We’re Going to Need a Bigger Tent!

The last few years our summers have been filled with travels to visit family with a few small adventures mixed in. This year, we still did some of the travel, but Alex being in the third trimester made lengthy adventures in the summer heat an unwelcome idea. Since our last update we’ve visited family in DC, had two baby showers (one in PA, and one in NC), went to Niagara Falls, and a trip to FL to celebrate the life of Alex’s grandma. All that led to the start of our biggest adventure yet, parenthood. We welcomed Poppy (not her real name!) in the wee hours of the morning on August 2nd, 2026.

Alex and I were never sure if we wanted to be parents. Before getting married we talked about it a lot and eventually decided we may regret it later on if we didn’t. She came a few weeks early (37 weeks), but was a healthy 6lbs 12oz at birth. As parents we’re pretty biased, but we think she’s cute!

The first couple of days in the hospital and then at home were the hardest. I pretty much didn’t sleep for the first 4 days, and between surgery, breast feeding, and her own limited sleep, Alex couldn’t have been doing well. You know going in it’s going to be a lot to deal with, but it’s hard to prepare yourself for just how all-consuming a baby can be. I think this is the part that doesn’t get brought up much when people with kids tell you what to expect.They talk about the lack of sleep, but really it’s the lack of time for yourself and your partner that is a bigger drain. Maybe nobody mentions it because after a while they’ve forgotten what having that time is like! I believe that parents still need to be people outside of “Mom” or “Dad”, because one day your kid is going to grow up and leave. If you spend 20 years neglecting your hobbies, interests, and relationship - what happens when the kid leaves the house and we have to go back to being “Cody & Alex”?

Before Poppy, Alex and I spent a lot of time together sitting, talking, and doing sports/activities together. Now we spend most of our time together feeding, bathing, changing, or transporting the baby - in addition to discussing new systems designed to help keep us (mostly me) on track day to day. It’s quite the change and a real test of your teamwork as a couple to figure it out. We’re still working on how to balance parenthood with our other needs. I’m sure it will be an ongoing process with lots of learning and tweaking things along the way.

The good news is after 6 weeks Poppy is starting to feel more and more like our daughter and less like a random baby we’ve been tasked with keeping alive. I may be exaggerating a little, but in our experience you don’t feel like “Mom & Dad” overnight. Those words still feel really weird to say out loud, but so too did “Husband & Wife” once upon a time.

You don’t really notice them growing on a day to day basis, but she grew out of her newborn onesies at around 3 weeks old. That was the first time we stopped and realized she was growing. She holds her head up longer during tummy time now, opens her eyes for longer stretches, is starting to make new noises, and spits up more often. I still don’t really know what to do with a newborn while it’s my turn to have her, but if she’s sleeping or not spitting up on me I consider that a win for now. The teaching, playing, and learning will intensify as she develops out of the newborn stages.

We work hard to get out of the house on a daily basis. So far, we’ve packed up the van and made it into the world every day since we’ve come home from the hospital. We want to be a family that travels and continues to live life, so we figure the easiest way to keep moving is to never stop. A trip to the Asheville area in October is going to be stressful at times, but we can’t let the fear of it keep us from traveling. We have trips planned to Zion National Park and Scotland in the spring, so this will be a small test of our ability to travel with a baby. Our choice of trails will look different for a little while, but we hope to keep going and instill our love of the outdoors in her. Eventually, we’ll be the ones struggling to keep up with her.