Millennium Park

After a lousy day on Saturday, we met up with our friends (Cristina, Carlos and 11 mo. old Felipe) in the city at Millennium Park. The weather was perfect and we had a blast. Elise and Felipe splashed around in the fountain and afterward we had lunch followed by a quick stroll around the park. Then we enjoyed Baskin Robbins under a shady tree. I've recently discovered how fond I am of Mocha Cappuccino Blast (very similar to Starbucks' Frappaccino...Yum!). Funny, since I don't really like coffee, but a perfect way to end the day!

Week 12 in Review

Well, we've hit the three month mark....already!! It's gone by so fast. Julia continues to be a very mellow baby. In the last week, she's gone 6+ hours between feedings at night the last two nights, which is fabulous. She still wakes up in between, but will typically go back to sleep after getting her pacifier back. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. In other news, she loves to chew on her fists and more recently, her clothes. The drool just keeps coming!


1) Napping with Grandpa S
2) Enjoying some time with Daddy


3) Trying out the Bumbo (on loan from a friend)
4) Big Smile (but still not the best representation)

A Day Not to Repeat.....Ever!

Usually weekends are days that we look forward to because they are slower-paced, relaxing and fun (or as fun as they can be with two busy little girls). We had two things planned for today: 1) Julia's 3 mo. pictures and 2) Church (where I was signed up to volunteer in Elise's room). Under normal circumstances, this should have been easy to manage and relatively stress-free. Not today. Here's how the day broke down:

1) Julia was up at 5:30 this morning and wasn't keen on going back to sleep. Too bad since Elise slept in until 8:30! A perfect opportunity to catch up on some zzzzz's, but no such luck.

2) Elise woke up this morning with a dry pull-up! Hooray! Except she didn't want to sit on the potty right away and "promised" that she would go right after breakfast. After taking an incredibly long time at the table, we discovered a very wet pull-up. So much for promises.

3) Julia's pictures were scheduled for 11:20 at The Picture People. The closest store is in Bloomingdale, a 30 minute drive from Palatine. Had Julia kept to her normal schedule of waking around 7:30 and napping from 9-11, this might have worked out better, but as it turned out she was in no mood to smile. The shoot was unremarkable and afterward, Julia rewarded herself by getting her grumpies out (in her diaper).

4) Elise was particularly defiant during the photo shoot....wanting to everything but behave. This is becoming increasingly common in our house. It's "my way or the highway." Everyone says twos are terrible, but I think three is going to be much worse.

5) We came back to The Picture People after an hour to review our proofs. As we suspected, we weren't overly excited about the options. And wouldn't you know it, you can't get 2-5x7s on a sheet....their 5x7 sheet is a combo that comes with 8 wallets. No good for us, as we need 8-5x7s for our family. That means we have a ton of wallets that we won't have a use for. And if that isn't bad enough, when the pictures were developed, all of the 5x7s were off center. So they are reprinting them at their expense and let us keep all of the bad sheets (with all of the wallets that we don't need). We ended up spending about twice as much money as we had hoped for pictures that we don't particularly like.

6) On our way home, Elise said "Daddy, Julia looks funny!" We turned around to find Julia completely slumped over in her car seat....no seat belt on! Good big sister, bad parents!

7) Elise didn't get a nap. Enough said there.

8) We were off to church at 4:30. Paul sat in the "live video feed" room with Julia where she was all smiles (go figure). Elise and I went to the Climber Room. This has been an ongoing struggle for us....Elise not wanting to go play in her classroom, so we thought it might help if I were in the room with her to ease her back into the swing of things. Good intentions....bad luck. With not more than 5 minutes left of the service, a little boy sunk his full set of teeth into Elise's chubby arm, sending her screaming bloody-murder and leaving a perfect dental impression and bruise. I'm guessing Elise will not want to return again.

9) You would think we learned our lesson from #6 and yet on our way home from church Elise once again reports to us from the back seat that Julia doesn't have her seat belt on, AGAIN! Oh, the shame! Please pray for Julia's safety....

It's 9:30p and the house is quiet. We're hoping tomorrow is a much better day!

Congratulations!

Congratulations to my step-brother Ryan and his wife Jamie on the birth of their baby girl, Kendra Joy. She's a petite 6lbs, 2oz and 18 inches long and while born 4 weeks early, she and mom are doing well. Elise and Julia are lucky to have so many girl cousins to grow up with!

At the Fair!

Grandma and Grandpa took us to the Porter County Fair this week. Elise loved seeing the animals, which included (believe it or not) sea lions and tigers. She was much braver than last summer and even got close enough to feed a couple of pigs. She also petted calves, horses, sheep, rabbits and kittens.



In the barnyard tent, there was a mama pig with 10 piglets. As the runt was trying ever so hard to eat, I was thinking how much I can sometimes relate to the mother. She looked tired and hot and not interested!



Elise was intrigued by the ferris wheel, but we didn't go for a ride this year. I bet next year will be a completely different ball game. A good time was had by all....even Julia who took a nap the whole time we were there.

Week 11 in Review

This week was more of the same and not much new. Julia still loves catnapping and has the most beautiful blue eyes. Only time will tell if they stay that way. Her cheeks seem to be keeping pace with the rest of her body.....chubby, but oh SO CUTE!

Unfortunately, not as many pictures were taken due to the intensive potty training schedule for Elise (not much gets done when we're hanging out in the bathroom every 30-45 minutes!). Yet another symptom of second-child syndrome.


Sleeping very comfortably on Mama....


Holding my head up and enjoying the beautiful weather....

SOLD!

After more than a year on the market, our condo in Canton is finally sold. We've been so blessed to have been given a relocation package from Paul's company. Even though the current buyers have been dink'n around with the closing (so similar to the previous buyers who eventually fell through), the relocation company has completed all the paperwork and have bought our house. HOORAY!!!!!

We're planning to stay in our current housing until at least the end of February. At that point, we hope to find a house that we'll live in for a long, long time!

Potty Progress

Elise told me on Friday night that her diaper was too tight. Perfect segway to reintroducing potty training! We started first thing on Saturday morning, setting the timer so that every 20 minutes we're heading to the bathroom. It's a lot of work (amazing what doesn't get done when you spend the day in the w.c.), but Elise is doing really well. Today, she initiated going to the bathroom twice....the first resulted in poo and pee! The second was just number one, but I was especially proud because I was on the phone at the time and she brought the potty chair into the room, sat down, did her business and was done. No nagging by Mama. The best part of all was that we didn't have any accidents all day long. I suppose that's hard to do when she's had a bare bum all day!

Week 10 in Review

Ahhhh.....the joys of having a good baby. Julia started to get a little fussy tonight around 7. I gave her a quick bath, but her pajamas on and put her to bed. Two minutes later (and I'm not exaggerating), she was sound asleep. Granted, she'll be up around 9ish to eat, but then off to sleepy land she'll go. I love it!

Too bad the rest of the night isn't as great. She's been going to bed between 7 and 8p and sleeping until 5 or 6a, getting up once after a stretch of 5 hours and then again in 3 hours. Unfortunately, sometimes she'll wake up at countless other times for reasons I can't be sure of. Re-bundling or offering her a pacifier usually does the trick, but after getting up multiple times, she usually ends up between Paul and I or I go sleep on the couch. Obviously we don't want that to continue forever!

Julia's at a place now where she's not particularly content just sitting and watching the world go by. She prefers to be carried (looking out, not on the hip or over the shoulder) or held, but even then, she prefers to be standing. At Uncle Jon's suggestion, we now have a Bobblin' Band Bouncer that she really likes. Such fun!

In other news, she's holding her head up really well, has a very peely scalp, is drooling like she has a mouth full of teeth coming in, is still struggling with diaper rash, and is now out of 0-3 month clothes (with the exception of a few dresses). Here are the latest pictures:

Family Photo

On Saturday, we attempted to get a family picture taken before heading off to the picnic. Here's the result...I think they turned out pretty good ;>) You may want to click on the small pictures for a closer look. There are some real gems! What do you think?

Week 9 in Review

Julia is now 2 months old (9 weeks goes by so fast!). She is cooing more and more and during her awake time, enjoys playing under the jungle gym and bouncing in her new bouncer contraption. It didn't take long for Julia to figure out that the music and lights would start when she kicks her feet. Such a smart little girl!

In the past week, Julia was introduced to Papa K (Uncle/Apple Jon's dad), and Dan and Susan's families (the brother and sister of Uncle/Apple Jon) as they passed through the Chicago area. She also met many aunts, uncles and cousins from Paul's family at a family picnic/reunion. On Saturday and Sunday, she was a champ during the hours we spent outside in the 90+ degree weather and high humidity (good baby, bad mama).

She had her 2-month well-child exam yesterday. She weighed in at 12lbs. 7 oz. and measured 23 5/8" long (both 90th percentile). The doctor said everything looks great and he was impressed with her ability to hold up her head while on her tummy. He didn't have any other new information as it relates to her apparent seizure, but we have a follow-up appointment with the pediatric neurologist in early August and a consultation with a pediatric ophthalmologist in a couple of weeks. She had 3 immunizations at the end of our visit, resulting in big tears. I wasn't anticipating the 2 1/2 hours of crying and disinterest in eating that followed in the early evening hours, but thankfully she slept and ate well during the night. She's back to her normal self today!

Here are a few new pictures:

More Convinced Than Ever

We spent part of Sunday with a few of Paul's cousins at Deep River Water Park in Crown Point, IN. It was sweltering hot, but Julia and I camped out under a shady tree and enjoyed the warm breeze while Paul and Elise played in the water (sorry, no pictures.....the camera battery died).

While hanging out with Julia, I became convinced of several things:

1. Americans are severely overweight. Enough said.
2. Men should not wear Speedos at water parks. I'm talking about the tight, brief-like suits that athletes wear. Also, enough said.
3. People are lazy. Someone dropped a lifejacket in the middle of the sidewalk...I watched at least 100 people step on or over it before I got up and moved it out of the way.
4. People who can afford to take their families to water parks can afford to put their children in swim diapers. I don't even what to ponder the thought of what Elise was swimming in. They should also be able to afford swim suits.
5. Some kids are so rude. A couple of girls walked right up to our chairs and almost walked off with 2 water tubes. You'd think that they would at least ask before taking what clearly does not belong to them.

Phew. Glad I got that off my chest.

Happy Birthday, Paul!

Paul celebrated his 32nd birthday yesterday. We spent the afternoon with his family at a reunion of sorts in Lowell, IN. His cousins Brent and Kurt and their families were in town from San Diego and Minneapolis. It was great fun to see everyone, though I would have preferred a cooler day. Since we're not home, I don't have any pictures to share at the moment, but stay tuned for that.

I was hoping to put my own top ten list for Paul on my blog yesterday morning . I've resigned myself to the fact that anything I post now won't be as funny as Jon's (for a good laugh, check it out). In the meantime, I'll be thinking of other things that you may find interesting.

Reagan and Libby

My sister Beth and her family were passing through the area on their way to Iowa last week and stopped in for a visit. We haven't seen them since Christmas, so it was great to have them here. And we got to meet my niece Reagan. Here are a few pictures from their visit:

It's about time....

After being back in the Chicago area since January, Paul and I decided it was time to turn in our Michigan driver's licenses and plates for those from the Land of Lincoln. And considering that our MI plates expire on our birthdays this month, we didn't have much of a choice. So last Saturday, we went to the dreaded Illinois DMV.

We expected the process to be painful, but this exceeded our expectations. We had to drive to Elgin, a suberb about 30 minutes (on a good day) from here (Problem #1). Although there are DMVs all over the Chicago area, there are only a few that are open on Saturdays and even fewer that handle both driver's licenses and titles/plates (Problem #2). Once we arrived, we were herded down a narrow hallway by a very grouchy DMV employee to the driver's license line, no small task with a double stroller (Problem #3). After confirming that we had the correct documentation (Paul was rejected the previous weekend for not having his ducks in a row), we were given clearance to enter the waiting room and received a number....and the wait began (Problem #4). 10 minutes...20minutes...30 minutes...40 minutes...50 minutes!!! There were people being called up before us who arrived long after we did. Argh! When our numbers were called, we were required to do a short vision test, followed by a written test, new picture and another 5 minute wait for the DL to be produced. Ninety minutes later with $20 less in our bank account, we are proud owners of new IL driver's licenses.

But wait, we haven't even started the process of getting new plates. That's another line and another hour. The result....$276 for two IL plates that earn us nothing but choice words on Michigan and Indiana roadways (IL drivers are notorious for bad driving).

Illinois could stand evaluate the whole process. Thankfully, Elise and Julia were very cooperative. It could have been so much worse.

By the way, with the help of Elise, I scored 100% on the written exam (Elise helped me review the shapes and colors of road signs the afternoon prior). Paul did not fare as well, missing 3 questions, including two road signs. The state may wish to reevaluate granting Paul a license next time!

Weeks 7 and 8 in Review

The last two weeks have been a bit of a blur. From spending 2 days in the hospital, traveling to Michigan, having Errin stay with us for a week, meeting my new niece Reagan and spending some time with Beth, Jon and Libby, we've been busy!

Julia is doing very well. She's not had any repeat performances (seizures), which is great. She has begun to really like her jungle gym and has stretched out so much. She's always moving.....kicking her legs and waving her arms. Though her hands are fisted when she's sleeping, they are quite often open when she's awake. In the last two weeks she's become much more vocal (cooing and responding to being talked to) and has begun to mimic more facial expressions. My very favorite thing is her big, beautiful smile.

Week 7--the beginning and end of a very long week:

Week 8: