Still Smiling

I'm quite tired from a late night and an early morning, but I'm still smiling from ear to ear. Since this is my blog I can say anything I want and I want to say that I have the best husband ever!Last night we went out to a french bistro for dinner in Old Town, Chicago for my birthday. Oh my goodness, the food was divine. We shared a beet salad, had authentic French onion soup, and M had the rack of Lamb while I went for the almond encrusted tilapia. We couldn't have been more pleased with our selections.

After dinner we strolled around the Old Town neighborhood before heading over to Navy Pier for some fun. M never really saw any of the sights on the pier so we decided to take it all in. Before we could do anything else, he had to take me on the 100-story high Ferris Wheel. I am not usually one to get nervous about heights, but holy cow, that was scary--especially on the way up. Whenever the car shook even the slightest bit, I totally freaked out. Then I started laughing at how ridiculous I was being because we were completely safe in our little compartment...but it was high. Here are some of the sights we took in on that ride:

After the death-defying Ferris Wheel experience we explored the rest of the pier. It was so nice to simply spend time with my hubby one-on-one without any distractions. We don't get to see him much these days, so it charged up my batteries and I feel like I can keep running down the home stretch. Three more weeks and a few short days before we get to be together as a family in our new state and in our new home. Only a few million details from now until then, but that's another story never to be placed on the blog; I wouldn't want to lose all ten of my readers due to complete boredom. Consider yourself lucky not to know all the insane details of our lives right now.

Birthday Bliss

So far this has been the best birthday ever. Yesterday C and I went to a friend's lake house, got to go on a fast boat ride, played in the water on rafts, played in the sand on the beach, ate awesome food and had a wonderful visit with friends. Pictures to come later because I forgot my camera, but others did get a few shots of us enjoying our time there. At the end of the day, the whole group of 42 or so people sang "Happy Birthday" to me and presented me with a yummy cake. What a treat.

Last night, once we returned from our lake outing, we joined up with M for dinner. Our friends sent us home with plenty of food to have for dinner and M surprised me with a delicious strawberry shortcake birthday cake. Sooo good.

That night both M and I were able to feel the baby kick for the first time. I have been able to feel lots of movement the last few weeks, but never from the surface like last night. That was the best--especially since M was there to feel it too.

Then this morning, on my actual birthday, my baby girl came in to my room and said, "Happy Birthday Mommy." Music to my ears. Later this morning I was able to capture the birthday wish... here it is for your enjoyment too. I must confess, I've watched it a dozen times already.


Tonight M is taking me into Chicago to have dinner at a French Bistro. I can't wait. Happy birthday to me!

Familiar Places

I've been so crazy busy lately with house stuff, travel arrangements, finding doctors and speaking with insurance companies that my poor blog has suffered greatly. For that I am sorry. Even though I am completely exhausted this evening, I thought it would be good to post a few photos of our ever-growing, beautiful little girl.

She has absolutely no idea what is about to happen. She sees the photo on the fridge and says, "new house," but has no clue that very soon we will no longer call this place "home." She is getting old enough to recognize places as we pass by them in the car. The streets near our house are all familiar to her and she gets very excited because she knows she is getting close to home. All we have to do is turn into our development and she can hardly contain herself. Just today we were out driving and she saw a familiar building, points to it and said, "church." And amazingly enough, it was our church.

She surprises me every day with her memory. She had a doctor's appointment last week to check her ears...again...that's another story... but it is at the same office complex that my OB/GYN is located. We pulled into the parking lot and she said: "See the baby on the TV." The last time we were at those offices she and her daddy both got to see our new baby on the ultrasound machine monitor. I was blown away that she put all that together.

These photos are of my super smart, 21 month-old playing at a playground in Wheaton, IL just before we met a friend for lunch.