Beach Day // Why I Turned Down A Vacation

While it feels as if the entire New York has cleared out and relocated to Miami Beach this week, here’s a throwback from summer that never made it onto the blog. It’s from my first beach day with baby Nate. It was so special watching Nate belly laugh as my husband carried him into the ocean. Cannot wait for more beach days next summer, but as excited as I am, I’m stressed just thinking about it too. Going places with a baby — a lot harder than it looks — which is why I turned down an actual vacation for the very first time. Who am I anymore?

My husband had a wedding in Israel last month, so I had the perfect opportunity to travel again for the first time since Covid. I went back and forth for weeks, trying to figure out how to make it work with Nate. My husband even tried bribing me by saying he would hold Nate the whole way, the long flight being one of the main deterrents. But after serious consideration, I decided that the difficulty of traveling with a one year old was not worth all the joy that would come from the trip. Our nights would end at 6pm, we would have to haul a stroller (and carseat?) with us, and we’d be running back to the hotel every 2.5 hours for Nate to nap.

So my husband went without me. He only stayed 4 days because he missed me too much, but it’s crazy to me that I passed up a chance to go to Israel. It’s not easy for my husband to get off work, so it’s not like we could just go any other time, but I will say we do have a fun trip in the works to make up for it. I’ll disclose the location once we book, but we’ll be heading somewhere that’s been on my bucket list for years once Nate stops breastfeeding. Not sure exactly when that will be because it’s been such a positive experience, but I’m hoping it will make the transition just a little bit easier.

x Esther