Today I had the day off due to another company Wellness Day. Since it didn’t overlap with a day off with Chris as it did last month, I was left to my own devices. So I started the day with my usual workout, worked on updating this blog, answered a few personal emails, did some more online baby shopping to prepare for our registry, and then walked all the way uptown to check out a family owned baby store that is reputed to have good customer service. After looking at strollers first at Buy Buy Baby, Nordstrom, and finally here at Albee Baby, I can say with certainty that the service I got here was the best. The assistant knew all the models on the floor inside out, let me play around and stroll them all around, and also talked about the different accessories. I think we’ve finally made our stroller decision. It only took three store visits and endless hours of online research!

After my time at Albee Baby, I walked further up to have lunch on my own at Banh, a modern Vietnamese restaurant that opened during the pandemic. I’d already been here twice before and knew the food was delicious, so I ordered the dry hu tieu noodles and a house made strawberry lime soda. As I sat on my own and ate, watching all the action happening in their fully open kitchen, I thought about how this was actually one of the few times I’d be fully on my own, able to explore and galavant all over this city without a baby in tow. I should probably try to enjoy my freedom as much as possible while I can because soon, it won’t be that easy for me to go to any neighborhood I want and not have to think about feeding/changing diapers for a baby, a car seat, or how to navigate a stroller through narrow walk-ways or poorly paved roads or streets.

A few of my friends who have gone through pregnancy encouraged me to take a few days off sporadically leading up to labor and delivery just to do things for myself, whether that was read a book, get my nails done/massage/facial, or stroll through markets or have meals on my own. They told me I’ll never get this time back, so I should soak it up as much as possible. While eating my hu tieu today, I thought… that’s actually a pretty good idea. I will probably do that.