Starting the Goodbye's

Last night we had a "Goodbye Dinner" for Soapbox Theatre Company (and, consequently, me). It was probably the last time I will see many of my Chicago theatre friends. It's funny, you don't really realize the kind of support you have in your life until they all show up in one room at the same time to wish you well on your journey. It was incredible. Here is a photo of me with one of my best friends in the whole wide world, Nicole, who I started the theatre company with. She is due May 7th and I've been telling that baby he needs to be early so I can meet him before we move!

Nicole, as Dorothy said to the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz, "I think I'll miss you most of all." No.... I know I will.

Walking Update (Baby Steps!)

We're making progress!

SOLD!

Well, we closed on our townhouse yesterday. PHEW! We had a bit of a roller coaster ride getting here because the buyers were having some problems with their financing. We didn't find out until Thursday that we were good to go for the Friday closing. But thankfully it all worked out in the end. We are now renting from them for a month until we can move out at the end of April. We never thought we'd be so thrilled to be renters again!!

I guess it's time to start packing now.... Let the fun begin!

Goodbye Chikezie

So this week we said goodbye to Chikezie. I went back and forth on my opinion of him. Before he made the top 12 I was ready for him to go home. And then his first performance on the big stage blew me away. He completely surprised me and I thought I could start to like him. But this week I went back to being ready for him to go home. I was with Simon. The cheese factor in this week's performance made me gag a little. Very talented guy, just a little "shmoozy" for my taste on the ballads. He was a bit self-indulgent (the fact he went by only one name was a little much for me, too).

Happy Easter!

Thanks to Brian's Aunt Dagmar for this hilarious image she emailed me. It just isn't Easter without Peeps so I had to share!

We had a very quiet Easter. We just went out to eat, where Chase got a plastic Easter egg from the hostess. Then we went to Wal-Mart, came home, chilled out. Brian watched basketball and I made dinner (a Sunday night tradition that has gone to the wayside with our insanely busy schedules lately)! Then we got caught up on some episodes of "LOST" and went to bed.

I was feeling kind of guilty for not doing more Easter things with Chase, but you know what? It has been a LONG time since we've all had a free day together, just the 3 of us, to simply BE together. It was so nice just hanging out... playing together on the floor with Chase, doing simple errands, making dinner.... So I call that a good family holiday.

Adorably Average!

Chase had his 15-month welless visit today. For those who are interested, here are his numbers!

• Head: 47" (50th percentile)
• Length: 30.5" (50th percentile)
• Weight: 24lb 4oz (45th percentile)

Our son is all-over average, and that is A-OK by us!

Some fun things he's been doing lately:

• Clapping his hands (especially when he's proud of himself for something)
• Waving hi & bye (he'll say bye-bye, too)
• "Tickling" us (even though it kind of hurts, it's still cute!)
• If you give him something and say "put it away" he'll put it away in the toy box or whatever (but then he gets on a roll and decides EVERYTHING needs to be put into the toy box)!
• Peekaboo (especially with the hood of his bath towel)
• Kisses (we just started this and according to Brian he is french kissing, but he hasn't attacked me with that tongue yet... thank goodness)!

We're also still working on walking. He will take a step or two to us but unless we encourage him he has no interest in it. Still working on it, but I don't think it will be too much longer (*knock on wood*)! He has the ability, just not the drive or the confidence yet.

Spring Break Visitors

Brian's parents, Elmer and Sheila, came into town for a few days over Sheila's spring break (she's a teacher). They stayed for 4 1/2 days and we packed a lot in while they were here!

Saturday they all went into the city without me while I attended my friend Nicole's baby shower. They saw the river being dyed green for St. Patrick's Day, which is something Brian and I did before we were married. I'm glad we got photos of Chase having some fun in the city before we have to move! Here's a photo of him with his Grandma and Grandpa in front of the seemingly radioactive river:

Sunday we spent the afternoon touring model homes to get some decorating ideas and dream a little when we entered homes we couldn't afford! In the midst of the tours we took a break for lunch and introduced Chase to Culver's frozen custard! Here is a photo of him getting mad because we wouldn't let him have ours after he was done with his:

(I think it's time for another hair cut!)

Monday I had to go back to work and they all went shopping. Grandma and Grandpa got Chase some new outfits for Easter. We suddenly realized the boy had NO warm-weather clothes in his size and in a couple months he's going to need them! So that helped a lot (thanks, Elmer and Sheila)! At the mall Sheila took Chase on the carousel. Apparently he wasn't sure of it at first but by the end he was having a lot of fun:

It's always good to spend time with family. We have to enjoy it while we can, because family visits once we move to Texas won't be nearly as convenient!

Photos of our weekend have been posted to our Photo Album if you want to check them out!

Goodbye Amanda

So this week Amanda was voted off American Idol. I was a little disappointed but not terribly surprised. I knew she wouldn't go all the way, I just wish she had gotten far enough to do the tour. I think she was what I call a "one trick pony." She was good at one thing, one style... but she wasn't versatile at all in that she couldn't pull off anything else. Watching her do the group numbers every week was a little painful.

But I thought she was a pretty cool chick. She really came out of her shell the past few weeks. Actually I think I liked her better before she did that, because she was really reserved and humble. The last few weeks she turned into more of a rock star. I'm sure she had to because, hey, she's a rocker... but I thought her calm, cool, collected side was endearing and that's what I liked most about her. Bummer, Amanda. I was pulling for you to tour. You were fun to watch and definitely deserved to tour more than some others that got through to the top 10.

It's that time of year again....

Time to start up my weekly American Idol results posts again, where I offer up my "professional" opinion of the Idol contestant voted off each week.

This week David Hernandez went home. I am disappointed. I agree that he didn't have one of the strongest performances this week but in the talent pool I think he had one of the most amazing voices and I wish he had been given another chance. Of course you have to wonder how much of America's decision had to do with his previous profession and all the recent publicity about that. Poor guy. He is a great talent and was one of my favorites from the start. I was very sad to see him go home so soon.

Speaking the Same Language

Children never cease to amaze me. It's like all of a sudden they just KNOW stuff and you're left standing there dumbfounded like, "Wait.... What just happened here?"

Sunday morning I went into Chase's room to get him and he didn't have his pajama pants on. I laughed and said, "Where are your pants?!?" He looked down at his legs, then up at me with a look that screamed, "Whoah! You're right! I DON'T have any pants on!" and then looked all around the crib. I was shocked. "Did you just understand what I said?!?" No way. He's just a baby! It must have been a fluke, I thought.

After breakfast we were all on the floor playing together and Brian asked me, "Where is his big red ball?" I responded, "I don't know, I haven't seen it in awhile" and Chase crawled across the room, went into the little nook between his crib and the wall and came out with his big red ball. Brian and I just looked at each other wide-eyed. Could he have understood us? Naw....

So last night we tested the theory. He was sitting in the middle of the floor and Brian said, "Where's your ball?" He looked around, spotted it and crawled across the room to get it.

When did this happen?!?!?!? It's the coolest thing in the world, I swear! Just when I think he can't possibly get any cooler he comes up with something new.

Birthday Bash in Alma

Chase and I drove to Alma this weekend to celebrate the birthdays of my Dad, my step-brother Kory, my step-sister Kim and my step-niece Courtney. Brian couldn't join us because he had to work at NIU. Kory's entire family was sick (ugh, it seems like EVERYONE is these days!) so we didn't get to see them, but the weekend was fun nonetheless. Chase LOVED playing catch with his cousin Kailey!

In addition to the party we went to the little Alma airport and Chase got to see a helicopter land right in front of him! He thought that was pretty cool. He also got a new toy from Grandma... a drum (everything in the house was a drum to him, anyway, so we thought we'd give him the "real thing" to pound on)!

Sunday we went to church where Chase had fun in the nursery, despite a mildly traumatic choking incident with an animal cracker (I'm so glad I wasn't there for that). After lunch with Grandpa at The Main Cafe (as is tradition), we headed back home.

On the way home Chase was getting antsy in the backseat so I stopped at a McDonalds playland. In the past we have done this on long drives and just let him crawl around on the mat with some toys to get some energy out and stretch a bit and it has worked great. This time I found out it is no longer a brilliant idea.

Chase discovered stairs. You may remember our heart attack post when he miraculously crawled upstairs all by himself without our knowledge. Well this weekend at my parents he decided it is his new favorite thing to do and we could not keep him away from them! So when I sat him down on the McDonalds playland floor he TOOK OFF and climbed the steps into the playland tunnels. Oh my lord. I pulled him away from the tunnel time after time after time until it started getting crowded and I got worried he was going to be trampled to death, at which point he got really mad at me for making him leave.

So the rule is a child has to be 3 years old to climb in the playland. Any bright ideas of what I can do on road trips for the next 21 months?!? Since he isn't walking yet and it's winter, it's not like I can let him run around a rest area. I need ideas!!!!

Some photos of our weekend are in our Photo Album. I only took a few so the album right now is pretty skinny, but as soon as I get the photos my mom took I'll add those as well.