Fun in Chicago

The last two weekends have found us spending the morning at the zoo. Ian just loves it and what's better than that. The first weekend we went courtesy of my friend Pat who has a membership. Yesterday we bought our own membership. Can't beat it for summer entertainment and it pays for itself in two trips! Ian sleeps like a rock and talks about it all week long. We let him get a plastic elephant yesterday and he hasn't let go of it yet. He took it to sleep with him last night and when I checked on him this morning he was still clutching it. I figure if I let him pick out an animal at each visit he can have his own zoo to play with at home too. They don't cost much and if we buy it on the way out, it distracts him from the fact that we are indeed leaving the zoo.

The top picture is of our latest art. Aaron and I love the work of an artist around town in GR. His name is Reb and you may have seen some of his murals decorating construction barriers around and about. When we were visiting a couple of weekends ago we took the opportunity to visit his gallery with Mary. We had this big long white wall in our living room that gave the whole room a cavernous feel. It definitely needed big color. The courage cow looks great there and the room finally feels like a living room and not a warehouse. Yes, our apartment is big!

It took awhile for me to feel 'at home' here but now that I have most of the art on the walls and curtains up, etc. Things are feeling good. Still need to finish that nursery but we have clothes, diapers and last night we bought a car seat and the changing table and crib are set up. So if we have the baby today we would be ok. I'm just enjoying fluffing the nest and feel this need to have everything in the apartment done before baby arrives. Which is a little unrealistic - so instead of worrying about it - we go to the zoo! Gets all of us out of the house.

LEED AP

Yeah! May is over! Well not physically but my life in May is over. This has been an incredibly busy and stressful month cumulating with me having to take the LEED AP exam this morning. I passed! Barely... but pass/fail is all that matters. To do it, I had to take a couple of days off - one day and night (yes, all night) to study and one to recover. Now all I have to do is nest. That feels good.

Wash clothes and diapers, buy a car seat, pack a bag, all the fun stuff. And most important I can start taking better care of myself and the baby that is growing inside of me. Who will probably come out addicted to adrenaline, stress and anxiety. Just like his dear ol' mom. Ah well. I do ok.

YEE-HAW!

Still Here, Still Pregnant

Hi all! May has been a hectic ride. We have been busy non-stop and I am only blogging now out of procrastination. Life is good but I am looking forward to seeing the backside of Thursday, after which we don't have any plans except that whole giving birth thang. Things are going well with me and the baby. I have been promised that this labor will not be 6 days and that they will have me through it in under 20 hours. That would be refreshing! Baby X will certainly not be hanging out till his due date. He is an impatient sort like his mom. I have been having contractions for several months now and most recently they have become a bit serious. At my check up on Thursday I had the midwife take a look at things and she tells me that I am already starting to dialate! She says it is just the beginning stages and that there is very little chance that the baby will be premature and at this stage, even if I went into labor it wouldn't be stopped. So I'm not worried, but I am considered full term in just three weeks so you might want to move up your plans by a couple of weeks. We aren't going all the way to July! And we better get that nursery set up!