The conclusion of a great Homecoming

I am finally getting to blog about the Saturday of Homecoming weekend.  Since our game had been set for a 6 pm kick, the parade was pushed back until noon.  This made our day a lot more hectic than we would have liked since Charlotte usually goes to sleep at noon.  We knew though that even if it meant that we had to miss the game, we needed to go the parade.  So we sent Jason and Papa out early to get a spot for us in the shade and the rest of us stayed back at the condo until it was time for the parade.

Once I fed James we headed out to the parade.  Let me tell you, when the farthest you've walked since your c-section is around the block, walking to and from the Quad two separate times while pushing a double stroller with a 2.5 year old and a newborn isn't as easy as some might make it look!  By the time we got to University I was exhausted and we still had the whole parade and the walk back!  But seeing how much Charlotte enjoyed it definitely made it worth it.  (Plus, I need all the exercise I can get!)

We were so glad that Miss Lindsey met us and watched the parade with us.  Since Homecoming Charlotte's been asking randomly, "Where's Miss Lindsey?"  She now knows that Birmingham is a city but thinks that Miss Lindsey and Papa G hang out in Birmingham a lot since Papa is frequently in Birmingham for meetings these days. :)

Charlotte was so happy to have Sam and Abby with her all weekend.  She definitely went through Sam and Abby withdrawals after we got home, but got to watch the game with them last weekend too so that was fun!

James just hung out in the stroller during the parade.  He was awake at the beginning but eventually went to sleep.  

Such a sweet picture of Charlotte and Papa G!

Since the parade was at 12 we didn't get back to the condo until 2:30ish.  This is almost the end of Charlotte's nap time and she was exhausted.  Since we were just going to be having downtime between then and the game we decided, against our better judgment, to go ahead and put Charlotte down for a quick nap.  This was a disaster.  She didn't go to sleep for a long time and right when we were going to go and get her up she went to sleep.  We let her sleep for 30-45 minutes and then went and woke her up and it was like we woke up a sleeping bear.  Poor girl wouldn't get out of the bed and started crying.  I was afraid that we weren't going to be able to go to the game but we powered through and when we walked outside to go to the game she miraculously calmed down and was fine for the rest of the night.  We learned our lesson though, either nap at nap time or no nap at all!

Since we were only going to stay for the first half my Dad worked it out for us all to sit with them for the first half.  I was really excited to get to see Charlotte at the game since this was the first year that she was really excited about it.  Her behavior didn't disappoint and she did lots of cheering, eating, and singing the fight song!

This was James' first Alabama game!  He mostly snoozed throughout it but he got lots and lots of attention during the game!

This is Charlotte demonstrating what the cheerleaders do (in her opinion).  It involves putting her head back with her arms up and then throwing her head forward and her hair over her head and touching the ground.  It's hilarious.  I'm going to try and get it on camera because it's so funny!

The stress of getting Charlotte up and all four of us out the door meant that some things got forgotten.  Thankfully, it was just a zippy cup for Charlotte.  They had coffee stirrer straws that we put in a glass of water for her but she liked playing with it more than drinking out of it.  That's what she had in her hands here.

Another "cheerleader" impression

I was so excited that Alpha Chi won the Spirit Cup for Homecoming!  This has never happened that I can remember and so I was so glad that I was able to be there to see the President (one of our family friends that I've known since she was born) and the Homecoming chairman accept the cup on the field at halftime.  But as soon as they said "Alpha Chi Omega" we were headed out the door to get home and put the kiddos to bed.  We did manage to take a family picture before leaving though....