"Best Day of My Life"

- Quote from Joe at Chicago Gourmet this weekend.

Better than our wedding day and the birth of Lucy?  Well when you are a "foodie"(I would say "food snob" but Joe says "foodie" which sounds much nicer) and Millennium Park is filled with hundreds of Chicago's best restaurants and wine/beer/liquor vendors for an "all-you-can-eat-and-drink" two-day fest, it ranks right up there.  Last year when Joe went Lucy was just a few weeks old and this sounded like another Taste of Chicago to me, so I was more than happy to stay home with Lucy.  But, Joe got this date on the calendar as soon as the 2011 event was announced and I am so happy I joined him!! Chicago Gourmet was the most amazing food festival right here in the city.  Many of Chicago's best restaurants had a pavilion or tent - Tru, Frontera Grill, Gibson's, Aria, Mercadito.....and hundreds of wineries and breweries sharing drinks.  They hand you a plate and wine glass when you walk in and for the next 6 hours is open bar/open table!  We tried a ton - and although I stuck to wine I did try a peanut butter Goose Island beer and it was strangely so good!  Joe was in heaven with tasting tents, demonstrations by some of his favorite chefs, and unlimited drinks.  I was in heaven being downtown on a beautiful day and not pushing a stroller around, and Lucy got some one-on-one time with her Grandpa Joe, so she was likely in heaven as well.

Definitely a fun weekend in the city and we are looking forward to next year!  Joe stated that he would miss the birth of a future child for Chicago Gourmet.  Not sure if it was the mix of beer, vodka and eventually cognac, but let's not get crazy here.

Let's eat!

It cracked me up but there were fancy plates and fancy seating all around millennium park - couches and wicker tables like we were in a nice restaurant.  (Our friend later collected 30+ of these plates from random people for a baby shower she was hosting because she liked the "wine holder" on it)

Our group at our "home base" 

Joe and Aaron left to get champagne for Aaron's wife, Erin, Both came back with two glasses for themselves, but I don't see any champagne!!

Grandpa and Lulu - when Grandpa offered to babysit he said "it will be fun, we can watch football."  I was thinking "have you met Lucy? She won't cooperate with that plan!" but Lucy put in a good nap for Grandpa so everyone won.

One Year Pics Attempted

Lucy wasn't having a great week last week! She was sick, battling a fever, super fussy, etc.  I make lots of mistakes that usually get filed under "first-time mom" and trying to take not-feeling-100%-Lucy out to a park for a photo shoot tops the list!  I saw Lucy was being fussy that morning so I rescheduled for the following week.  But after taking a little baby Advil and a nap, she woke up all chipper so I called Jen, the photographer and said we were back on!  Well, it turned out that she wasn't feeling all better and we found out quickly.  We were there for only 20 minutes and Lucy cried, hard, for about 18 of them and the only thing that would calm her were her paci (not going to make it into a professional photo!) and daddy's water bottle (again, not getting into the photo).  So, we had to cut it short but did get a few shots that will always remind us of this day - and one of my really bad "first-time mom" mishaps.  They happen often!

http://jensoaresphotography.blogspot.com/2011/09/lucy.html

Thanks Lucy for putting up with us!!! Maybe we will get some 13-month pics taken to capture your true, happy personality :)!!!!

Navy Pier!!

This Saturday Beth and Rob wanted to take Lucy out for a special birthday "date" so Joe and I wanted to spend some time with our nieces - we never get to spend time with just the two of them and it was so entertaining and fun to be with these two girls!!!!  It was nice outside so we did some of the rides - the train and ferris wheel - and we had an 11:00 am ice cream break.  Because, that is what aunts and uncles are for! Ice cream and nail polish (which I bought the girls, but before everyone freaks out, it is kid-friendly, non-toxic.) 

Abigail remembered to buckle both girls up, of course!

Wonder what Miss Caitlin really thinks of this ride?!

My little lovelies

Weeeeee!!! (Actually we didn't know if we were actually moving the entire time because the ferris wheel was so SLOW!)

Checking out the view....

And some new water bottles in honor of Beth's kidney stones that remind us all to drink more water - it doesn't hurt to start young

Ice cream before noon! yay!

What's New with Little Lu?

Time for a little update on all Lucy's favorite things, new "talents" and strange quirks that make us love her all so much!

Lucy has definitely found her voice in more than a few ways!  She has a few words in her vocabulary such as "bye-bye," "duck," "puppy" and "ball" and has started trying to mimic a lot of the things we say/do.  Along with starting to find her independence, Lucy is definitely showing us she is strong-willed.  There is a lot of "no" head shaking when she doesn't like what is on the menu, doesn't want milk (which is always), doesn't want to change, etc.  It is so cute, but I am sure that will change quickly when we just want her to drink her milk so we can move on with the day :)

Milk? No. Soy milk? No. Formula mixed with milk? No. We recently tried the switch to whole cow's milk and Lucy wasn't having it, so we are now on whole milk kefir and drinkable yogurt (banana flavor only).  She will only drink flavored kefir, out of the original package, not in a sippy cup.  DIVA!!  Although she doesn't love milk, this girl loves water - out of a bottle, sippy, glass cup, bath tub - she isn't a diva when it comes to getting some water.  

Lucy goes back and forth between being a good eater and being really stubborn.  Like any kid has her favorites:  greek yogurt tops her list, along with cheese, waffles, blueberries, hummus, ham/turkey and lately peaches.  She is a light weight (only 15 lbs) so we are on a new diet of adding butter, oil and higher fat foods to meals whenever possible.  I know she is getting plenty of fat in her diet, and think the low weight is just from the fact that she is so active these days! 

Lucy is busy.  She is in two music classes every week (Mondays and Wednesdays) and on Fridays she takes a "gym" glass at Gymboree.  All the classes are really different and she really does love all of them, as do I!  It is so fascinating to watch Lucy interact with other kids, other moms and her teachers.  She is starting to get so comfortable in each of the studios/spaces.  Starting in the winter, we are hoping to start a mommy/toddler class at a local preschool to see how she likes the school - as she can start as a 2-year-old next fall for a few days a week there - and hopefully a swimming class as well. 

She has lots of favorite toys and games at home, but she loves balls and used to spend all day throwing them.  Now, she has moved onto soccer, which she learned from dad, and walks around the house kicking her balls and sometimes sippy cups or anything else that she thinks is going to roll.  She also loves her "connects" she got for her bday.  The serve as a toy, and sometimes they become a paci when she can't find one.  She also loves her music table from the Abigail and Caitlin and her shape sorters.     Outside of actual toys, she loves to empty her bath toy cabinet daily, loves trying to get into the laundry room to check out the vaccuum (she is good at holding the cord for me as I vaccuum), throwing things into the bath tub, throwing toys down the stairs and watching up go up and down and get them and of course loves to carry our cell phones around and talk to everyone we call.   So, there isn't a lot of down time in our home these days because if I am not keeping her occupied, she is bound to be trying one of the above!  

Lucy seems to learn something new every day - but she is getting great at putting things away - into baskets and dropping things when we show her to, she is doing a great job holding her spoon to feed herself and, just last week, learned how to put her spoon down instead of throwing it on the floor (yeah Lucy!). She loves to dance and starts dancing whenever we say the word, and walks around the house pointing at things she wants to see (like pictures along the wall or books in her book case.)  She has recently started doing things like using the brush to brush her hair, points the remote at the tv, and the other day tried to give her paci to her baby doll.  She is definitely an observant little one!!

Pics, Pics and More Pics

I will find out very shortly if too many pictures can crash a blog.  Wow, we have a lot of pictures from this weekend - there was Lucy's 1st bday party (316 photos thanks to cousin Kristy, John and Will who shot like hired photographers), a weekend visit from Aunt Jill and Uncle Jake, a trip to Navy Pier and the Children's Museum and much more!  Sadly, we always forget about our video camera so from here on out, I am going to be better about getting some videos of these special moments!

Enjoy and THANK YOU to everyone who celebrated with us this weekend!!!!

Tomorrow I turn 1!!!

I can't wait to pull your beard Uncle Jake! Thanks for my new Ramones t-shirt!

Checking out my new moose all the way from Finland.  If it goes missing, I know exactly who to blame....Grammy!

All for me?! What is with all the monkeys?

My Curious George book from daddy

My new suitcase/backpack

Happy Birthday to Me!!!!!

Precious......

This is the best 12-month photo we got - she is too smart for us and that sticker doesn't last a second

Now onto the real reason I woke up today (In no particular order)

DADDY'S GIRL!!!!!

So precious!!!!

I hope there is a swimming ducky somewhere in all these gifts....

Sharing (at the moment) with my cousins

Twin Grammys

Some of the men - likely discussing their fantasy teams

Grandma and Great Grandma - what good looking ladies I have in my family!

Hanging out with my Aunt and photographer for the night, Kristy

Happy Birthday to me!!!!!

I am not sure about this hat, but I do know I love cake!

mmmm...and for everyone wondering, my dress came out of the wash like new!!

Giving a kiss to my big cousin Caitlin.  It looks like mommy needs to do some laundry when all I have to wear is my boy pjs.  

Uncle Jake and Aunt Jill were busy bodies all weekend and did a lot of sight-seeing and hanging out with friends, taking advantage of the city.  On Monday, they headed to the Field Museum and we took our typical naps and then decided to head to Navy Pier for the day.  It turned out to be one of those amazing, spontaneous days!! Lucy loved the Children's Museum so much that we decided to buy a membership so we could head down there all winter.  We took Lucy on her first carousel ride, had a nice lunch in the Crystal Garden area and did some souvenir shopping to remember Lucy's first trip there.  We love doing touristy things in the city and this day was definitely one of them!

Checking out the Build-A-Bear shop

Doing something with tubes

Playing in the water world

Catching some fish in the "Big Backyard"

Getting some courage to go down the slide

Doing a little cooking....look how proud daddy looks in the corner, seeing how well I take to a stove!

Next in line!!! Can't wait to pick my horse!

Nobody told me we were going to be sitting in one of the lame seats! Who picks these mom?

Ending the day with my new souvenir - my owl hat!

So sad that Aunt Jill is leaving!!!

Some last-minute balloon playtime with Auntie and Uncle before they head back to Boulder!

Turning "1" is fun!!!!

Happy First Birthday to our amazing little Lulu!!  Lucy spent the day with pretty much everyone she knows - her grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, great grandma, great aunts, and even daddy's friend Brian Kilmer who may never talk to daddy again after being invited to a first birthday party.....which daddy should have mentioned would be all family. Poor Brian!!!! But, it did give Aunt Katie a chance to meet her future hubby so it worked out all well!

We were so excited to wake Lucy up, singing "Happy Birthday" - it was so cute to see the smile on her face (maybe that was the fact that both of us entered into her room at the same time singing, or maybe she actually work up knowing it was her birthday, but she smiled!) and from there on, we wanted to make it her special day.  So, we ate our favorite foods all day (cheese, blueberries, pancakes and greek yogurt) and had a lot of playing!!! We had high hopes that she would open her gifts from us and get excited and play with them all afternoon - but she just watched us play with them and pointed at the balloons and tissue paper balls.  I should have wrapped those up!!!

Lucy's party was so much fun and we are so so grateful to everyone who came on a holiday weekend to celebrate with her!!!  She was one spoiled little girl and we can't believe how thoughtful everyone is to our little peanut.  From her new Radio Flyer Pony (a project for Joe this evening!), to her new princess balls, her new princess suitcase, her bike that has replaced our stroller these days, her hamburger and french fry t-shirt that Joe would like in his own size, to her fun outfits and special "1" Snow White train from her Great Grandma, Lucy is one very very lucky little lady!!!

Pics to be uploaded as soon as we locate the white USB cord :)!! Also, watch for Lucy on Tuesday morning as her pic will be on NBC's "First Birthdays!"

Happy 1st Birthday Sweet Little Lucy!!!! You make your mommy and daddy so incredibly happy and proud.  Thank you for all you have taught us this first year and filling our lives with so much happiness and love.  We hope you know how special of a little girl you are!!