Icky Sicky

It's been a long week! We've made it though and are now watching some Thomas and playing on the computer.

John was sick this week. On Monday, he had a bit of a runny nose and on Tuesday, he wasn't quite himself. He couldn't get to sleep and when he did, he had to be pressed against either of the two of us. We woke up to him laying across us with his little legs under Tim's. The poor little guy was also coughing. The hardest part about being a working mom is knowing when exactly you should call in and when you should go to work. I'm lucky in that I do earn 12 sick days a year which carry forward. Mostly, though, the cough had me worried and we saw his doctor.

We get there and I fell kind of silly. Is it just a cold? Probably. But what if it's in his lungs? Or his ears (I had constant ear infections when I was little)? Well, luckily, he just had a cold. He was also most likely getting his molars. She recommended some over-the-counter medications. He did grow on us, getting up to three feet(!) tall and almost 29 lbs. We headed home, had lunch and Tim went off to work.

I called my mom who offered to get John down for a nap for me while I picked up his medicine. I took my time at Walgreen's to give her time to get him down and ended up getting some new makeup for a great price and had wonderful service from the make up counter lady. It's nice to have mascara again!

Mom got John down and we relaxed while he slept. He work up an entirely different person. He was perky and hungry! I was so glad to have my sweet boy back!

It's been a rough week with being gone a day at work and John trying to completely recover. I am glad for the weekend and am so looking forward to our ride on the Polar Express on Sunday.

Hoping for a smoother week this coming week and that the three weeks until Winter break goes by quickly.

Thanksgiving 2012

Yesterday, we celebrated Thanksgiving with BOTH of our families!

First up, my Mom's and Dad's. We were surprised to find that my Grandpa and my brother and his new family showed up. It was a lot of fun. We started with appetizers of veggies & dip, spinach dip and some rolls stuffed with salami. Yum! I didn't eat much that morning and was STARVING!

Then, it was the main course. Turkey, ham, stuffing, yams, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, homemade bread and the like. I really enjoy yams and sweet potatoes because they are something we rarely eat. My mom did it all by herself. Well, I offered. I was on the clean up crew.

Here are some fun pictures of my family.

 

 

I felt lucky to spend time with my family and chit chat with my mom and new sister-in-law. My dad and grandpa enjoyed spending time with John. However, John was confused when I told him that my grandpa was Papa's daddy, just like Papa was my daddy. He liked spending time with Papa and his great-grandpa.

 

After I finished the dishes, we had dessert. We had apple, pumpkin and cherry pies as well as a pound cake to choose from. Yummy!

 

Soon, we took off to Tim's family. His mom made most of the same things as mine. While they looked delicious, I had to pass! We then watched "National Lampoon Christmas Vacation" like every other year.  Finally, we had dessert.  I had some gingersnap cookies and pumpkin dip.

 

 

All in all, a great day spend time with our families. While I don't care for going back and forth every holiday, I appreciate the memories we are making and the gift of both our families.

 



Downtown

Since we started dating in 2001, we have made it each and every year to the Walnut Room at the formal Marshall Field's now Macy's on State Street in downtown Chicago. I remember my grandparents taking my brother and I there when we were little, so it was a special place. I asked Tim to take me there a few weeks after we started dating. We've been hooked since then.

The last few years, we have gone before Thanksgiving. With John, it would be too hard to be expected to wait the 3 + hours during the busy season. Tim had to help his dad in the morning, so we decided to drive down there.

Ugh, never again! First, both Tim and I never lived anywhere near the city. Anyone who were driving around us yesterday sure could tell, especially since Tim turned the wrong way. Ugh! Well, we made it into a parking garage. It was twice the price of the train. We definitely learned that we are Metra people!

We got to Macy's and there was no wait! I had the Field's Special, turkey on a piece of rye bread with lettuce and Thousand Island dressing. Tim had the pot pie, which is a specialty. John had chicken fingers, although he probably could have shared with us. We split a Frango Mint pie between the three of us. The service was OUTSTANDING and we got a spot beneath the tree. It was beautiful!

We finished our stay at Macy's with writing a letter to Santa and visiting the Big Guy himself. John really enjoyed Santa and now I don't have to wait in a super long line with him and still managed to spend less than last year! John and Tim might end up doing the Bass Pro Santa again this year, but I'm kind of pleased with having this complete.

 

 

We finished the day with a long walk to the John Hancock Center. I got some of my best pictures on our walk. I am even thinking of sharing one in class on Wednesday.

 



As much as I enjoyed the Hancock Center, John was in a pretty poor mood and I freaked out any time Tim allowed John to walk around by himself too close to the windows. Ugh, crazy fear of height! I face my fear, but since my kid has no fear, I get really nervous. We managed to get some great pictures thought!

 

 

 

I had a lot of fun experimenting with my camera! I'm never going to be a photographer, but I feel as though I am improving as our official family photographer. Although, Tim is pretty great at it too. Here are a few he took of me on our walk back to the car. (By the way, after last night, I'm really glad I took up walking a few months ago!)

 



A Captain America Halloween

Tim and I were lucky enough to both get Halloween off of work. Unfortunately, both John and I were pretty crabby most of the morning.

Finally, about three, we headed off to Joliet to visit Spikes, the mascot of the Joliet Slammers. I found out about it on Facebook and was excited to go. Tim and I got into the Slammers when they were the Jackhammers and Tim had connections with one of the player's brothers. We were able to get out to two games this year and hope to take John to his first game next year. At $5-$10 a ticket, it is a great deal.

Unfortunately, the traffic into Joliet was an absolute nightmare. We got there nearly an hour later. We lucked out when we got there. There was just one other little boy there and soon we got some quality time with Spikes.

John wasn't quite sure about Spikes, but by the end totally fell for him.

 



Overall, it was a whole lot of fun. We ended up coming home with a team picture, some seat cushions, pencils, candy and a piggy bank.  Here are some more pictures of my two Avengers at the ballpark.

 

 



Then, it was off to my mom's and dad's for Taco Halloween. Since we were little, my mom would make tacos every Halloween and we'd have to stop what we were doing for our dinner break. It's no different today. John enjoyed his taco as much as the rest of us. His real treat was visiting with his brand new cousin.

We ended up trick-or-treating to about ten houses by my mom's and dad's. These are the same houses I trick-or-treated at growing up and it was really special to me.

Finally, we went to my in-laws. I was beat and John was getting cranky, but we were glad to share our Captain America with them.