airport with Baby in carseat.
  • Unfold Yoyo Babyzen stroller (with infant bassinet attachment) and put baby in.
  • Put carry on tote (aka normal diaper bag with additional ziplock with formula/water, a few extra toys & a few of my own essentials. Basically just an amped up diaper bag).
  • Curbside Check Carseat and additional luggage.
  • Stroll hands free to security.
  • Take ziplock containing formula and baby food out of bag and give to security. Put diaper bag through.
  • Take baby out and either fold stroller and put on security belt (this is the beauty of the yoyo zen) or stroll it through detector.
  • Walk through with baby.
  • Stroll to Gate.
  • Fold Stroller right before boarding flight. Carry baby, stroller (it folds really teeny and is lighter than the carry on) and diaper bag onto flight. 
  • Put Stroller in overhead bin and diaper bag under seat
  • After the plane lands unfold stroller out of overhead bin. Put baby in the stroller and diaper bag underneath and stroll hands free to baggage claim.
  • With the help of hired driver or Uber driver grab checked luggage and infant car seat and load into your waiting car.
  • Upon arrival at hotel pour a very large glass of wine. 

my first birthday as a mom

My birthday falls just 2 short months after Isla, so my first birthday as a mom was a lot of mixed emotions. I felt the happiest I'd ever felt having just become a mom, but also felt a bit lost and filled with some post partum blues. Of course the celebration was great and I was lucky enough to take a few days away in the sun. But it was hard to shake the feeling of just not being "myself". I had yet to get used to my new "identity" as a mom and was still clinging to my old identity pre-baby. Thankfully my husband made the day very special and was so understanding while I got through this weird hormonal time. 

women's march

The entire fall was an emotional time for me with all the hormones so everything happening with politics was just depressing me even more. The Women's March finally felt like something really good and i finally felt really really strong about something because I was a part of it. Isla and I didn't join the actual march (she was a month old and I was still death gripping the stroller handle bar) but we did walk beside it and up behind the barricades to check it all out at Trump Tower. I wanted to be a part of something big and I wanted her with me. it was just me, Isla and my mom. Our first march. 

Sleep Training Realness

When I was pregnant, I was consumed with reading books on sleep training. I thrive on a good night's sleep and my biggest fear about having a baby was that I would never sleep again. I got the advice of both my bestie and my sister in law who were, to me, the strictest sleep trainers I knew. Both of their children are well behaved and always have a bedtime and a great schedule. When I reached out to them I was surprised that they both gave me the exact same response. Consistency. The routine from both of them was essentially the same but they each had their own version and I needed to make my own version. I've made a video here that you can check out to follow alone with our routine, but below is a break down of exactly what we do every night.

  1. Put on Pandora Baby Lullaby station and put in back pocket to have background soothing music on during the routine.
  2. Start a nice warm bath. Obviously don't burn your baby but dont' be afraid to make it nice and warm. It will relax them and come on... do you like a lukewarm bath?
  3. Wash them off, pour warm water over them, wash hair etc. No matter how much they cry at first I promise they will learn to love the warm bath. 
  4. After bath lotion them up nice and even give a little baby massage if they aren't screaming too much from being cold. Make sure you keep that skin moisturized.
  5. Wrap them up in a swaddle blanket or actual swaddle. I liked to use a blanket during the day and then the tight velcro swaddle at night to teach Isla the difference in night and day. I wanted her to know that when she was swaddled nice and tight like that it was time for bed.
  6. Rock them and give them a bottle. (this will eventually drop out of the routine as they are older and you wean them off of the bottle)
  7. Rock them and soothe them until they are drowsy and alllllmost asleep. You want to teach them how to put themselve to sleep and self soothe. That's the whole point of the training. Eventually this will drop out of the routine too and you won't have to rock them to this point any longer you can just put them in the crib to fall asleep on their own.
  8. leave them alone unless it's a mid night feeding, or they are really wailing. The tiny little noises that they make and moving around is ok. We do it when we sleep too. If you go up to them and try to soothe them with every little noise they will never learn to soothe themselves. You will only just train them to continually wake up all night. 

Keep in mind that the key is consistency. Do the same thing every. single. night. isla hated it at first and she would scream, sometimes I would cry and the entire routine would take like 2 hours. And then finally it just clicked. One night she just got it. She was going down every night consistently by about 7 weeks and sleeping through the night by 13 weeks.

I am no expert, doctor or special sleep trainer. This is just what I learned and what has worked for me. 

out and about

baby's first walk is scary. Especially in the winter in New York. Suddenly the entire city felt like it was going to run into me, spit on me, or hit me with a bike. We ventured out 2 weeks after Isla was born. I walked to ABC Kitchen, had a lovely meal with my mom while Isla slept in the stroller. It was very uneventful but I was having a full heart attack the whole time. I thought for sure there would be a germ of some sort that would somehow jump its way into the stroller and infect my brand new baby, and I would be the worst mom in the world all because I wanted to get a Shrimp Salad and a cookie. I continued these little outings for at least 2 hours a day until I felt comfortable strolling up and down curbs, opening doors for myself with a stroller, and loosening up my grip on the handles of the actual stroller. 

first post partum date night

My husband's birthday falls not too long after Isla's, so it was really a special day for him when I decided to put real pants on for the first time and take him out. I didn't make a reservation and could barely keep my eyes open so I was a really fun date. We went to a favorite restaurant, Del Posto. It was super fancy and like I said no ressie so we coudn't even get a seat at the bar. We just sat there, drank wine for about 2 hours and then we were so hungry we came home and ordered a pizza. It was the best of all worlds. I got to put pants on but didn't have to keep them on long enough for them to dig into my rolls, we got to do something fancy and feel a little normal but not be stuck at a 5 hour dinner, and we got to eat pizza on the couch too. Mission accomplished.

The Day Before the Big Day

I Had never felt back pain like this in my entire life. I was waddling around and basically holding onto anything to keep me balanced while I walked. I somehow hauled my butt downtown to go visit my dear friend who just had her precious baby girl, Gioia 1 week earlier. I had high hopes that if I breathed in that sweet fresh newborn air that it would put me into labor and out of my misery. My wish came true.