or I go have drinks with my friends, it’s something that I do that’s not with him, and it’s not with her; it’s just for me, and it’s nice. It kind of lets me feel like a
know all of our names, and we probably go there at least twice a week. Storyland is really cool. She’s finally tall enough to do some of the Carousel Gardens. She’s very, very active, and it’s just a beautiful space. Even NOMA is super friendly, and they don’t care— especially when it’s hot out— that she’s running down the hall cracking up laughing. Because we’re going during the week, there’s not that many people, so I think City Park is probably our favorite. There’s just so many options, it’s so much fun, and you get to see alligators! HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR PARENTING STYLE? RENÉE: I would say officially, and because I went to school for this, it’s a mixture of authoritative and gentle. You can’t be that authoritative with [two-year- olds] because they can’t comprehend that. So if I’m like, “If we don’t leave the Children’s Museum right now, we can’t go somewhere later because you’ll be too tired. She’s like, what?” And they apparently don’t even really understand time yet. So it’s a lot of redirects and constant activities. I always have activities planned. If that doesn’t work, snacks are great. It’s gentle, but not permissive. HOW ARE YOU AND YOUR CHILD SIMILAR AND DIFFERENT? RENÉE: We’re very similar. My parents accidentally call her Renée all the time. We’re both extroverted introverts, so we love to go out and be social, but we need our time at home. I asked my partner, “How are we different?” He said, “Your only difference is in name and height.” And so I guess we are very similar. We probably butt heads because of it. But also, if she wants to go play in the rain, I’m like, why not? Let’s go play in the rain and we’ll get soaking wet, and she’ll be worn out and then whatever. So we just kind of do what we want. When you only have one child, you’re super involved in everything they do. But they also are like, “You are the end-all, be-all, and what that I should emulate.” So it’s really funny to see her with her baby dolls because everybody that sees her will be like, “She’s just a miniature Renée.” HOW DO YOU MAKE TIME TO RELAX? RENÉE: It’s become a little more tricky now that I’m about to start working again, and I’m opening this new clinic location in Covington actually. So I’ve been kind of struggling with, how do I relax? About once a week, I go do something that’s just for me. Whether it’s an appointment at Dry Bar, or I go get my nails done,
person and not just a mom. HOW HAS PARENTHOOD CHANGED YOU?
RENÉE: I’m a lot more patient than I used to be. One day I realized I had on mismatched shoes, and normally I would have been like, “I need to go home.” But I thought, “All right. Well, I have mismatched shoes, and if anybody cares about me enough that they care about my mismatched shoes, good for them.” Also, now I work out more for strength and energy than I do for my bikini body, which my child kind of trashed. So, you know, what are you gonna do? Being pregnant at 40 is hard, so I would say it’s just made me a lot more patient, a lot more chill, and just go-with-the-flow. DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR OTHER PARENTS? RENÉE: I am not an expert, but I would say that my personal philosophy is to remember that she’s only two, and she doesn’t know what she’s doing. She doesn’t know that throwing rocks at my car means I’m going to need a paint job on my car, and it’s going to be thousands of dollars. She doesn’t know that running through the house with ketchup on her hands, shrieking, laughing, is terrifying for me. Just remember that they’re only little, and they don’t understand. As much as you want to have nice stuff, it is just stuff. Realize that they’re only little once. I’m fortunate that I’m not planning on having any more [children] so I’m kind of like, “Okay, once we’re through this stage, we’re through this stage, and we’re done.” QUICK Q’S Guilty pleasure Starbucks drive-thru Girls night out or alone time at home 50/50; I need both Favorite girls night out Jolie and The Columns Favorite NOLA hangout Hotel Monteleone Carousel Bar Favorite London hangout Swift SOHO Favorite travel destinations Barcelona, the Caribbean, Greece, Croatia, Istanbul; It just depends I’m always laughing at My child The first thing I do when I wake up is Kiss my baby’s head
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