Routines & Road Trips: Our First Family Getaway

This week was exciting in two completely different ways.

On one hand, the quieter kind of excitement was happening in our everyday life. We’re starting to settle into life with our daughter, understand her a little more every day, and slowly find routines that work for all three of us. Of course, everything still revolves around what she needs, but it finally feels like we’re beginning to find our rhythm as a family.

For starters, sleeping has been getting easier. We’re starting to recognise patterns in her sleep and understand what she needs, especially at night.

We usually go to bed somewhere between 10 PM and midnight, and she goes to bed when I do. Before sleeping, I give her one last nappy change, put her in her sleeping sack, give her a final bottle and her dummy, and then she falls asleep. So far, this routine has been working really well for us.

She usually wakes up around two times during the night, sometimes three, for a bottle and a nappy change before going back to sleep. Then, around 7–8 AM, she starts waking up for the day.

This has actually become one of my favourite parts of our routine. She’ll usually stay awake for around 30 minutes to an hour, and Jordan and I spend that time with her together. It’s such a nice way to start our day, and I’ve noticed that we’re much more present with each other instead of immediately ending up on our phones.

Eliana also turned 8 weeks old last Tuesday, August 25th, which already feels like a milestone. But she also laughed out loud for the first time this week, which was really special and made me realise how quickly time is already going with her. I’m truly trying to stay in the moment, as this is something my mother has told me many times, and she’s right. Everything goes so fast, so stay in the moment and let the milestones happen when they happen!

I’ve also been settling back into working a lot more. Weirdly enough, I’ve discovered that I work best when I’m out of the house. This has honestly always been the case for me; I tend to focus better when I’m out in a café or restaurant. Eliana also seems to fall into a deeper sleep when we’re out, which means I can concentrate better and get a lot more done. Then, when we’re home, I can truly focus on her and give her my full attention.

While a lot of this week’s excitement came from our everyday life starting to settle, we also had something completely out of the ordinary.

Our first little trip away as a family of three.

We originally planned to spend the day in Cambridge, but spontaneously decided to stay overnight and turn it into a two-day trip. Jordan’s mum kindly offered to pay for a hotel, which meant we could take our time and see much more of the city.

On our first evening, we spent around three hours walking through Cambridge together. Somehow, we also managed to get two boxes of free sushi from a restaurant in exchange for leaving them a review, which was a pretty nice surprise. We visited the Cambridge University Botanic Garden during the trip too, before heading to IWM Duxford. There was so much to see there, and considering Jordan and I are both really interested in aeroplanes, we had a great time exploring the museum together.

I was naturally a little nervous taking her away for the first time, but I’d prepared well, and overall she did amazingly. She did become slightly fussy in the evening, and I wondered whether this was because she could sense that everything around her was different. Staying overnight was spontaneous, so her usual routine was disrupted quite a bit. Once we got to the hotel, I tried to make things as familiar as possible. I did what I would normally do with her at home and spent the evening cuddling her, which seemed to help her settle and get the rest and comfort she needed.

Around 5:30 PM, we finally started heading home, with a necessary McDonald’s stop along the way because we were both hungry and still had around a two-hour drive ahead of us.

We got home at around 8 PM, unpacked, showered and pretty much went straight to bed.

I think the trip was good for Jordan and me too. We hadn’t been getting much time together recently, and with both of us tired and adjusting to everything that comes with having a newborn, we’d started getting a little irritated with each other. Getting away together, walking around Cambridge, and simply spending time as a family gave us a reset I think we both needed.

I’ve spoken to my parents quite a lot this week too, which has been really nice because I miss them so much. Getting to properly catch up with them more often has made me really happy.

As for me, I’m exhausted, of course, but genuinely really happy. I feel incredibly content with where we are in life right now. I have so much love for Eliana and Jordan, and even with the tiredness and everything we’re still figuring out, I wouldn’t change where we are for anything.

And, for the first time this week, I’ve finally stopped feeling like my body is falling apart. After everything it has been through over the past couple of months, I’ll happily take that as progress.

Lastly, something that literally arrived today: my new breast pumps!

I’ve only used them once so far, so I definitely can’t give a proper opinion yet, but my first impression has been good. I’m going to use them properly over the next week and let you know what I think in next week’s catch-up.

And for this week, I think we’ll leave it at that. See you in the next one!