Obama-rama in Chapel Hill

There are a very limited number of reasons why I would ever set foot inside UNC-Chapel Hill's Dean E. Smith Center (or "Dean Dome"). This man is one of them:
That's right, last night Barack Obama came to Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He held a rally to encourage North Carolinians to cast "early" ballots in the Democratic Primary being held on May 6th. (Since I will be out of town on the 6th, I voted for Obama on April 18th) My friend Brigham and I were in attendance (check the Duke hat) and the house was packed.

We got there about two and half hours ahead of time and still had a little trouble finding a good seat. By the time the program started at 9:30, several of the upper deck sections had started filling in as well. The campaign did a good job of entertaining us in the interim, bringing in bands (five black guys from Chapel Hill playing Van Halen's "Jump"- now I really have seen everything) and playing music throughout.


This is the crowd before Obama's arrival:
Representatives David Price (D-NC) and Mel Watt (D-NC) spoke on behalf of Senator Obama, followed by former UNC basketball star Sam "Big Smooth" Perkins. (The Obama campaign was passing out t-shirts which read "Big Smooth for Obama" but I did not get one. Its not like I would have worn it anyway.) Perkins had the crowd hyped to a ridiculous level, and we were all sure that he was going to introduce Obama. Instead, he passed the mic off to some UNC student who totally killed our buzz by asking for a moment of silence for Eve Carson, the UNC student body president who was recently murdered.

Finally, the man of the hour arrived (to thunderous applause I might add).
Obama spoke for about 30 or 45 minutes after that. It was mostly a rehashing of several stump speeches that you have probably heard before, but it is an entirely different experience live. Obama's charisma and presence is pretty electric (and I say this as a pretty cynical person, politically speaking). The crowd interrupted him several times with applause and chants of "Yes We Can!" With the level and enthusiasm of support (supporters filled about 2/3 of the Dean Dome's 21,000 capacity) that I saw on Monday night, its hard to see how it next Tuesday won't be a resounding victory for Senator Obama in North Carolina.

Spoil Baby Charlotte, Part 2

Grammy and Aunt Caroline worked very hard to put on a wonderful family shower in Utah this past Friday for little Charlotte. Aunts and cousins and sisters and friends all gathered together to give her more pink clothes along with a few other special things as well. A big huge thanks to Charlotte's grandma and aunts for making the party so special!A precious little dress and sweater from Aunt Lorna. The bald baby in the background is Ariel at three months.My sister Caroline , cousin Megan, and her baby Ava, who was obviously more interested in something else!My aunts Karen and Diana who came for the fun.
My sisters Ashley, Paige (sister-in-law), Jessica (step-sister), Lauren, and Caroline with me, Mom, and my stepdad who had escaped to the gym during the shower.
My sister Lauren showed up a little late for the festivities after a long drive down from Logan.
My sister Ashley has already declared herself to be Charlotte's favorite aunt. My other sisters don't agree and the battle is on. Good luck to all!

Durham Baby Shower

NOTE: A "baby shower" [\ˈbā-bē ˈshau̇(-ə)r\, from the Middle English] is a ritualistic, sorority-style rite of passage into the realm of actual motherhood although it generally precedes actual childbirth by some months/weeks/days. Similar to a "bridal shower" only with more children in attendance, guests are invited to eat and participate in intricate games of chance while offering gifts to the mother-to-be. Oooohs and ahhhs at tiny baby clothes (especially when pink) are optional but highly encouraged. Sometimes the initiate will feel light-headed, dizzy, and slightly disconnected from reality during the experience of opening baby items and wonder if she is really living her own life or someone else's. I know I did!

On Saturday, some of my closest Durham friends--Melanie Gochnour, Brianne Stewart, and Rachel Anderson--threw a lovely baby shower for baby Charlotte and her mommy. (These are such great friends that they spent one entire evening dipping the tiny, adorable cloth diapers above in wax to make the party favors.) Thanks so much again, beautiful ladies, for making it such special, memorable occasion for me and for little Charlotte! You are the best! (Melanie and Brianne have their hands full with their own little boys and Rachel is expecting a tiny bundle of trouble in September.)
Attendees included a dozen and a half of Durham's finest mommies (several pregnant), a couple of small kids, and a few brave child-free friends. The gifts were mostly pink with a few notable exceptions ...
A beautiful, buttery-soft, hand-knit red sweater from my good friend Kellie Daniels (which Melanie was also pretty amazed at!) and something that made Charlotte's daddy very, very happy ...
Well, of course she's going to be a little Dukie!

Adam's Rehearsal Pt. 2

The day after the previous post, or little neighbor Isaac came over and helped Adam figure it out!

Adam's Rehearsal

Adam just used some credit he accumulated at school to buy himself a great new backpack to carry his law books around in. I'm not sure I'm ready to burst his bubble yet ...

Babys R'nt Us

A couple of weeks ago, Adam and I went down to Babys R Us to register in anticipation of the upcoming showers for Little Charlotte. Adam was very optimistic about how easy all of this would be and somehow convinced me to go one evening even after we had both already had a long day. (I have two theories for his enthusiasm: 1) the fact that he was in Iceland three years ago while I spent six or so hours at Bed, Bath & Beyond working out our wedding registry, and 2) he was excited to use the registry "gun" that they give you to scan items with. It looks like an old-school laser tag toy.) But by the end of the evening, he couldn't get out of Babys R Us fast enough and I almost had to be carried out of there. If we wouldn't have been parked in the "Expectant Mothers" parking space toward the front, we probably would have had to spend the night in the parking lot.

Registering for your wedding is hard. Registering for your baby is even harder. I'll admit that I enjoy the fake "buying" sensation you get when you pick out stuff for a registry as much as the next person. But when you have to consider your baby rather than just yourself (and your husband, of course, who really did want all of that Calphalon cookware you registered for), it opens up a new world of issues: What kinds of pacifiers will the baby like? Which bottles will she prefer? Will she be too big or too small for this? Is this too flimsy, too thin, too solid, too thick, too big, too small to be safe? If she chews on this, is she going to be mentally stunted by chemicals? Can she smother herself with this? Can she get her head/hand/foot stuck in here? And (maybe most importantly) are these diapers going to hold stuff in?

When when the registry representative handed us a list of everything we supposedly need to register for for the baby, we felt more than a little overwhelmed and underprepared. At this point, buying and even just registering for baby products has all been a guessing game for us. (For all we know, Little Charlotte could come out a ten-pound boy and never really appreciate the frilly white satin newborn shoes waiting for him in the closet.) Barring such a surprise gender reassignment at birth, we could use a little advice from our friends. Any recommendations on particular products that you or your babies have loved or found really useful?

Ethical Parenting

Our Dear Little Charlotte,

Yesterday, Daddy received the wonderful news that he has passed (with flying colors) the MPRE (Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination) portion of the Bar Exam. This means that the National Conference of Bar Examiners (a bunch of self-important adults) has judged Daddy to be an honest and ethical person. So we, your parents, just want to apologize ahead of time for Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, your hard-earned Halloween candy, your missing puppy, and all the many other things that we will most likely lie to you about. We love you, little Peanut, and that is no lie!

Love,
Your Parents

Soccer Player

Last week, Ariel felt the baby move for the first time. It wasn't much for the first couple of days. It just sort of felt like someone tickling her from the inside, and Ariel really had to concentrate hard and hold absolutely still to notice it at all. However, little Charlotte has become quite vigorous in the last week. Adam has even felt her kick once with his hand on the outside. She is responding to outside stimuli now too. When Ariel pushes her or shakes her around, she kicks back. Our friend Brianne brought her little boy Isaac over, and Charlotte tried to kick him when Ariel held him on her lap. But the neatest thing (to Daddy) about this recent development is her timing-- she likes to wake up about 12:30am and thrash about for an hour or so. Looks like the Peanut is a night owl just like her Daddy!