Southern Swank: Life during the Republican and Democratic National Conventions

The past two weeks have been very busy! Chris went to Tampa to attend the Republican National Convention while Carter and I stayed home. At first I was very nervous about Chris being gone 3 nights; however, I was pleasantly surprised by how well things went. Carter was an angel the entire time, but I will say that it's a lot of work to take care of a 2 month old all by yourself from the time he wakes up until his last feeding of the day! I'm used to Chris giving Carter a bottle at 10:00p.m. so I can go to bed, so having to handle that feeding and pump is a lot of work.

Good morning!

Tummy time

Playing with his rattle

We tried to keep ourselves very busy while Chris was out of town. We went on a lot of walks and had a play date with my friend Sarah and her son, James.Chris and I first met Sarah and her husband, Matt, earlier in the year when we were looking for a nanny share. They live in our neighborhood and Sarah was due with their first child around the same time we were due with Carter. The nanny share didn't work out; however, we stayed in touch throughout our pregnancies. Then it just so happened that we were in the same childbirth class and believe it or not Sarah came to Sibley Hospital just hours after I delivered Carter to deliver their son, James. Small world! Since then we've become good friends and we hope our boys will too.

Carter and James

Tuesday evening Greta, Bob and Gavin came over for us to conduct one last nanny interview. We decided after the interview that we would make our final decision on who to extend an offer. After talking things through and speaking to multiple references we decided on Jasmin. She is in her mid 20s and has a daughter of her own who will be in kindergarten this year. It turns out that she has been a nanny for 3 of our friends over the past several years and each one of them had wonderful things to say about her. They all considered her a part of their family and said she was excellent with their children. Some of them still maintain a relationship with her and she babysits their children. Once we heard all of the great things people said about her we knew we had the one! Fortunately she accepted our offer and will begin on October 1st. I am so thrilled we found someone but at the same time it breaks my heart because I know my time at home with Carter is coming to an end. I worry about someone else, other than Chris and me, witnessing all of Carter's firsts and them forming a special bond that I won't have. She will be with him all day for 5 days a week which is hard for me to accept! My prayer is that everything will go OK and the transition back to work won't be as bad as I expect it to be.

Chris got back to DC on Thursday and then we turned around to leave for Charlotte first thing Friday morning. Chris had to attend the Democratic Convention as well so Carter and I decided to tag along with him on this trip and visit with my family and friends. We haven't been to Charlotte since Carter was born so there were a lot of people that were anxiously awaiting their first visit with him.

We've been on the road quite a bit in August but Carter has done great. He won't sleep for more than about 30 minutes in the car; however, he is very content. He enjoys looking out the window and staring at me in the backseat. I wish he would sleep more but I can't complain because he could be crying the entire time!

It's truly amazing what one little person requires when we go out of town. Our car is loaded down by the time we hit the road. Diapers, wipes, clothes, bibs, burp cloths, blankets, toys, books, bottles, pacis, cleaning supplies for bottles, bath necessities, the rock and play, stroller, car seat, baby monitor, and the list goes on and on. Packing has never been my strong suit so you can only imagine how it is these days. I will have to say that I've gotten a little better when packing for myself. I'm so exhausted by the time I account for all of Carter's things that I try to scale back on my things, especially shoes! We'll see if this continues. :)