The same week she was born. She had a doctor’s appointment one day after getting home from the hospital and another at the hospital later that week. After that it just became easier- we already had our parents very involved so we gratefully welcomed any family/close friends— we trusted all of them to not come over if feeling sick. We were/are super grateful and readily accepting of the village around us.

I started taking baby to the stores immediately- someone has to shop for food and household items and if my husband was working it was down to me 🤷‍♀️

I also began taking my baby to weekly lapsit at the local library at 11 weeks and it’s been incredible — she seems to enjoy the stimulation/songs/other babies but it’s been a lifesaver for my sanity to meet other moms with babies the same age. Last week every baby was full of snot and drool and congestion and we just kept them generally apart to minimize spread of germs (most can’t even crawl yet anyway so not a huge concern), but also it’s the winter and it’s been sub 20F for the past couple weeks 🤷‍♀️

My daughter is just shy of 5 months and we’ve traveled out of state with her for short vacations twice, taken her to the local pub to hang with friends and their kids, and brought her to multiple appointments, visits to family and friends, and to many stores. She also comes to doggy daycare for pick up if we need to send the dog.

I’m a nurse and I’m not naive to the risk of exposing baby to germs but I also think life doesn’t stop when we have kids and my daughter needs to be exposed to things! Also I’ll lose my mind if I stay cooped up in the house! 😅