Southern Swank: Weekend fun!

Chris went to NYC on Friday to play Bethpage Black so Carter had some quality time with my mom and me on Friday and most of the day Saturday. We had hoped to go out to dinner Friday night but thanks to some heavy rain moving through our area we decided to stay put and hang out at home! Sometimes it's hard to beat a lazy Friday night at home.

Chillin' in the kitchen with Mom & Gigi

On Saturday we took Carter to his first music class. The Fairlington Community Center is located in our neighborhood and they offer several different programs for babies and toddlers. This particular class meets once a week for about 5 weeks and is a time for kids to sing, play with different noise makers/musical instruments and learn basic sign language. I think Carter enjoyed the class; however, it was close to his nap so half of the time he was in a trance by what was taking place.

After Carter took his morning nap we packed up and headed to Potomac Mills to the Stride Rite Outlet. For all my NC folks, it's just like Concord Mills. Would you ever go to Concord Mills at 1:00p.m. on a Saturday? My guess is probably not. Should you go to Potomac Mills at 1:00p.m. on a Saturday, definitely not. Potomac Mills has an Ikea so you can imagine the crowd it draws on the weekends. Ideally you should make this trip during the middle of the week about mid-morning. However, when you work 9-5, Monday-Friday you don't get that opportunity. It was pure chaos getting to the actual store, but we eventually made it and Carter got four new pairs of shoes (three to grow into) and I got a great deal on them. I wanted to try to sneak a trip into Ikea but no such luck. Maybe next time!

Shoe shopping makes my thirsty!

Check out my new kicks!

Saturday afternoon we went to Gavin's 1st birthday party. Gavin is Carter's buddy that we do the nanny share with. Carter and Gavin have spent almost every week day together since they were three months old. We were excited to help Gavin celebrate such a special day!

On Sunday my mom headed back to Charlotte. We were sad to see her leave! She was with us for twelve days so I had become accustomed to having her around. She worked extremely hard with Carter for a week and half on his motor skill development and it was amazing to see his accomplishments. It was also nice to have an extra set of hands when it came to taking care of Carter. She devoted every minute of the day to him and I know Carter loved it. I believe he was a little confused yesterday afternoon and this morning when he didn't see her. He especially didn't know what to think when I sat down to feed him his breakfast this morning. It's times like these when I wish we lived closer to our family. I have a lot of friends that have parents who come over to babysit their kids or even devote a day or two out of their week to keep them. If this is your situation, I am very jealous! It will happen for us one of these days I just have to remind myself to be patient.

After my mom left we spent some time at the pool and Chris spent the afternoon installing baby gates. Thankfully we can put that behind us for the time being. Baby proofing is a lot of work and I'm sure this is only the beginning. Carter has discovered that he can pull the video monitor into his crib and he likes to chew on the cord! I guess there will always be something.