The Portable Months

Ahhhhh…the first few months with a newborn (or, in our latest case, newbornS). Sleepless nights, showerless days. The neverending cycle of diapers and feedings and laundry. Feelings of awesomeness and loneliness. Pride and exhaustion. This time is incredible for so many reasons.

And so short.

When we had Evie more than eight years ago, we didn’t know what to expect. But, we were living in New York City and we were eager to enjoy all the city had to offer. So, Evie came along for the fun! We took her out to dinner in the evenings, and during the day we went all over town.

Central Park:

Brooklyn to visit my cousin and her baby:

The Today Show:

Day trips on the train to Philly:

And weekend trips to the shore:

Fast forward five more kids and eight years, and here we are in the middle of Chicago with twins. It would be easy to hunker down and wait out the first year or so, but, well, LIFE is happening and I don’t want to miss a minute of it. We don’t have a nighttime sitter we trust to watch all six kids – and I am breastfeeding the babies – so we have been bringing them with us to lots of fun events after sunset. Slide them into a baby carrier and GO!

Celebrating my brother’s 30th birthday at a super fun bar:

Cubs game (#gocubsgo #flythew):

Blackhawks game:

Fancy dinner out with my parents:

Heck, they even tagged along when Chris and I celebrated our 10th anniversary!

Sadly, I think their portablity is waning. Now that they are almost four months old they like to go to bed around 7:30 in a quiet and dark room, and they get cranky when that doesn’t happen. I like that their routine is very slowly becoming more predictable, but I’m sad we won’t have our little late night buddies with us anymore.

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6 Comments for this entry

  1. Amanda says:

    I loved the portable months – looks like you all have really enjoyed outings as a family! But you’re right, those days are numbered and hopefully your girls will start sleeping thru the night soon if they aren’t already. You look so great for caring with 4-older children and 2-newborns.

  2. John James says:

    When I am going to a baseball or hockey game, especially when I’ve paid a lot of money for tickets, nothing makes me happier than sitting next to a baby. Except maybe sitting next to 2 babies!

    • Maureen says:

      I sense your sarcasm.

      I also sense that you didn’t catch the point. Babies at this age are portable because they don’t cause a fuss. They don’t complain. They are there, but not really. Once they start fussing is when they aren’t portable anymore.

      Hope that helps you understand.

  3. John James says:

    It’s just not the right venue for babies. Stop and think about the people around you. I don’t care how precious your babies are, or even how well behaved, I do not want to sit next to them at a sporting event! Period. Sorry, this is the internet and you have a comments section, so you can hear my comments. I’d be hard pressed to find anyone I know in an facet of my life that would say, of course I’d love to sit next to a baby or 2 at a Cubs game!

    • Maureen says:

      Of course your comments are welcome – I don’t expect everyone to agree with me, just as I don’t agree with everyone. My family and I put up with plenty of people who we don’t love being near, but that is just a fact of being alive and living in a big city. I hope the interactions with people in different life stages and with different values are teaching my kids patience, kindness and wonder.

  4. Margaret says:

    Too bad for John venues don’t exclude babies or children or anyone else he doesn’t like in his ticket price.

    From one big family mom (six kids here too) to another, way to go! My youngest is the same age as your twins and he is growing up way too fast! For the record, he is our late night tag along too.

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