And we're off!

We recently took a trip to Chicago to celebrate mom's 60th birthday and had so much fun.  It was hard to leave Trip, but it was nice to get away for a long weekend.  We went to the art institute, ate amazing deep dish pizza, and then went to 2nd city the first night.  I was very impressed with the talent at 2nd city and highly recommend going.  The next day, we went to breakfast at a place called Hash House a Go Go.  To say it was incredible was an understatement.  I had the best breakfast of my life.  Jared ordered the biggest bloody mary they had with huge pieces of bacon in it.  We walked around to some of the shops, and then met up with Mom and Darlene.  We went to a Cubs game later that afternoon.  After the game, we all got dressed and went to dinner at a Mexican place in Lincoln Park.  Mom and Darlene went to the hotel after dinner, and Jared, Kristin, Michael and I went to Kingston Mines...a famous blues bar.

At Kingston Mines blues bar

Our view from Trump Tower terrace (cocktails after a long day)

Breakfast at Lux Bar

The next morning, we went to breakfast at Lux Bar and ate outside.  Afterwards, we went to Navy Pier and walked around and rode the ferris wheel.  The view from the top was gorgeous!  After that, we went on a architectural boat ride around the city and then drinks at Trump Tower.  For mom's birthday dinner, we went to Rosebuds and had delicious Italian food!  We split off that night and went to Gibson's for drinks.  Gibson's is the bar featured on The League, but fun fact...it is a raging cougar bar.

Leaving Trip was tough, but it was nice to get away for a long weekend.  He is crawling now and into everything!  He has no interest in his toys, but loves to eat paper and play with the t.v. remotes.  He started his new day care last week and they are so sweet.  There are only three kids in his class, and two teachers, so he is getting a ton of attention.  Plus, it's $520 so it's a steal!  I had such a struggle finding a day care that was affordable, close, and where I felt comfortable leaving Trip.  I was so lucky to find Shades Crest Baptist , which is literally a ten minute walk from our house.

This month has been so insane!  We went to Phish Friday night and had a blast.  Our sweet friends, Katie and Jonathan Nelson babysat Trip.  I don't know what we would have done without them!  It was my first ever Phish show, and they put on a damn fine performance.

This weekend we are going to Dallas for the Alabama/Michigan game, so I'm having to leave my little man once again.  After this weekend, we will get back to our normal boring schedule :)  Trip now has four teeth that popped up out of nowhere.  He's growing up so fast!  Below are some recent pics...enjoy!

 Bama jersey.  I knew the day would come...

Happy 10 mos!

Finally broke down and bought a smocked outfit.  So cute.

First time pulling himself up!

First time crawling!

This makes me so happy :)

New Discoveries

So, my son has discovered his penis and it really took me by surprise at first.  For every diaper change and every bath, he immediately reaches for it!  I knew it started, early but I had no idea it happened at 9 months of age!

I have also discovered his first tooth and made the mistake of letting him bite my finger.  Nope, never again.  We bumped him up to 3rd level foods and his 9 mo check-up went great.  He passed the developmental test, which the doc said was pretty hard to do at this age.  He has evened back out and is rocking 50% in both height and weight.  He weighs almost 20 pounds.

Trip is growing up so fast and I cannot believe he started crawling a couple of weeks ago.  At first he would only scoot backwards, but he got the hang of it in no time.  He loves wires, which makes me a nervous wreck.  He gets bored really easily, but I like to tell myself that means he's going to be super smart :)

He recently started pulling himself up on our furniture, toy bin, and bath tub and he gets so proud of himself when he does it on his own.  I could just eat him up!

At the moment, he isn't in daycare (his new one starts Aug 20th), so my sweet cousin Michelle is watching him a few hours during the day so I can get some work done (which I'm supposed to be doing now :))

I went on my first-ever weekend away and we both did great.  My patience has getting ever-so-thin these days, so I definitely needed to see my friends and get away.  Of course I missed him like crazy and I really missed him in the mornings.  I stayed up until 3:00 Friday night, but my internal clock had me wide awake at 8:00 the next day.  I just can't hang like I used to.  There's so much more, but I gotta run!  Here are some pics!

 I made the mistake of taking his 9 mo pic in the afternoon. Not a happy camper...

We're going to Dallas for the AL/Michigan game, so I'm getting him prepped :)

How can you not want to squeeze him?

I thought he would be way more into these bubbles.