Chicago: 3 weeks after full family arrives

Sweet Home Chicago!

Last time I lived in Chicago I was fresh out of high school. 18, single, and only school and softball to worry about. This time: 29, married with 2 kids, and so many responsibilities I'm still awake at 3:25 am thinking about them all.

Ed and the kids joined me in Chicago on August 1. We moved into our small apartment and after 3 weeks we still have boxes in the living room, dining room, kitchen, clothes everywhere in the laundry room, and items for storage stacked to the ceiling in our bedroom. Moving in has taken much longer than ever before. Why? Well, my responsibilities at work increased ten fold and I am very thankful for this opportunity. Also, Ed has been frantically trying to apply to schools in Chicago which offer his program of Classics (ancient Greece and Rome). He was accepted to Loyola (go Ramblers) and will start Monday. Oh yeah, and 2 kids. EV turns 3 next month and James is 9 months old. How we're going to afford the city is still up in the air. I just figured out our budget and we need an extra $1500...a month. Umm...ok. That's the reason I'm still awake. Winning lottery ticket anyone wants to split???

James update:
He is adorable. As EV likes to say, "She's so cute." He boasts 6 teeth, 4 on the top and 2 bottoms. With these teeth he attempts to eat all sorts of items. Last week at the fair he chowed down on a corndog and an elephant ear, complete with pink lemonade. My favorite part of the fair was when Ed, my dad, my mom, and I were all seated around a circular picnic table, all holding corn dogs. James sat in the middle and crawled around to each of our locations to get a bite. He just went from one person to another, munching whatever we would give him. Sometimes he didn't wait to be offered, he just took. Today he basically ate my fingers as I attempted to feed him a banana, clearly not fast enough however. We affectionately call him Little Man but sometimes Ed throws in Medium Man since he's growing. He crawls like crazy and frequently I'll be sitting on the couch and unsure of where he has crawled off to. It isn't too hard to find him though. Just find EV and James is right behind her. Actually he's usually right behind anyone, head butting their legs.

EV update:
I can't believe Baby Viking will be 3 soon. She is loving Chicago and all the activities, but she doesn't love our apartment. When she's sad she'll say, "I want to go home." I get a little teary eyed too because I miss the comfort of our old place. I understand what she means. At the fair she rode her first rides. We started on the carousel which is a normal ride for her. We progressed to these little bugs and then took a chance on another bug ride that went up in the air. There was a chance she would get to the top, scream, unbuckle herself and jump off. Instead, at the top she threw her hands up in the air and yelled, "Higher!" Next was an obstacle course ride which had a huge slide at the end. She barely met the height requirements but thankfully she had a high ponytail and they allowed her to ride. To get to the big slide she had to climb a rope ladder. She's good at these at the park but this one had a big last step and I didn't think her legs would be long enough. The worker noticed and held up all the kids until she got to the top. I didn't know what to do if she stopped and looked around for us frantically. But again, she surprised me. She made that huge step, got to the shaky bridge and after pausing once when kids were jumping on it (thank you to the older kid behind her who told the younger kids to stop jumping so EV wasn't scared and could cross) she made it to the slide. Her first words when she landed, "I do again!"

The last three days Ed and the kids have toured the Museum of Science & Industry for 7 hours, the Field Museum for 8 hours, the Brookfield Zoo and Ed and EV met up with Uncle Danny to do the Willis Tower SkyDeck. They have been exploring Chicago like crazy! She comes home and tells me her favorite things. At the Field Museum they have a display meant to demonstrate something about the ocean and it consists of an area on the floor with little spotlights following your movement while classical music plays in the background. Ed relayed the story about how EV understood this setup to mean she must dance. Here is a stage, with music, and the lights are on me. It must be time for ballet. Ed sat at the exhibit feeding Little Man for a long time while EV ignored everyone else enjoying the exhibit and continued twirling, jumping, and bowing. It was his favorite moment, watching her in her own little world, full of creativity and naive to anyone around. She said the dinosaurs were her favorite. There was an exhibit where you press skeleton parts on a large computer screen and they create the dinosaur.

This past Sunday we went to the beach with my Grandma. I grew up going to Tower Hill Beach in Bridgeman, MI and it is quite a walk down there. My Grandma has been saying for a while she wants to go one more time in her life and she wants my kids to be there. It was beautiful weather so we threw together a trip! Dad even came! It was a perfect day. The walk was hard for Grandma but she made it. This was the beach she grew up going to, where she met my Grandpa (he was a cute lifeguard) and they were married for over 50 years. It's the beach my mom lived next to and frequented everyday in the summer. It's the beach where we pass the old cement path which my Grandpa helped lay when he was a teenager. It's the creek I remember walking through to get to Lake Michigan. And I was able to have my kids and their Great Grandma all together. It was a really special day.


Together the kids really are great. They share a bedroom which is working out well. In the mornings you can hear EV playing with James, which is difficult since he's in the crib still. We open the door and the first words out of her mouth are, "James awake!" I'm not sure if he wakes up naturally anymore in the late morning or if the Toddler greets him.  I have heard, "No James, that's mine" more times than I would prefer but I've also heard, "Here James, I help you" (followed by his screaming since she's picking him up onto the bed by his head/neck). He lights up when she enters the room. If he's sad, EV can cheer him up no problem. He loves her tickling him.