Well, I’m back from my girl’s weekend at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, and boy, to say I couldn’t wait to get home was an understatement. I was literally counting down the hours and minutes until I was reunited with my baby girl, Annabelle. I missed her so much and found myself envious of my husband for the time he was getting to spend with her while I was a million miles away on this snowy bachelorette weekend. I think I called every hour and 30 minutes to check in on her, to make sure she was getting her naps, eating well, and generally happy. My husband would tell me that nothing has changed since the last time I called an hour ago! Don’t get me wrong; this was a fun trip and it was interesting to see how the Sundance Film Festival worked, seeing as though I always read about it every year in magazines, but I guess right now my headspace is so centered on being a mom, that without Annabelle, I’m just not having as much fun.
Yo, what happened to my wingman?
Aside from the bachelorette, who is one of my college sorority sisters, one of my other good friends was supposed to come and we were going to be each other’s wingmen over this trip, since 20 or so ladies were going to be holed up in this big ole vacation rental house — most of which, I didn’t know. Unfortunately, she had to bow out at the last minute due to an illness, so I was on my own — no wingman! That definitely changed the dynamic of the trip for me. Everyone was super nice and I did bond with a couple of the girls, one of which had a 7 month old son, which made me feel better about leaving AB. Buuuuut I definitely missed my wingman and felt like I would’ve let my hair down more had she been there.
So, this is a good time to answer the question of my last blog; “will this new mama get her groove back at the Sundance Film Festival?” The answer is…no! Dang it! Well, in all fairness, who gets crazy and wasted in Utah? I had three Sangrias at dinner and didn’t feel a thing! There’s like no alcohol in that state. But anyway, it was a pretty subdued weekend for everyone — even the bachelorette. Besides, it was the opening weekend of a major film festival, so we made seeing movies a priority.
Festivals only show indie films with no popcorn? WHAAAAT?
Let’s talk movies and the festival process. I always call myself a movie buff, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I’m some crazed indie film lover who enjoys drowning my sorrows in depressing movies that win Oscars year over year. I like romantic comedies! I love buttered movie popcorn and a giant fountain drink. So obvy the Sundance Film Festival is not exactly my speed. You take shuttle busses all over Park City to different “viewing theaters” (read: not a real movie theater) that have conference rooms for movie makers to meet and sell to distributors afterward. The concession stand is a crying shame. No popcorn — and you can’t even take a soda into the theater, only water! WHAT! How un-American is a movie theater without popcorn?? After the movie, the film maker does a Q&A with the audience, and you have all these super annoying beanie wearing indie wannabe film makers, directors, or “actors” asking what the inspiration was for the movie, or what certain metaphors were supposed to mean. Gag me!
If I found a movie boring, I’d just ditch it and go pump in the bathroom with my manual handheld pump. We saw three films, the first being a foreign Samoan film with subtitles and I still can’t tell you what the movie was about… but it was like watching paint dry. With zero dialogue in the first 10 minutes of the movie, I wanted to lean over to my wingman and dryly say: “This is so RIVETING!” Call me uncultured, but that movie sucked. We saw one really cute and funny romantic comedy called “The First Time” and it was about the awkwardness that ensues when you lose your virginity in high school. The audience loved it and they even brought the cast out afterward during the Q&A. Of course I missed that part because I was in the bathroom pumping.
Excuse me, I need to go pump
Now let’s talk about the pumping. If I never pump again, it’ll be too soon. I pumped about 5 times a day, including some mini pumping sessions in public bathrooms if necessary. It was definitely my ball ‘n chain throughout the weekend. But I was happily surprised by how much breast milk I could produce when I’m pumping around the clock. I didn’t count, but it’s was probably around 20 bags of milk. I had to go buy an additional storage cooler to put all the milk in! I was so afraid after all that pumping that the milk would thaw on my trip home and be no good (because thawed milk needs to be consumed within 24 hours), but thankfully by packing it tight with ice packets, it stayed nice and frozen on the way home! Now my freezer storage of breast milk is nice and bountiful!
What I learned about myself over this trip is how much I love being a mother. I missed my baby girl like crazy and found myself gazing at her pictures on my cell phone throughout the weekend. My life is different now. My priorities are different. Girl’s weekends are fun, but I’m happiest when I’m holding my little Annie B. 
Related posts
- Five pieces of advice to new moms
- How life has changed 3 months into motherhood
- Baby’s first plane ride – we made it! And OMG….SHE’S TEETHING!!!!
- My next phase of motherhood: Working Mom.
- The birth story of Annabelle Grace, my new baby girl!
- Does caffeine really effect a baby’s sleeping habits? I’m starting to think so…
- Entering a cutest baby contest – my baby must win or I am a failure.
- The ups and downs of returning to work after baby
- Feeling happy AND sad over baby’s growing independence
- Figuring out parenthood one day at a time
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I could not agree with you more! I felt the same way when I had babies at home, just going out to dinner with friends was hard at times. Babies grow up way to fast so enjoy every minute you have with them!!!!
Now when AB is older, like my kids, you will be running out that door come date nights and vacations, lol. Well maybe….
I know, I feel like time is flying by so fast that I want to take advantage of every minute I can with her. I feel like Annabelle grew more hair in just the 3 days I was gone!
Bummer to hear about your not so stealer trip but on the other hand glad to see you made it through fine
I can’t imagine how hard it was to be surrounded by strangers pretty much and be daydreaming about baby girl! Buttt on the other hand glad you had a happy reunion with her! They really are the greatest thing E-V-E-R and nothing else will ever compare as you have learned 
Ya Krista, if I was going to be away from Annabelle for the first time, it would’ve been a lot more fun to be with a group of my best friends to help take my mind off things. But I still managed to have fun despite missing my bb like crazy, and it just made me appreciate her SO MUCH MORE! That’s the silver lining, I guess!