Road trip to Raleigh for NC State's first home game of the season

Over the weekend we traveled to Raleigh to attend NC State's first home game of the season against South Alabama. I decided months ago that this would the perfect weekend for us to go since I was still on maternity leave and it was a 6:00p.m. game. We would easily be able to get up Saturday morning and drive to Raleigh in time to tailgate and attend the game.

As soon as Carter woke up Saturday morning I fed him and we hit the road. It was an easy drive to Raleigh. It only took us 4 hours to get there, and that was with a 30 min. bottle stop.  Even though Carter has proven to be a great traveler, he will not sleep in his car seat for more than 20 minutes at a time. I don't get it at all. I keep hoping that each time we get in the car that maybe this will be it; he'll actually go to sleep. But no, it still hasn't happened.

Ready for game day!

Carter has become very alert this week. He was mesmerized by the sun shade and looking out the window.

My one cat nap on the drive to Raleigh.

Once we made it to Raleigh the guys set everything up at the tailgate and after Carter fed we headed on over. It was a perfect day for a football game and everyone thoroughly enjoyed seeing Carter. He definitely steals the show these days. When family comes to town or we go to visit, the first person everyone wants to see is Carter. Everything and everyone else is basically an afterthought, ha-ha!

Time for some cornhole!

Yes, we have a house divided cornhole set.

Spending time with Uncle Brandon.

Check out my shades!

We spent the afternoon playing cornhole, eating Bojangles, enjoying a beer or two and visiting with one another. Brandon's birthday is next Friday so this was also our opportunity to get together and celebrate. Brandon hadn't seen Carter since he was born so he especially enjoyed getting some time with him. All in all, a perfect day!

When it was actual game time my mom gladly took Carter back to the hotel room so he could sleep. Even though she would have enjoyed going to the game with the rest of the family I think she was even happier to spending one-on-one time with Carter.

We all had a great time at the game, even more so considering NC State pulled off a huge victory (31-7). It's hard to beat a weekend of family, college football, Bojangles, pumpkin beer, and cornhole! This will be the first of many more game weekends to come for the little man.

On Sunday we ate breakfast with the family and then hit the road back to DC. We had to get home in time for Sunday game day with daddy in the man cave! As you can see below, Carter was ready for the occasion.We're now home for a few days before heading to Primland this weekend. Road trip #4 here we come!

Sunday game day!

I guess I'm ready for another road trip back home.

My one and only cat nap on the return trip.

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. :)

On our way to Charlotte for the first time!

Sporting my Wolfpack gear for the first time! Unfortunately it wasn't enough to convince them to pull off a win at their first game of the season.

I'm back!

It's hard to believe that has been 7 months since I've written a post to my blog. I had full intentions on documenting my pregnancy through this blog and we see how that turned out. I have no idea where the past 7 months went, better yet the past 2!

On June 24th at 2:03a.m. we welcomed our first born, Carter Alan Wall, into the world. It was the best day of my life and I will have to write a separate post dedicated to his arrival, because it is quite the story! I've decided that I'm going to use my blog to document daily life with our newest little addition. There are so many things that happen on a day to day basis and I always mean to write them down but I never do! I have a lot of family and friends that always want to see pictures of Carter and want to know what he's doing so I thought that it would be best to try and keep track of it all through my blog. I don't know how often I will be able to write but I'm going to do my best to keep you up to speed on the Wall household.

Just minutes old!

One of the first photos we captured with Carter's eyes open. This was right after he fed.

Carter was 9 weeks old yesterday! I'm having hard time coming to terms with it. The time has flown by and I've enjoyed every second I've had home with him over the past 9 weeks. I will have to go backwards to bring you up to speed on what happened over the past 9 weeks. It's been quite the roller coaster ride but worth every penny.

This past week was fairly low key around our house. Last week we went on our first family vacation to the beach (separate blog post on that one) so we took it easy this week unpacking and doing laundry. When people ask me what we do all day I actually have to stop and think about it for a few seconds. When I repeat our day out loud it certainly doesn't sound like much, but it sure does fly by!

On Monday we went to one of Chris's co-worker's home on the Eastern Shore for the day. It was a beautiful day and we even enjoyed some tasty BBQ. It wasn't NC BBQ but it did the trick for the time being.

Visiting dad in his office before heading to the shore

Just this past week Carter started sleeping from 10:30p.m. to 7:00/7:30a.m. and it's been heavenly! I nurse him when he wakes up and then we have wake time for about 30 minutes and then he's down for his morning nap! This is typically when he naps the best. He'll usually sleep for around an hour and a half to two and half hours. This is my opportunity to pick up around the house, have some coffee and breakfast while watching The Today Show and pumping. By the time all of that is accomplished it's usually time to feed again. In all honestly I really feel like all I do is feed Carter and pump the entire day. Chris calls me Essie the cow and that's pretty much what I feel like, ha-ha.

The past few mornings I've woken up to this sweet, peaceful little face. This is what I was greeted to on Tuesday morning.

One of the many great things about our neighborhood is the mom's club. I joined this group when I was pregnant and it has been a wonderful resource. There is a listserv that is used to organize playgroups, make or receive recommendations from restaurants to doctors, to buy, sell and give away items....you name it! The non-mobile playgroup meets every Thursday morning. We haven't been able to make it the past few weeks because of doctor's appointments and vacation so we were glad to make it this week. At this point the group is more for the mom's to get together and talk but the little babies are cute to watch on the floor. Basically they stare at each other the entire time or cry, ha-ha! We will host the playgroup at our house in late September.

On Friday we celebrated Carter's 2 month birthday; although, he was closer to 9 weeks old at that point.

Carter loves his changing table! He just stares at things around his room.

Once we have our mid morning feeding Carter and I usually set out on a walk around the neighborhood. Over the past few weeks he has become accustomed to riding in his stroller and the car seat. It used to be quite the challenge in those first few weeks because he would cry non-stop as soon as he was placed in either. Every now and then he'll fall asleep but as soon as the car or I come to a stop those big blue eyes pop wide open.

The afternoons are usually a blur. For the past few weeks I've been spending a lot of my time searching for a nanny. I have to go back to work at the end of September and fortunately we've found another family to do a nanny share. They have a baby boy named Gavin who was born 2 weeks after Carter and they live in the neighborhood across the street from us. They are going to bring Gavin to our home each day and we'll share the expense of a nanny. A lot of families in the area do this because the cost of a nanny is so high. The wait lists for daycare's are also extremely long. We joined wait lists for 4 daycare's in January and we haven't been accepted into a single one. I wasn't a fan of any of them to be honest with you so we would be taking the nanny route regardless. The thoughts of leaving Carter in a daycare at his age broke my heart. There are typically 4-5 kids per caregiver at these daycare's so as you can imagine one-on-one interaction is limited. When Carter gets a little older and can interact with other children I am more than fine with daycare; however, at this point I want to him to be at home in his environment with someone who will give him attention and love all day long.

The process to find the right nanny hasn't been an easy one. First of all, I wanted to get this in place months ago but I quickly learned that wasn't going to happen. Most people who are nannies are looking for immediate employment so making arrangements for something months down the road was impossible. Fortunately there are several reliable websites that you can use to find potential nannies. Gavin's mom and I posted our ad on several websites and have been spending weeks sorting through them all. We conducted our first round of interviews last Tuesday and we have a few more this Tuesday. We hope to make our final decision by the end of the week and feel that we have some great ladies to choose from.

As far as Carter's development this week he has become very alert. He will follow me around the room and follows objects that are placed in front of him. While he's nursing he'll usually grab hold of my shirt and he also likes to hold your finger. I believe we're getting closer and closer to a big smile. He does smile from time to time but I still believe that it's more or less random rather than in response to Chris or me. He has become fully aware of his hands and likes to place them up to his mouth. We've even caught him sucking on his thumb a few times but he doesn't seem to have the coordination to keep it in his mouth. He coo's a lot throughout the day and gets excited when you talk to him because he'll start kicking his legs and swinging his arms. He's doing a little better with tummy time, but still not a huge fan.

We enjoyed a very low key weekend at home. It was dreary and rainy Saturday so we stayed home most of the day. We did go out to run errands late in the day and Carter was a champion. He didn't fuss at all for the 2 hours we were out and about. He did make his debut at Best Buy with Chris! If he takes after his daddy with his love for electronics we're in some serious trouble!

That wraps up life as an 8 week old. More to come!

Farewell to my twenties!

On January 3rd I celebrated my 30th birthday. I've had a few weeks for it to really sink in and I must say that it isn't all that bad, especially considering that I got to celebrate my big day in Jamaica! I honestly haven't given it much thought and I don't think it will really hit me until someone asks my age. I would certainly prefer to say that I'm 29 but I welcome this new chapter in my life with open arms.

My twenties were really great years. There are times where I wish I could go back and relive some of those moments. The four years I spent at NC State were some of the greatest years and I will always cherish the memories I made there. I managed to make the most of my time at NC State while graduating right on time!

One of my best friends, Sarah, and I pledged the same sorority our freshman year and we were inseparable from that moment forward. We even shared the same big sister! We lived in the sorority house our sophomore year in a room the size of a shoe box. How the two of us managed to live in that room with all our belongings is still beyond me. Our junior year we thought it would be a good idea to move to Brent Road. At the time Brent Road was a party street.....a filthy, loud, rundown street. But heck, at the time that was right up our alley. Our senior year we decided to move into an apartment, just the two of us, and discovered how to go out every single night of the week and still manage to get our work done. The memories I have of those years and the friendships I made will stay with me forever.

Over the course of those four years we also burned up the highway between Raleigh and Wilmington to visit Kim. Kim managed to spend most of the fall and winter weekends in Raleigh for football games and fraternity parties, and we managed to spend most our of spring in Wilmington soaking up rays and enjoying all the beach bars. Those were the days where our biggest concern was what we were going to wear out each night. Boy have the times changed. Practically every single memory I have from college involves Sarah and Kim. I couldn't ask for two better friends and even though many miles have separated us over the past seven years nothing has come between our friendship.

After I graduated from college I packed my bags and moved back to Charlotte and tried to put off getting a real job for as long as possible. I pulled it off until the end of the summer in 2004 at which point my Dad told me enough was enough. He had even gone to the lengths of finding me a job. It was September 2004 when I first stepped into the campaign office of Congressman Robin Hayes and little did I know that my life would never be the same from that moment forward.

I knew nothing about politics at the time and I don't believe I had even taken one political science class while at NC State. I quickly became immersed in the campaign world. I volunteered for three days and was then offered a full time position on the campaign. As folks made their way to town I constantly heard stories of their days in DC and they all seemed like such great friends so I began to wonder what the working world of Capitol Hill would be like. Little did I know that the backbone of all these politician's offices were folks in their twenties and thirties. I'm not sure you could find a better place to work coming right out of college!

Those were great days. That was the first time I met Chris and many people that are now some of my dearest friends. At the time I started my job I had no clue who Robin Hayes was and little did I know how close we would become. I admire Robin more than words can express and there isn't a single day that doesn't go by that I don't wish I still worked for him.

After Robin's re-election in 2004 I was convinced to move to DC to be his staff assistant. I packed my bags and made the move in January 2005. I had no idea what I was getting myself into and was scared to death, but it was one of the best decisions I ever made. After about a year in his office I took over as scheduler. I basically ran Robin's day to day life and I miss those days dearly. We were a very close office and always knew how to have fun. The day that Robin lost his re-election in 2008 was one of the toughest days because I knew nothing would ever be the same.

Robin lead me to DC and most importantly introduced me to Chris. It wasn't long after I moved to DC that Chris and I started dating. We were engaged in March of 2007 and married on May 17, 2008. If my Dad hadn't pushed me to volunteer on Robin's campaign seven years ago who knows where I would be right now.

My late twenties were filled with plenty of ups and downs. I worked for a very difficult Member of Congress in 2009 and thought I may not make it out alive. Somehow I survived and made it to where I sit today as Chairman David Dreier's scheduler. We faced deaths in our families and were fortunate enough to welcome additions to our families too. We celebrated graduations, weddings and milestone birthdays. Chris changed jobs. We bought our first home. We both bought new cars. I grew up considerably.

 

It's impossible to capture everything that happened between turning 20 and 30. They were unbelievable years and I'm so grateful for every single one of them. As much change as I faced over the course of those years, I realize that my twenties will have nothing on my thirties. Chris and I are extremely blessed to be expecting our first child this year. The little one is due on July 5th and I know that we're in for a life changing event this summer!

We have nephews, nieces, and friends with children that we love dearly but there is nothing like having a child of your own. There are times where I still can't believe that it's really happening. I can't imagine a more important, rewarding and difficult job than being a parent. It has been a roller coaster ride so far and I can't wait to see what lies ahead.

We're currently counting down to February 13th. That is when we'll find out if we're having a boy or girl. That day can't get here soon enough. My Mom always told me not to wish my life away, but I think she would be in agreement that she can't wait for that day to get here either. I look forward to being a parent, to see my parent's as grandparents and my brother's as uncles. Our lives are all about to change drastically and it's all because of one of God's greatest little blessings!

So closing the chapter on my twenties is a little bittersweet. I'll miss those carefree days when there were no worries but I gladly await my thirties and what they have in store.