7 Year Itch?

This past Sunday we celebrated SEVEN years of Marital Bliss.  Haha!  OK, it hasn't all been bliss, but it has truly been 7 years and it is very difficult for me to believe it!  I feel like it was just yesterday that we, mere kids, walked down the aisle together after saying our "I do's" and began our life together.  We have been a great team over the past 7 years.  We have had challenges, like any marriage, and we have had triumphs.  We have seen each other through graduate school, selling and buying 2 houses, spending a year apart, infertility then having a baby...and we have held hands through it all.  I would do it all over again in a heartbeat and I look forward to the next 7 years!  No Seven Year Itch here! :)

To celebrate, we "ditched" the kid.  Oh, I mean Keagan had a spend-the-night party with Gama and Poppy for the weekend.  This meant we could be Josh and Janine, and not daddy and mommy.  So we went to Chicago for the weekend.  It was wonderful!  I have never been and have ALWAYS wanted to go!  We didn't have much time but we had a BLAST.  It was a nice way to reconnect and recharge. 

Josh made all the plans, and they were wonderful.  He booked us a hotel room on Michigan Avenue in a fancy-shmancy hotel, looked up things we could do and places to eat.  We shopped, we ate, we did an architectural boat tour, we ate some more, we walked around everywhere, we saw Joel McHale from The Soup.  We relaxed and enjoyed being a couple for a few days.

We were greeted with chocolate dipped strawberries and champagne upon arrival into our room!  YUMMY! 

 View from our room...Michigan Avenue

 Breakfast at Yolk.  Before:

 After:  (stuffed French toast with raspberry and cream cheese...didn't eat again until dinner!)

 The swimming pool on our floor (14th!) in the hotel:  Can we say CRAZY?!!

**Celebrity Sighting!!**  It's Joel McHale!!  We were only 15 feet from him! :)  We LOVE The Soup!

 Architecture Boat Tour:

 The corn-cob buildings:

 This building is one of the largest buildings in the world:  it has its own zipcode!!

 A lesson in perspective:  The black building in the center is the Sears Tower.  The building to the right looks like it is as tall as the Sears Tower...but look at its reflection in the Sears Tower.  It is only about half the size!  CRAZY!

 The building in the center with the yellow ball on top of it is our hotel.  The Intercontinental Hotel.

 The "Champagne Bottle" building: 

 The "Bean"  Cloud Gate sculpture in Millennium Park. 

Billy Goat Tavern.  Where they order for you!  It is an interesting place...known for being rude to patrons, and don't ask for fries with your burger!

Can't go to Chicago and not have deep-dish pizza!!  DELISH!

Another fun trip under our belts!  I love to travel and I especially LOVE to travel with my husband.  We always have so much fun and I cannot wait until our next trip!!  Love you, Josh!!

I Don't Wanna Grow Up

OK, so I have already grown up.  But I don't want my kiddo to grow up!  It is happening at lightening speed.  We have not been the kind of parents who have pushed Keagan to the next milestone too quickly, partly because we feel he will do everything in his own time, and partly because we are in denial at how quickly time is flying and we want to keep him a "baby" as long as possible.  However, we have finally reached the point where Keagan has truly out-grown his infant "pumpkin" seat.  The infant seat CLAIMS it can hold an infant up to 30 pounds.  Keagan is nearly 23 lbs.  He is BUSTING the seams out of the infant carrier!  I honestly don't know how he could be in it much longer.  So, we shelled out a pretty penny for a convertible car seat.  I think he is pretty happy with it, too. 

We sing "Old MacDonald had a farm.  E I E I OOO.  And on that farm, he had a....

 ...CAR SEAT!! E I E I OOO.  With a MOO MOO here, and a MOO MOO there...Here a MOO, there a MOO...Everywhere a MOO MOO!" 

Oscar and Keagan have become pretty good buddies over the past year.  So, long as Oscar can get away in a hurry he is happy to be around Keagan and receiving Keagan's pat-pat-pats (which are more like hits, but whatever.).  When Keagan wakes up from his nap Oscar is the first one to the door, waiting to go in.  It has become a little game between the dog and the baby and it is hilarious to watch!  I tried to take some pics, but it looks like Keagan is just in jail!  (OH, and I am certain you are wondering about the blankets duck-taped to the crib rail.  Well, these are my ghetto way of protecting the crib from Beaver-Keagan.  He has a new found addiction to crib wood.) 

Oscar looked like he wanted to get in the bed and play with Keagan.  So I obliged him!

Keagan is THRILLED!! 

Pat Pat Pat!  Poor Oscar, I don't think he liked the idea afterall.  (Trust me, no animals were harmed during this photo-op)

MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!  HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!

The End.

Lose Yourself...

As a mommy, I very rarely have time to sit down and relax guilt-free.  There is ALWAYS something to be done.  But occasionally even mommy needs a time-out.  This afternoon I put Keagan down for a nap, took a deep breath at all the "chores" I had to do, then scooped some ice cream, grabbed the computer, and turned on Dr. Phil.  Sigh.  It felt so good, so sinful.  I had already done some picking up around the house and even managed to get a run in on top of working just a little bit (wink, wink!).  I didn't think life could get any better.  Then I took a bite of my ice cream.  Oh Heavens! 

Don't forget, I am an ice cream junkie.  There are wine snobs, and then there are ice cream "snobs".  This is me.  I am hooked on Blue Bell Ice Cream.  Pretty much exclusively.

Where was I?  Oh, right.  HEAVEN.  I took a bite of Summer Berries.  Blue Bell's description makes my mouth water thinking of it:  "A very berry-licious flavor! A refreshing, citrus ice cream mixed with strawberries, blueberries and swirls of raspberry and blackberry sauces."

Sound delicious??  Um, Yeah!  It is amazing (and I am usually not a fruit-in-my-ice cream kinda gal...too healthy for sweet stuff.  I typically go for rich chocolately stuff).  AH-MAY-ZING! 

Here's the catch: It's only around in June! GO GETCHA SOME. You won't regret it.

Keagan, Mommy loves you.  But I am so glad you were asleep while I ate this.  I needed my me-time with my Heavenly ice cream.  You'll have to be super-duper good for Mommy to share this stuff!  :)