Mimi's Visit

Brad's mom came to visit Campbell (and us) last weekend. We had lots more firsts for him as we trooped Campbell all across the city. He loves riding in the car and is getting used to the Baby Bjorn. The only problem with the Baby Bjorn is that he can't face out yet and unless he is asleep he likes to look around, so I resort to holding him with the carrier hanging off my waist so he can see where we are going and what we are doing!

We ate lunch at the famous Parkway Bakery and Tavern and our favorite mexican food place - Superior. Visited two malls and bought our first Saints onesie - now Campbell is game day ready for Saturdays and Sundays. We walked to the New Orleans Seafood Festival so Dad could eat crabcakes... at least we thought we did. The festival was moved from last year's location so we aborted "mission to eat crabcakes" and went to Drago's instead - where Dad was able to order and eat crabcakes and charbroiled oysters in the A/C - thank goodness for A/C! Campbell got hungry too along the way and has become a BF pro. He thought the food at Drago's and Superior smelled so good, that it was time for him to eat. Thankfully the hosttess at each restaurant sat us in a corner and little guy was able to nurse with relative privacy.

So it's one thing to get dressed and ready to go with no time restrictions. Lunch at "whenever we get to the restaurant"... no problem. But trying to be at a specific event "on time" is a whole different ball game. Seemed like a small miracle that we made it to church on time during Mimi's visit. Everyone dressed in their best including Campbell! Five minutes into the service Campbell started squawking for food. According to the Team Johnson playbook, dad was the designated hitter so to speak. Brad took Campbell and a bottle into the Narthex for a mid-morning snack. A friend of ours who was ushering that Sunday informed me that Campbell was in a post-bottle coma! So why were Brad and C man not back in church? Apparently, little guy had a post-bottle blow out as well. Nothing too unusual there - that typically happens after eating. But this one was special! Campbell is a rather neat baby, rarely spits-up and not known for dirtying outfits. But at church, in his precious seersucker outfit, Campbell got poo every where including Dad's pants! Amen!

On the porch of the Land Building with Mimi. First night time outing with mom and dad's friends!

Ready for football season!

Post church pictures in the backyard - poo outfits and all...

Almost 2 Months!

Tomorrow Campbell will be two months old. Wow - where has the time gone! Although he hasn't started social smiling on a regular basis, he has started cooing. Now our little guy makes all sorts of noises besides just crying, and it's awesome to hear him "talking" to us. Every day he gets bigger and more interactive. He has started to grow out of some of his NB clothes - finally getting into the 0-3 month size. A little part of me is nostalgic at the thought of packing up his tiny baby clothes, but the other (bigger) part of me is so excited to see him grow into all the cute clothes we have for him. God willing, I hope we will have another tiny one some day that can fit into those itty bitty NB size t-shirts, so for now I'll celebrate packing those up as our little guy gets bigger.

Another shocker, Campbell has slept 6+ hours twice this week. I thought our Labor Day surprise was just a fluke - he went to sleep at midnight and woke up at 6:30 AM on Labor Day. Brad and I were both so confused when we woke up - "did you wake up with him during the night" - "no, did you wake up with him during the night?" - "NO!" - "OMG he slept THROUGH the night!" Then again we repeated that conversation this morning. Campbell went to sleep at midnight and made it till 6:30! Way to go buddy - we are so proud of you!

Here are some new favorite photos!

Thanks Kathleen for my awesome I love NY onesie! My feet aren't really that big, it's just a really funny picture!

My favorite toy - the playgym. This thing is great!!

Doing what we do best - napping!

Some day I'll be as big as Waylon!

The boys catching up on their sleep.

Game day ready - "watching" my first Horns game. Mom in burnt orange, me in white - we were ready! Waylon enjoyed the game too.

Dad's favorite picture - seriously why do you insist on taking so many pictures of me!

Campbell's Bouncer

Campbell has this awesome bouncer that vibrates and plays fun music. We all love it - it puts him back to sleep at 3 AM so whoever else is up can go back to sleep on the couch!

The bouncer has a panda and lion that hangs down and Campbell now looks at them. We typically have the bouncer on the kitchen island so we can talk to him when we make breakfast/lunch/dinner.

My favorite running commentary is when Brad talks to Campbell while he is in his bouncer. He has said the following so many times and I laugh every time:

"Campbell, what does the lion do?"

"Lions go roarrrr!!!!"

"Campbell, what does the panda do?"

Pause... "I don't know!"

Does anyone know what noise pandas make?!?

Kathleen's Visit

My dear friend Kathleen came to visit us last weekend to meet Campbell. She brought her super awesome SLR camera, and we took hundreds of photos. We had a great time with lots of firsts for Campbell including his first trip to the French Quarter and Audubon Park. Thanks Kathleen for such a fun and special weekend! We love the books and I Love NY onesie!!

Morning play time on the floor. Maggie and Waylon keeping watch!

Play time on the beautiful quilt Aunt Diane made for me.

"Auntie" Kathleen!

First trip to Cafe du Monde with Campbell. It was so hot outside but we had a great time:
Mom loves beignets!Silly dad put powdered sugar on my face for the pictures!

No more kisses Dad - it's too hot outside!

Walking the French Quarter...

My photo shoot... there's 50 more pictures like this!

Hot but fun walk in Audubon Park!

Bath Time

We needed a post just for bath pictures. First bath was no fun. Little man cried almost the entire time. Second bath went much better. Now, we've graduated from sink baths to our over-the-sink bathtub. I think we have a waterbug on our hands. He seemed to really enjoy his last bath (or at the least didn't cry!)

First Bath!

This was not fun mom!

I am really uncomfortable!

Second Bath:
Let's hurry up please, I'm getting hungry!
Are you sure about this?
Ok, not so bad after all.

First time in our bathtub:
This is better!


Maybe I like bath time after all.

August 11th... My One Month Birthday!

Wow! A lot has happened in the past month. The days and nights seem to last forever but the weeks have flown by. Campbell now weighs a little over 7 lbs. - gaining weight rapidly during his 10-day old and 3-week old growth spurts. Each day he looks more like a little person and stays awake longer for play time. We've started to have tummy time (not just on me) but on the floor, and Campbell can lift his head to look from left to right - what a big boy!

Even though he's little, he has a big personality. It's such a hoot to watch him wake up from naps - he has a 30 minute stretching routine that he does complete with the funniest billy-goat grunting noises. It's hilarious! He'll finally open his eyes and realize that's he's starving and let out a scream to tell me "I'm ready for food NOW!"

It's amazing to me how much he has grown and changed in such a short period of time. We have millions of pictures to document his first month, but here's just a few of my favorites.

First car ride home from the hospital. I slept the whole way!

Mom and dad have me sleeping in their room this first month.

Compare this photo to the one at the end - you can really see how much I have grown.

Waylon, meet Campbell!

First visit to the pediatrician's office - one week old!

I'm a wild napper! Lots of crazy poses for mom to take pictures of.

My serene sleeping look!

Mom trying to work - I'm not so sure I like this.

I love sleeping!

Thoughtful sleeping...

Dad and Waylon catching up on their sleep.

Why do they keep taking pictures of me when I try to sleep!

Waylon and I both trying to sleep in mom's lap.

I'm such a big boy now I can sleep in just my PJs. Just like dad I kick the covers off every night till my feet are exposed. Then I get cold and cry. Mom finally remembered all the cute PJs I got and now they actually fit. So it's footed jammies from now on!

Wow I am getting so big!

A New Journey Begins...

Sunday, July 11, 2010.

After our crazy night we woke up at 8:45 AM and decided we would try to make the 9:30 summer Sunday worship service. I rolled out of bed, walked into the kitchen to make a quick breakfast and whoosh!!!! Okay this was definitely my water breaking. I paged my doctor again and the conversation went something like - "I'm sure you think I'm crazy, but I really think my water broke this time."

While I got dressed and took care of some last minute work emails, Brad took the dogs to Camp Bow Wow. I was so glad that I insisted we pick them up from the animal hospital - now they could go to our regular kennel. After Brad dropped off the dogs he called to say he had to get gas in his car. Goodness, we made it to the hospital faster the night before and that was a false alarm!

We finally got checked in to the hospital by about 10:30 AM, and the nurse performed that "fun" (aka really uncomfortable) test again to confirm if my water had broke. Positive - water broke! So exciting! The clock was ticking now - once my water broke I had about 18 hours to get Campbell out (longer than that the risk of infection goes up significantly and it's not good for baby or mom).

Problem - water broken, no contractions. My doctor arrived that morning to explain that we needed to start a "rapid induction." They would be giving me medicine to start contractions. He explained it as such, "it's like we're going to take a battering ram to your uterus." Wow, that sounds like fun. If a normal starting dose of the medicine is 2, I was started on 6 and then doubled to 12. And since the medicine can sometimes affect the baby, I was bound to the bed for monitoring purposes. All the coping techniques we learned during our birthing classes we weren't able to do. But Brad was there as supportive as possible holding my hand through each contraction as the medicine started to kick in.

After 6 hours I was dilated to about 2 cm (for those of you not as familiar with this process, the goal is 10 cm) and in a lot of pain. I finally asked for the epidural and was feeling great by 5 pm. By 6:00, I made it to 4 cm and was so excited to finally see some progress. Then all of a sudden at 7:00, my contractions started to decrease in intensity despite the increase in medicine. By 8:00 I was at 5 cm, and by 10:00 when the nurse checked me again she thought I was at 5.5 cm. She called my doctor to give him the update - it was time for him to come in and check. At 10:30 he said I was still at 5 cm and things were not looking good. With the clock ticking and my contractions decreasing my options were c-section now or c-section later.

We opted for c-section now. I had no idea how fast the process would go, but it was quick once we decided. I say "decided" because my doctor was great, and he did not want to rush us knowing how badly I wanted to deliver the normal way. But with no progress over a 2 hour period, the decision was made for us - statistically my chances of delivering vaginally were very slim. As Brad explained to me, "babe, would you rather have them operating on you at 3:30 AM when everyone is exhausted or now." Spoken like a true surgeon - I'll take now. I texted a friend at 10:56 that we had decided to move forward with the c-section and by 11:34 Campbell was born.

The whole process was surreal - Brad had to stay in the L&D room while I was prepped in the operating room. I hated being separated from him, and he wasn't thrilled with the idea either because he was concerned I might be too drugged up to know what was happening. Luckily since I got the epidural, they were able to just increase the medicine to numb the lower half of my body - no general anesthesia needed - I was wide awake for the surgery! After being prepped, Brad was allowed into the OR. I'm sure I would have freaked out if I was given the opportunity to watch, but still a little jealous of Brad that he was able to watch the birth of our son. He gave great play-by-play commentary though so I knew what was going on.

Finally, the greatest sound I have ever heard, Campbell using his lungs for the first time - screaming his announcement to the world!


Campbell is born - so happy to finally have him!
What a tiny little guy with such huge lips!

My first opportunity to hold and kiss him.

A whopping 5 lbs. 11 oz. We've got some growing to do!