It’s a funny thing becoming a mum. You spend all this time planning and trying to wrap your head around what’s about to take place, and then after some screaming and pushing, you come home with a baby, and shit gets real. I’m originally from the US but moved to the UK in 2013 after falling in love with a Brit. I had Hudson in 2016 and Everett in 2018. I often get asked if it’s hard to be so far away from my family now that we have kids. The truth is that my family is scattered all over the US. It’s always been that way, so I’m sorta used to it.
The people I miss the most are my girlfriends. I have some really great friends here, but I mean I miss the friends whom I’ve known through the messy parts of life–my 20s/early 30s…so much fun. We’re all over the world now, which just sorta happened organically. It was like when our 30s hit, everyone packed up and moved out of the city, got married, and had kids.
Sometimes when my kids are screaming about putting on their shoes or not being able to wear their swim suit to nursery in the rain, I wish I could press “pause” and slide back into my world of no REAL responsibility. My biggest concern in that world was where we were going to happy hour and whether I should ride my bike to work that day. Having kids is pretty incredible, but I’m not scared to admit that sometimes it’s hard as hell, and they drive me absolutely crazy. It doesn’t mean I love them any less or that I wish my life was different. I think mums can often be scared to admit this challenge, and the reality is that we all feel the same. We put an immense amount of pressure on ourselves, and mum guilt is a tough thing to shake. It’s taken me a lot of effort to try and shift my thinking about doing things for myself while not feeling like I should be spending time with the kids. The realest thing I have learned about becoming a mum is that you can’t pour from an empty cup. If I’m not taking the time to look after myself, it’s unlikely I will have anything to give to the people around me.
Traveling is something I have always been really passionate about, and while plans are temporarily on hold for the foreseeable–I’m looking forward to getting to see more of my friends. I want to spend time with their kids and see what amazing mummas they have all become. Last year I got on a plane with Everett and met up with Bonika in Prague. I had moments where I felt guilty that I couldn’t bring both kids and that my husband wouldn’t be able to take the time off work, but it was important that I went, and I’m so glad I did.
We stayed in the Letná neighborhood of Prague. Our kids crawled all over the Airbnb apartment chasing each other. We ate outside at restaurants with our babies in their strollers, rocking them to sleep as we drank a few glasses of vino. Sometimes Bon’s husband Libor joined us and would help us mamas carry strollers up and down stairs, and sometimes we left him at the Airbnb and just double-dated with our babies.
On our main sightseeing day, we took the tram with our strollers and walked all around the city. Thankfully, Libor is Czech and did all the navigating, and we just went with the flow. We found a great cafe along the river for lunch, which we luckily had the chance to enjoy before the rain made us run for cover inside a gorgeous little coffee shop. We were not very good tourists–the babies slept in their strollers at all the historic sites, and neither of us really paid much attention. We were more concerned with catching up and enjoying this rare, sacred time together. Prague is beautiful, so it was a nice place to be while catching up. The architecture is lovely, and our Airbnb was a killer find–spacious, comfortable, and right across the street from Letná Park. We went to the Letná Beer Garden twice during those 48 hours because it was an easy walk with strollers and has gorgeous views of the city. Our babies were not walking yet and were still happy to chill in their strollers.
It’s not always easy to keep up with the friends I have that live down the road, let alone across the world, but it’s a priority for me and one I take seriously. Even if 3 months go by, I can still FaceTime any of my far-away besties, and it’s like no time has passed at all. Honestly, it’s like therapy for me. And while it doesn’t appear we’re going to be hopping on a plane anytime soon, it will happen again. I sure as hell can’t wait for our next adventure.
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”24″ gal_title=”Shanny Prague”]
No Comments