Caroline's Louisiana debut

Last week Caroline made her first trip back to Louisiana to meet friends and family. Packing for the trip was daunting...the amount of gear crammed into our SUV was truly mind-boggling.  Stroller, bouncer, baby boppy pillow, clothes, dog bed, bottles/formula/brushes/sterilizer...our car looked worse than the Griswolds on vacation. I tried to convince Bill to tie the stroller to the roof of the car but he was not in favor of that, given our misfortune with strollers. (We received a great stroller from Bill's parents at their baby shower, which we loved. I used it last week and in a baby-crying hurry forgot to put it back in its designated spot and left it in Bill's parking spot. He whipped into the garage after work and didn't see the stroller....crunch. We are now on stroller #2. )


She did very well in the car and pretty much slept the whole way there and back! Such a good little traveler. We stayed at  my grandmother's house and despite my best packing efforts I realized we had forgotten a very important item. The baby bathtub. With a chronic spitter like Caroline this is an absolute necessity...sometimes she takes 3 baths in a day! Luckily MaMa had this handy little Caroline-sized tub bucket which made a nice impromptu bathtub.

We got to visit my friend Madeline and her little boy Charlie, who is 6 months old. We both fawned over each other's babies and enjoyed their interaction. It was love at first sight!

Charlie was particularly fascinated with Caroline's socks...so cute!

Of course there was lots of quality time with Nana. She babysat Caroline Sunday night so I could enjoy a night out with my friends Rachel, Lora, and Kristen. (Love those girls! Haven't laughed that hard in a long time!) Nana also treated Caroline to an afternoon of crafting hairbows, since my girl has such a lovely head of hair. Caroline was very excited about her new headgear!

We also went to Mandeville for Caroline to meet the Renton side of the family. All her aunts and uncles and grandparents drove in from New Orleans just to meet the newest family member. Lucky girl! 

It was a great trip but of course too short. Luckily Caroline and I will be back at the end of April while Bill is out of town on a business trip. Looking forward to seeing everyone again soon!