A Happy Announcement.

So I have some news....

We're having another baby! We are over the moon and can't wait to meet our little miss or mister this Spring!

Vacation All I Ever Wanted.

I love to travel. As a teenager I was a People to People Student Ambassador and got to see the likes of Spain, Italy, and France. My gramma saved up to take my cousin and I on a cruise to Alaska in high school. Even quick trips to nearby Indiana and overnights in downtown Chicago, I love to see new things and have a bit of wanderlust. Somewhere between working a ton of hours at a 24/7 on-call job, lay-offs, bills, and the general responsibilities of life in your 20s, I stopped traveling. Rhyno and I have been together nine years and only went on one trip together--our honeymoon to Disney World.  

Then I got pregnant. Sometime last year I decided I wanted travel to be a priority for myself and the babe. I wanted our baby to see things and go on at least one vacation a year. With a renewed desire to create better work/life balance (more on that in another post cause, boy, do I need help there), I started planning a road trip to Florida a few months ago. With my parents in tow, we decided to drive down to visit my brother and sister-in-law with a stop in Tennessee. 

My parents, Robot, and I packed up and got out of dodge the day after Fourth of July! We were able to avoid traffic and got to Tennessee in about nine hours (not bad for having an 8 month old in the car!). We spent the next day touring Gatlinburg--I HIGHLY recommend visiting. I said this is a place I probably wouldn't have seen otherwise and it is beautiful. Lots of shopping, whiskey and moonshine tastings, great (vegan!) calzones at Mellow Mushroom, and the most beautiful aquarium I've ever been to. We stayed in a gorgeous resort with perfect mountain views. I'd go back in a heartbeat.

Our next stop? Florida! We spent the day with my brother and sister-in-law at Universal to check out the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (um, amazing) and our nerdy hearts were so happy. We rode roller coasters (let's talk about how awesome Child Swap at Universal is: we were all able to wait in line together and then swap turns on the ride), drank frozen lemonade, and sweated our butts off (hi, Florida is H-O-T). We went back the next day to do more shopping and roller coaster riding, ending the night driving to my brother's place in St. Augustine. 

Oh, the beach. Take me back! We spent Friday at the beach and man, that salt water felt so good. Robot was a fan of the ocean from afar and one salty splash to the face and he was over it. We packed up and hit the pool instead which he LOVED. He would have stayed in there all day if he had his way! We soothed our sunburn and hit a tiny Italian place for a family dinner. My dad said it was the best homemade pasta he's had since his fresh-from-Italy grandma was alive. It was SO good! 

We spent the evening watching movies and visiting with my cousin who happens to share a birthday with Ro-wanasaurus. We packed up in the morning to head back to Illinois and drove through the night (met with bad traffic, bad weather, and SIX hotels without available rooms). I was never so happy to see my own bed! We have only been home just over 24 hours and I am already mentally planning our next trip. I forgot how refreshing it is to travel and get away from real life for a bit. I loved seeing Rowan's face as we explored new places and experienced brand new things (salt water! sand! hotels! looooong car rides!).

 Off we go! You really haven't lived until you've pumped in the backseat of a car.

Loving vacation during a quick stop as we entered Kentucky.
 

The gorgeous view from our room in Gatlinburg!
 

Greetings from Gatlinburg!
 

 Ripley's Aquarium in Gatlinburg is the MOST beautiful place.

Seriously, colorful jellies.
 

 That view of Orlando!

Hitting the Guinness Hall of World Records and finally wearing this LIFESAVER of a sling.
 

 Goofing around at Universal. Yes, his 6 month sized shorts are giant on him.

 Grabbing a giant donut with the Simpsons.

Seriously. Giant.
 

Dinner at La Strada with Robot's Uncle Patrick 

 Enjoying the sunshine and sand and even the water...from afar.

Where should we plan to adventure to next?

A Very Happy Birthday.

Taking this Friday to wish a special birthday to a special person.

Though she's no longer here, today is my Aunt Joan's birthday. A vibrant, fiercely loyal, and warm-hearted woman who I miss every single day. Her love was tough and lasting and unconditional. Her voice was one of a kind and her laugh infectious. My heart aches that my husband and baby will never get the chance to meet her, but I consider every day I spent with her a lucky one.

 

Happy birthday, Aunt Joan!

In honor of this wonderful lady, I challenge all of you to do some acts of kindness this weekend--pay for the person in line behind you at Starbucks, leave a quarter taped to a gumball machine, put a nice note on a public bathroom mirror. Bring a smile to someone and pass along kindness. I think that's exactly what she would have done.

Enjoy your weekend!

A Letter to Babysaurus.

Dear Babysaurus,

At 30 weeks pregnant, I can feel you move and wiggle at all hours of the day. It is the most joyous, exciting feeling. I think about what you look like in there--are you sucking on your hands? Are you being rocked to sleep when I move around? Are you a baby boy or a baby girl?

I'm so excited for October 27th. I think about you all the time (I'm sure you know that given that I talk to you incessantly throughout the day). Little chores and ordinary moments are made magical because I explain them to you and I'm so excited to show you when you get here. In the mornings I love explaining to you where Violet's dog food is and how many vitamins she gets with her breakfast. I can't wait until you can walk and you can feed her in the morning. I love getting the mail because I picture having you snuggled close when I walk down our driveway to the box. 

Your daddy and I went to a baby prep class last week and I realized how calm I feel about all the changes about to take place. Lots of people have asked if I am scared or nervous, but so far I am only anxious about meeting you--I want to see your little face and if you have curly hair and I want to rub that little baby belly. But when it comes to having our lives change, I'm too happy to be afraid. I wanted and waited and wished for you for so long. I know there will be turbulent moments and when the nurses hand you off to me to bring you home I'm sure there will be that panicked moment of "Oh gosh, I don't know what I'm doing!" But rest assured, I'm trying to learn as much as possible about how to keep you clean and feed you and make your brain grow and how to make your transition from my belly to my arms as easy for you as possible. I've been practicing swaddling and diapering on your stuffed animals. I've been planning little diaper and feeding and napping stations around the house. I've been making room for your bottles and blankets.

I try to make mental notes of all the things I want to do with you and show you. If you're born before Halloween I already have it on my mental calendar to watch Hocus Pocus with you. And even though you'll be teeny tiny still, I have lots of ideas to make your first Christmas really magical. I dance around to the Muppet songs and hope you'll love them as much as I do. I think about the first time you'll eat avocados and if you'll like them as much as I do (or if you'll hate them like Daddy does). I wonder how long it'll take Violet to get used to you and if we'll have to tell her to cool it with the kisses on your face (she loves a little too much sometimes). I think about your first giggle and first smile and first steps and first word (I think you should lean toward "Mama" but we have time to decide on that). 

Everyone in my life (our lives, actually) is crazy excited to meet you--I'm pretty sure your grandma is going to have to clear out grandpa's office to make room for all the toys and clothes she's bought you and grandpa is already planning the fun things you'll do together. Daddy felt you kick for the first time and is now a belly junkie, he constantly reaches over to see if you are wiggling or kicking (he thinks you're going to be a soccer player but by the way you move I am 99% positive that you are prepping for the hockey rink). Your aunties are already planning to spoil you and steal you away for sleep overs. One of your future BFFs (who is two and a half) has been asking what you look like and if she can hold you since you were the size of a walnut. Everyone is wondering if you are a boy or girl and what your name is.

Only a little over two months until I get to see your tiny fingers and kiss your baby cheeks and snuggle you close to me. It'll be the longest two months ever but feel free to take your time in there getting big and strong and (I'm sure) cuter every single day.

 

XOXO I love you most, 

Mommy

 

My Folks.

I am inspired today to just say that I love my parents.

I honestly love their guts. I talk to each of them at least twice a day (via text or phone or email or social media comment). They are two of my best friends and biggest cheerleaders. And I am theirs. I have never really been that kid who is like, "Ugh, my parents." Like Mindy Kaling has said, I am that kid who loves her folks too much. They are rad and make me laugh and they are smart and keep me feeling grateful every day.

I love those two.

Happy Friday. :)

Everything is Illuminated.

Happy Friday, ya hot babe!

 

Last weekend my parents, Rhyno, and I headed to the Morton Arboretum's Illumination. I love the Arboretum. Years ago Rhyno and I spent a Saturday there and decided that was THE place we wanted to get married...then we saw the prices. Aye carumba! Since we don't crap gold and neither of us was on the verge of winning the lottery we ultimately decided against the Arboretum as our wedding venue but it's still one of my favorite places to spend a few hours.

 

WARNING: Some of these photos are blurry because I was freezing my buns off. Also, someday I'll have a cool camera that takes cool photos.

We started with lunch at our house so that my parents could check out our holiday decorations. A cheese and sausage plate (complete with a port wine cheese ball and a swiss almond ball), various crackers, strawberries, fruit dip, candy cane chocolate chip cookies, and a cream of potato soup from scratch with the fixins (not pictured because I'm the worst, guys).

After lunch and playing in the snow with Violet, we headed to the Arboretum (I forgot my phone at home and it was oddly freeing). Look at that moon! And those trees! And those lights! P.S. It was freaking freezing. Don't believe me? See below.

A thermal, a t-shirt, a hoodie, a coat, gloves with hand warmers in them, a scarf, ear muffs, and a hood. FREEZING!

Hello, how precious are my parents? I love their guts.

Rhyno fell in love with the spotlights and is determined to get some for the many trees on our lot.

Just a sign, you know.

These tree lights were controlled by music--you sang into a microphone and the lights changed colors and danced around. It was SO cool.

 

Though I didn't get nearly as many photos as I wanted to (thanks for dying on me, camera battery!) I thought it was such a cool display--I'm a sucker for colored lights and nature! Though we were freezing, we all agreed that we'd definitely come back next year. What a fantastic idea to utilize such a beautiful space in winter.

 

Have you checked out Illumination yet?

 

P.S. Can you even believe Christmas is next week? Sheesh! Where does the time go?

 



The Annual Progressive Dinner.

The holidays are kind of the best, am I right?

 

Every December my family and I participate in the Progressive Dinner (this is the 11th year already!). We travel from house-to-house to enjoy good food, festive decorations, and there's always a theme. This year was a bit different in that we stayed at one house and didn't travel. No sweat off my back though, it gave us all more time to hang out and chow down.

 

Selfies with the gang

 

Admittedly, I didn't take many photos. I managed to bring my Nikon and batteries and then left it all in my purse all night. I guess that what happens when you are having fun. This year's theme was "Slumber Party" so we all showed up decked out in cozy PJs, played slumber party games like charades, had a pajama fashion show, and scarfed down breakfast for dinner (with yogurt parfaits, build-your-own skillets, and waffle sundaes). One of my favorite parts of our Progressive Dinner are the things everyone brings--each family is required to bring an ornament for every other family (which brings an instant smile when I unpack my tree trimmings every year) and a bag of canned food to donate to those in need (it's nice to give back).  

 

See you in 2014, Progressive Dinner!

A Day with Charlie.

 In the whole wide world Charlie is one of my favorite kids and over the weekend we had our very first sleepover! If you have nieces or nephews, I suggest having them over for a slumber party immediately. Charlie was a JOY! So much fun and so excited to be a total grown up sleeping on the couch and staying up late.

 

And, boy, we stayed up late (12:30am!). After a cookie exchange party (more on that in another post), Charlie rode home with me and we jammed to Christmas carols. After about 10 minutes in the car I asked if he was tired and he said, "Yes. If I fall asleep, will you wake me up when we get to your house?" I thought FOR SURE he would be passed out and had Rhyno waiting at the door to help me carry Charlie to the couch to sleep for the night. We pulled in the driveway and he hilariously popped awake and said, "OH! WE'RE HERE! Are you going to make some popcorn for me?!"

 

Snugglin' with his blankie, popcorn, a cookie, and a Christmas movie.

 

We snuggled up on the couch with The Polar Express (I had never seen it and was nearly crying by the end) and some snacks. I thought for sure he'd fall asleep halfway through the movie. NOPE! He knows how sleepovers work and insisted we watch a couple movies and some Charlie Brown holiday episodes. He learned how to tell Violet to sit, stay, and leave it (PS, those two together? PRECIOUS).

 

Teeny, tiny boy in a big, ol' pillow fort.

 

We made him a pillow fort to sleep in on the couch and I took to the big, comfy chair. After a few false promises of sleep--at one point I was positive he was sleeping and he chirped, "Do you want me to tell you how rainbows are formed?" An hour later I was certain he was sleeping for the night and he popped his little head up and said, "Tonight I hope I dream about Violet and Frozen!" He begged Violet to sleep on his feet but she chose to lay on the ottoman and stare at him all night long. 

 

Charlie and Violet enjoying some star-shaped donuts.

 

Best impulse decision ever! About four years ago I randomly decided to cover the top of our IKEA coffee table in chalkboard paint. I have never looked back.

 

After a few hours of sleep (literally--where do children find their energy??) we woke up and took Violet potty, Charlie fed her breakfast (thus becoming her favorite person in the world), and we put on the Nightmare Before Christmas while we drew pictures of our family on the chalkboard coffee table. Without changing out of jammies we took Violet for a car ride and picked up donuts for breakfast--to surprise Rhyno we each picked out a donut for him, blueberry from me and chocolate glaze from C. Hilarious: the Dunkin Donuts by my house is connected to a Subway. When we walked in Charlie screamed, "YAY!!! WE ARE EATING AT SUBWAY!! I LOVE SUBWAY!!" The ladies at the cash register were smitten kittens and even gave Charlie his own little donut box for his order and complimented his blankie that he was wearing like a scarf.

 

So stinking cute! Some of my favorite people in the world who all wanted to sit on the same chair to eat cookies and watch Spidey...while Violet begged for sugar. 

 

We had a play-date with two of my other very favorite littles, Addie and Olive--hello, the above photo. Have you ever seen so much cute in one place? More chalk drawing, playing I Spy & Tic-Tac-Toe, watching some Spiderman, playing on the swing-set, and throwing apples from the apple tree for Violet to chase around the yard. Some cookies leftover from the party and juice-boxes and then?

 

Hey, Disney website, thank you for the free racing game!

 

A TORNADO WATCH. Yep, our play-date was cut short since a destructive tornado was spotted in a nearby town and was headed our way. Charlie and I headed to the basement to watch Care Bears and play video games on the Disney website (texting C's mom with weather/child updates) while the cats howled from the laundry room (they hate storms) and a sickly Rhyno and a rowdy Violet snuggled. Luckily, C had no idea there was a storm going on and was pleased as punch the whole time. Charlie had said around 9am that he was intent on having Subway for lunch after our false Subway start in the morning and after the storm cleared I saw Rhyno putting on his shoes. "Where are you going?" "Char wants Subway for lunch, I'm going to get his sandwich." A-dorable.

 

Best friends forever practicing high-fives. She rarely let him out of her sight the whole time!

 

In my own childhood I knew one thing--sleepovers at auntie's (or gramma's) house were for sugar and fun and movies and friends and staying up late and laughing. I can only hope I'm doing that justice now that I'm old enough to host littles at my house. Thanks for sleeping over, Charlie! Can't wait for you to come back!

Sister Birthdays.

So on my birthday my lovely cousin-like-a-sister wrote this sweet, humbling, wonderful post. I hope I can half repay that favor.

 

She: in all black. Me: Unfortunately in all peach.

 

Samantha is my sister, whether or not you or the universe likes it. She was born my cousin but I will always think of her as my closest family. She is one of those people who makes you feel understood, is willing to gripe with you, and makes you almost pee your pants with laughter every dang time you see her.

 

Seeing my Samantha become a mother has been something kind of magical. She has transformed into this amazing woman-hero  who is capable of baking, child rearing, working, and blogging all in a span of a few hours. Like, are you Superwoman? Get outta here! Plus she chats with me via Facebook IM the whole time.

 

Honestly? I don't know what I'd do without her. If it's good news or bad news, she is one of the first people I tell every single time and I sprint to her for advice at every obstacle. I love her face and guts and heart and soul. She is someone who is forthright with her feelings, she will make you feel like a million bucks and like you are worth an actual million bucks.

 

Kaeli, Samantha, Me, My Mom

 

Sam always works to better herself as a human--which sets the bar high for the rest of us since she's already really great. She is my cousin, my sister, my bestie, the coolest.

 

I love you, Mantha! Happy birthday!

 



To My Pickles.

Today I'm wishing the happiest of happy birthdays to my cousin who has always been more like a baby sister, Erica...or Rica...or Pickles...or Rica Pickles.

 

Ripped from her Facebook profile. I'm cool like that.

 

Growing up, Pickles spent Saturday nights at our house. I can't believe my little baby is 21 today, it makes me feel ancient and all teary-eyed. She has grown from adorable little kid to beautiful young woman. She kicked cancer's ass before the age of 10 and she is legit one of the most beautiful people I've ever seen. She is sassy and sweet and has a biting but not too biting sense of comedy that I like to think is modeled after my own (it isn't). It's like overnight she went from a teeny tot with a lollipop body (she had a big noggin) to awesome friend that I can send and received Pins from all day long. I love her so much and am proud to have her in my life.

 

Happy 21st birthday, Pickles!



Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

Happy 31st wedding anniversary to my amazing parents!

These two crazy kids have taught me everything I know about love, putting thought and laughter into your marriage, and remembering to keep your spouse at the forefront of your life. In a world of divorce, I never take it for granted that my parents are still together and in love and setting a good example for everyone around them.

I love you, Bill and Riya!

Happy Birthday, Ma!

Happy birthday today to my wonderful, beautiful, amazing mother Riya!

 

My mom and me in 1989

 

My mom is kind of the coolest. She taught me to be nice to everyone and not stand for bullshit from anyone. She never allowed my brother or me to call people fat or drink Kool-Aid and I thank her for both of those things. She wrote silly little notes on my lunch bag until my last day of my senior year in high school and I love her for that. She is super smart (like, MENSA smart) and is constantly working to better herself. She constantly supports me whether I'm starting a cupcake business or deciding my college major. I love her guts and wouldn't trade her for the world.

 

Happy birthday, Mom! You deserve the best day ever!