On Family Vacations

Vince and I love to travel and this is probably one of the qualities that made us clicked in the beginning. When I got pregnant, we thought that having a child would limit our capacity to trot somewhere. We even went to Seattle last year while I was on my 6th month with the thinking that it’s our last hurrah to this passion of ours.

But then on my birthday we went to Hawaii. We planned this long before Elysse was out. There’s this anxiety though that she might have a hard time travelling with us. We were wrong! My little jetsetter behaved perfectly during our roundtrip plane rides. She didn’t mind the pressure whatsoever since that was our main concern.

It’s just that going on vacation with a child is different. We researched places and dined at restaurants that are kid-friendly; we made sure that our activities would suit her; in short, she’s first in our priority. Not to mention all the stuff we needed to do for her in between (e.g. change diapers, feed her, be sensitive when she’s tired already, etc.).

I realized it’s not just Vince and I anymore. Those times when we could be as spontaneous as we can are over, for now at least. But what excites me is that we have more room to make new memories now. I’d love that someday Elysse would see our vacation pictures and be happy that we tugged her along with us. It would make us feel fulfilled as parents that she’d have a wonderful collection of family adventures.

So without any hesitations, we planned the next. Yay! Can’t wait!

When Separation Anxiety Attacks

My maternity leave’s up and I came back to work last Monday. It never occurred to me that it’d be such a fuss since I worked out a schedule with my boss. Plus the fact that it was my choice because I’ve been working since I graduated college and having a baby won’t be a problem in pursuing my personal growth. I didn’t know why I felt what I felt last Sunday night while I was organizing my office stuff. I just experienced this sudden feeling of sadness. What made it weirder was I actually cried to Vince. Yearning for my daughter and our routine for the past two months went to pass my thoughts, Silly, I know because I’m only working with less hours now but I can’t explain why I began to think that I’d be missing out on her. Oh, motherhood – so wonderful, yet so complex.