Birthday Week

The last week of October is Birthday Week at our house.  Mine is on the 27th an Brandon's is the 30th.

The first part of the week started a bit rough.  We had just gotten back from vacation and Jedi was sick, then Daddy went back to work after having him with us nonstop for a week.  So, I think Jedi had some separation anxiety.  He nursed around the clock that Monday that B went back to work, which is really unusual at this point (he only nurses twice a day now for very short periods).
 
Tuesday October 27: 
I treated myself to Panera for lunch on my birthday with the cutest little date there ever was.

That evening I opened gifts from Brandon and Jedi.

With a bit of help, of course.

Brandon got me the back massager I had requested....

.....and Jedi got me several pairs of my favorite fuzzy socks (my current ones are a bit holey).

Then my parents came in town for dinner that night and surprised me by bringing my Mamaw too!

We all had dinner at Cracker Barrel.

Then had some cupcakes back at our house before they hit the road back to Lville.

Thursday October 29:
Two days after my birthday I started to feel bad.  :-/  Jedi snuggled with me and giggled at the fact that I was laying on the couch (I guess he never really sees me laying down).

And he, thankfully, amused himself while I rested and shivered with a fever.

Random video insertion:

Around this time he really started walking better!

Friday October 30:
The next day was Brandon's birthday.  I was feeling much better that day and so we attended our twice monthly group study, where we celebrated him with pumpkin pie (his favorite).

Jedi was entertained by our host, Jim, on the guitar when he started to get sleepy and fussy.

Saturday October 31 (Halloween):
Brandon's parents came in town and brought lunch and more pumpkin pie.  Unfortunately I had taken a major turn for the worst and was sick in bed for almost all of their visit.  I was extremely nauseous, had severe body aches, shivering terribly, and had absolutely no appetite.  It was awful.

But I was glad that they got to celebrate with Brandon.  And I made a couple appearances for brief moments.

Bev also brought a "Pike" - a pie baked inside a cake!

That evening I mustered up enough strength to visit a few neighbors with our Jedi Master, Yoda.

Yoda was training Luke Skywalker in the ways of the force.

Low and behold, we ran into another Yoda/Luke who live in the next court over!

I felt even worse the day after Halloween (not sure I've ever been that sick!), but started to turn around soon after and was back on my feet with a good appetite after a couple days.

Tuesday November 3:
We finally got to celebrate Brandon's birthday together at our favorite German place in town, Marikka's.

We love their massive pretzels!

Then B opened his gifts from Jedi and I.

I got him a fun t-shirt

And Jedi got him some new wrist bands and a charger for his Fitbit.

All-in-all, birthday week didn't go quite as expected, but it was still a great week, nonetheless (except for that whole me-being-deathly-sick part, but we'll just pretend that didn't happen).

Rocking Chair

Jedi's Papaw (Brandon's dad), built him a rocking chair.  After a few flips over the side face-first, he's finally learned how to get in and out of the chair with ease.

Elephant Shapes

Jedi is getting good at putting his shape blocks into his elephant (with a bit of help from Daddy)

Mr. Content

I don't know how we got blessed with such a great little guy for a son, but I'm so thankful for him.  He is *such* a joy. 

He plays by himself so contentedly, it amazes me.  He loves anything with wheels and will happily roll things back and forth for long periods of time.  Here's a couple videos of him entertaining himself.

Poor Buddy

The day after we got back from vacation, Jedi projectile vomited a few times.  Poor Thing just wanted to snuggle and sleep after that.  Brandon happily obliged and held him while he slept for hours.

He'd wake up occasionally with a bit of energy and would want to play a bit, all pitiful like, only to get tired and sleep again.  Thankfully his first stomach bug only lasted about 24 hours.

Chicago

October 18-22 - Our first family (of three) vacation!!!

Sunday, October 18:

We drove to Chicago to get away for a couple days.  We love this city and have been twice before together -- once when we got engaged in 2011, and a again for a friend's wedding in 2013.

See Jedi in the baby mirror?

We stopped a couple times on the way there.  Once just north of Cincinnati at a Sam's club for pizza.....

......and to burn off some energy.

And once at a Meijer in West Lafayette to ride the horsey.....

.....and then a Starbucks to see Barrett (our good friend & favorite musician) in W.L. as well.

After about 6 hours in the car, we arrived at our home for the week.  We were renting out the 2nd floor of this house.  We found it on VRBO.com and it was a great home base for our vacation!

Living Room

Dining Room

Dining/Kitchen

Bathroom

Our Bedroom

Jedi's Bedroom

We set up the pack-n-play half-way into the closet so that there was still room for our portable rocking chair.

A view out the front window

Also out the front window, you can see the elevated tracks near the center of the picture -- a close walk away to the train to be in downtown Chicago in minutes.

Monday, October 19:

Our first morning there, we all had a bit of trouble getting going.  Jedi sleepily (and cutely) ate his bananners. 

Our first stop was Navy Pier.

It was mostly shut down for the season, but it was still a great place to walk around and get great views of the city.

We stopped at a photo booth as well (it's become a tradition for us with Jedi)

Then we headed over to The Bean

Priztker Pavilion was next, where we had a snack and fed some birds.

Then on to Buckingham Fountain (too bad it was already off for the season).

By this time, poor Jedi had had enough site-seeing and fell asleep.  We walked him around the stroller for a bit and then decided we ought to head back to the house for a real nap.

He really enjoyed riding the trains.

That night for dinner, we had Giordano's.

Of course, by the time it had cooked (takes about 45 minutes), Jedi was done sitting at the restaurant, so we took it home and ate it instead while we watched baseball.

Tuesday, October 20:

The first stop this day was the Lincoln Park Farm-in-the-Zoo.  It's an annex of the Lincoln Park Zoo. 
 
We fed the cows....

.....pointed at some birds.....

....and saw some chicks (among other animals).

Then we headed over to the actual Zoo.

We stood like flamingos.....

.....were preyed upon by a bobcat.....

......roared at some lazy lions....

.....saw some zebra....

.....clapped spontaneously....

........and were completely and utterly......

.....mesmerized by the rhino.

Jedi also got to sit on a (fake) hippo.

We had a great, full day at the zoo before riding the bus back to our house for a nap.

That evening, we rode the train to see some friends.

We visited Shaun, Andreea and their new little guy, Baby E.  Isn't he a doll?

Wednesday, October 21:

We rode the train for one last visit to downtown.

We saw the Chicago sign and visited Merchandise Mart.

We thought seriously about buying tickets for the Cubs playoff game.  But when we learned we'd have to buy a ticket for Jedi too (playoff rules require tickets for everyone, even though regular season allows 2 and under free), we decided not to fork out the cash for a seat that wouldn't be used.  It was a good thing too, since the Cubs lost that night.

Then it was back to the house for an afternoon nap, but not before Daddy and Jedi had some fun wrestling.

After the nap, we decided to explore the area near the house where we stayed.  There is a really cool walking track just a couple blocks away.  It's called The 606.  It's an old train line that was converted into trails and green space.  Because it was a train line, it is elevated above the streets and runs uninterrupted through several neighborhoods.

We walked around a bit and explored some, then we decided to head back and get packed up so we could get an early start the next day.

Thursday, October 22:

Our vacation had come to an end.  We loaded up our car and started our journey home.

We passed U.S. Cellular Field (home of the White Sox) on the expressway on the way out of town.

We made a stop somewhere in Indiana at a Wal-mart to burn off some energy.

And Jedi was none too happy to be home.  He was DONE being in the car seat (and little did we know at the time but, the next day he would be sick with a stomach virus).