Baby X Stuff

I was asked to put together a list of things that Baby X needs. This is a short list because we have most of the 'gear' but some things we had borrowed from friends and have since return and they have been passed along to others. So... what we need:

Graco Snug Ride Car Seat
Glider (this one we will take care of)
Summer weight sling - XL/Right Handed in Celery
Bottles that are BPA free - some to fit Medela breast pump and some reg. 4&8 oz

That's all I can think of right now... please no blankets! I have more than I will ever need, so ladies, put your knitting needles away. :-)

Moving Again

As much as we wanted to find a place we could stay in for a few years and we thought that Oak Park was it... alas here we are, another year, another move. It's just when we first looked at an empty apartment, the place looked so big. Now that we've been in it a year and we are facing fitting another little body in here, we see that it's not big enough. We found a place in the city that should fit us all for a couple of years. It was listed as 1800 sf and I think that it's close to that. It's a three bedroom, separate dining room, gorgeous kitchen and huge living room kinda place. We will actually be paying a little less a month - same rent, heat included. We have storage in the basement as well as in the garage. It comes with a parking space in the garage but street parking doesn't look to be a problem for our visitors. You can see the house below. It's the brick on the left.


View Larger Map

We have the first floor so that'll be good for hauling baby, toddler and groceries. And the trip to the laundry in the basement won't be so long. I am happy to report it has a dishwasher too!

All this is great but when we went looking for daycare we hit a snag. We've signed the lease so there is no going back but today we will be interviewing for a daycare center. Apparently a lot of places around there don't take infants or if they do, it is significantly more $$ than we are currently paying. We have options, so I'm sure things will work out.

On a not so sunny note. My work is hurting. I still have a job and they reassure me that unless things get significantly worse, I will continue to have a job. But (and there is always a but) it looks like OT will no longer be paid, meals when we stay late will no longer be reimbursed, and they are asking people to volunteer to work shorter weeks. My question in all this is will these things come back when the economy comes back? There is no word yet that bonuses have been canceled which surprises me... we'll see. They are scheduled for April/May. Right now NOAM (North America) is breaking even, which is a precarious place and they want to bring down overhead without laying off in our office. Especially since there is so few of us, we aren't really viable with less people. Everyone keep your fingers crossed that Chicago gets the Olympic bid!

Back to moving... we have to be out of our place on Thursday the 30th of April and can't get into the new place until May 1. Aaron and friends will be packing on Thursday while I go to work and stay out of the way. Ian will go to daycare. We will come home, get some food and clean the apartment in the evening. The plan is then to stay at a hotel for the night. Friday night we will camp in the new place and I think Sat morning we will unpack the truck. This is in the hope that more people are available on the weekends.

So this is the official call out for those friends that are loyal to our continuing moves and diligently come out every year with little or no complaining. We love you and hope that you will put up with one more move. If you are available at anytime on Thursday (4/30) please stop by for whatever time you can spare. If you available Sat (5/2) morning at around 10am, we will have coffee and bagels. Or if you want to come by on Friday, that works too! We will start unpacking and work our way through it until the deed is done.

On another note... I am going to try to embed an interactive calendar in this blog. We are already getting a lot of requests for visiting and this will be a very busy summer for us. The impending move and birth are the biggest of our summer events. I think that two weeks prior and two weeks after the baby is born will be off limits. Also we would like to limit visits to every other weekend, just in the name of sanity. If you would like to visit, check the calendar and then give us a call!! We do love seeing everyone and summer in Chicago is awesome!

Ian to Have Baby Brother!

Baby X is really Baby Y. The ultrasound looked good. All the parts that are supposed to be there are there and working as expected plus one extra part. So Ian will be have a baby brother. Mom and Dad are tickled. We have all the boy stuff and none of us are crazy about the color pink!

Give it a listen

Life and Work

We are still alive and well! Just busy. I am now at the head of the cheese department at Fox & Obel and it is starting to look like a real cheese counter again. The shelves are filling up and the customers seem to be returning. The past two weekends have been quite steady. We received some heavenly La Tur today as well as tasty Tomme de la Grand Mere and L'Etivaz de Alpage. It is so good to see a fresh variety of tasty cheeses. Now we just need to get caught up on the signage.

Ian is Amazing. He brings joy to every moment of our lives. He is learning new words and new phrases every day. We are blessed.

Love to all, especially Granfolks and Fairy Godfolks!

Happy New Year!

I didn't make a resolution to blog more... I am just working on accepting that I can't possibly do it all. So forgive me my humanity and please understand that like many others, I am a working Mom and have very limited free time... so my photos aren't downloaded from the camera, the blog isn't up to date, laundry isn't done, but the boy is dressed, fed and kissed (a lot).

So my resolution is to call good enough, good enough and stop making excuses for myself or thinking less of myself for not having it all "together".

Fox & Obel

Back to work I go! I just got a job at Fox & Obel
Their cheese department is in a state of flux at the moment so I will be working part time/weekends to start at a better rate than I had at Marion Street. I will also have the opportunity to cross train in other departments like the butcher shop and the fish mongers. They also have a full production kitchen and artisan bakery on site. So plenty of good prospects ahead here, I hope.
There is another possibility open to me as well. Friends in town have opened a door for me (thanks Deb) to talk to an Italian deli in the South Loop that may wish to expand its cheese offering. The shop is getting rave reviews on yelp.

Still Alive

Sorry I have been so short on blogs lately... my job is really intense right now and will continue to be for the next couple of months. As most of you know I am also pregnant which makes me tired, very tired. Just to give you all an idea of my day.

5:30 wake up & get ready
6:00 Ian up, breakfast
7:00 Aaron drops Ian off at daycare and me to train
8:00 arrive at work, I then typically will work through to 7 or 8, eating at my desk and trying to keep on top of it all - this is hard and stressful
8:00 pm Ian to sleep, I typically put my pjs on and fall asleep with him, Aaron comes in and wakes my up to move to our bed around 10
repeat

I also try to fit meetings in there, paying bills, Christmas, etc, etc

I guess I'm feeling a little sorry for myself this morning. After all, it's Sunday, I'm at work, I was here yesterday and will be here again tomorrow... the good news is I have the opportunity to work a lot of OT and this is going to come in handy as the economic downfall has officially hit our household and Aaron is out a job.

Woe is me. Once in awhile the whole thing kinda gets to me. I never knew that life was going to be such a struggle. Maybe that's one of the downfalls of growing up a part of the TV generation. I believed in the fairy tales, I thought life was like on tv. Nobody told me that it was a lot of work interspirsed with only brief moments of brillance.

Tomorrow's another day.

Pure Genius

Simply amazing. It makes perfect sense! This is how we'll do it next year!

Remember Me?

It just seems as Ian is growing up and requiring (read demanding) more attention, I just don't have the time during the day to sit down and write in my blog.

We are all healthy and happy. Not much has been happening... we've done a lot of weekend traveling which has also limiting my time to sit at the computer. The first weekend in November we went to Holland to help celebrate Ian's Great Grandfather, Arthur Stek's 90th birthday. This was a lot of fun as we don't see that side of the family very often. The next weekend I had to go to Ann Arbor for the career fair. Ian got to spend some time with Layale and Bryan, which is always enjoyable.

I'm working hard trying to get a building designed by yesterday that hasn't been finalized by the owners or the architect yet they want to order steel and start pouring concrete. Rather ridiculous but better busy than not working these days.

I've taken up knitting after many years away. That's been kinda fun but it also keeps me away from the computer. This is a good thing. I spend all day at work looking at one, so really - who wants anymore than 8-15 in front of the damn things.

That's about it. I'm going to go play with Ian while he's still young enough to want to play with me.

feufolet

More music for y'all. Some may be shocked at this selection...

Ian's Stats

Ian went for his 2 year check up yesterday and he is healthy and perfectly normal. He is 35 3/4" tall which puts him in the 81st percentile for height and he weighs 29 lbs and 14 oz which puts him in the 73rd percentile for weight. Healthy and normal.

He also did a pretty good job getting four shots. Aaron reports that the first he took like a champ but each successive shot was a bit worse until the last one he really wasn't having it. Poor guy. But it's better than having the flu, chicken pox, hepatitis or polio!

So I've been pretty good about not screaming for glee that we now have a President Elect Obama! But let me tell you it was an emotional night in Chicago. I admit that when I heard the news I was moved to tears as were many others. What a step in the healing of this country! We didn't go down to the rally because of concerns that it wasn't the best for Ian and I really thought that it would possible go until well into the wee hours. In retrospect I kinda wish we had been there. Aaron and I stayed up to hear his speach and to hear the city erupt in celebration (which we could definitely hear!). Lots of horns honking, people firing off their guns and the subsequent sirens. It was interesting though, as soon as Barack stepped out on stage the city fell silent. Very cool.

So I told my boss the next day to tear up that request to be transferred to the Toronto office... love it!

Choo Choos Everywhere

Isn't this the cutest little train engineer that you've ever seen. Ian loved Halloween. We went trick or treating for about a half hour and he never got over his shyness but he loved getting candy. Well mostly he loved eating the candy and was amazed that people would just give it to him. He went to the house two doors down from us three times! Once we got back from trick or treating we set up shop on the front porch. Ian would just go walking off down the sidewalk and go get himself another sucker from our neighbors. They were good sports about it. We went through 8 bags of candy in only two hours. Then we kept a handful of Ian's candy and gave the rest out. People drove in, parked on our block and walked the neighborhood. Some blocks were closed off so kids could trick or treat without car traffic. It was so much fun to see all the kids dressed up.

OBAMA!

Oh Yeah!

2 Years Old

Yea, I know this post is a little delayed but it's been a crazy month. Ian turned two on October 20th. Everyday he amazes me! Today I really miss him. I wish I could be at home and not have any responsibilities and I could just play with Ian all day. That would be living. Aaron is off on Thursdays and Ian is playing hooky today from daycare which is prompting the melancholy. I want to be at home carving pumpkins with them.

Aaron took me out to dinner last night for my birthday. We had a great time. He took me to an Italian restaurant that we hadn't been to before. White table clothes and everything! Very good food. I had veal pan fried with prosciutto and a caper sauce. It came with grilled asparagus and garlic mashed. Aaron had pumpkin ravioli. Both were yummy although I think I got the better end of the stick. Afterwards we went to see "The Secret Life of Bees". If you get a chance to see it, you should. Total chick flick so ya better bring the tissue. I had read the book and loved it and they really did a good job with the movie. Great birthday. My apartment is filled with flowers, I have some at work too, Aaron got me these earings I have been wanting for a couple of years, I am married to a great guy and we have a beautiful kid - what better way to start a new decade of life!

Ah Shit, I'm 40...

Swiss Guard Drum Corp

So I am a fan of drum corp as some of you may know. I found this video of the Swiss Guard drum corp just now and it is amazing! Mom, you must watch this. You will totally dig the snare work and the choreography.

Ok, I know I said I was back but...

Hi! It's been multiple weeks since the last blog entry and we've been busy. I thought I would be blogging more but it just seems that between Ian and work there doesn't seem to be much time left at the end of the day. Lately I've been just falling asleep when I put Ian down and Aaron comes in before he goes to bed to wake me up to move to the big bed. Work is less crazy which is good but the home life has been busy.

Ann Arbor was great! Both Aaron and I spent all week thinking about how we could manage to move back there. It wasn't realistic and we do love Chicago but watching Ian with Layale and Brian makes us think about how much he's missing out on seeing them more often. It was great to relax and take naps most days. I did gain about 3 pounds with all the meals out with friends and Layale's good baking and cooking (mostly the yummy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies that constaintly fill the cookie jar - YUM!) We went to Domino Farms and to the Dexter Cider Mill one beautiful fall day. Pictures to be found on flickr - or if they aren't there yet, I'll get them up soon - it's a work in progress.

After we were home for two days (literally 48 hrs) we turned the car around and went back to Michigan for Whitney and Joe's commitment ceremony. This was a nice little gathering in the woods - very sweet. In the am we wen't to Klackle's Orchard for Ian's birthday which was a blast. (See more photos and more pony rides on flickr). On Sunday we had another birthday party for Ian at my folks. If you are keeping track, there was a party in Ann Arbor too - so Ian has now had 3 (yes, 3!) birthday parties.

This coming Sunday Ian has his forth birthday party for his second birthday! This one is for his Chicago/OP Posse. A couple kids from school and a couple from the neighborhood. He keeps us hopping!

That's the last couple of weeks in a nutshell. I'm at work and should be working so I have to keep it short. I will try to me more vigilant but no guarantees! Life just seems to be so busy these days - but in a good day.

I'm Back :-)

Thanks everyone for making me feel loved and making me laugh. Mary's right. I have been working and working and working. A lot. I have been working on a retail development of a portion of US Cellular Field. The project is on a very very tight schedule. They want to start demo at the end of the post season - whenever that may be for the Sox. So the most recent deadline was yesterday when we had to have an addendum to the Bid Set (the set of drawings that goes to contractors so that they can estimate costs and bid on the project) published and we had to have a set of drawings and a calc book published to the city for the permit application. I don't know how much this will make sense but just to give you an idea - the architect is still in the design process. We don't have all the information that we typically would need to get to this stage but we made some assumptions of what we thought the architect would want and we redesigned and redesigned as we got more information. Now it is up to the city. Or maybe the Sox. If they make the World Series I bet their permit will be prioritized. Who knows how the City of Chicago works?? All of this means that I have been working 12-15 hour days - including some weekends for the last month or so. Hard to tell, time has lost some meaning. I can't believe it is October already but that might have snuck up on me without the work. Oh - did I mention that I was made point person on the project? This means that I am going to be in charge... not bad for the newby, but more work...

The good news is that I racked up a lot of OT and I have a week off. I set some of that OT aside and Aaron, Ian and I are headed to Ann Arbor without me having to dip into my PTO. So I should have enough PTO to take the week of Christmas off too. Assuming that we don't have some other deadline. We'll see. I don't want to get to far ahead of the game. I thought it was good enough that I got the week off. We are driving today. As tired as I was, I was still awake at 5am today. I went to bed at 8:30 last night and I guess I am still a little wound up but that will wear off. I am really looking forward to a week of relaxing, visiting friends and seeing Ann Arbor again. I'm sure we will take lots of pictures so stay in touch and I will try to keep you posted.

Ian is growing and developing at an incredible rate. He does something everyday that amazes us. He is talking in short sentences now, can count to three and knows some colors. Aaron tells me that he was putting towels away a couple days ago and to do this in our apartment you have to stand on the bath tub (ah apartment living) - anyway Ian tells him "Don't fall, Dada". So Cute!! He will be turning 2 in just two weeks. Wow! We will be in GR the weekend of the 18th and 19th and will celebrate his b-day there on the 19th. (Yes, we are returning from A^2 on Tuesday or Wednesday and then turning around and driving to GR on Sat morn-busy month). Then the following week we will have a little birthday celebration here for him and his friends from daycare. Then the next weekend is holloween!! Yikes the time goes fast.

Ok. I think that gets you guys all up to date. Someone once said... (and I misquote) that hapiness is most often experienced at the end of a busy day. I concur.

Hmmm and other thoughts

Ok so I was really really tired yesterday and I thought I posted a blog entry here but couldn't find it. So I went looking around at the other blogs I found that I had posted it at the Stek Action Blog. Since it's all about me feeling like a zombie there is some irony there. I left work at about 1:00 yesterday because I was a waste of space. A few of us had worked until 11:30 and then Ian didn't let me sleep once I got home either. Last night was thoroughly refreshing. So I'm back and you can expect to see more posts as the days go on. I have new pics but they are at home so I'll add some tonite or tomorrow. Mom and Dad are visiting this weekend - that should be fun. My mom and I are gonna do some shopping on Sat and then Sunday we have our block party. I can't believe it is almost October - that will be such a busy month! We are heading over to Ann Arbor for a week to visit Layale and Brian and then on the weekend of the 18th we'll be in Greenville/GR for someone's birthday and someone else's party. The following weekend we will have a little party for Ian here in Oak Park with his friends from daycare and the neighbor boy. Then it is Halloween. Yikes! It makes me tired just thinking about it all! But that is next month... right now I have a little breathing room. And truth be told I am looking forward to visiting everyone in October and showing off Ian. He is so wonderful, cute and smart too!