The other day while texting with a friend who’s a new mom, she shared a confession that made me want to reach out and hug her…
As I read her message, I was transported back three years, when my daughter Ella was a baby. My husband Max and I had just moved to a new town, an hour’s drive away from our friends and family. In the midst of trying to make our house a home, I was also finding my bearings as a new mom. Before Ella was born, I’d had zero baby experience. By the time Max’s eight weeks of parental leave was up, I felt confident enough in the baby basics (feeding, changing diapers, and putting Ella down for naps) to hang solo with her for the day. But there was still one activity that made me sweat with anxiety: taking a walk with the stroller.
Have you ever had a baby melt down mid-walk? For several weeks afterward, our stroller gathered dust in our guest room. I desperately wanted to take Ella exploring around our new neighborhood, until I found a solution: practice stroller walks.
For an entire week, in the mornings and afternoons, I would buckle Ella into the stroller, push her out our kitchen sliding door, and walk loops around our backyard. By the end of that week, the repetition of pushing the stroller made me feel so much more comfortable. And before I knew it, we became stroller pros.
A happy five-month-old Ella finally taking a neighborhood walk!
Chilling in the stroller at a local car show.
Exploring the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Chilling at the Monterey pier.
Now it’s your turn, what are some of the hilarious precautions you took as a new parent? I’d love to know.
P.S. 15 things Joanna would tell a new parent and raising your first child vs your second.
