The Start of it All: Lil Boo Brunch 2022
Before this event KinHaven House was just a dream. A dream of a mother who's life has been forever changed by the entrance of a small human. That mother is me.
Don’t tell her but my daughter was kind of an accident. The happiest of accidents. When my husband and I couldn’t have the wedding we wanted because of a the pandemic we kept joking let’s have a baby instead. Words have power and in May 2021 I became a mom with the expectation that I could just continue my life just as before. A baby couldn’t cramp my style-the world told me I could have it all. I returned to work only 4 weeks after giving birth doing meal drop offs for a pretty easy going celebrity client and quickly realized the world is a lie.
Before I get into the next part I need you to understand who I was B.C- before child- I was the high achieving, always lend a hand, socially full, on the rise chef entrepreneur person who did do it all. My work in hospitality in the homes of high profile clients and everyday people meant I always needed to be on.
Ok so back to my post partum period. Throughout the next few months I kept trying to hold on to the person I was in every aspect I wasn’t going to allow a child to cramp my style, business as usual. But as I was desperately hanging on to BC me the facade was falling.
In babyhood Nola probably went to about every enriching baby class there is because as a first time parent I wanted to give her all the best experiences (and believed everything mattered-it does but maybe not as much as you think )and tbh I like to be OUTSIDE! But in these classes I found myself very unstimulated and dare I say it bored?
Then there were the (many) times I took her out to more adult spaces which was always a toss up about if it would be actually equipped for a child- you’d be surprised how few changing tables exist. Mostly the struggle was worth it with the worst times being when Nola would decide to *shamefully* be a child in an adult space and other patrons would look at me in disgust. There is a shriek I will never forget that happened in STK in Puerto Rico and a restaurant I will always hate because happy hour was only at the bar and I felt like that was discriminatory towards my stroller life- I just needed half off margarita that day.
So with everything so segmented but social needs still needing to be met I started creating space in my home for everything to happen at once. My new mom group friends (who I obviously was nothing like lol) gave me so much life then and even now because we were literally in the wtf are we even doing new motherhood identity crisis moment of our life all together at the same time. I leaned into my BC friends and hosted karaoke nights, after brunch hangs, and parties once Nola was asleep- and sometimes awake. Even with a kid I (well credit to my husband too) created spaces for adults but kids were there.
I looked around this wonderful village of support and fullness and I realized Nola wasn’t cramping my style - my style was transformed. Sure my life was different but it was just as good, maybe better? Society just didn’t hold the space for this to happen, I had to make it.
I started thinking all parents deserve this and with all years in hospitality I have all the skills to create it. Boom. Lil Boo Brunch was born. The first ever Kinect with KinHaven event before it was even Kinect with KinHaven. TBH Lil Boo Brunch was a little chaotic but parents still left very full, very seen, very like when is the next event??? Over the last two year I’ve watched both my babies grow up so much.
No longer a dream, KinHaven House is a reality with a growing community and a super specific mission. To create kid friendly but parent focused spaces. Spaces where “me-time” and “we-time” can coexist because we love our kids but it’s a lot.
Happier Parents Raise Better Humans.
Thanks to our vendors Shanesfocus | Chefleen