Chicago!

Chicago was a good time, albeit different than previous childless trips, when we could get through things much more quickly!

We set out on the road on Wednesday at about 2:00pm. The drive was very uneventful. Some snacking, a drive-through, a rest stop to feed and change the girls. Nothing special, by any means. At about 7pm CST we arrived at our hotel, The Wyndham Chicago Downtown. It was nice enough, although nothing to write home about. The location was great though, a block from the Magnificent Mile, a few blocks from Kyle's conference center, and a short walk to the Navy Pier, John Hancock Center, beaches, etc.

We ordered a stuffed pizza from Giordano's, at the recommendation of the concierge. It was good, but ENTIRELY too filling. We ended up wasting so much of it, without a refrigerator! :( (Side note, I will forever love the Disney Vacation Club. No fridge, tolerable. No kitchen in which to wash and store bottles -- ick! It's just not right being expected to wash and/or keep baby bottles next to the toilet.... blech blech blech. Anyway....)

Thursday morning we slept in until about 7am, then Kyle got ready and headed for the Gleacher Center in order to register and set up. The girls and I hit Michigan Avenue! No pictures because, well, it was the same thing, different scene. Better shops, more crowds, but otherwise it was just like any other day of errands. We met up with Kyle for lunch, and then continued walking around the city, having not really been impressed with the shopping. Somehow having two adorable girls for which to shop make Coach and Cartier less appealing, leaving you wishing for a Children's Place or something! ;)

At about 2pm, the girls and I headed back to the hotel so they could get a nap. When they woke up, Kyle was back and we headed out to the Navy Pier!















In the fall, there isn't a lot going on at Navy Pier during the week, so it was a simple evening. We took a nice stroll along the lake, ate at a cute little cafe wtih the sweetest server, and played in a funhouse maze -- no joke.
















































I decided that the next time we come back we need to book a dinner cruise on a yacht! Man, that looked like a good, classy outing! Alas, funhouses and ferris wheels for us. Well, minus the ferris wheel part. On my Top 2 list for "Things to Do In Chicago" were 1) Get a good family picture at the Cloud Gate sculpture and 2) Ride the Ferris Wheel at Navy Pier. Neither thing happened. They were going to charge us 4 full admissions, because we were "4 people". Um.... no thanks. I'm absolutely not going to fork over an additional $20 so my sleeping infants can continue sleeping on my lap while I ride. Since I wasn't going to do this (or let the ticket person watch the girls while Kyle and I rode), no ferris wheel. Boo!




















We rode the trolley back to our hotel, and called it a night.

On Friday, we were even more laid back! I spent some time in the hot tub in the morning (LOOONG overdue, what with pregnancy and all!) whil Kyle and the girls hung out in the room. We packed up, checked out and checked our bags. Lunch was at an odd little Pub that appeared Irish but was in fact Greek, and then we spent the afternoon at Millenium Park. The girls pretty much just slept.




































































































You already heard about the ride home, so that pretty much sums up our trip. Not at all exciting, but at least it was a change of scenery!

Three-Month Portraits!

{Mommy playing with PSE 5...}










There aren't near as many to look at as there were with the newborn sitting. Apparently the defiance begins young in this family..... Enjoy!

(And FYI, I will get Chicago stuff up.... when I reconcile my stupid ghetto computer with my new camera/software. Ugh!)

Home from Chicago, but not without incident...

We're back! I'm glad to be home, especially after last night's horrific drive. It started out bad enough, but all stupid travel stuff -- missed exits, detours, rush-hour traffic, an entire highway closed. Frustrating. But then it got worse...

The girls had eaten about an hour earlier, when Elise started screaming like there was no tomorrow. It was the cry of her belly pain issues, but escalated SO much more (and more quickly) than usual. We were planning on getting off the highway anyway to calm her down, try and resolve the belly pain, whatever it would take for her to sleep more comfortably (and us to drive more sanely!). In the meantime though, she decided to pull some combination stunt of screaming, making herself choke, possibly spitting up (?), etc to where she just failed to continue breathing.

I had been watching her as well as I could while we were driving (picture me hanging over the back of my seat, sans seatbelt of course, looking at her in the mirror that is hanging and trying to calm her down because she was REALLY starting to have difficulty breathing). By the time Kyle had whipped into the nearest gas station (looking back, we were really close to an exit, which had a really close station... helpful!), she had literally choked, aspirated, whatever -- surely just an odd combination of events -- to where she was not breathing, glassy-eyed and gray. Not cool.

Within several seconds she was doing better. Kyle and I talked for a while trying to figure out what to do from here, and we made the rest of the trip with me wedged in the backseat (keep in mind that Thea's XS crate doesn't begin to fit here!) for the next 6 or 7 hours. It was ridiculously uncomfortable, but better than any alternative I'm sure! :(

Needless to say, we're happy to be home, awake and in good moods after a good night sleep (she slept for almost12 hours after this episode). I tried to spare you the details in this post, but just take my word for it that it was a long night! If you know Kyle and I, we just don't freak out about baby stuff. I'm sure it's becuase we've both seen so much in our line of work, but kids just don't worry us - even our own. Suffice it to say, though, that Elise managed to freak us out more than we would have liked. Rotten girl! ;)


I hope you enjoyed catching up with our recent events while we were gone!

A few Chicago pictures, and more pleasant updates later. Aside from the ride home, it was a pretty uneventful trip. The girls slept at all the wrong times, so we might as well have been in West Chester -- they would have been none the wiser! ;)

Kings Island

Kyle and I are really looking forward to many family outings to Kings Island when the girls get bigger! Grandma Shelly came along last weekend for a little sneak preview of those times to come!

Dressed in Summer Best (it felt like Summer in the sun!), ready for a fun-filled day!




























































Elise, contemplating the carousel...















Avery didn't have to contemplate! :)

Bark in the Park 2008

As mentioned, September 17th was the second annual "Bark in the Park" Reds game. From a baseball standpoint, it was actually a fabulous game! Aaron Harang pitched a complete game shut out, and the Reds didn't look awful as a whole! Too bad they were already eliminated and about a hundred games back. Ahhhh, professional sports in Cincinnati.

The event was, once again, a lot of fun! A few sections of the ballpark were taken over with about 450 dogs and their respective owners. Like last year, dogs of all shapes, sizes and temperaments hung out over a little helping of America's Favorite Pastime. There were a few more scuffles this year than last, if I recall correctly, but Thea was an angel! There were booths and photos and contests and - the highlight! - a parade on the field prior to game start, just like the event in 2007. It was really just the "little stuff" that I missed -- photos of players on the Jumbotron replaced with dogs... dog-themed music and clips .... silly stuff that they probably thought would go unnoticed, but it didn't.

Still, it was a good time, and I'm glad Kyle got to come with us. We with our "triplets" were certainly a sight to behold, as a dozen people stopped and told us! ;)

Picture time! (As always, more available in the Picasa album! Link on the right sidebar)

3 Months!

When this entry "hits the presses", the girls will have been here 101 days! September 16th, of course, was their 3-month "birthday". A quarter of a year! It's hard to believe, and at the same time so hard to imagine life without them!


































































Elise is now rolling over like a champ. She started rolling belly to back a couple of weekends ago (purposefully, not like when she was younger!). Within a few days of that, she was rolling back to belly, getting over with no problem but having a little difficulty getting her bottom arm out from underneath her. Still, at an adjusted age (currently) of 2.5 months, we'll take "almost" mastering 4-month milestones! ;) She has just recently discovered that she really likes her tongue, and she has figured out how to create loads of spit bubbles. Not very ladylike, but oh-so-cute! She would still prefer to be on the go rather than pay attention to anyone or any one thing for too long, but she's offering more and more smiles and interaction with each passing week!

Avery on the other hand, is little Miss Social! She is intrigued with what is going on around her, and so attentive all the time. This, of course, is at the expense of good naps, but it's fun to watch her take in so much of her environment. She doesn't like to exert herself much physically (ok, she's totally lazy), but she'll dish out smiles like there's no tomorrow! She, too, enjoys sticking her tongue out at you, and her new favorite activity is mimicking all of her mama's facial expressions! So fun!

Both of them are playing like such big girls, reaching for things (albeit fairly uncoordinated still!), favoring certain toys. It's so much fun to watch them grow! They're also seemingly growing out of the colic, etc, which makes for a VERY happy mommy! The nighttime "witching hours" are very obviously decreasing, and they have slept 8+ hours straight for 4 days in a row now! I hope I'm not jinxing us by typing that out! :-P

We're looking forward to next month, which might bring introducing solids, the exersaucer, etc! We're going to play it by ear whether we'll introduce cereal at 4 months as planned, since they've just very recently gotten to a point that they'll "tolerate" (in the truest sense of the word) their feeds. We sill go through dozens of bibs, blankets, etc with the pukiest girls on the planet, but they don't seem to be in as much pain. We might wait until their corrected age hits the 4-month mark, in hopes that their digestive systems are mature enough to handle new foods! Either way, that day will be here before we know it!

Update!

I did it! I got everything packed yesterday, so today I can spend time getting caught up on here (and, you know, cleaning, etc. Oh, and playing with my new camera!)

Anyway, to keep you entertained while we're out and about in the Windy City this week, I'll give you a little bit today, and then set it up that you'll also get new posts over the next couple of days. Lucky you! ;)

We have been so busy lately! On September 13th, we had the "Party at Elise and Avery's Crib", where we got to catch up with lots of old friends, and the girls got to meet some more of their Aunties and Uncles. They even met a new friend, Abby, who is just a few days older than them. No pictures from that entire day, sorry!

The 14th was the "Hurricane of the Midwest", so the rest of last week was a bit off, what with no power, phone, etc. You read about it, I'll spare you the rehash. (Thank goodness, they all thought.) September 15th was Pappy's birthday, so on the 16th we had dinner at the Lawless' to celebrate. We were there anyway, after all, for post-"storm" stuff! You will, of course, get an entry celebrating the girls 3-month birthday with the traditional monthly pictures!

On Wednesday, September 17th, Kyle and the girls got to join Cassi, Thea and I for the 2nd Annual Bark in the Park at the Great American Ballpark. You may recall this entry recapping last year's event. The club didn't go all out this year so I was somewhat disappointed in several aspects, but it was a good time nonetheless. More on that later!

Throw in a few overnight call days for Kyle, and the rest of the week went by pretty much without incident. Playing, running errands galore, lots of laundry, etc. Nothing too exhilerating! ;)

On Saturday (9/20), we took the girls to Kings Island with Grandma Shelly! Sure, it was mostly so Kyle and I could get our thrill ride fix (it's been entirely too long!) but the girls enjoyed the sights and sounds, and even got to ride a couple of rides in Kiddie Land. Sadly though, they had to sit on a stupid bench on the Carousel. Some rule about needing their feet covered in order to ride a horse .......? Whatever. We have a few pictures to share from that day, so stay tuned!

This week has just begun, but we've been busy as usual! Monday I took the girls to the studio for their rescheduled 3-month portraits. They were less than stellar to say the least, but we will have a few to show for the effort anyway! We have a family shoot scheduled in a couple of weeks, so hopefully the girls will cooperate a bit better then!

Yesterday was spent packing for this trip to Chicago, and discovering that I need to be a bit scared about flying to Disney in March! It will be fine, I'm just going to have to start planning my packing strategy in the next week or two! Ok, maybe not. But by January, for sure! :-P Seriously, we take so much stuff as a 4-person family! Thank goodness for lots of trunk space, this time around!




So after that lovely (boring) recap, I will leave you with a few pictures, that don't fit in the upcoming entries. Hope everyone is doing well!


Elise, after seeing Avery rock out at Guitar Hero, takes on the Nintendo



















Happy girls during one morning play session. So big!
































Elise's new favorite sleep position

Cheapies....

{Editors note: I searched high and low for a picture of the Cheapies trophy. This post would have really only been funny with it, but whatever. }

The award for --

Least Valuable Old Lady goes to the woman who, during a recent trip into Kentucky said, "Do you have twins?", and - after hearing my completely unnecessary answer (she did have sight, after all), "Oh, no!"... as she walked away, shaking her head. Huh?

Runner up in previous category goes to the next lady in the checkout at the same exact store, who said "Oh, I would NEVER want twins. That stinks", this one sticking around long enough to give me a sympathetic look that would rival one seen at a funeral. Again, huh? And to think, the girls were SLEEPING during this outing... goodness knows what these gems would have come up with if they would have caught us in a screaming fit ;)

Worst Place to Change a Poopy Diaper goes to Indigo Casual Gourment Cafe, in Hyde Park. FABULOUS restaurant, not so baby friendly. I don't expect the boutique-y place to have a Koala Kid Kare Station, but seriously... thank goodness for disposable changing pads in a well-stocked diaper bag. Otherwise, Avery would have been lying on grimy bathroom tile. Yuck.

Least Bus-Friendly Location goes to Panera Bread in Bridgewater Falls. The girls and I go out. A lot. We've been to some interesting places for a mom with 2 infant girls (example: Micro Center, where the tech guys had no idea how to handle us ;)). Some of them are easier than others, some require some serious creativity. The bus handles quite well (the reason we got it, because it infinitely simplifies all of our daily Mommy+Daughter+Daughter outings!).... but maneuvering through an arrangement of chairs that I could hardly fit through by myself (sans stroller) was quite a sight!

And finally, the inspiration for this post, the Cheapie for

Most Awkward Trip through a Set of Doors goes to me, while shopping at the JCPenney in Fairfield Township. There are 'handicap access' panels (you know, the ones that open doors "automatically" after someone pushes them), but they don't work. No worries, those things are usually too slow anyway. I don't like to sit around and wait, you know! So I did my should-be-trademarked maneuver, perfected while shopping all day at Prime Outlets a while back, in which I open the door, half-pull/half-push the stroller in using given hold points, squeeze by it and thrust it the rest of .... never mind. I can't describe it to save my life, but trust me - it's impressed a few people ;). It's a skill that comes only from taking twin infants out alone, on a regular basis, in a world where lots of people don't give a darn to help you out ;). So anyway, I was in the middle of this little trick I do, when the door apparently breaks (or the mechanism that makes it close slowly anyway) and it just shuts. Quickly. (Those doors are heavy!) Pushing the stroller (and me) through a bit less smoothly than anticipated.


I can only hope that someone is watching the security footage one day, and can be as entertained as I was! :-P

Aaagh!

Ok, so I have added to my "Before Chicago" list to try and get pictures off the camera, the blog updated, etc. I can't promise anything, but I wanted to check in. The power outages last week really threw me for a loop, so this week has been spent catching up (girls' portraits today, among other things that had to be rescheduled from last week).

I will warn you though, the list is quite long.... so if I haven't updated by the time we leave on Wednesday, know that you'll have even more updates when we return! Until then, I have 2 fussy girls to attend to (why not? I'm not busy :-P)

Hope you're all doing well!

Around Town...

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