Virginia is for Lovers

Where do I even start? Since my last post, Campbell has spent an evening with each set of grandparents while we went out, we have taken a trip to Virginia and back, she met her Cousin Taylor and Great Grandma Betty, celebrated her first Valentine's Day and she's been sleeping like a champ! Before I continue, I should note for all the non-Virginians that my cheesy title is some kind of slogan the state of Virginia uses in their travel and tourism ads. I'm not alluding to anything weird...just seemed fitting since we spent Valentine's Day there. And because I got to spend the weekend with the people I love in Virginia!


Starting with this past Thursday, I'm not sure who I'm more proud of - Campbell, or us! We had Travis' parents come down for the evening to keep her while we went out to dinner with two couples. I really wondered if I'd be able to enjoy myself or if I'd be nervous or feel guilty the whole time. The truth is, I didn't feel nervous or guilty at all! I honestly had a wonderful time. We laughed SO much and had such a great dinner, it's like I didn't have time to worry. Plus I knew Gangy and Paw Paw had it under control. We went to a Brazilian steakhouse. If you aren't familiar with it, it's like a meat buffet that is brought to your table. You can eat meat to your heart's content. So delicious...I probably ate more steak in one night than I have in a month!


Friday afternoon we headed to Virginia. My mom had this idea that she and Dad could keep the granddaughters and we could go out to eat for Valentine's Day with my sister and her husband (Valentine's Day also happens to be my sister's birthday). We loved the idea, and once again, had an awesome night out. We had a super tasty meal and a lot of fun getting out with Jen and Leif. I would give anything to live in the same town as them. The only problem is I'm not willing to move. :) Campbell had another good night with these grandparents and we were able to enjoy a baby-free few hours. The only sad part was the waiter brought me a second glass of wine that was on the house, and I had to turn it down since I had to feed Campbell when we got home! :( :)


My niece, Taylor, did so well with Campbell. She "helped" me quite a bit and was very sweet and gentle with her. We were all a bit concerned about how that meeting would go down, so it was quite a relief to see that Taylor loved her new cousin and wanted to be helpful and loving. I must have heard a thousand times, "What Baby Cabel dooning?" She always wanted to know what she was doing and how she could help. SO CUTE. These cousins are going to be very close, I can tell already.


Campbell initiated both of my parents. She spit up ALL over my Dad. She got him good. Then she spit up a little on my Mom, no big deal. Until she sneezed afterwards, and got it all over my Mom's face and in her hair. Disgusting! Mom was a good sport and it was really funny. I warned them about holding her right after a meal. They read the blog, they should know these things! :)


Campbell slept in the car all the way to Virginia and all the way home. Thank goodness!! I know I said if I ever bragged again about her sleep, to come slap me. But I can't resist. She slept both nights in Virginia in her pack-n-play. Both nights she slept until 4-ish (that's a good thing!) and went back to sleep after she ate around 5. We were very impressed she was able to do that in a new setting. Last night, she went right to bed without needing the paci patrol! Then after I fed her at 4:30, she went right back to sleep in her crib without a paci at all! She just soothed herself right back to sleep. Wow! That is a first! I hope this pattern continues, I'm just so proud of her.

There are so many good pictures from this weekend, but here are a few of my favorites.

Happy Birthday, Aunt Jen!
Me and my Valentine

Meeting Great Grandma Betty for the first time. She has the Grandma touch...put me right to sleep!

Taylor "holds" Baby Campbell for the first time. Campbell isn't so sure about the whole thing.

Cousin Taylor and Aunt Jen. Those Hansen girls have beautiful blue eyes!

Two Months Old

Campbell is two months old today! As you'll see in the pictures, she has finally decided to sleep again!! Last night we had a great night and she has pretty much been napping all day today. I started feeding her a little more frequently, I'd heard that would help with her sleeping. And yesterday she...um...relieved herself...from some stomach issues that had been going on for a few days. While it created an emergency load of laundry, I think our sweet baby feels better and is now able to rest and relax. Sorry if that was TMI. :)

She is a happy, healthy two month old and we just love her to pieces!! This week she has been all about the boys. We had a walking date with a four-month old boy and a playdate with a six-month old boy. I understand Campbell, I fell for an older man as well. It's really getting fun now that I'm able to do more with her. This past month we have been getting better at getting out and about, and the weather is starting to cooperate and make it less of a hassle as well. They say time flies...and they mean it. I feel like we were in the hospital with her just yesterday! But I'm happy to report that with each new day with Campbell, the fear and sadness we felt when she was sick just melts away as we see her thriving and GROWING. Sure, it's a memory we will always have and her birth was extremely special even if it was scary. But it's really nice that it's just that - a memory. Happy Two Months, Campbell Reese! These pictures are all very similar, but I love her expressions so I had to post them all.

Napless in Huntersville

Hi, my name is Campbell, and I'm an awake-aholic.

For some reason today, Campbell has decided to be awake. Just plain awake. She is fighting a nap like it's her job!! And like I've said before, no two days are alike. This weekend, we couldn't wake the child up. She slept all day, all weekend long! Maybe now that she's caught up on her zzz's, she's ready for action. Here is a series I just took of her desperately trying to stay awake, and requiring massive amounts of attention, I must say. We're getting lots of quality time together today, that's for sure!! :)

This weekend we took our trip to Marion to see Travis' family. We only took video, sorry we don't have still photos to share, and I'm not interested in trying to teach myself to upload video. Campbell gave Nanny some big smiles. Quality time for those two was long overdue! Campbell also got to hang with her Gangy and her Paw-Paw Butch, as well as meet her great great Aunt Elizabeth (Travis' great aunt!). She slept in the car the entire time, something we paid for a bit at night over the weekend. If you ever read me bragging about my daughter's sleep habits again, please drive to Huntersville and shake me! I jinxed us! Last Friday, I wrote about how she was only getting up once during the night, and not until 4 a.m. Wrong...since that post, she hasn't done that once. She has been keeping things interesting by waking up as early as 1 a.m. - youch! I've been reading about getting her on a sleep schedule, and now that she's 8 weeks old, we can start to work on it more. We've got a lot of work to do... ;) I guess I should be happy in some ways that she's been so awake today. I hope that means we'll get some rest tonight! Duh, there I go again, trying to talk about her sleeping a lot and probably inadvertently creating a nightmare of a night for myself. Forget I even mentioned it!

This week is jam-packed with walking dates, play dates, dinner out with friends, Oasis at church and ending with a trip to Virginia! Travis' parents are going to keep Campbell Thursday night while we go out with friends, and my parents will keep her Saturday night while we go out for Valentine's Day in Virginia. I'm trying to mentally prepare myself for both nights so I can enjoy myself and not worry. I trust the grandparents wholeheartedly, I just know it will be a little weird for us both to leave her for a few hours. It will definitely be great for Travis and I though. I think we deserve a little Mommy and Daddy time!

On a different note, I will brag about something other than Campbell. I am about the farthest thing from artsy that there is. I must have been absent the day they taught crafts. :) But for some reason, I decided to do a little craft project. I have been meaning to print the blog and put it in a binder so we'd always have it. I bought a binder, then got some batting and some fabric, as well as a glue gun and glue sticks. (Is that how you spell batting, I don't even know!). I went into the sewing store, confessed my ignorance, and got help measuring the fabric I'd need to cover the binder. The supplies cost me a combined total of $9, so I knew that when the project went South I wouldn't be too mad at myself. In college, I made a photo album like this for my little sister in the sorority, so I called on my inner sorority girl for help remembering how to do this project. Surprisingly enough, I did my little art project last night and I think it turned out cute! Now we have the blog in a fluffy little book so I can read it years from now and be embarrassed at all my ramblings. I can also share it with those in our families who aren't computer geeks and haven't had a chance to see the blog. Since we hardly ever print pictures, it's also a nice way to see all the pictures I've taken and posted. I'm very proud of myself. Gluing fabric to a binder might not be a big deal for some, but for me, I feel like I just aced my first test in Home Ec!

Lastly, thanks to the Man upstairs for this glorious weather. 73 degrees in February - now THAT is why I live in North Carolina! Yeehaw!

Some pictures from the last week or so...

TGIF!

Fridays are quite different than they used to be. When I worked in an office, I lived for Fridays because then I had the weekends off. My "new job" doesn't allow for weekends off! But I do still look forward to Fridays because then Travis is home for the weekend and we can hang as a little family. This week was ridiculously cold. I live in North Carolina for a lot of reasons, one of which is that I hate the cold! I know, always complaining. All summer I was miserable in the North Carolina heat when I was as big as a house. But in a non-pregnant state, I love the warm weather. This 'highs in the 30's' business is for the birds! I refuse to bundle up because it's like I'm in denial that it's actually cold. I can't stand wearing bulky coats, let alone gloves, scarves, hats...yuck! So instead, I just hibernate. Especially with an 8-week old baby! I just couldn't justify getting her out in this cold. So we've had a quiet week at home for the most part. This weekend is going to be back in the 60's - hallelujah!!!!

Campbell is doing awesome. She is slowly starting to get on a schedule. SLOWLY...but surely. She's usually waking up only once during the night now, and it's usually close to 4 a.m. I never thought I'd get excited about only having to get up for about an hour at 4 a.m. But that is such a nice change from 2-3 feedings a night! We got her a little sleep positioner that she seemed to love and it helped her fall asleep in her crib. It propped her up a little which I think really helped with her acid reflux. Well, we had to retire the sleep positioner. I went in there one night and found her feet where her head belongs, and her head was over against the side of the crib, all up in the rails!! How in the WORLD does a baby who can't roll over or move on her own get that out of position??? But the sleep positioner still eased her into sleeping in her crib. Now she does pretty well in there. We still struggle with what I have named Paci Patrol. It is getting better little by little, so I anticipate the paci won't be my arch nemesis for long. (Did I use the expression right? Arch nemesis? Or is it arch enemy? Travis makes me watch too many superhero movies...) She is smiling all the time and sometimes doing a little laugh. She doesn't make noise with this "laugh", but she shakes and kind of silently laughs, if you can picture that. It's adorable!!! She is HUGE - weighed 12 pounds at the doctor a week ago today. WHOA BABY! We have been enjoying plenty of hand-me-downs from my niece, but she's quickly outgrowing them. Too bad the larger clothes are all spring and summer wear! We might actually have to buy her some clothes. Tomorrow we are going to Marion to spend the day with Travis' family. And next Friday, we are going to Roaonke for the weekend for time with my family. Tomorrow's mini-roadtrip (just a little over an hour each way) will be good practice for our 3-hour drives next weekend!

Enough rambling about my sweet princess. I took this picture on my phone today - I love it!!

Snowy Surprise

This morning Travis got up at 5:30 to go the gym. I was getting back into bed at 5:30 after feeding Campbell. (Sidenote - Campbell is able to go 7-8 hours between her feedings at night! We are so proud of her!! Granted, it still takes a good hour or so to put her down because we're on Paci Patrol, but we are still making great progress to getting a full night's sleep.) Anyway, back to this morning's story. Travis gets ready and leaves and I am drifting to sleep. He returns a couple of minutes later and says, "You are not going to believe what happened outside." I immediately said, "Oh my God, your car got broken into!!!!" It is funny to me that my first thought was that his car got broken into! We do not live in a rough neighborhood. Imagine my relief when Travis reported that his car was fine, just frozen shut because we had a few inches of snow on the ground!!! SNOW?? It wasn't even in the forecast! At least I don't think it was, I kind of live in a bubble these days. Case in point, my sister was horrified to see me gobbling down peanut butter over the weekend. Apparently there was some recall?? :) Oops! So we got a few inches of surprise snow. I love one or two little snows a year. In North Carolina, that's usually all we get, and it typically comes this time of year. It's supposed to be in the 60's this weekend which is good. Unfortunately, Campbell and I didn't leave the house yesterday. I had a few errands we were going to run today and was looking forward to getting out. The "real feel" is only 10 degrees right now, and there is some snow on secondary roads. So we will hibernate yet again today. Tomorrow is supposed to be equally as cold so I'll have to decide whether or not I think it's a good idea to take Campbell out to church or not. I know people who live in colder places probably take babies out in cold weather all the time. But my little girl is a Southern girl and she isn't used to this kind of cold! Nor do we have the right gear to bundle up. So...another day at home it is! Thank goodness Daddy's car is OK! haha

This Time Last Year...

It occurred to me over the weekend that my sister was here exactly one year ago. This weekend last year was my bridal shower/bachelorette party!! Of course I know my life has changed a lot in one year, but wow, that really put it in perspective. I remember the anticipation of my bridal shower and how surreal it was to think I was about to get married. I was tying together all the last minute details of the wedding. I was celebrating with my friends and family. I was going out on the town and drinking way too much for one last hoorah as a single lady (and paying for it BIG time the next day). And now, one year later, my sister came back to visit her seven week old niece. Both weekends, I was up in the middle of the night. Last year, we were catching a cab home from uptown Charlotte around 2:30 a.m. This year, I was up feeding Campbell and trying to ease her back to sleep in her crib. Last year, I was doing shots. This year, I turned down a glass of wine at dinner since I had to feed Campbell and I'm fighting a cold. Last year, I was shopping and spending all sorts of money on myself and getting ready for the wedding. This year, I find it much more fun to buy for Campbell and shopping for a body that just had a baby is NOT fun. Last year, I was pumped up for our honeymoon to St. Lucia. This year, I know most of our vacations in the near future will involve a hotel with an indoor pool and maybe a waterslide. And both years are fabulous in their own special way.

Sometimes I'll run into someone I haven't seen in a long time, or be catching up with someone on Facebook, and they'll say, "oh my gosh, I didn't realize you got married!" I just have to laugh, and say, "yep, sure did, oh and by the way I also have a seven week old daughter now too." Here is me before we headed out for my bachelorette party. Notice the "Future Mrs. Justice" shirt. Ha!! I love these pictures, and I am VERY excited to be able to fit back into those jeans. Soon I hope........

All the single ladies, all the single ladies...if you like it then you shoulda put a ring on it...

Me and most of my bridesmaids. There's my sister on the far right!

Aunt, Like Mom, Only Cooler

My sister flew in Thursday night to meet her niece!! I was so excited for Jen to finally get to spend some quality time with Campbell. I know how I feel about her daughter, Taylor, and I was so happy for her to get to see how cool it is to be an aunt! It's kind of how a lot of people describe being grandparents - you get to love on them, spoil them, and then give them back when they cry. :) My sister didn't do that though - she jumped in and helped when Campbell got fussy, changed diapers, played with her and helped us out a ton. Travis and I were hoping she'd be able to solve our issues with Campbell dropping the paci and crying for it over and over again. But unfortunately I think that will take more than Aunt Jen, that will take a miracle!! I'm pretty sure it was love at first sight for Jennifer and Campbell. We will get to be together again on Valentine's Day weekend when Campbell and her cousin Taylor will meet for the first time!! I'll be SURE to capture that on film. When Taylor was born and I went to visit, I took a coffee mug that I'd bought myself to keep at their house. It says, "Aunt, like Mom, only cooler." I drink out of when I'm visiting. Jen told me she's been drinking out of it since Campbell was born now that she's finally an aunt.

Campbell has had some issues with redness on her face. The pediatrician told us a few weeks ago that it was baby acne. We ended up back at the doctor on Friday because it was all over her body, and way worse than it had been. Turns out that she's got baby eczema. Poor thing has super dry skin all over her body! The bad news is that she may be itchy and a little more fussy, that we need to bathe her less often, and can no longer use that yummy lavender-scented bath wash. The good news is that within 24 hours of lubing her up with the fragrance-free creams and hydrocortisone like the doctor recommended, her skin is 100 times better. It's still kind of rough, but thank goodness the redness is going away and hopefully she is more comfortable now. I was SO upset about it. Not only was I worried about how she felt, I was so sad that she didn't have that perfectly smooth, perfectly white baby skin. Maybe she just needed some time with her Aunt Jen, it proved to be the best medicine!

Unfortunately time with Aunt Jen didn't work to heal me. I have a cold. Nothing major, but it does make it harder to get up in the middle of the night when you aren't feeling 100% to begin with. This afternoon I took a long nap, something I haven't done in a while. Tonight we are watching the SuperBowl, eating the chili my sister made for us before she left today (isn't she the best??) and going to bed!!