Chicago!

I'm behind again....here we go - catch up time!

A couple months ago, we went on a quick trip to the windy city -- and had a blast!  We decided this would be a fun way to celebrate my new job, Lonnie's promotion, and do a bunch of fun kids stuff with Jude in the big city.  We left for Chicago after work on a Friday, and Jude did surprisingly well on the 5 hour trip.  He napped, played with his musical toys, and then was completely passed out for the last two hours.  We arrived at 10pm, and once we got the car parked and checked in at the hotel, Jude was a maniac!  We were in a huge room, with these great windows that Jude would stand at and look at all the cars.  He ran around the room, doing his forward rolls, playing on the bed, and just being silly.  It was so cute to see.  But, it really messed with his nightime routine.  We all didn't go to sleep until 12:30am (1:30am our time!).  The one negative thing about our room, was that we couldn't figure out how to get it warmer in there.  So, we used the excuse that it was too cold for Jude to sleep in his pack-n-play, and needed to sleep in the big bed with us :)

Relaxing the first night in Chicago.

Running around the halls of the hotel in our pj's.

Since we went to bed so late, I was a little excited thinking we would all sleep in the next morning...wrong.  Jude woke us up at 6:45a.m. - he doesn't even wake up that early when he goes to bed at 9.  That's okay, it was vacation...we adjust.  We got going and had a quick breakfast at Dunkin Donuts, then went to Millenium Park. 

One of our few family pics from this trip.

Hanging out with my man on this gorgeous day.

It didn't take long for Jude's lack of shut eye to catch up with him.  We walked a couple miles to the Children's Museum, and then hung out around Navy Pier until he woke up from his afternoon siesta.

And then the fun really began!  The Children's Museum of Chicago was so cool.  Way cooler than our Louisville Science Center, because the whole place was for little ones. 

We started out in the jungle gym room (or at least that's what I'll call it).

Then off to the fire station/fire safety room.  Where Jude and Lonnie learned to get low in case of a fire.

Driving the fire truck.

Then off to the big splash area.

Next up...excavation!

And then, probably his favorite part of this museum...a slide!  He went down it probably 20 times.

And then some area where Jude threw balls...I don't really remember the theme of this room.

And last up, Jude drove a bulldozer.  There were so many other cool rooms there, but this little guy was a wild man, and it made picture taking very difficult.

Hanging out with Daddy after the museum.



We then strolled along Michigan Avenue and ate a delicious late lunch.  But, we could tell this guy was wiped out.  We thought we'd head back to the hotel, let Jude take a nap, and then go get some dinner.  I'm slowly learning, that you can't plan everything with a toddler.  Jude was wired when we got back and wanted to play in the hotel room some.  I took a quick shower while Daddy and Jude were doing who knows what, but this is what I walked out to.  Oh Jude, the things your daddy does to you.

He finally crashed at 5:30pm, and I thought he'd wake up after an hour or two of napping, but that did not happen.  We ordered some Chicago pizza and ate in.  We tried to wake up Jude to eat some, but he wasn't having it.  He passed out for the night and didn't get up until 7:30am.

The next morning, I was so excited because we were heading to the Lincoln Park Zoo!!!  I love Zoos, probably just as much as Jude.  I think it is so fascinating to have all these creatures in one little place. 

We did need to eat some grub first, and headed to a great breakfast place right around the corner.  Here's Jude doing his new thing.  He loves to eat just the condiments.  He's dipping something (bread?) into the ketchup, and just licking off the ketchup, not eating whatever the ketchup is on.  He does this a lot, especially with his fries and chicken, and K Pa tells me he really likes Chick-fil-A's BBQ sauce the best.

And here we are -- the Zoo!  

First stop, the carousel.

Then to the cool cats exhibit.  I think lions are Jude's favorite cats -- when asked what they say, he says, "roooooaaaar."



Checking out the cats in the comfort of Daddy's arms.  They were so close!

I didn't get a picture -- but, the monkey/gorilla/chimpanzee exhibit was so cool.  A chimpanzee actually walked up to Jude and smacked the glass right where he was standing.  That was pretty cool. 

On our way to see the farm animals.  Photo op.

Don't mind the snotty nose :)

I had to get a picture of this.  I was very concerned that this camel was about to just walk out of the exhibit - look at him! Umm, anyone else think this looks like a potential problem?

Taking a break.

What are you looking at?

Ah, I see - du's.

They also had the neatest bears exhibit -- I guess because of their football team, but I've never seen so many species of them.  Here's a black bear, but they also a couple bears that grow to only be 150 pounds.

After spending a few hours at the Zoo, it was time for our little family to head home.  Jude did great on the way home too, but we did have a poo poo fiasco about 60 miles from home.  FIASCO!  Jude poo'd while driving (a massive amount) and when we stopped to change him, it was pouring out the bottom of his pants leg and onto his shoes.  It was so disgusting.  Poor kid kept saying "uh oh."  That's right honey - major uh oh.  Other than that, our trip was fabulous.  We had such an enjoyable time spending time with each other and experiencing new things together.  We'll be back, I'm sure!

Our boys

Having major virus/computer issues, so updates will have to wait.  Until then, here's a sweet picture of Jude and Waller.



Happy Birthday Daddy

I can't believe Lonnie is 29!  I am so blessed, happy, and thankful that he Jude's father, my best friend, and husband.  I learn so much from him (shhh don't tell him) on how to be a better person and Mom.  I am so proud of him and the father that he is.  I still can't believe that we are parents to this great little kid, Jude, and it's been amazing to share in this experience with him.  Happy Birthday babe!  To many more!



Still here

We've been crazy busy around here.  Between the new job, a quick trip to Chicago, Thanksgiving, 2 trips to the ER, and getting ready for Christmas...posting on the blog hasn't been much of a priority.  Since I really won't dedicate a full posting to the ER visits, I'll give a quick update on those. 

The Monday before we headed out of town for Chicago, Jude rolled off the bed at my parents' house, did a little crying, and then refused to move his right arm, or have anyone touch it for an hour.  We were convinced it was broken.  After a visit to the Immediate Care Center was a bust (he wouldn't hold still enough to get an X-ray), we headed to Kosair to get the experts in kiddy X-rays to see what was wrong.  It was insanely busy at Kosair, and we had a tired, thirsty, and hungry toddler on our hands.  We were told at the Immediate Care Center to not let him eat or drink since he may have to be sedated to get an X-ray, or if it was broken, a potential surgery, and that they needed an empty stomach for all of that. He had barely eaten any breakfast, didn't get his nap, and then, he had to be tortured (truly it was torture for all of us involved) and have his arm touched to get what seemed like 30 X-rays.  We had to do it 3 different times (luckily no sedation was required), with 2/3 adults holding him down.  It was BAD!  At one point I started tearing up because it was so stressful, he was in a lot of pain, and I just wanted it over for everyone!

Finally, at 6/7 p.m. at night, we saw the resident, who proclaimed that there were no broken bones (yes, hallelujah!).  But, clearly something was wrong.  If you touched his shoulder, arm, elbow, hand, fingers...he wailed in pain.  It was so sad to see.  Finally, the attending physician came in, ran his hands down both of Jude's arms, and proclaimed, "he's fixed."  Huh?  He had apparently popped one of Jude's ligaments that was out of place back in when he ran his hands down his arms, and he was cured...just like that.  He had Nursemaid Elbow and just needed his ligament popped back in to place.  Not even, 3 minutes later, Jude was running around and flapping his arms like his old self.  It was like a miracle!  We got this boy some food and water, and he was happy as could be, running around the ER and talking to everyone.  The doctor said it will happen again, and now that we know, we can at least have some piece of mind that it can be easily fixed.

Here's the babe after he was cured.

Our next visit...was the weekend after Chicago.  Jude's been going to daycare one day a week, and the Friday before our trip when we picked him up, there was a notification that a 2 yr old had pink eye, and to be on the lookout for symptoms in your child.  Well, a week later, Jude got it.  It started with the goopy eyes, and turned into a fever that lasted all weekend.  K Pa took Jude to the pediatrician to get some medication, and while there, Jude vomited, and we learned that he had a 102 degree temp.  Not terrible for a toddler, but a fever nonetheless.  We started the eye drops and tylenol -- all which was a blast giving to a 21 month old!  Jude and I stayed that night at my parents while Lonnie took over our house doing some music stuff. I let Jude sleep with me because I knew he wasn't feeling well, and while he was sleeping, he started shaking, and his clothes were damp with sweat.  I started freaking out..and got my parents to take us to the ER.  He shook the whole way there, but even though he was groggy (it was 12:30 a.m.) he still smiled some and seemed like he was ok.  When we were seen by the physician, he had a 104.7 degree temp. We stripped him down, gave him some apple juice, and watched cartoons.  His fever quickly came down, I learned that shaking is normal when a fever is high (just like adults - duh), and we went home alternating tylenol and IB profen for the next 2 days until his fever was gone.  I too got sick, with a fever that turned into the worst, most painful cold/cough I've ever had.  So, for a good week after Chicago, Jude and I were a mess. 

We're all healthy now...at least until Jude gets the next disease at his daycare and takes us all down with him. 

I'll have some posts coming up with Chicago and Thanksgiving.

Boo!

We continued the tradition of heading over to St. Matthew's for Halloween night.  Raegan's parents' live in a neighborhood where they have a Halloween parade, costume contest, and tons of kiddos that trick-or-treat.

My lion last year at Rae's.

Giraffe this year.

Can I just say I LOVE that Lonnie dressed up as Buddy the Elf.  Next year, we're going to all dress up.

 Blurry, but, walking in the parade with Rae.

Hanging out during the costume contest.  Jude won!  Not sure what place really, but he got $20!

Then it was on to trick or treating.  This was a challenge.  Jude understood that he would go up to the doorstep, hold out his bag, and get candy.  What he didn't get, is that he was supposed to keep it...he kept trying to give it back.  He also had a hard time understanding that we were moving from house to house, and he would dilly daddle at each home taking his time.  



Giving his candy back to Rae's mom.

We did the remainder of our trick or treating courtesy of Daddy's back.

 We had a wonderful evening, and I'm looking forward ot next year, when Jude might actually understand the entire concept.

Jack-o-Lanterns

Uh, I'm not very creative.  I honestly wish I was, and that I could be the mom that loved making scrapbooks, doing fun arts and crafts activities at home, making cute things (bib, blanket, anything), but if you know me, you know that's not me.  So, pumpkin carving is something, I think, that falls underneath that "creative" category.  Last year, we did an awesome pumpkin....

Really, how cool is that (it was the "master" level of the pumpkin carving kit)?  I was pretty impressed with our pumpkin last year, but even then, it wasn't creative.  We just picked out some kit at Walgreens and got ambitious with the level.  Anyway, this year, I didn't have the energy to do a "master" level pumpkin...instead, I did the easy, basic, any 5-year old could do level.  But, I did get a little "creative" thinking I'd carve a pumpkin with 'Jude' on it...good, right?   

Here's the first level pumpkin I did.  Jude thought this was pretty cool.

And he loved putting his cheetos through the holes.

When working on the "Jude" pumpkin, I completely didn't realize that my "D" wasn't going to work.  Lonnie actually said during the process "what are you going to do with your d?"  I was wondering what he was talking about.  And I found out.  My "d" looked more like an "o."  So, my feeble attempt at taking a stab at being creative failed again.  Can I just buy the pumpkins already carved out and ready to display next year?

Our two pumpkins -- sorry Jude, Mommy tried.

I don't think he cared one bit.

My two boys.

1st Cards Game

We took Jude to his first Cards football game last weekend, and he did a fabulous job.  At first, he was a little scared of all the noise and excitement, so much so, that when the Cards scored their first touchdown, Jude started crying because all the yelling and fireworks were a bit too much.  He quickly learned that those were good yells, and we were all happy.  He did great, sitting in my lap, clapping, whenever everyone else would, and he actually somewhat paid attention to the game.  We left at halftime due to naptime, but we had a fun, memorable, first Cards game experience.  Can't wait to do this next year!