So You’re Having A Baby…
When I found out I was pregnant, my stomach dropped.
We had been talking about maybe having a baby in the next couple of years, but I was still on the fence about whether I really wanted to be a parent or not. Thoughts raced through my heads as I struggled to comprehend the situation.
I had so many plans! So many things I wanted to do with Josh. But the biggest question that scared me was “How would we travel?” Could we even continue to travel? As we started to tell the news to folks, many people said things like, “Oh, I’m so glad you got to travel before having the baby” or “Get one last trip in before baby comes” as if our lives would end once his began.
Traveling had been such a large part of my life up until I got pregnant. So I was scared to think about what it might look like with a kid. But then again, I wondered, “Why should I be scared?”
My parents took me on my first international trip to Mexico when I was 5 years old and I was hooked. Our church had a partnership with a small church in rural Mexico outside of Mexicali. I loved seeing how other people lived, learning about their culture, and getting to know their thoughts and dreams. Traveling opened up the world to me. I wanted to be able to do that with my kid, too. To be able to teach him about the incredible people and places - to share the history (both good and bad) so he could fully appreciate this wild world and the beauty and terror of it all.
And that’s when I realized - it was up to us to decide what was important to us in how we raise our kid. We got to decide what was important - community, caring for the earth, being a good neighbor, traveling and learning about different cultures. We can take what works for us and leave what doesn’t. We can sacrifice certain things for the time being, or we can find a way to make it work. Being good parents also means taking time for ourselves to fill our cups so that way we can pour our joy, love, empathy, and care into our little one.
So, YES. We are proof that you can have a baby and still travel. Sure, it may look a little bit different, and you might have to prepare in different ways and leverage different tools, but it’s still possible!!! We have been intentional about introducing Lil’ Nugg to the world through travel, and as such, he’s been to 4 countries and 8 US states since he was born a year ago.
We’ve learned so much along the way - and still have so much left to learn. But I’ve learned that when you share the things you love and that you’re passionate about with your kid, this can make you a better parent. And so we continue to travel, to share our love of the world and people with Lil’ Nugg. Have mistakes been made? Absolutely. Are we still learning? Absolutely. Is it worth it? Absolutely.
We’re excited you’re here and along for the journey. We can’t wait to share all we’ve learned - good and bad, ups and downs - with you all. And hopefully you’ll share what you’re learning, too. Excited to learn together!
xo,
Leesh
