All to Myself (with our first Guest Blogger)

This weekend Caroline had Anne Louise all to herself (“without competition” is how she described it, obviously referring to Joan), and I had Patrick all to myself (even without his blackberry – yay!).  Caroline came Friday to sit while Patrick and I went to the marriage conference (which was awesome, by the way), and then she spent the night since we had to be back at the conference bright and early Saturday morning.  That night, we gave Anne Louise a bath and got some of the CUTEST pictures of her.

(She’s obviously sleepy in this last one!!)

Here’s Caroline’s Guest Blog on her time with Anne Louise (Carrie took the pictures, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the one with her looking in the mirror):

This past weekend, I had the wonderful privilege of taking care of Annie Lou. I got to Tricia and Patrick’s house about 5:30 or 6 on Friday afternoon and didn’t leave until 4 on Sunday. When I got there, Annie Lou was sitting up in her mommy’s bed while Tricia got ready for the marriage conference. AL was “talking” to Tricia helping her figure out what to wear. Once Tricia and Patrick left, Annie Lou and I went on the back porch and had some tummy time. She’s not a big fan of tummy time but it’s a necessity. So I would slowly roll her on her stomach and leave her there until she got fussy, then I would slowly roll her to her back. I would leave her there for a few minutes, and then repeat the process again. We did this for about 30 minutes, each time she was on her stomach seemed to be slightly longer than before (maybe a second or two but still it was longer).

She had a good rest of the night on Friday. On Saturday, Tricia and Patrick left around 8 in the morning, they said goodbye I think I grunted a response. Anyways at 8:30 Annie Lou woke me up by talking, laughing and giggling to herself and her friends (her Chapel Hill mobile). I finally got up and fed her by 9. Tricia and Patrick came home for lunch which was great because Annie Lou and I had errands to run that afternoon so I needed P-diddy to put the car seat thingy in my car. After lunch, after AL watched “My Baby Can Read,” we all left the house. Tish & P-diddy back to the conference and Annie Lou and me off to Borders (one of the greatest stores ever) and the grocery store. Even though Annie Lou was asleep when we got in Borders she totally knew where we were because she was smiling when I was telling her all about the books. I bought AL four books; her favorite at the time was Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Achambault. After Borders we moved my car closer to the Harris Teeter, which I'm so glad we did because Annie Lou is kinda heavy. I picked up the few things I needed, and then as I was checking out one of the baggers offered to help me with the buggy since I was a “new mommy.” I didn’t correct them at the time because I was so proud to be thought of Annie Lou’s mom. Later that evening I wasn’t so proud. Annie Lou got pretty fussy with me. I realize now that it was probably because she was hungry but it wasn’t time for her to eat again and I didn’t want to mess up her schedule. So I had her wait but I distracted her by allowing her to watch “My Baby Can Read” again. Tricia told me that she’s supposed to watch it two times a day so I'm glad that she still could. That night when I was giving her, her last bottle she was seriously struggling to stay awake to drink it. She finally finished it right at 10, and then both she and I crashed. Sunday started much like Saturday, the only difference is that I was still exhausted. So after she had her first bottle we took a very short nap together in the Tish & P-diddy’s bed. We woke up just in time to feed her again, and then I ate my lunch. Even though I seriously wanted to get back in bed, I knew I couldn’t do that. So Annie Lou and I had a very short tummy time because she finally decided to go to the bathroom which she hadn’t done since Friday afternoon (I was getting worried). Once we were close to the bed, I couldn’t resist, my eyes were tired. So we took another nap only to be woken by Tricia and Patrick finally coming home. It was a very good weekend, and I'm very happy to say that I am not a mother but I definitely don’t mind babysitting. I get to give them back – can't really do that when they are your own. Anyways, thank you Tricia, Patrick and Joan for allowing me to have such a great weekend. I have to thank Joan because she wasn’t in town therefore I didn’t have any competition to hold Annie Lou.

THANKS CAROLINE WE LOVE YOU!!!

Since Anne Louise was in Caroline’s obviously capable hands, Patrick and I headed to Ballantyne Resort for a night away.  We had reserved a regular room, but when we checked in, they told us we had been upgraded to a Parlor Suite since it was our anniversary!  It was a nice surprise, and we really enjoyed the extra “hang out” room!

Patrick had a bottle of champagne waiting for us when we arrived, which was very special!  That night, we ate dinner at the restaurant and had a luscious seven course dinner called the “Adventure Menu” (for good reason, too, since one of the courses included barracuda and another had pork belly).  We had a blast!!  Sunday, we visited the spa (as if our night away couldn’t get any more relaxing) and then headed home to our much-missed Anne Louise!