Do:
- take someone with you, if you mean to enjoy snow even a little bit. A trained, professional nanny is a perfect idea (as opposed to this one)
- expect some uneasiness. Babies don’t appreciate their schedule being changed, although i think at some degree it’s good for them not to take everything for granted. It’s never too early for a life lesson!
- indulge! This is a vacation, so a little spoiling should be okay. We were sleeping in the same bed with Daphne, something we never do and we substituted a cooked meal with a canned one. (seriously, the food, I am never ever doing that again- i’ll write about it at some point)
- lower your expectations. (Fortunately) You are not alone anymore and (unfortunately) things don’t depend entirely on you!
- prepare plan B. I almost forgot the food processor, we forgot to take a fleece blanket, her mittens, an umbrella- you know what i mean. You will forget stuff because it’s so much it’s overwhelming. But it’s okay. It always is. Think of people who don’t have as much. How do their kids survive? Perfectly fine. You’re still reading this. So, you’re definetely smart. You’ll figure it out. You have done so for so long, one more for the team!
DON’T:
- even think of what your snow days were BEFORE the baby. You’ll get depressed. (even more so if haven’t lost those extra baby pounds yet – this is experience talking!)
- panic. Everything can and will be fixed. Taking your kid to different places makes it smarter.
- take crap! I have heard too many people arguing that babies don’t remember a thing, so you shouldn’t bother dragging them around. That’s non-sense. Fist of all, just because you don’t remember something, that doesn’t mean you haven’t enjoyed it. And second, psychologists will tell you that a person’s hard core- their personality- is crystallized by the age of 3. Babies don’t remember what has formed the basis of who they are. Take the baby with you. I am sure it loves nothing more than being with you.
- take it personaly, if things don’t go as planned. Watch closely, gain experience, become wiser. The only experience you can call bad is the one that left you nothing. At all.
- overpack– show some love to the man who has been carrying a whole lot of things, especially since chances are you don’t need all those stuff, anyway!