40 Weeks: Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler, Baby A

Dear Baby A,

Today is your due date birthday!  I really cannot believe that 40 weeks ago you were just a twinkle in our eyes.  We are so very excited to meet you anytime you're ready.

Maternity Tee Via Fleurty Girl

Do you know that Mommy and Daddy found out about you on March 12th?  Mommy had worked all day and met Daddy at the St. Patrick's Day parade.  We watched the parade roll by and enjoyed all of the revelry that ensues at this annual celebration.  On the way home, we stopped by Walgreens and picked up a pregnancy test.  Sure enough, two lines later and Mommy and Daddy were joyously celebrating our good fortune.  I think it was perfectly fitting for a Nola baby like yourself to announce your presence following a parade. 

Today, Mommy will be attending a very fancy lunch hosted by the Captain of Daddy's parade.  The lunch is for a few of the women who volunteered for the Krewe last year.  I did the calligraphy for the Krewe's Mardi Gras Ball invitations, and I couldn't have been more honored to received such a gracious invitation.  As much as I have wanted you to arrive, I think it's kind of special that you will be able to go to the lunch with me.  There are so many things about New Orleans that I cannot wait to share with you, but Mardi Gras, with all of its festive traditions, is the one I am most excited about.

Some of my earliest and fondest memories take place along a parade route.  If I close my eyes, I can see the exact movements and signals that indicate the parade will soon be passing before you.  First, you begin to notice that the speed of the cotton candy/peanut vendors picks up.  They are no longer casually passing by with their shopping carts filled with brightly colored spun sugar.  Instead you see them walking faster and faster until they are almost jogging to get to a break in the crowd so that they can make way for the parade.

Then, from a distance you can hear a blurred "bloop-bloop" of a police siren.  It's not a full round of the harmonious sound that their vehicles will soon make, but it's enough to let you know that they are nearing.  And just like that the crowds start to push forward edging closer to the street.  Everyone wants a good spot for the upcoming spectacle. 

And just when my Daddy was fairly certain that my anticipation was about to boil over, I'd get an elevated seat on his shoulders so that I could excitedly inform the crowd around us I could see the parade in the distance. 

Once seen in the distance, you can literally feel the parade coming.  The parades open with a round of police sirens followed by either the horns of the Shriners or the drums of one of the city's finest marching bands.  You start to feel the beat of the drums in the ground, and that is when you know - it's Mardi Gras Time!

Since the day we have found out about you, I have pictured you dressed in the cutest costume we can find (we already have a ducky costume for you) along the parade route.  I imagine sharing the excitement I still feel every time those vendors start to move a little faster.  I image seeing the spectacle through your little eyes and living the childlike fantasy that is Mardi Gras through you. 

I imagine showing you just where Daddy is on his float and seeing your excitement as he hands you all of his most prized Krewe treasures.  That is the moment I truly cannot wait for.  To see your little face light up when you see your Daddy roll by will be the highlight of the season for me.

And the season feels like it is beginning now!  And you will get to be a part of it.

Let's let the good times roll, Baby A.

You are our little Mardi Gras baby.  We absolutely cannot wait to meet you soon.  It's all we talk about.  We love you to pieces and have so much to show you. 

Enjoy these last few moments with Mommy and see you soon,

Mommy and Daddy