Happy Easter to you all!

Our First Road Series: What I Learned (and What I Packed)

It’s been a whirlwind couple of weeks since I last wrote! Between packing up the house for Spring Training, moving back to Ohio, getting settled, and starting the season, I haven’t had a minute to sit down and write. Add in being #naptrapped during every nap (anyone else?), and well… here we are. Truthfully, those naps have forced me to slow down and rest, and I kind of love that.

Our first road series just wrapped up, and I’ve got to be honest—I was so anxious leading up to it. How do you survive in a hotel room with a baby? Sofia’s eating solids now… do I bring a high chair? A vacuum for all the food that ends up on the floor? (Because hotel carpets—yikes.) Do I bring our own sheets? A pack n play?

So many questions were swirling in my mind, but let me share the piece of advice that changed everything: ask the women who’ve done this before you. The best thing about baseball life is that there’s this quiet but fierce community of women who have figured it out, and continue to figure it out. We are family, because this life makes us one.

So I asked. I reached out to the women I knew, and their advice was a game-changer. Here’s what they told me:

1. Try not to overpack (oops… definitely failed here). You can almost always get what you need once you arrive.

2. Buy a travel high chair—I grabbed [ https://www.target.com/p/ingenuity-baby-base-2-in-1-booster-feeding-and-floor-seat-with-self-storing-tray-cashmere/-/A-75649101 : this is a great option too, they just didn’t have this in stock; https://www.target.com/p/bright-starts-pop-n-sit-portable-booster-seat-gray/-/A-90411325%5D and it was a lifesaver.

3. Do a grocery pickup for baby-friendly foods. I grabbed cottage cheese, yogurt, and fruit. Sofia is obsessed with mango right now!

4. Call ahead about cribs or pack n plays—most hotels have them. Just bring your own sheet and a familiar blanket.

5. If there’s no crib available, ask for a rollaway bed and place the mattress on the floor. That’s what we ended up doing, and it was genius!

I can’t tell you how much better life gets when you have people to lean on. I’m so thankful for the women who don’t gatekeep their wisdom, who show up, share, and become the village we all need—especially as traveling moms.

This life is crazy, I know that. People often ask if it’s sustainable, and truthfully? It can be a lot. It’s not always easy—but nothing worth doing ever is. I don’t know how long this adventure will last for us, but for now, we’re soaking it in and making the most of it.

The thing that amazed me the most, honestly, was my daughter. She just went with the flow.

I spent so much time stressing about her needs—Would she nap? Would she be overstimulated? Would the hotel be too much?—and she was perfectly fine. She went to the games, napped well, and was happy as long as she had the two things she truly needed: her mom and dad.

It hit me hard—so much of the chaos was in my head. I was the one overcomplicating it. Once I realized she was content and secure, everything else fell into place. Sometimes, we just need to get out of our own way and be present.

If you’re about to do this, I want to tell you that the biggest thing I’ve learned? You figure it out as you go. Now that I’ve made it through our first road series, I feel so much more confident going into the next one. You don’t know until you do it—and then, you just keep getting better.

I’d love to hear from you:

What’s something in your life that felt daunting until you asked someone who’d been through it? Did it make it easier?

Let me know in the comments which topic you want to read about next:

•How do you find homes to live in with all the travel?

•A day in the life of a coach’s wife

•How to find your tribe: how the team and their families become our families

•How being a coach’s wife has changed my perspective on my vocation as a wife

•Making the most of our limited family time during the season

•How to find community in the towns you live in as a new mom.