T Minus Two Weeks

The countdown to vacation is officially on! We have less than two weeks to go until we're basking in the warm, sunny weather (phew). The prep is underway too - we're testing out life jackets and investing in a mound of summer clothes, including the teeny tiniest little sandals! It definitely helps as Old Man Winter paid a visit to Chicago again this weekend and it no longer has the allure it did in December. Although with Sam's excitement about snow boots and shoveling, it's hard not to enjoy it a little bit.

Side note - I had a birthday this week and it was one of those fabulous days that left me thinking, "I love my life!" I didn't do anything extravagent, but I definitely fell asleep with a smile on my face. Thanks to everyone who reached out with well wishes.

All is Well

Steve and I were lucky enough to have a three-day weekend in honor of President's Day (bliss). Sam has been fighting a cold, so we took it really easy, but having a Monday off makes life so pleasant. Lots of hanging out, reading books and chasing Sam with Kleenex.

Sam's 15-month Well Baby Check Up was tonight -- all is well. He's still super tall (avg. height of a 21-month-old) and super thin (between 25 and 30 percentile). All in all it appears he's a pretty normal kid, although I would argue that he's exceptionally cute!

Have a great week.

Be Mine

Happy Valentine's Day! Have a LOVEly Day.

Happy Trails

Sam and I made the long journey home to Minneapolis this weekend. I describe it as long because when you have a 15-month-old child on an airplane, 30 minutes is a long time, an hour is an eternity.

But we were blessed to have the whole row to ourselves and some very friendly strangers behind us who were open to playing peek-a-boo with Sam. The window shade also provided a few minutes of entertainment. So did the seat-back pocket and seatbelts.

We went home so I could help celebrate my friend Jen's upcoming nuptials. It was great fun to hang with the college gals on Saturday evening and it gave Grandma B some alone time with Sam.

On Sunday we gathered and Uncle Art and Aunt Angie's for lunch and some playtime. Sam was pretty excited to see his cousins, which was evidenced by his shrieks of joy. I don't normally steal content from other blogs, but when I saw Angie's post this morning, I knew I had to. The hot property on Sunday was cousin Claire's ride-on toy and Sam felt like it was his manly right to perch on it all day long. Poor Claire was a little taken aback and Meghan, after pushing Sam around in circles, wanted a turn too. No such luck.

After the weekend I've decided a couple of things:

--Before we head home again we need to teach Sam how to be a gentleman;

--We're booking Sam his own airplane seat for our trip to FLA next month.

The Bubble Master

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know that Sam lives for bathtime. The thrill hasn't worn off over time, if anything, he has grown to love it more and more. At this point he begs to get in the tub whether there's water in it or not.

Christmas brought some good enhancements -- a boat, a wind up whale, some suction cup ducks, a set of floating turtles -- but we took it to a whole new level this weekend when we invested in some new bubbles. We've always blown bubbles, and Sam's always loved them. In fact, "bubbles" is one of the few two-syllable words he can pronounce. BUT, the new bubble- blower is totally awesome. It shoots out tons of tiny bubbles all at once, and they magically stick around longer than most. I'm not sure who's happier, Sam or Steve (a.k.a. "The Bubble Master").

"Sledding"

Since this weekend's nearly half over I figure I better fill you in on last weekend. It was a long weekend for us because of Martin Luther King Day (one word: heaven). We took advantage of the extra day and filled it with a good mix of Sam time and adult time. We made our way to the Nature Museum, which is our new favorite place given the small crowds, sunlit corridors and humongous play space for the pint-sized set. It also boasts a very cool butterfly haven, which is hot and steamy and reminds you that the chilly weather isn't entirely bad.
We also did some "sledding." I put it in quotation marks because even though we technically put Sam in the sled, we never made it out of our backyard (which is a backyard in Chicago so it's the size of a postage stamp). After bundling him up his patience were nearly shot and by the time we actually got outside and got going, it was time to head back in for dinner.
On the flip side, Steve and I worked in a dinner alone at a great bar we've been hearing about for months. It's called Hopleaf and we highly recommend it. They serve every kind of beer under the sun (Europe, Australia, you name it) and their mussels are to die for. We'll go back anytime with anyone!

Stay warm.

Terror at Kid Snips

We took Sam in for his fourth haircut last weekend. Considering it's the fourth time around, you'd think he'd be comfortable, but he's definitely not. He started wimpering the second we walked into Kid Snips and by the time the stylist started cutting his hair, he was wailing. The poor woman went lightening fast, and I think in an attempt to keep us as far away as possible for as long as possible, she went SUPER short with Sam's hair. Take a look.

Also, in our unofficial tour of Chicago's finest museums, we hit the Shedd Aquarium with Sam on Sunday. It's under construction, but we saw some pretty cool stuff that puts the Fisher Price "aquarium" that's strapped to Sam's crib to shame. (It's a no flash photography zone, so the photo opps were limited)

Before:

After:

Turtles!