Freedom!

Last night, Travis and I did something we never do! We went out without Campbell! The night was made possible by Travis' parents. We took Campbell to Marion to spend the night with her Gangy, PawPaw Butch and Nanny for the first time. Then we headed uptown for a night out with friends to celebrate Holly's 30th birthday! Campbell did amazingly well. She didn't even cry when we left - just a little whimper as we waved goodbye and that was it. They said she never fussed, didn't get into anything, and just played sweetly all evening. She went to bed right at her bedtime without a struggle, and they had to WAKE her up a little after 7. WHAT? Lately, we've been doing everything in our power to get her to stay in her bed past 6. I guess grandparents have the magic touch! We had a great time getting out, having a nice grown up dinner in a restaurant that likely doesn't even have high chairs. We left our table without a collage of green beans, bread and cheerios strewn about the floor below us. It was really, really nice. Then we stuck around for a while and hung out, but by 11:30 we were feeling our age and decided to call it a night. Coming home to a house without a baby was weird! Without the monitors on, our bedroom was completely silent. There was no need to go check on her in the night, and we woke up from the sunlight in our room, not her little cries! I must admit that I was awake at 6, laying in bed counting the minutes until we could go get her. I tried my best to take advantage of our ONE morning to sleep in, but I didn't do a very good job. I missed my little alarm clock! There's just something about waking up to that little voice saying "mama" that makes me not care that it's so early. Our reunion with her today was super sweet and she went nuts for Travis. I barely got any attention for the first five minutes because she had her face buried on his shoulder in a huge hug. I waited my turn and got plenty of snuggling in shortly thereafter. We took Nanny out to lunch for her birthday, and then headed home to enjoy a long walk outside on the first warm and sunny day we've had in ages! It was a great weekend, and a nice treat for all of us to switch it up and have a little freedom.

We weren't the only ones to experience freedom this weekend. This afternoon, I let Harley out of the garage for about a half hour and let her explore the backyard! She's been living in the garage for about a month now since we were having so many issues with her inside. She has seemed complete content out there which has definitely made it easier on me and my conscience. After she got used to living out there, I wanted to introduce her to the outdoors. She just turned 9 years old in January, and I adopted Harley when she was only 5 weeks old. She has lived strictly indoors that entire time, only setting foot outside the one or two times she escaped onto the back porch. She was definitely hesitant at first, not so sure about the grass. But she eventually got up the courage to walk the perimeter of our fence and check it all out. The fence runs along the ground and is six feet high, so it should, in theory, keep her in the backyard. After about 30 minutes, she was hanging out on the back porch by the back door which made me sad. So we took her back to the garage and fed her which always improves her mood. Eventually we hope to be able to open the window in the garage, and let that serve as her kitty door so she can come and go as she pleases. Also, she could escape to the garage when we let Lexi out back, and obviously Lexi can't jump in the window. I hope that Harley learns to like it outside, enjoys time to explore nature, and will enjoy some spring days with the sun beating on her back. I want the best for her. I know we made the right decision moving her to the garage because she was destroying our things and making it unsafe and unclean in our house. But that doesn't mean I don't love her and want to find a way for us all to live in harmony! I hope we are on the way to that solution.

The plan for tomorrow is for Campbell and I to head to Roanoke for a night before making the trek up to Northern Virginia to meet Baby Leif and spend some time with his family!! The only problem is Campbell doesn't seem to be 100% well. She's acting just fine, but has had some tummy issues for a few days now, flushed cheeks that won't go away, and now a bit of a runny nose. I'm going to take her to the pediatrician tomorrow and hope for a clean bill of health so we can go to Virginia as planned! I really don't want to postpone going to see my family any more, so let's hope all these little symptoms are nothing and the doc says she's free to go meet her new cousin!!! If so, we'll be up there all week and I'll try to capture a lot of our time on film so I can share it here when we return. Wish me luck in the car alone with Campbell for all those roadtrips!!