Feeling Wicked

The best thing happened Saturday! Yes, we went to Wicked, but that is not even the best thing. The best thing was that Ada didn't cry at all while we were gone! Hooray. You know you are too much into being Mom when a Broadway musical takes second to the fact that your children were happy while you left them with someone else. No, for real- the play was awesome, we really enjoyed it and the theater was beautiful. It was so fun to be on a special date with Stephen and on our own. The Christensons watched Ada and Beth and Nathan watched Odessa. One kid instead of 2 means half the work for the poor people we leave them with! ha ha Did I mention Ada didn't cry? Oh, just checking. We were so glad we took the opportunity while we are in Chicago to see one of the big shows they have here. I think it's actually leaving in July, so we are doubly glad. Thank you, thank you to our babysitters, especially Beth and Nathan whom we had to call last minute when Odie's babysitter got sick. And a huge thank you to Danica for teaching my lesson on Sunday. Going to Wicked seems like a lame reason to not be able to prepare a lesson, but it was actually the crazy week of kid sickness and Stephen's thesis that tipped me over the edge. Wicked is a great musical, if you get the chance, go see it (just not on a weekend you need to prepare a church lesson)!

Around the Town

Last Thursday we went down to Stephen's building at UIC, where he works for the Urban Transportation Center and has some classes as well. They were having a Diversity Luncheon and the "diverse" group that week was grad students with kids. It was also a kind of end of the year potluck and mostly a bring your kid to school and show them off day. One administrator brought her dog and it sounds like that dog has more control over that family than most kids have over theirs.
After the lunch, I wasted some time while Ada napped in the car by driving around downtown. I really enjoy the big city. You have to drive completely defensively, you have to watch every stray pedestrian and every deviant taxi driver, but it's exciting. The buildings and the river are just so beautiful, and the energy is appealing. We wanted to go visit the Chicago Public Library, but Ada needed a nap too badly, so we had to settle for driving around it instead. Isn't is a beautiful building? After a while, I went back and picked up Stephen and headed out of town a little ways to the Irving Park area to Noon-a-kabob to meet our friends the Dubiels and Herreras. What a fun dinner! Noon-a is a Persian restaurant, so we were excited to add another ethnicity that we've sampled to our list. The Dubiels were still thinking we were moving in the next couple of weeks, and so they popped out a farewell cake! So nice! Thankfully, we'll still be around when they get back from Florida and so we'll get to hang out again. This time they insist we go to the Cuban sandwich place they love. Add another one to our list! We had so many of those great belly laughs that night, but one of the best was when Stephen ran out into the pouring rain to bring the car around for me and the girls, got there and had to come back to the restaurant to get the keys from me!! It was so funny, we were all dying watching from the entry way. Poor guy, no coat or umbrella. The rain comes on all-of-a-sudden. All together, it was one of those days that makes me want to stay in Chicago forever.

Double Trouble

I hate taking my kids to the doctor. Kids are really miserable when they are sick and you just want them to get better, but usually a Dr's visit goes like this: "well, just give them Tylenol and keep the humidifier on at night, there's nothing else you can really do. that's $100 by-the-way."
However, Odessa's 3-day fever spiked at 103.9 last night and I decided we had better suck it up and go in. When the Dr came in the room, I told her "thank goodness you're here, Odessa just turned down a teddy gram. SOMETHING IS TERRIBLY WRONG."
Double ear infections- I think "rabid" is the word the Dr used, but I was a little unclear on that. Poor kid. Tortured for days while her mother refused to consult higher medical expertise than the back of the Robitussin bottle. Which, by the way, I guess I should not give my kids any cold medicines at all. Turns out they have found them to be pretty useless in kids that little. I say it's because of the level of medicine they deem safe for kids that little is just useless, but that still renders my 5 different children's cold medicines as a complete waste of money.
On a happier note, I have to tell SOMEONE about these cookies- Maurice Lenell cookies. You may ask: why is a dietitian blogging about fat-ladden, sugar-infested cookies?? Well, first and foremost, I am a human and second, a mom. A mom that has had 2 very sick kids on her hands for the last 4 days and a hubby who is pounding out a thesis. Third, I am a dietitian and that third person wouldn't recommend these, at least not at the rate I have been eating them. Cookies are a stressed out woman's best friend. These are made in a little factory a couple of miles from here and they have a little shop in front where you can buy discounted boxes. They are like little Christmas butter cookies, but in like 20 flavors and absolutely HEAVENLY, crisp and melt in your mouth. If you want me to ship you a box, I'd be willing. I guess they are quite the popular corporate gift. "Sorry Larry, no raise this year, but you and your family can enjoy this delicious box of Maurice Lenell cookies!" I'd take that any day.

Not for 2 1/2 yr olds

Let me start by saying I love this book. It's adorable, the rhymes are really cute. I love that it's a story about a llama- who writes about or draws llamas with their funny legs? So we check out this book from the library and Odessa really liked it, requesting it over and over. But Odessa is in this stage where everything is a monster and everything is scary and everyone else is scared too (dolls, inanimate objects, etc.) So after we started reading this book about this llama who is scared without his mama when he's going to bed, Odessa starts waking up at night. A lot. Tuesday night it was 4 times. That is when I had to put away llama, llama and tell Odessa it was out of commission. So we didn't read it at all yesterday and she didn't wake up at all last night. Mmmmm. Not scientific, mind you- but I don't care. No more llamas for her until she's past this scaredy-cat phase.
One thing she's definitely NOT scared of is playground equipment. She was a little hesitant on one of those bouncing bridges that connects two parts of the playground. But she would not take my hand and let me help her across, she still had to do it herself even if it meant scooting on her behind part way. The next time we came, she was very soon running across the bridge, even bouncing on it, all the while shouting "I not scared anymore!!" to the sky and anyone who cared to listen. Now she is conquering all areas of that equipment, climbing up rope ladders and such. If she just would apply such courage to sleep time . . .

Field of Spring

I had two signs of Spring today. Today was one of those sunny, brisk and chilly Spring days when you look out the window and say "looks really nice" and step outside and say "crap! brrrrrrrr". So the first sign was that I saw all kinds of people dressed in all sorts of attire. There was the toddler at the park dressed in a full body snowsuit and then a 10 yr old showed up wearing short shorts. I saw several people in heavy coats and on my way home a man was biking in short sleeves. This kind of Spring day really sorts people into different categories. You've got the ones that don't care what the weather is, the calendar warrants short sleeves (and shorts for some insane 10 yr old) and then the practical people that bundle up regardless of date, temperature is their only concern. I tend to be in the middle somewhere. My kids were in coats and jackets and hoods, I wore many layers with a hooded sweatshirt. Keeps me warm while giving the impression I don't care. ha ha
The second sign of Spring was when I was putting the kids to bed, I heard a bird chirping. It threw me back to the days of my childhood when I had to go to bed when the sun was still out and the birds were still chirping. It was a signal that warmer days were on their way.
I had a great conversation with my friend Amy today about surviving life verses living it. I was impressed with her determination to never feel like she is just "surviving". Of course this had many applications to being full time moms.

This weekend was an example at my attempt to "live" more fully and not just "survive". Stephen was in Seattle for a few days for interviews. I decided to try and go to Lincoln Park Zoo so that the girls and I were not just sitting at home, waiting for him to get back. I asked Nicole and Josh along and since the weather was bad, we were able to switch plans and go to the Field Museum since Nicole had a family pass. What a fun day. The kiddos ran around looking at all the animals and Nicole and I caught up on things. The kids were fairly good, despite Odessa trying to duck under exhibit barriers and their fascination with all computer and television screens. Kudos to Nicole for making the whole thing happen. If left to me, we may have resorted to just hanging at the play ground in the mall!
At the museum, we even happened upon a possible marriage proposal set-up! In the gem room of the museum, it's almost pitch black. The displays are lit up beautifully. In the corner as we were leaving, was a solitary glass box display with a ring box inside showcasing a beautiful engagement ring. The very official placard read something like "This is the actual ring used by "John Doe" to propose on April 12th, 2008." Well, it took us a few minutes to realize that we were THERE on April 12th, 2008, so we figured it must be a set up and a girl was going to get the surprise of her life on her trip to the museum. If we hadn't had kiddos, we could have staked out the spot, waiting for it to happen. But alas, we had to move on. My only hang-up about the idea of getting proposed to in the gem room was that the ring looked a little smallish after being dazzled by GIGANTIC gems!! ha ha, but that's shallow of me, isn't it?

Just stuff about the girls

I have a few random things to post about the girls. Stephen is in Seattle interviewing for jobs, so the three of us are spending lots of quality time together. Odessa asked about "dad" last night when she was brushing her teeth because she saw his toothbrush (he took a travel one). I told her dad was on a trip right now. Ada started saying "da da" and doing her floppy wave "bye-bye". It took me a second to realize what she was doing. I love this age of them figuring things out. She has done this "da da" wave a couple more times when I mention Stephen.
It's fun having 2 kids- they care what happens to the other. If we sing a song with Odessa as main character, she insists that we sing about Ada next. One of her favorite phrases is "Ada's turn!" This applies to taking turns being tickled or getting bubbles blown at them among other things. Ada cares when Odessa is crying and does her best to comfort her by "patting" her on the head which is much more like slapping.
My favorite new thing is this CD- Stories of Jesus that the girls got for Easter from their Grandma. It is SO GREAT! I fell in love with the songs right away and unlike most children's songs, I do not get annoyed by how much they get stuck in my head! How could you get annoyed by a song about Jesus feeding the five thousand? It's the best CD of children's songs I have ever heard and definitely advanced enough to keep me playing it day after day and singing the songs to myself. Anything that keeps Jesus in your thoughts is a good thing if you ask me.

Odessa got her first dinosaur the other day and it was "the" toy for about 24 hrs. She slept with it, fed it, washed it. Now she casually plays with it, but I don't doubt that she will play with it more in the future, she has been interested in dinosaurs for quite some time, and Stephen loves that. You can't tell, but she is "ROARING" in this picture.
For all you moms out there, when do you start letting your little ones wield a spoon of their own? Ada is fixated on getting her chance to feed herself. The random times I allow her to hold a spoon AND the bowl, she gets a gleam in her eye and this magical smile spreads across her face as she looks up at me with wonder. Oatmeal has been safest so far- she can tip her spoon any which way and that stuff won't fall off. That's why I try to avoid the stuff- it's like human glue- I am sure my insides will get all stuck together or something.

Conference and The little Brick House

This weekend was pretty low key with us watching most of General Conference. Since we can only watch it on the internet, we decided this year to take turns going to the stake center and watching sessions. It's just so hard to listen to a computer at home with 2 kids to deal with. So we did that on Saturday. I stayed home with the girls for the morning session and Odessa and I stood up in front of the computer and sustained the new prophet, Thomas S Monson. Odessa loves to sustain people and is always throwing up her hand in church at the mention of anyone's name. It was a neat experience (even if we were in our pajamas). It was especially special to listen to him give his talk on Sunday morning because you could tell he had a new strength behind his words. Elder Holland even mentioned it when he spoke Sunday afternoon.

We had the Christensons over for dinner on Sunday and that was fun. The kids played together pretty well until we had a collective falling down the stairs. I knew it was only a matter of time, so I was not nearly as alarmed as I probably should have been. I have been waiting for that tumbling noise every day as I can hardly keep Ada interested in anything else than climbing those stairs. She sports another bruise on her forehead from the fall.














So, here is a photo of the little brick house Stephen and I fell in love with from a Boise real estate website. So much so, that Stephen declared he would go back to driving school bus if it meant we could move to Boise and buy that house. It sits on .26 of an acre, has a DETACHED garage and cute little cinderblock shed that the posting says would be great for food storage (random, eh?). The inside photos show all original hardwood floors, and built in shelves and closets- it's just CUTE. Sadly, we won't be moving to Boise anytime soon. We heard from the one company Stephen interviewed with that has an office in Boise and they will not be hiring him this Spring. We were dumb enough to peruse real estate websites before we actually had a job offer and now we are sad about our little brick house. As it is not likely that we could afford to buy a house in most of the other cities we are interviewing in, I will not repeat the mistake. The job hunt continues forward, we'll keep you "posted" har har.