Chicagoland

We're here! We've got free internet at this hotel, so I thought I'd take a minute and try to preserve the memories.

I was terribly nervous about traveling with the two girls, prepared for the worst and anxious in the extreme. I had packed every possible necessity, coloring books, stories, even an emergency candy pop bribe in case Anna completely lost her head and I was desperate.

The candy pop is still in it's wrapping. The trip out here went perfectly smoothly. There was no line at DIA, the security screening went by quickly and easily, Anna loved the trains to the gate, and we got settled in our seats on the plane with no trouble. Anna was very excited about the flight, she had her own seat and asked to sit there like a big girl rather than in our laps. Silvia played and babbled and charmed all the people sitting around us. She is now the official mascot of Southwest, I believe. She slept or played the whole flight and Anna colored and read and played games. Total peace.

We landed and picked up our rental car with no problems and Kurt drove us straight into the city to our hotel, again with no mishaps. It was a perfect arrival. We got settled and then headed out to Portillo's for dinner, delicious! Kurt has gorged on chicago dogs and italian beef at just about every meal since we got here.

The first night with us all sleeping was a little difficult, Anna was excited about sleeping with Kurt and took a long time to settle down. The city noises were loud and kept every up. Silvia was very confused and woke often in the bed with me and we all got up at about 5:30 Saturday morning.

But spirits were high, even though we were exhausted. It has just been so NICE to spend all this time together. I feel like I am getting a lot of help and a big break from the day to day duties with the girls becuase Kurt is here to share it all with me. And the girls are loving spending so much time with daddy. Kurt and I are joking that we haven't seen each other since we got here, but it's really nice to just have all day to chat and pass banter back and forth and focus all our attention on just being a family.

Saturday we went to the Aquarium and Anna LOVED the fish and the sharks and the dolphins and the penguins. Then she had a meltdown, she was just exhausted. After that we all went back to the hotel and she crashed out in the baby's crib for about 2 hours. Uncle Val met us and played with his nieces and then we all met Kurt's dad, Opa, for dinner on Navy Pier.

We slept a bit better that night and spent yesterday just catering to the girls; letting Silvia make friends with every passing pedestrian, taking Anna to the carousel and on a boat ride, eating ice cream and looking at fountains. They both passed out in the stroller by the afternoon and Kurt and I slowly walked along the river with them, just holding hands, joking around and talking. It was perfect.

By evening the girls were wiped out, so we packed up and headed straight to our next hotel. We're in Schaumburg now, where Kurt grew up. We ordered in Uno's Pizza and had a pizza party in our jammies. The beds were much more comfy and we all slept pretty good, though Kurt is learning that Anna is a real bed hog.

Today is another relaxing day. We're going to go visit Opa and Uncle Gerhard and do a little shopping, then spend some time at the hotel pool.

Hope everyone is doing well! Silvia is crawling and standing and pulling up on everything and talking up a storm. Anna has really been very sweet, but isn't eating very much, hopefully she'll be tempted by something soon.

The times, they are a-changin'

Silvia is crawling.

CRAWLING. As in, moving about of her own free will to explore as yet unplundered areas of the house. As in, being in one place when you look and then, two minutes later, being in a completely different place.

With someone's shoe in her hand.

And her mouth.

As in, nothing will ever be the same!

Still, as disturbing as her newly developed freedom is for me, it's very exciting and cute for her. She's just so pleased with herself, she's practically giddy every time she gets those slippery little fingers on something new.

Like another shoe.

Also new in this household, Anna is branching out. She's actually deigning to eat, or at least try to eat, what Kurt and I have for dinner. Tonight for instance, she announced that she loved hamburgers. Then she had a fingerful of ketchup and changed her tune.

"Anna, don't you just love hamburgers?", I asked, trying to encourage her to take another bite.

"Mmmm-hmmm, Mama. I sure do love... KETCHUP!"

Oh, well. At least she's trying new things, right? There's no way to find what you like unless you first give it a try. Like V-8. Anna now absolutely adores V-8. She drinks an 8-oz can of the stuff a day, loves it to pieces, asks for it before asking for cookies or chocolate milk.

So, since a can of V-8 adds up to about 1 serving of vegetables, that means she's getting about... umm, let's see, do the math... yup, 1 serving of vegetables a day! Hey, I'll take what I can get.

We leave for our first family vacation on Friday, we're heading out to Chicago for 10 days to visit family and friends. Wish us luck! Two airplane rides and several nights in the hotel with one room for the four of us are scary prospects for me, but I'm trying to remain hopeful and positive that it'll all work out grandly.

Denial is, after all, the first step to sanity.