Adventures with Baby Emma

I had absolutely no idea what to expect when Baby Emma arrived in August 2018.  I was soooooooooo nervous!  I am a little on the older side for having a baby – my medical chart described me as “elderly” and “geriatric,” which could really give someone a complex!  I turned 37 two days after Baby Emma was born, which means that I had 37 years to myself to be selfish with my time, energy and finances.  I could do whatever I wanted at whatever time I wanted and I was so nervous for how having a baby was going to change this and if I would be able to handle it.  I was also very worried about how our lives would change, as my husband and I were very used to traveling, doing activities in the mountains, and meeting up with friends whenever we felt like it.  The good thing about having a child later in life is that I had 37 years to do all kinds of amazing things on my own time, so I don’t feel like I had missed out at all.  My pregnancy went very well after the first trimester – I exercised every day, we went on a cross-country skiing yurt trip at Tennessee Pass, I went to Sedona for a PT class and did a bunch of hiking, we traveled to Florida, Georgia and Salt Lake City.  We had adventures in the mountains, camped, I paddle-boarded throughout the summer, and we did a lot of work on our yard every weekend.  I kept thinking that I had to get all of my adventures and activities in now, because I had no idea how Baby Emma would change our lives.

Well, Baby Emma arrived and we fell so madly in love with her!  As it turns out, she wasn’t changing our adventures, she WAS our next big adventure!  She is such a laid-back and easy-going baby that once we figured out her sleeping and eating schedule (as much as babies can have at that age) we were able to get out and take her on her first adventures.  We went to friend’s houses and had people over, we went out to meals at restaurants (she was only a week old when we went to our first restaurant), and we started taking daily walks when she was about 5 days old.  Our first big adventure was meeting our friends up in Conifer to go disc golfing and hiking.  I hadn’t really used her Lillebaby carrier yet, we hadn’t hiked more than just the walking around our neighborhood, and we hadn’t driven that far yet.  I wasn’t sure how I was going to feed or change her, but we figured it out!  She was such a trooper and I ended up carrying her outside of the carrier for about half of it because she got so hot, but we figured out how to change her and nurse her and still had so much fun!  Then we went out to lunch and she did great!  Our first big activity was a success!

Next, my parents and aunt came to visit and we took her to Rocky Mountain National Park where we did some light hiking, had a picnic (we ate in the car because it was too cold for all of us, not just the baby) and explored Estes Park.  We walked on the 16th Street Mall in Denver, had dinner at Rock Bottom Brewery and then went to a DU hockey game.  She rocked her baby headphones and even though it was VERY loud, she slept through most of it and didn’t even budge!   Those things really work!

Then we went on our annual tradition of taking my goddaughter up to the Fritzler Farm Corn Maze.  It was crazy windy but Emma was a champ and even got in the corn box for a little bit.  We had fun with my goddaughter and she got to play, jump and ride on all of the games and attractions!

Next came a visit from my Aunt and Uncle who came to meet Miss Emma.  We took them out to Kiowa Creek for some clay shooting and had a blast (literally)!  We used the Baby Banz headphones again and Emma slept through the whole thing – she didn’t even flinch!  Those things are seriously impressive!

Our next November activity was the Brighton Turkey Trot 5K.  It ended up being horrible weather – sleet, wind and cold.  It gave us a chance to try out Emma’s car seat cover and she did so well!  She just got a little chilly at the very end, but we made it inside and she warmed up quickly and was a very happy baby.  We ended up getting 3rd place in our age divisions for male and female walkers – haha!  To top it off, our stroller had a flat tire for about half of it, so I got a great workout pushing it that fast.

So you know the yard work that I was so worried about getting done before Emma came?  Well, the fall weather in Denver was EXTREMELY dry – I think the day of the Turkey Trot was the only precipitation that we had for months.  Everything in our yard was drying up and needed to be watered by hand (we’d turned off our sprinkler system a while ago), so I strapped Emma into the Lillebaby carrier, put some sunglasses on her and we went and watered the trees and bushes.  She did great!  Then I had to do some yardwork that required a lot of bending, so the carrier wouldn’t work.  She sat on the patio in her little activity center and had fun enjoying the warm weather and watching Dad and I working on the yard.  What a good little girl!

The day after Christmas we had our biggest adventure yet – we traveled to Alaska!  Most of my family still lives in Alaska and my nephew was born 7 weeks before Emma, so none of us had met the babies yet.  We were nervous about how she would do on the long plane rides and with the time change.  Turns out that Emma was born to travel!  She was mesmerized by all of the sights, sounds, lights and people in the airport and loved looking at everything.  Then, she slept or ate during all of the flights – she slept on my lap and it was so nice to have my little cuddle buddy.  I read an entire book, relaxed and watched a movie – all things I didn’t think that I would get to do!  I’ve been warned that this only happens when they are young babies, so I’m taking advantage of her wonderful behavior now.  We had so much fun in Alaska – she met so many people and we did a lot of activities and she was just super easy-going, happy and slept very well!

Our last outing was just this weekend – the foothills of Denver got quite a bit of snow and then the blue skies and sun came back out.  We wanted to get up in that snow and play!  We strapped Emma into the Lillebaby and cross-country skiied up near Mount Evans while our friends snowshoed with us.  What a beautiful day!  We forgot Emma’s sunglasses, so used my ski goggles that happened to be in the car.  They were perfect, as they covered half of her face and kept the sun out of her eyes.  She seemed to love facing out and seeing the scenery and watching us ski and snowshoe.  She started falling asleep so Cory turned her around in her Lillebaby and she slept the whole way down.  Our only issue was that we found out that she had cold feet, so we’re going to have her wear boots over her snowsuit next time.  She never complained though and was a very happy little camper for most of the outing.

The moral of this story is not to brag about my amazing baby (well, I guess I did do that a little bit), but to share how seamlessly we’ve been able to incorporate Emma into our lives and activities.  She has made most activities even more fun than before, it just takes a little more preparation and timing of her eating schedule.  It has been such a welcomed surprise with how easy-going she is and how she seems to be up for anything.  I’m hopeful that this just continues and that we are able to show her the world and have her show us the world from an entirely different perspective.  Our adventures haven’t stopped or even slowed down, if anything, they have gotten more exciting and I can’t wait to see what the future holds!   Next stop…..MEXICO!!