Ch-ch-changes...

It's been quite a while since my last update...and honestly not too much to report, other than the fact that I'm now over 21 weeks through this pregnancy. Oh, and it's another BOY!!! ;)

I am struggling with the idea of adjusting to being a mom of two. I'm excited and thrilled, please don't get me wrong, but it's a foreign concept to me at the moment. It's the unknown that makes me uneasy. I'm very much looking forward to meeting this spectacular life that will be joining our family in about 18 weeks (I pray). It's hard to imagine I'll ever love another person as much, or the way I love Lava. I know I will, I know I have the capacity to do so, I just can't fathom how that will feel.

I don't want my relationship with Lava to change, or suffer. I know change will happen (as my child runs in the room in footed pajamas with lime green crocs over them, just to be funny). It's just moments like those that I fear will become less appreciated or noticed. I love every second I spend with him, and soon that will be mostly shared time. I'm afraid he'll feel neglected, or replaced. Thankfully he's a mellow kid who has never really displayed major jealousy with me being around other kids, but this will be a different story.

I'm glad Lava is starting pre-school in a few weeks, I think having a regular source of social interaction and structure will be so good for him. I'm also glad it's happening 3.5 months before the baby comes so he doesn't have a negative association. I can't believe he'll be THREE on Saturday!

Ok, so this was a bit of a ramble-fest, but that's the biggest updates. New baby boy, pre-school, Lava's third birthday on Saturday....off to watch True Blood! :)

Movie Attempt

To follow our fun day yesterday, we thought it would be a great idea to take Lava to see his very first movie in a theater. We had no idea how it would go, but have heard that many kids his age do well. We took him to see Up, and we were super excited to share a brand new experience with him.

Turns out he's not ready. Just a little disappointed, but we have to respect where he's at. :) He lasted about an hour, so we'll just have to try again in a while! The movie seemed really cute from what we saw...

Now that we actually have SUMMER WEATHER in Chicago, we've been getting out and doing all kinds of fun things with Lava. It's been a delight! Last weekend we went to a local carnival/food fair called the "Taste of Grayslake" which Lav very much enjoyed. Today Spaz had the day off of work (YAY!) so we had a nice brunch at Cracker Barrel, and went to Lamb's Farm! Lava had a total blast going on the carousel, in the bounce house, on the miniature train, seeing all the animals and going on his very FIRST pony ride! He was SO excited, it was just the cutest thing ever.




We're really hoping he naps tomorrow so we can go to the Northbrook 4th of July fireworks. We think Lava would love seeing them, but only if he's well-rested. Time will tell....

All in all, so much fun with our little love, Lava! :)

News!

As promised, this post is all about our big news....we're expecting our second child!!! Our official due date is 1/2/10, but having had a c-section with Lava, we're looking at the end of 2009 - right after Christmas. We are beyond excited! We know that Lava will be such a wonderful big brother...he already kisses mommy's belly and says "baby!".

Big news coming soon...

OK, so I've totally slacked and failed at updating the blog. I'm going to try and do better!

In about a week I'll post what I hope is a big, happy update.... ;)

Bla bla...

Nothing new to report, really! House is being painted, new window treatments have been ordered...

I won an auction for a Canon Elph camera, so hopefully once that arrives this week and I have a camera that is appropriately sized for my purse there will be a whole lot more bloggin' going on. :)

Grammy, Birthday, and Big Boy Bed...Oh my!

We had a busy, but fun day today! We spend a good bit of the afternoon with Grammy (my mom). Lava loves TONS of different kinds of foods. One of our favorite cuisines to eat when we're with Grammy is Indian food. Lava loves the "yo-err", aka yogurt, aka raita. He also loves the "bo" (bread, aka naan) and rice. Grammy loves to help him eat it all and they are total dining buddies. It's super cute. Then we came back, picked paint colors (we're re-painting almost the entire first floor/entry of the house next week, YAY!), and relaxed for a bit.
Today was a special day for two reasons - first, it's Spaz's 35th birthday! We went to dinner at a restaurant called Yuri of Japan which is about 10ish minutes away. It was a very yummy alternative to one of our favorites, Benihana...and much closer! Lava was totally freaked by the fire show they do, and needed a lot of reassurance during the meal. Lots of snuggling, which we never mind. He loved the food though!



The other reason today was special, is because today is the first day Lava has his new big boy bed! We got him Thomas sheets and wall appliques to make the event more special, and he was thrilled as can be.
Lava was so excited by all the Thomas goodies on his bed and the walls, he just laid right down!
He did roll around for about 20ish minutes, but eventually fell fast asleep with zero incident. I am just HOPING he sleeps as well and has a good night. We'll all be very disappointed if his normal wake time of 8:30 gets earlier!

Fun day!

Yesterday, we had a delightful day with Lava's Aunt, a.k.a "titi". We went to lunch at a fun little joint in the next town over and enjoyed pizza, and then visited our local park for the first time! It was a wee bit chilly, but Lava still loved the opportunity to play outside for a change. Chicago's weather has been a bit of a joke...it's SPRING! Ugh!



Titi and I then went out to our new favorite hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant. It's insanely yummy! Unfortunately, my darling nephew was not part of the equation, and he was missed! Lava loves his little cousin.

I'm in the process of bidding on a new camera to keep in my purse, so I don't need to use my crummy phone one, so hopefully more pictures of high quality will be popping up soon!

Right now I'm still searching for a pre-school for Lava for the fall. I've looked at 2, and have 2 more visits scheduled. I'm especially excited about a Co-Operative school where parents are VERY involved. I love the idea of building a rapport with his teachers and knowing what is going on and how he's doing. So stay tuned!

Just another Sunday

First, I'd like to thank my darling sister for catching my ridiculous typos in the previous blog post. She is the designated editor of this blog! ;)

We had a pretty mellow Sunday, which was nice. We got some stuff we still needed for the house and did some other shopping. Speaking of the house, it is shaping up pretty nicely. Our next order of business is getting the downstairs painted. The house will look really nice with a fresh coat of paint - there are lots of scuffs and dings in the walls. Hopefully that will happen in the coming weeks!

I went to dinner at my sister and brother-in-law's apartment for some awesome homemade Indian food - it was DELISH! Thanks, Jord! Also enjoyed getting to see my cutie pie nephew, who is way to cute and way too much fun!

I'm on the market for a cheap, VERY small, point and shoot camera to keep in my purse. I think I'll do a much better job photo-documenting on this blog if I have one! I love our Canon DSLR, but it's just not portable. So hopefully that will be happening soon, and I have no doubt there will be far more Aidan pictures as a result! :)

Still working on the blog design/layout...it'll get prettier!

Great America!

Today we went to Six Flags Great America for Lava's first visit! Since we moved up North, we decided we would definitely get Season Passes since we're less than 10 minutes away. I have the most wonderful memories going to Six Flags at least 50 times a year with my dad when I was younger. It seriously felt like a second home to me! I was very excited to bring Lava so he could experience it as well. I hope he has as many fond memories as I do! The park is very different than when I was younger. There are many new rides, and so many of my old favorites are missing. I was shocked to see that "Power Dive" was gone, and I also didn't see the Hay Bailer! The bonus is there are a couple new kids areas that Lava got to enjoy.

The first ride Lava went on was little airplanes that go up and down in the Wiggles area. Spaz went with him, and Lava seemed to enjoy himself, but promptly said "Bye bye! Bye bye!" after the ride was over.We weren't able to get any great pictures from that ride, but here you can see Lava on "Fruit Salad, Yummy Yummy!". Definitely not his favorite, but this was all so new to him!

After that ride, he went on the Big Red Cars which was his favorite from the Wiggles area! He had fun steering and seeing all the fun sites along the way!
We did some more walking around and happened upon another great kids area, where Lava went on his very first roller coaster! It was Jetsons themed and quite tame, but still it was shocking to see my baby on a coaster...and it also made me proud! It's kind of hard to see Lava in the picture, but it was the best I could get. He's in the third to last row!

We also went on a Scooby Doo bus ride... definitely not his favorite, but it was still fun to go on with him. Maybe as the season progresses he'll get more brave and enjoy the rides more. It was a bit chilly so I don't think that helped, either.
Finally, before leaving, we took a ride on the beautiful two-story carousel. Lava had a blast, saying "Whee!" whenever his boar would go up and down. It was so cute seeing him so happy!


It was a really fun day overall. Before we left I took one last snapshot of the really pretty entry pond with the Superman ride in the background (Spaz went on it while Lava and I walked around...apparently it's pretty crazy!).

Seriously?

I decided today while we were out taking pictures at Six Flags Great America during opening weekend that I need to seriously get a blog going. I really want to document our adventures as a family and everything Lava does so when he's older he can remember all the awesome moments in his childhood. Granted, his childhood is 31 months in the making, but it's never too late to start! I know I'd love to have something like this to look back on, so I figured he would as well! I am going try and seriously commit to posting at least once a week, hopefully with pictures!

I know how much I enjoy reading about what my friends are doing with their children, so perhaps that will help inspire me to keep up as well!