After meeting our baby three weeks earlier than expected, I was so nervous to leave the house with him ever again. But, as our baby grew bigger and stronger before our eyes, we were finally ready to take him on a little adventure. Breckenridge, Colorado was the perfect low-stakes destination to test our confidence as new parents.
Throughout pregnancy, moms are bombarded with advertisements and solicited/unsolicited advice about hundreds (if not thousands) of “must-have” baby registry products. While some items are definitely necessary, many are simply not compatible with all lifestyles. The truth is, you won’t actually know what your family needs until your baby is finally here. I was surprised by how many additional baby items we ended up seeking out after the birth of our son, and by which products we didn’t need at all.
When my now-husband moved across the country for business school, I decided to do the opposite, and move to a tiny cabin tucked away in Tahoe National Forest. We are lucky enough to still own the little cabin and ended up spending two summer months of our parental leave there with our new baby. That’s when we realized how wonderful our beloved town of Truckee is for families, too. If you’re planning a summer weekend in the Lake Tahoe area with a baby, here are the places I’d recommend after years of exploring Truckee as both a local and a new mom.
It was important to us that our new baby would be comfortable, safe, and happy on road trips…but we had no idea what that would look like, or if it would even be possible. On pre-baby road trips, we minimized stops and maximized efficiency. Post-baby, we stop for feedings, diaper changes, baby (and dog) wiggles, and even full meals for us parents—and that’s okay. Instead of focusing on the challenges, my husband and I choose to focus on why we keep doing it. After a beautiful summer of long drives to and from some of our favorite places, here’s what we learned about road tripping with a baby, and the mindset shifts we’ve made.
As a new mom, I felt so intimidated by leaving the house with my newborn, especially by myself. I was anxious about being out in public with a screaming baby, not having what he needed to feel safe and comfortable. Now, I feel so confident bringing him along on quick errands and full-on adventures—and as silly as it may sound, my diaper bag is a big part of the reason why.
When we told our families we were going dispersed camping with our three-month-old baby, they thought we were crazy. Turns out, they were wrong. Just a couple of months earlier, I had been feeling a little trapped in our suburban home with a newborn baby. Now, we were camping together as a family, doing something my husband and I (and our stinky little dog) have always loved.
When you’re packing for a two-month trip with a newborn, something has to give. For me, it was my wardrobe. What started as a fun little challenge (and a logistical necessity) turned into a revelation: I felt more content with this capsule wardrobe than I ever had with access to my whole closet. I was no longer craving the next purchase or seeking out the next item that I had convinced myself would really tie it all together.
Before my first flight alone with my 10-week-old son, I spent days worrying about everything that could go wrong. As it turns out, the trip went far better than I expected. If you’re preparing to fly with a baby for the first time, these are the things that helped me most.
I’m a minimalist at heart, but my husband is a “just in case” guy. This means that with baby items, we’ve had to find a happy medium where I don’t feel anxious about unused stuff cluttering up our home, but he also doesn’t feel anxious about not having everything we need to be attentive parents. These are the ten popular baby registry products we skipped, why we skipped them, and what worked well for us instead.