On the 8th day of Christmas...

... I finally recapped Christmas.

Side note: So sad to see everyone taking down decorations already! EVERYONE WAS SO EAGER TO PUT THEM UP BEFORE THANKSGIVING. Christmas lasts until the Epiphany! You know the wise men were still men, right? Aka it took them a minute to figure out where Baby Jesus lay. They did not arrive the night He was born. Had a woman been in that little caravan, they would have likely gotten there sooner and maybe brought a little something for Mary as well - here girl, you look like you need a drink because you just gave birth in a stable and are dealing with postpartum messiness but instead, here are some expensive gifts for you to lug back home with you.

Anyways, now that I got that off my chest, let's move on to Christmas. We put up our dinky little Korea tree in NY, and then promptly took it down two weeks later when we moved out of our apartment. We were lucky enough to have the same movers that helped us move in, help us move out. They were quick and nice and efficient, and best of all, I did not have to actually move anything myself! A real Christmas gift, if I do say so myself. We thought we'd be outta there by the time we picked the kids up from school, but our timelines are always a little skewed, and of course we ended up not leaving until about 7:30. Our sweet landlord helped us move the final boxes out onto the truck and loaded kids in carseats as well. He and his wife have been texting ever since to check on us and make sure we got the mail they sent to us and asking about the kids. I really do miss them and hope to see them again someday soon! We took a very long and slow drive to PA that night since the moving truck could only seem to hit a top speed of 55mph....

On Saturday, we loaded the stuff we had stored in Steve's parents' basement during an ice storm; mostly holiday decorations and a deep freezer and a few other odds and ends, like 47 tubs of kids' clothes that I have meticulously washed and folded and bagged and labeled. I now know better than to part with kid clothes. THAT WAS DUMB, 2013 Jenn. Real dumb. The plan for the next day was to send Steve off to MN with the truck and the kids and I were going to drive down to VA to visit my sweet friend Sam and her kids that I haven't seen in ages, and a few other friends on the way back up. Well, the kids' immune systems had other plans. They were all hacking up a lung and sounding like chain smokers, so we canceled. I did not want to infect anyone and everyone right before Christmas. I was feeling kinda crummy too but then realized that maybe I could help Steve with the move.... We checked the return flight that we had booked months before and there were still seats (imagine that, Fargo to Philly wasn't sold out!) so we went downstairs and asked Steve's mom... Bless her heart, I don't think she had enough coffee in her system to realize exactly what was being asked of her. Because those three for five days equates to A LOT OF WORK. But she did not hesitate in saying yes. So we got to work throwing a bag together for me, writing out what Will's daily schedule/eating looks like, and giving the big kids a speech about how Santa hasn't come yet and we can still cancel this holiday if you don't act like damn saints for your grandmother while we're gone DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME. No one seemed terribly torn up over the fact that I would be absent for a few days and I think I was most sad to leave Will, as I've never been apart from him so long before. I'm actually not sure I've been apart from the other two that long either, but they talk a lot, so it takes away a bit of the sting. Hehe But my BABY. (tears)

Will was fine, of course. Turns out that someone other than me can keep him alive and well. Major blow to my ego. It was definitely nice to get away, even if it was super weird to not have any kids with us. We got about three hours away before we got a phone call that there had been "an incident."

It involved Molly using a handheld vacuum cleaner and sucking her hair up into it. As my MIL is telling me this, my only real concern was her hair. IS IT IN TACT?! She mentioned that she had to cut a small piece out but it wasn't noticeable. (And to be honest, I still haven't located the missing piece, so they did a great job with that.) I assumed that was all, but then she mentioned that the vacuum also hit her in the head and she had a cut. (This could seriously only happen to Molly.) So she sent me a picture of the cut and was inquiring with the neighbor doctor as to whether or not he thinks she needed stitches.

Well. My baby just can't have stitches! Not without me there! Coming on this roadtrip was such a mistake! I should be at home protecting Molly and her beautiful hair from vacuum cleaners! A threat I previously did not know existed!

My MIL took her to a children's hospital in Delaware. Steve was slightly offended that when he needed ten stitches under his eye as a child, that he was taken to the local hospital up the road, while Molly's tiny gash deserved a trip to a special hospital in Delaware. I mean, for real Steve, suck it up, it's just an eye. You have TWO, for cryin' out loud. Poor Molly only has one beautiful blemish-free forehead! It must be preserved!!

After speaking with my nurse friend and Steve and studying the picture we had, we decided that she did not need stitches, despite all of the people that were seeing this wound firsthand saying she did. It just looked so tiny! Stitches are so traumatic for someone who hates needles and doesn't have her mommy with her to comfort her. The ER doc was nice enough and agreed to wash it and apply steristrips, despite the fact that she thought she needed stitches. ("She's a girl. And it's her face." Yes. I see. She also has a personality and is notoriously clumsy and if she has a small scar, she can feel free to make up a cool story about how she got it when she's older.)

Anyways, spoiler alert, it has magically healed and even though I think it will fade away on its own, I still feel a small amount of guilt over whether she'll scar or not (and resent me for not going through with the stitches) so I ordered some Mederma cream to hopefully help it fade even more.

So Steve and I continued on with the trip.

I continued having complete thoughts and sitting in silence and having conversations with my husband and only feeding myself (and occasionally Steve because TEN AND TWO, safety first!) and it was so wonderful. Yes, we were going slower than molasses in the winter, but we were together and had so much time to just talk. It was wonderful. The first time in over six years that we've had that much time to ourselves without kids. If it hadn't been for all the not-sleeping and constant driving and heavy lifting and moving, it would have felt like a vacation! Maybe in another six years or so we'll get around to that.

The first night, we stopped short of Chicago, and it was frickin' freezin'! I got hotel coffee just to warm my hands up. I can't remember the last time I slept so hard. What is it about those king size hotel beds? They are so comfortable despite my germaphobic tendencies. The next night we had made it to MN. We stopped in a town about 45 minutes away because there are no hotels in the town we were headed to, and it just seemed like a good stopping point. We hit up McDonalds for a quick breakfast the next morning. As if Steve wasn't ready to fall in love with MN already, the decor in the McDonalds alone really sealed the deal for him.

Fish tables, camo-clad people everywhere, NICE people everywhere, American flags, etc. It's like he was born in the wrong state. After breakfast, we started on to our final destination.

Steve is pretending to be the pitchfork farmer from American Gothic, he's not actually mad. And I'm not actually drunk.

We met Rick's dad and wife at our new house and they were still finishing up some parts of it. (We were buying the house from them and they were renovating it before we arrived.) They had had quite a few farm-related catastrophes over the past couple weeks and were not as far along as they'd hoped they'd be when we arrived. Luckily there was plenty of space for us to move things in, and we also had to go buy a refrigerator in town. We stayed plenty busy. The next day we moved the rest of the stuff off the truck. I meant to take a picture of the empty truck, but apparently got excited and only took a picture of an almost-empty truck.

One last morning of sorting and putting things away and Rick's dad dropped us off at the Fargo airport. And look who we got to sit in front of!!

A layover in Chicago at Christmastime- I'm not even mad.

You know, traveling without children is actually VERY NICE. No one to worry about/feed/potty/entertain except yourself. A delay? Who cares? Let's go grab coffee and leisurely walk around the airport! I cannot express how easy and nice it was. SO NICE. VERY NICE. MUCH EASE.

See ya, Chicago! (in a few days. in a car. with a few kids.)

Once we were finally on the last leg home, my brain had time to think about The Next Thing. Not the baby growing in my uterus- that thought won't happen for a few more months at least. The next thing was Christmas! Three days away! Time to get in that jolly mode! Luckily I had gotten every gift off Amazon and had them shipped to my in-laws' house. Unfortunately for my family, I had not even started Christmas shopping. I like to think that they know and understand that I never have (and never will) have my shit together. Maybe one day. In about 19 years or so. We'll see.

Bright and early the next morning we had doctor's appointments! Yay.

Will's ONE YEAR well check (*sob*) where we found out that he is not so well. He had a double ear infection and the doc is concerned about hip dysplasia, so we will need to see an orthopedist in Fargo soon about that. He also still needs his 12 month shots since he could not get them due to being sick. We brought Molly along too because she could not seem to stop hacking up a lung.

She had pneumonia! Falalalaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

We managed to rally despite the circumstances and baked some ill-fated sugar cookies (seriously, sugar cookies are the WORST - to make, not to eat, obviously), decorate the tree, play some dreidel,  and write a letter to Santa.

Omg a crayon

Leave it to a box to entertain everyone

Snuggle time/football

Man, Sam was HOOKED on this game!

Time to "decoration those cookies" as Sam would say

Time to decoration that tree!

I asked Sam what he wanted to write to Santa. He said, "Dear Santa, I would like a remote controlled hovercraft. I would also like a new lego set. And-" Uh, son? It's Christmas Eve. This is not the letter where you ask for things. That ship/sleigh has sailed. This is more like a "thanks for dropping by, have a great night" sort of a note. Wanna say anything like that? "Oh."

What's that? Christmas Eve? Time to get started wrapping some gifts, I guess!

Cursive equals magical, right? Or maybe just illegible.

Sam caught me mid-chug with the milk. I sputtered at him to go back to bed and I don't think he noticed. Then Steve and I stood out on the front steps and chewed up and spit out all the carrots and apples so as to provide some evidence that the reindeer were here. Neighbors already know we are insane so why not.

Christmas breakfast

The kids were overjoyed with everything they received, despite not asking for anything. (And lest that sound holier than thou, they just kinda have no clue that you can ask for things, and they also don't have access to commercials so they have no idea what they should be asking for. I'm trying to keep it this way as long as possible because I'm a control freak, that's why.)

Sam got a nerf football, a karoake machine and a COLLECTION of Raffi CDs (apparently I really pissed off my mom?), a metal Hot Wheels carrying case (that he promptly loaded up with some cars that he lifted from my MIL's house), and a stocking full of winter gear! Yay. Santa brought the boring stuff this year. Luckily for the kids, my MIL stuck a Lego set in there too, and thanks to Dollar Tree, they each got about 10 Smartees, aka little kid sugar crack.
Molly received a little wooden horse stable with horses, a princess dress up set, some stuffed animals, and a stocking full of winter gear! The wool socks were a bigger hit than I anticipated, praise the lord.
Willie got a big ol' light-up music-playin' plastic walker, a soccer ball that also makes noise, and a car dashboard that - you guessed it - also makes noise! We are really lacking sounds at our house. My kids are just so calm and quiet at all times, we feel the need to inject sing-song nursery rhymes and whatnot to really help set the kid mood. Ha!

Trying out her new duds

Nice pic of Steve

Realized I can't handle decorating these things sober

I got to make Christmas dinner this year, and even though it consisted of really simple dishes, it was so tasty!

Last photo as an 11-month-old

No sooner had we wrapped up Christmas and it was time to start prepping for Will's first birthday. Luckily we had gotten some balloons from the Dollar Tree on the 23rd, so at least he'd have the requisite helium birthday balloons. We poorly wrapped his presents and I vowed to make him a cake when I had more energy tomorrow.

"Tomorrow" came darker and earlier than I'd hoped, and I started to realize that I don't really care about first birthdays. It's a great milestone, don't get me wrong. The first year has the biggest learning curve! But there is no real need to have a party. Baby doesn't care and Mama doesn't have the energy to put on some fancy show. So we gave him his gifts and he had a blast playing and soaking up the attention and then Steve and I went and picked out a $6 cake from the grocery store and called it good.

Ball pit was a solid $20 investment - an investment I highly recommend

I get points for remembering to buy a "1" candle though, right?

My sweet BABY!!!

The cake was terrible, as I fully expected, but honestly, this is the most elaborate first birthday party I've thrown yet. Sam ate a cupcake while Steve got called back into work and then promptly threw it up all over the living room rug (a mere six inches from the hardwood floor, I might add too). I bought a cupcake from Publix and split it three ways on Molly's first birthday because Steve was deployed and I was fresh out of shits to give. So a $6 CAKE (an entire miniature cake) and a group of people singing happy birthday is kind of a big deal, y'all.

The next morning, not-so-bright, but definitely very early (kids were up at 430 wtf), we set off for Minnesota. Or at least Illinois- as far as we could get in one day with three kids.

Happy birthdayyyyyyy we're gonna strap you in a carseat for 20 plus hours.

We ended up making it past Chicago and stopping at a hotel just outside of the Wisconsin state line for the night.

Dinner break

We made great time getting to our new home the next day despite some unexpected snow (or should we just always be expecting snow now?). When it came time for dinner, the kids asked where we'd be eating. Hahahahahahaha oh children. There is no restaurant in this town. Where will we be eating? Why the kitchen floor!

The enthusiasm is palpable, isn't it?

Will really knocked it out of the park and pooped at 4:40 the next morning, so that was fun.

And ever since then we've been getting back into our "normal" routine. We've been visiting with our friends and unpacking (furiously at first, but slower now that I'm feeling more put together and less energetic) and although today was supposed to be the first day of school, some overnight snow ended up cancelling school altogether! So we had a play date with our friends and shoveled snow and played outside. Even made a homemade pizza tonight. Freezing but really fun.

#2, #13, #25= DONE

It all started innocently enough; Steve had a four-day weekend coming up and asked me what I wanted to do. As usual, I had no idea. Steve suggested we go somewhere. Because who can take another weekend of sitting here in Clarksville?!

I asked where we should go.

He said we should go to Chicago.

I laughed because that was a very crazy idea.

It would be as easy for us to bee-bop on up to Chicago as it would be for us to re-do our Christmas flights. (AHAHAHAHAHA no.) So that idea fizzled instantly and we were left wondering what on earth we would do to fill up these four days of freedom.

Then....

And just like that, it was back on the table!

I found a great deal on a four-star hotel in the middle of everything in downtown Chicago, researched a couple of "must-do" things, and then hit the jackpot- there was going to be SNOW! So obviously we had to go.

Some sort of switch finally clicked in my head that traveling is not going to get easier once Second Baby arrives in March. And since March is approaching like a herd of wildebeasts, we'd better get to doing some of the things we want to do before we are back on the two-hour feeding leash/nap schedules/bleary-eyed, no-sleep train.

So I booked our hotel on Hotwire. The only downside to booking on this site is that they do not release the hotel name or location until after you book. So that is kind of a gamble. The OCD planning part of me was reluctant to give that kind of control up. Their saving grace is that it does allow you to see the area that you are reserving in, how many other Hotwire users recommend that hotel, and what kind of rating it has (2 stars, 3 stars, 4 stars, etc). I booked this four star hotel and was anxious to check my email and see where we were staying. We were booked at the Hotel Felix. Steve said it sounded super-shady, like a bad Motel 6. But it was actually ultra-swanky and I cannot believe that we stayed in this place for so cheap. You could definitely walk in and tell that we booked on Hotwire, while everyone else there could actually afford to pay full price and then some. But! We lived it up. It was fun to stay in such a nice hotel.

Ok I should start from the beginning- the trip. We left on Friday morning at 9am. We dropped the dogs off at their *fabulous* little resort and continued north. I should mention that on Thursday, it actually snowed here. Like, they canceled FRG meetings and school and such, and while I am from a part of the south that sees NO snow, even I found it to be a bit ridiculous. It appeared to be snowing "hard" but nothing was icing over or sticking all that much.
So we drove in the snow and it was great. Actually, I didn't do any of the driving. Since Steve is our resident snow-driving-expert, he took the wheel and did his thing. Sam was some sort of angel-baby that took naps, looked out the window, played with the toys I gave him, ate his snacks, and patiently waited for us to arrive at our destination.

Since we drove through Tennessee (that's the half of Ft Campbell that we live in so I'm counting it), Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois in one day, I am counting #2 on my list as completed. The trip itself was about 7.5 hours, but it was so enjoyable since we were driving on a lot of little country back roads, looking at true SNOW, and wondering what Chicago had in store for us.

We arrived at our hotel after minimal city traffic only to pick our jaws up off of the freezing sidewalk when we realized that someone (possibly me, cough cough) did not read the website correctly concerning parking. I remember reading that parking was included. Or maybe it said that hotel parking was AVAILABLE. Poh-tay-tow, poh-tah-tow. I thought that surely there were other parking decks in the area. But after asking the hotel receptionist, she informed me that the closest parking deck that offered overnight parking was a few blocks away, charged $30 a night, and charged $30 every single time you took your car out. And since we planned on using our car to get to a few key destinations, it ended up being cheaper to use the valet parking at the hotel.

YEOWCH. Maybe I am sounding a bit cheap right now. Maybe this is the going rate for valet parking at fancy hotels in big cities. Maybe I am just poor white trash. But that felt like an awful lot to be paying for parking my car.

But we moved on! Recovered from the sting of that sticker shock and went up to see our room. We were on the 12th floor (the top floor of that hotel- do you think our room position had anything to do with the fact that they knew we were bringing a baby?).

I called ahead and requested a crib, so we did not even have to bring our pack-n-play!

As usual, I wasted no time turning this place into baby-central.

towel bar bottle drying rack

After unloading all of our stuff in the room, we decided to walk a few blocks to a pizza joint called Gino's. Hoping that the wait wasn't fifteen hours long and that the six thousand snacks I brought along would keep Sam occupied while we ate dinner, we bundled up and headed out.

Sam was not the biggest fan of his puffy coat and seemed to resemble the little brother from the movie "A Christmas Story."

We ordered the classic Chicago-style deep-dish pizza, only to be informed that since they are all baked fresh (this is a good thing!), it would be at least 45 minutes before it was ready (this is not a good thing!). We figured that the worst case scenario would involve us asking for a to-go box and eating it in the bathroom of our hotel room while Sam slept. We didn't have to do that though because Sam was a champ!

We ordered some yummy breadsticks.

Bad, bad iPhone picture..

Steve ordered a beer.

Sam wanted a breadstick.

We eventually got pizza!

The lighting was really awful in this place. Also, this whole post contains a mix of iPhone photos and "real camera" photos, so that explains some of the crappy pictures thrown in here.

After dinner, we walked back towards our hotel. We brought a little cooler with us for the drive up that contained Sam's milk, but we were running low and needed to get some more. Thankfully, there was a Whole Foods located about a block from our hotel. Can I just geek out for a second and say that going into that grocery store was AMAZING??? The variety, the organic selection, the produce, the wines, the cheeses! To be in a store that does not consider mozzarella to be an "exotic" cheese was so nice! We got the cutest little pint of milk you ever did see, some fruit for Sam's breakfast the next morning, and a couple yogurts for his snacks, then headed back to the hotel.

Steve and I knew that the nighttime part of this trip was going to be the hardest. Sam goes to sleep super-early here at home, and is used to sleeping in his own room without a ton of noise. So we were a little concerned as to how this hotel-sleeping experience was going to go for us. We had planned to camp out in the bathroom until bedtime, playing cards. But we found that we could stick Sam in a little alcove by the door and open the bathroom door all the way so that it blocked off his part of the room. Then Steve and I were able to play cards on the bed until an hour that is reasonable for adults to go to sleep. Like, 8:30pm. Heh. Sam only woke up once, and I think he lost his pacifier and then freaked out because nothing looked familiar. Once Steve and I got up and reassured him that we were there and he was fine, he went straight back to sleep and woke up in a very nice mood.

I mean, how could you NOT wake up in a nice mood when you sleep fourteen hours and then wake up to beautiful SNOW falling outside of your window??? We got all bundled up again and drove towards Millenium Park to see the Cloud Gate and Lake Michigan.

Onesie, jacket, coat, hat, mittens, socks, shoes, and two pairs of pants. Think he'll be warm enough?

We stopped at a Dunkin Donuts on the way to feed Sam and get some hot coffee.

Then we busted out the jogging stroller and tucked Sam in there as snug as a bug in a rug. (Our jogging stroller has the largest canopy out of all of our strollers, so we thought that would provide the most wind protection for him and keep him the warmest.)

He turned out to HATE it though. We're still not sure why (though we suspect it was the puffy coat). We tried the canopy up, thinking he wanted to see more. We tried the canopy down, thinking there was too much wind in his face. We kept checking to make sure his hat wasn't covering his eyes. We kept readjusting his blanket because he tried his hardest to kick it off. Regardless of what we did, he screamed. And screamed. And screamed. We did a quick tour around the park to see the "highlights" and headed back to the car, utterly defeated by the tiny screaming person.

Despite pushing that miserable little whiner around, you can see how much I'm loving the snow and cold weather, right???

In front of the snow-covered Cloud Gate

Notice that happy person in the stroller!

After rushing back to the car and calming Sam down with the melodic tunes of Jason Aldean (I swear that is the only thing that calms him down while we're driving, and listening to that cd on repeat for HOURS is not doing good things for my mental health...), we decided that driving around would be our best option to see the city. Luckily for us, Sam passed out after about ten minutes of driving and we were able to stop along one of Chicago's "beaches" and snap a picture. I seriously debated whether or not I should ACTUALLY stick my toe in there, but the spot we stopped at had a ledge, so it would have been impossible unless I'd gone polar bear style and hopped on in completely.

 

Exploring the city via car drive was actually really fun. We drove along Lakeshore Drive and saw the many parks that the city offers right along Lake Michigan. People were everywhere, playing with dogs, cross-country skiing, sledding, running, etc. We eventually ran out of road and started driving through the city. Which is when we came upon this...

We don't know exactly what was going on, but it was some sort of Indian parade. Or protest. Or funeral procession. Hmm. We drove through the Middle-Eastern section of town, through the Asian part of town, into the European side of town, and it was AWESOME. At least I thought it was awesome. Being from a small town, I am not used to seeing things like this and found it very interesting. After all of our driving, we arrived at Superdawg, a 50's-style drive-in restaurant that features the Chicago dog.

Obviously, we ordered the Superdawg.

I promise there was an actual hotdog buried under there somewhere. It was quite tasty. While I prefer ketchup on my hotdogs (I know, some number one cardinal sin among hotdog people apparently), I thoroughly enjoyed this one "the way it was intended."

Since Sam took a nap during our little United Nations tour, we headed back downtown to see the Sears (now called "Willis") Tower and hover 103 stories above the street in the Skydeck.

(FYI you military folks, active duty get in free. So we only had to pay for my ticket.) We waited five eternities to ride in this cattle car to get to the 103rd floor.

You can tell by his face that the wait was totally worth it.

And here we are- standing on GLASS, 103 stories above a busy city street.

I was shakin' in my boots.

After thoroughly wetting our pants, we got back in line to ride the elevators down to join the rest of society.

Once we had firmly planted our feet on solid ground again, we realized that Sam left a little momento on one of the elevators- his shoe.

Oh well. The beautiful snow more than made up for that one lost shoe.

For dinner, we went to Giordano's, which is a pizza place that a native Chicagoan recommended to us. And it was GOOD.

So good that Sammy's eyes rolled back into his head when I let him sample a little bit of crust.

We were stuffed full of pizza and slept amazingly well that night because of it. We ended up skipping town the next morning (but not before we had to pay over FOUR DOLLARS A GALLON for gas omg) and had a very easy drive home.

I'm sure Steve was glad to get home and stop having me point out every icicle ("Oh look! There's another one on that house!" "And look! One on that balcony!" "And another one in front of that store!" "Omg! ICICLES EVERWHERE!!!"), but Second Baby is less than thrilled. Besides the abrupt absence of delicious pizza making its way down the hatch, s/he is back to roasting in there with the less than ideal temps that Tennessee lovingly refers to as "winter." I was so completely comfortable while we were out walking in the streets of Chicago that I made Steve SWEAR to me that we would eventually end up living in a place that regularly has snow. (And he did- I will get the signed, notarized copies of this statement shortly.)

So there you have it. Our weekend in Chicago. It was spontaneous, fun, trying at times, but well worth the trip.

We began cloth diapering today, so I will be back tomorrow with an update. Try not to be overcome with anticipation!

**Disclosure: The views and opinions stated above concerning Hotwire, Hotel Felix, and all other establishments visited during this trip are all my own, and unfortunately, no one compensated me for writing this. If you know of someone that would care to give me an all-expenses-paid vacation to some exciting location in exchange for a blog post loaded with crappy pictures, please- do tell.**