Walking out of the hospital with my first newborn was quite an emotional experience. It wasn’t so much the excitement as it was pure confusion. It was early March in Utah and I could hear my breath just as clear as I could see it, in fact, it was louder. I looked to the nurse in amazement and wondered why in the world I was allowed to take her home. I felt like that blind trust was as reckless as asking a ten-year old if they had experience designing and building planes and when they said “no”, hiring them to do the job anyway. We were blessed with a healthy baby but I felt completely incapable. I was waist-deep in my first year of law school and hadn’t had time to read a single pregnancy or baby book or even peruse the internet much about the subject.
Settling in at home felt somewhat like trying to put together my very own 757. Is this a good time to mention that I can’t even build a functional paper plane? I had no idea what I was doing. Breastfeeding hurt and I couldn’t keep track of her feeding schedule, sleep schedule, diaper count, and any semblance of a study schedule that I had had, disappeared as quickly as opportunities to sleep. On top of it all, jumping into oral argument a few days after getting home from the hospital made me feel like I was missing out on everything that I couldn’t even keep track of. Then I remembered the 1991 movie, What About Bob? Baby Steps. Instead of being overburdened by everything I didn’t know, or hadn’t done, I took things one little step at a time.
Fast forward four years later and I can confidently say that nothing will make you better at multitasking and time management than adding parenting and law school together. The only thing that you can’t get better at is keeping socks and shoes on your child’s feet. Nothing. There is no youtube video, book, or course that will decrease the amount of times my child’s shoe falls. If they even exist, you can toss them in the “lone-shoe” pile with all of the lost “soles” that are now incomplete pairs.
Do you know what wouldn’t be found in that pile? Freshly Picked moccasins and mary janes. The elastic opening makes it easy to put on wiggly feet and harder for babes to wiggle out of them. Surprisingly so, my babies (including Isabella, who tossed off every shoe she wore once they were in the car, at the restaurant table, or home) haven’t noticed they’re wearing their Freshly Picked soft-soles. My children don’t notice but COUNTLESS people have complimented our Freshly Picked shoes. Mainly because they’re adorable. Rightfully so, they are adorable. But there are more to them than meets the eye.
There are dozens of reasons why I love them. I can count them in the name of styles (there are that many) but it all boils down to three main and most important reasons. Durable, adorable, and delicate for little toes. These shoes are carefully and well-made. The quality is wonderful. So wonderful that four years later and I’m able to reuse several of Isabella’s moccasins with Kate. There are countless styles and now the Mary Janes add an entirely new look to their line-up. I’ve never met a mocc or mary jane that I didn’t like.
The MOST important reason why I love them is the way they give room for little toes to grow. The soft-sole provides a barefoot-type feel for their feet. When such little feet are developing, it’s important for the toes and tendons to not be constrained. The space and soft-sole allow their little toes to naturally grasp the ground when they walk. Their balance is more organic and it’s easier for their feet to naturally rock back and forth into each step, unlike with shoes that prevent the natural rock, causing strain on little knees. The soft-sole is as close to barefoot as it gets, meanwhile, it’s thick and durable enough that it protects little toes from rocks, germs, legos, and the like. Protecting their baby steps as I take mine.
Once I walked out of the hospital, there were so many things that I should have googled, so many things that I didn’t know I needed to google, so many things that I needed to worry about. With Freshly Picked, you can subtract four little feet from that list. And of all the things I need to do for my home, my family, my work, and of all the places that I need to go, you won’t find the “lone-shoe” pile on my to-do list.
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*Thank you to Susan Marinello Photography for these breathtaking pictures.
*Freshly Picked sent us these sweet mary janes. This review is not sponsored, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
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