Wow... That Kid Can Dance

As Campbell continues to grow and develop, it's so amazing to see so much of myself and Brad in him. Becoming a parent has been such a reflective experience, and I have loved every minute of it.

To that point, I love dancing, all dancing, any time, any where. Growing up I took ballet, tap and jazz. At first because "I was made to" then because "I wanted to." I loved it. And when I hear a great song with a great beat, I just can't help myself. I dance in the car, I dance in our house, I dance at the grocery store. Yes you heard me correctly... at the grocery store. It cracks Brad up. Our Whole Foods plays awesome music, and I routinely find myself jamming out while cruising the aisles. It apparently cracks other people up too. One time I was in my own world, rocking out while walking down the chip aisle. I got to the end of the row and looked up to see this guy laughing. He agreed that Whole Foods played great music, but I guess I was the only one actually dancing to it.

So, this week at daycare, Ms. Gloria has had lots to tell us about Campbell's dancing. When Campbell and I arrived yesterday morning, she had to know whether or not we had instruments at home. Campbell loves music, especially live music. One of his teachers (Ms. Annie) is a former musician, and she routinely brings her guitar and/or harmonica to play for the kids. This week she played her harmonica, and Campbell jammed down with her. He was dancing so hard in his chair that Ms. Gloria could hear his back slapping the back of his chair. Every time Ms. Annie stopped playing, Campbell would lose it. She would continue playing, and he would keep dancing!

The funniest part to me is that he loves the same kind of music that Brad and I listen to. Ms. Gloria continued to explain that Campbell is bored to tears with all the baby tunes. While all the other kids smile and enjoy Row, Row your Boat, Wheels on the Bus, Itsy Bitsy Spider, etc., our little man prefers jamming to the radio. And he dances any where, just like me. During Easter Brunch, as we sat on the patio, Bob Marley started playing through the speakers. Next thing we know Campbell is dancing away in his highchair. I wish I had it on video! As soon as I get some of his moves on camera, I'll be sure to post them.

Dress Like Dad!

In honor of Dad, daycare had a "dress like dad" day the Friday before Father's Day. I had seen cute baby scrubs on the internet and at friends' baby showers, but had never bought a pair for Campbell. So that Thursday night I decided to make a pair of scrubs for Campbell. Brad participated in the project by suppling old scrubs and getting my sewing machine out of the attic.

After Campbell went to bed (yea for early bed times!) I used a pair of his pants and a t-shirt to draw and cut out a template on Brad's scrubs. Then the sewing started. I had never made clothes before, so I just sewed and checked measurements as I went. By the end of the night, I had created one pair of pants and one shirt. I was dying to know whether or not they would fit, but alas, I would have to wait till the morning.

They fit! Barely. I didn't have any spare elastic at the house, so I used a drawstring from one of Brad's pants to create the drawstring for Campbell's pants. Campbell is a super commando crawler and the drawstring was no match for keeping his pants up. But at least he looked cute and we got great pictures!

Parent's Day

I'm a little behind on my blog updates. I wanted to get these Mother's Day photos up awhile ago. So we're doing a combined Mother's/Father's day post...

We had a great first Mother's Day. Church, brunch at Emeril's, a walk in the park, all in all a wonderful day. Little man was such a ham all morning, laughing at everything. He had a great time at brunch, sitting in his highchair like a pro, munching on Emeril's delicious cornbread muffins. Then passed out on the car ride home. We all enjoyed a post-brunch nap! Then we broke out my gift from Campbell, a BOB stroller, and headed to the park. Now Campbell and I can cruise the park in style and with great shock absorbers.

For Father's day, we celebrated by sleeping in - way to go Campbell on being sleepy. Then we had a great brunch at Superior. Dad enjoyed the afternoon playing golf with his new clubs and then we all went swimming. Looking forward to celebrating many more mom and dad days!

Like Son Like Dog

I'm not intentionally trying to compare our son to our labrador, but the similarities are striking especially since Campbell has started to army crawl (he's finally started to abandon the roll).

On one of his first trips across the house, he found the pups water bowl, and the splashing commenced.

Unfortunately, no picture of Waylon actually splashing in his water bowl, but that kitchen floor would be soaked.

Found the golf clubs!

Happy Easter

I love Easter. I love getting dressed up and going to a packed church service. I love hearing all my favorite songs and singing with more gusto than I normally do (because there are more people in the church to drown out my off-key voice). I love the sermon and message of Easter. What I don't love is how commercial it's all become.

Campbell and I just happened to be at Target the Saturday before Easter. Trips to Target are not a weekly event for us, more like an every two months kind of event. But we needed new PJs for c-man, and we were already near the store. The studio where we had Campbell's Easter photo taken was in the same area. As we made our way through the masses to the kids section of Target, we had to pass the Easter section. Seasoned moms and grandmoms, were in a tizzy buying baskets, candy and plastic eggs. I stopped for a moment to check out the scene, when a mom started commenting on how cute Campbell was. She continued, "oh, I know it's so hard the first year to buy Easter presents because you don't know what they want. I promise it will get easier next year when he can tell you what he wants!"

Excuse me? I was nearly speechless. When did Easter become Christmas part II? I smiled and sheepishly picked up a brightly dyed blue basket. I proceeded to grab a bag of eggs. Gifts? Was I supposed to buy Easter gifts? Ok, cookies for Brad and I to share. An iTunes gift card for Brad. Well, what's the point of buying a basket if you're not going to fill it. Campbell's gift? I finally made it to the kids section. The area normally reserved for all my favorite Carter's clothes was taken over by rack after rack of frilly dresses. PJs? I hunted for several minutes for boys pjs and finally found one size 12 month - Monster Beach Bash pjs will have to do.

I checked out, made it back to the car, loaded everything up when it hit me. I was just peer pressured into buying Easter presents for my entire family. I better do my Christmas shopping this summer or I'll be toast come November!

Campbell after his Easter portrait was taken. He was fascinated with all the lights we could not get him to smile!

Oh, mom. You dressed me up in this silly outfit again!

Church was too much for little man. Passed out during the sermon.

Post church family picture!

On our way to brunch! Yummy brunch at Dante's with friends.

The Roar of March and April's Blessings

I can't believe it's April. And I'm so glad it's April. March was a tough month.... Campbell was teething . In the baby book it said some babes cut their first tooth with ease and for others it's a miserable process. Campbell fell in the miserable category - poor thing was a wreck, and we tried everything to ease his pain and discomfort. Add to that a cold that seemed to last the entire month and his first ear infection. I had a massive sinus infection which did not help the situation. Luckily Brad came to our rescue! And by the end of March things were looking up!

And just in time for Campbell's Baptism. We waited till Spring because with Brad in Biloxi it was not easy finding a weekend when we were all together. So, Sunday, April 10th Campbell was baptized. It was a very special occasion for our family, and we celebrated the weekend with family and friends. Our dear friends, Kathleen and Durrell, flew all across the country to be part of the ceremony.

The next day, April 11th, was Campbell's 9 month check-up - on his 9 month birthday! It should have been a day worth celebrating, but instead it was a day filled with stress. Campbell is still not on the growth curve. My little man is too little according to the growth charts. So yesterday I spent the afternoon at Children's Hospital getting tests done. Our prayer is that there is absolutely nothing wrong; that Campbell is just slow to grow. Considering that he started at 5 lb. 11 oz., weighing almost 15 lbs. seems big to Brad and I. Teething didn't help the situation. Most nights in March he refused to eat or would eat very little. Now he's eating great and filling out. He's still the happiest kid I know and looks healthy to me, and yet every visit to the pediatrician's office results in panic phone calls to Brad and feeling like I am doing something terribly wrong. Everyone tells me, "when he's taller and bigger than Brad, you'll look back at all this and laugh." I really hope they're right!

Lots of pictures from March and April - keep scrolling!

Campbell's new favorite sleeping position. Love that duck butt sticking up in the air!

Use #101 for a boppy pillow... well at least he's comfortable...

Campbell helping us address his baptism invitations. We had return address labels covering the office, and some got on the envelopes... great job son!

Mom and Whitney, Dinner at Bourbon House, April 9th

Paw paw and Campbell discussing paw paw's golf strategy for the afternoon...

Family at Bourbon House. Campbell was out late before his big day in church, which actually worked out well because he slept through the rest of the church service after his baptism.

After the wonderful service at St. Charles Avenue Presbyterian Church. Campbell did great during his baptism. Then drank a full bottle at the beginning of the sermon, burped loudly during the middle of the sermon, and then fell asleep for the rest of the service.

Campbell and his godmother, "Auntie" Kathleen!

Campbell received so many beautiful gifts to celebrate his baptism. And of course his favorite was the ribbons used to wrap the gifts.

Maria?

When we moved into our New Orleans home, for awhile it felt like we were living in someone else's house. The events that transpired post-Katrina were surreal to say the least. We were not here for that event, but have heard amazing stories from friends. After settling in to "our" new house for a few weeks, Brad finally decided to tackle the attic. The attic was filled with the previous home-owners belongings. Tax records, personal files, baby crib, guitar case... Once we started to receive mail at our house, our box was flooded with mail for Maria and Paul.

I asked our neighbor because I was curious about the family that had lived here before us. Our neighbor Linda was all to happy to tell us about the wonderful family that had lived here - Maria and Paul and their son. Over the past three years, we have received financial statements, W4 forms, and countless solicitations addressed to Maria and Paul. And every time, I wrote Return to Sender, this person no longer lives here, and returned the mail to my mailman.

In some bizarre way, I felt connected to these people. Well, Friday I was working in the office (like every Friday), and I saw a car drive super slow in front of our house and stop in the middle of the street. The driver was starring at our house. I kept working and then realized that she was walking up to our house. I jumped up to open the door (because the doorbell always sends Maggie into a barking frenzy).

"Hi, can I help you?"

"Hi, I'm Maria!"

OMG! You're kidding.

I smiled and said, "Maria, so nice to finally meet you. I receive all your mail!"

Next thing I know I'm giving Maria a full tour of our house. Thank goodness it had just been cleaned. With cellphone camera in hand, she took several pictures of every room. She squealed at our fountain in the backyard... was shocked by all the improvements that had been made and told me her Katrina story. We talked about the neighbors and the neighborhood. And she shared her memories of raising her son in this house.

As we said goodbye, she gave me her card and home address. I now know where to send her mail!