Chicago is..Tommy's Kind of Town...

Yes, it's true. I broke out of the Michigan borders for a road trip for Tommy and I. Mother and Son...the open road...the big city...good times...
Why no Lucy, you ask? Well...she's not a total party in the car, she's not that great at sleeping at places other than her own bed, and I really just wanted to have some quality time with Tommy. I visited a close college friend and her new adorable baby boy, Sam. He is chubby, chill and has really cute feet. Also got to see other fun college/Chicago friends that I haven't seen in TOO LONG and it was really nice. Shopping...walking...eating...sushi...bar...more walking...more shopping...you get the picture. Oh, so here are some actual pictures...

Adorable Sam and Amy (and their really cute new house in the background. Bear in mind I lived with this girl at age 24, when having a car in Chicago meant you were "rich" - she's come a long way, baby)...





















Mother and son hitting the big city (forgot to mention I chopped the hair even more but I really like it)...
















This had me cracking up...only in the city would you see a sign trying to instill fear in people for not picking up their dog's poo. Look at the rats chasing...chasing the man and his dog. Run from the rats!!! Clean up the poo!!!





















My cute friends and Tommy...

Two Kids...Two Morning Experiences...

More like her Dad...

"Can you smile for me, Luce?"
"No Mom...I'm still waking up..."





















More like his Mom...

"Hey! Chase me! Chase me! I got you, Mom!"

Let's Learn Something New...

So I stole this from another blog, Making Other Plans, and enjoyed it. AND, I am tagging Mama Z, Kellie, and Bridget, so have fun, girls! I think it's a goody!

Three things that scare me
1) Someone in my family getting ill or seriously hurt
2) Mayonaise (can't even spell it..creeps me right out)
3) George Bush

Three People who make me laugh
1) The kiddos
2) Matt
3) Girlfriends

Three things I love
1) Guacamole
2) Hot showers
3) My family

Three things I hate
1) People with low self-esteem
2) Moms who act like nothing ever sucks
3) Sick kids

Three things I do not understand
1) People who have mullets in 2007
2) Women who spend $89 on one shirt that looks like one you could buy at Target
3) People who travel for work 24/7 away from family

Three things on my desk
1) A mousepad with a cheesy wedding photo of us on it
2) Diet Rite
3) ipod

Three things I want to do before I die
1) Many trips with Matt
2) Find a way to get paid for doing something I truly love
3) Feel like I raised awesome kids that became awesome adults

Three things I can do
1) Run 6 miles in a row without feeling too rough after
2) Multi-task my butt off
3) Win a 1984 national singing contest sponsored by the doll "Jem," by singing the theme song on a phone in my basement

Three things I can't do
1) Open a bottle of wine
2) Touch raw meat
3) Wear anything without a bra to lift the sad puppies

Three things I think you should listen to
1) The Inconvenient Truth - and then change one thing in your life to help the environment
2) Your heart and gut - when making biggie decisions
3) James Taylor in concert

Three things you should never listen to
1) People who try and tell you what your experience will be like (especially giving birth, having a baby, the first year, etc.)
2) People who brag about random things to make themselves feel better
3) Mean people

Three things I'd like to learn
1) How to find the time to read the paper and watch the news more often
2) How to be more patient
3) How to play guitar better

Three shows I watched as a kid
1) Love Boat
2) Mork and Mindy
3) The Muppet Show

Pushing, Pulling and Cuteness...

Lucy and I had a "push-pull" kind of weekend. Matt was out of town fishing, and she loves to test me when he is gone. Especially at bedtime.
A lot of "Oh wait mom..one more thing! Waaa! Waaa!"
And her "one more thing" is usually of utmost importance like, "I need two ponytails in my hair!" and "Elmo needs to be moved to the right just a smidge!"
You know, life and sleep altering issues.
She fights me on brushing her teeth, getting upstairs ("Mom! My feet aren't working!"), etc. etc....
But then she does things that are just great. Like after the 100th "one more thing" on Friday night, she told me "Mom? I love you the most." O.k...all is forgiven. I am a pushover.
And the next morning, when I showed her a new t-shirt I got her with a unicorn, pony and sparkly sunshine on it, she proclaimed, "Mom! These are all of my most important things!!" Oh how I wish a unicorn made it all o.k. for me too....
Instead, my sister and I think they are creepy. But I didn't let on to her.
Tommy continues to do new things almost daily. He is now running instead of walking. He dances to the Saturn commercial (I mean, it has a serious beat kickin'). Chase is officially his new favorite thing. He chases the big kids outside and laughs when they try and get him. I forgot how much work 13 months is. I have to really watch him outside - he likes to head towards the street. But at the same time, so much is happening and changing every day. This summer should be interesting!!

We All Unite One Block Away....

The President gave a 40 minute speech one block from my house this afternoon. Outside, the world protested. We got caught up in the middle of it and it was such a powerful feeling, it brought tears to my eyes. We saw his black limo swoop around the corner, but that didn't bring me chills...these moments did...

To Dream of the Fruit Smoothie...

Lucy and I were watching Sesame Street and they were making fruit smoothies on the show. Then Lucy said to herself wistfully: "I wish I could have a fruit smoothie someday..."
So today, to assist in her smoothie dreams coming true, I told her we would go get one! After school, the children and I headed to the smoothie shop. After we got our drinks, we headed outside, where a water fountain was located. Lucy said, "Let's sit on this bench and look at the water, Mom." I was worried Tommy (stroller-free) wouldn't be having it, but what the heck..I'd try it for 10-15 seconds.
Instead, Tommy sat in my lap cuddling with me and laughing. Lucy stared at the fountain and drank her smoothie all butt happy while the sun shined down on us. It was a luxurious moment. "I love it outside," she said (bear in mind it is 55 degrees today, the warmest all spring so far). I loved it too.
Sometimes for a "greatest moment" in life, all you need is the sun, water and a new experience in a fruity beverage delight.
Edit/random side note: While we were luxuriating with our smoothies and the fountain, we watched a little girl, about Lucy's age, drop her drink on the ground and the bottom busted open and the smoothie went all over the ground and her shirt. She was crying and crying and Lucy was stricken on behalf of the poor little girl. I helped the mom take her to the bathroom with her jogging stroller and other two kids. We discussed the girl and how sad she was and why it probably spilled and how you have to be careful and her poor shirt is ruined, etc. And when the girl came back out and walked towards us, Lucy yelled out, "SORRY ABOUT YOUR DRINK!" This kid kills me daily...

If Jon and Kate Can Do It....

I have a new favorite show! It's about a couple who had twins, and four years later, they had SEXTUPLETS! The show is called Jon and Kate Plus 8 and it's very inspiring! The mom, Kate, is a total riot. Actually, I see a lot of my type A personality in her and imagine if I was in her place, I'd probably act very similar. The dad, Jon, is a laid-back guy and very likeable. Watching this show makes me feel like anything is possible and reminds me that on my busiest, most frustrating day, things could be busier and more frustrating! I highly recommend checking it out...I mean, ANYTHING to look forward to after staring at Sanjaya for one more week, right? Slash my wrists right now....

Lazy Lounging Evening...

Things I Wish Would Stick...

I wish she would always feel pretty and confident, like every time she puts on a dress and tights and says, "I want to dance in this!"
I wish she would always be a leader, like at Friday's playgroup, when she rallied three bickering 2-year-olds by yelling, "Let's all cook something, guys!" and just started playing...and they all listened...
I wish she would always be optimistic...like when it's a crummy day out and we are all stuck inside, and I catch her at the front window by herself singing quietly, "Rain..rain..go away...come again another day..." with a smile on her face...
I wish she would always take little things in stride...like whenever I can't do something she wants, I will tell her to "just pretend we are doing it" and she usually goes for it and starts pretending...
I wish she would always be lovey-dovey with me...like last night when we snuggled under the covers and she kept kissing my cheek and telling me she loved me for no reason other than she does...

I hope she always remembers (and feels) that she is strong and brave and fun and smart. Life is hard and I think about all the crummy things that will happen to her...people will inevitably be mean, and times will be tough, and being a teenager is the worst, and being in your 20's has its very highs and very lows, and sometimes when I think about all that she will go through, it makes me want to cry. So I will just hope the things we are teaching her today will stick...and we will prepare her for this crazy world and do the best we all can do and she will still end up the fantastic person she is at age 2 1/2....strong, brave, fun and smart.

New Friends...New Discoveries...

I have a new friend named Karen. Our kids go to the same preschool and we befriended each other in the parking lot, which led to the Friday playgroup, which led to a Friday night pizza date, which has now led us to daily chats and frequent visits with each other during the week. She has 3-year-old twin boys and a baby boy the same age as Tommy. Her husband is a physician who leaves before the boys are up and is home for the last hour before they go to bed. Let's just say she has her hands full. She cracks me up on a daily basis. Nothing fazes her...all hell is breaking loose around her and she keeps on chatting...it's fantastic.

Phone messages she left me last week included the following...

"I currently have a bird flying around the living room. I have no idea how to get him outta here. (screaming in the background). Do you have a net of some sort? Oh Mother...." Click.

"O.k. so apparently I have been calling Connor (sidenote: boy in playgroup that we have both known for over a year) COLIN for the past year. To the point where I sent him a birthday invitation addressed to COLIN. WHY does no one correct me? Why am I soooo annoying? How did I not catch that?" Click.

And then, just to add to the development of the new friendship, we discovered something on our weekend in Bay Harbor. I was previously suspect when she wore certain shirts...but after much discussion and a, ahem, revealing moment, we realized...we are boob twins. We have the same, exact unfortunate, post-baby, post-breasfeeding boobs. The deal has been sealed. We are friends for life....

Post-Feast and Grease...

Our house is in a big chocolate bunny hangover. After 3 days of family, visiting friends, fun, frolicking, bunnys, egg hunts, food, sweets, church, more food, we just need to BE! It was a wonderful weekend and lots of fun was had.
We ventured out to the grocery store this morning as our big outing for the day. Which brings me to my question of the day...WHO are these women who have little kids in tow, and are all dolled up at the grocery store, preschool drop off, library, etc. at 8 a.m? I just don't get it. Or maybe it's me...see, I sometimes don't have time to workout until mid afternoon. In order to stay motivated, I will just put my workout pants and a t-shirt on (o.k. and sometimes a hat because I can't pull of day #2 hair) and will head out for the morning. I always am hoping I don't see anyone I know. Sure enough..it happens. Then I get in the car and look in the dreaded rear view mirror to check myself out and holy crap...it aint pretty. Why do I do it? Why? But again I ask, WHO are the women who are fresh as a summer breeze so early in the morning? I guess they just don't exercise and have that annoying metabolism that doesn't quit? Or maybe they do it at 5 a.m. and are all showered and fresh already? Whatever they do, I don't have it going on at my end. It's so bad that when I do shower and "get ready," Lucy will comment, "Oh mom! You did your hair? You look real pretty mom!"
I mean usually, I feel all hot to trot if I remember to apply deodorant before we head out...

Happy Easter!

She's Got it Going On...

As we were walking into the coffee shop this afternoon, I realized she was wearing her shirt on backwards (she dressed herself), a crown, sunglasses, beaded hair barrette, a full Ariel mermaid costume and her new rain boots. The girl has got it going on...

And Mary is Saying "What the Heck?!"....

All of a sudden this week, Tommy is starting to get a little more verbal. He is now obviously saying "Mama" to me and "Dada" to Matt when he sees us or wants us. He also started saying "Ba" consistently to his ball this past weekend. It is so fun and cute that he has a little voice coming out now! Beyond that, he is doing lots of random sounds and noises that I just think are darn cute. I can't wait to hold a conversation with him...because get a load of this past weekend from "da Luce"...

Loudly at church Sunday morning:
Lucy: "Mom? Why doesn't Jesus have socks on?"
Me: "Well, I don't think they made too many socks back then."

Or for a good laugh, try explaining the "Stations of the Cross" to a 2.5 year old...

Lucy: "Mom? Why did Jesus fall down? Oh man, he fell again!"
Me: "Yeah..he sure is having trouble carrying that cross!"

When Jesus is on the cross and Mary is all sad at the bottom of it:
Lucy: "Mary is saying, "What the heck?!"
Me: "Yeah..she is sad for him!"

When she sees the nail in his hand:
Lucy: "Why does he have that owie on his hand?"
Me: "Well, he has that darn stick stuck to him..."

This morning on our run:
Lucy: "Mom...did you know that you got me new bubbles? You did, Mom! You went all by yourself and I am so proud of you! Can we blow them?"
Me: "Uhh...sure."

Ahhhh...good times and good laughs with these two little wads of fun....