M.I.A.

I hate that I've been MIA for the past TWO months!  I guess I've just been busy...and I also had a couple camera problems, and no one wants to read a blog post without any pictures, right?

We've been active around here...Mary Quin is keeping us busy, work has been steady for both Eric and myself, I've spent some time being lazy at the pool, Eric plays golf every day a lot, we've taken many walks to Graeter's, we've celebrated Mother's Day and Father's Day, I had my 10 year SHA reunion, MQ was officially dedicated at church (even though we kind of already celebrated a few months ago!), we found out a few weeks ago that there's a new baby coming into the "fam"...Patrick and Savannah Garcia are having a baby in December, we've managed to get away to Chicago (just the two of us), and are basically just enjoying the summer so far!

Chicago was a blast!  I had a dental conference from Wednesday-Saturday (last week), so Eric flew in Thursday after work and we had the rest of the weekend (since I kinda skipped out on my meetings Friday afternoon and Saturday) to ourselves to shop, eat, go cheer on the Cubs, and shop some more!  We stayed right on Michigan Ave, so we basically walked out of our hotel and stared directly at Louis Vuitton and Bvlgari every morning before heading down to the nearest coffee shop to get our morning coffee.  I was tempted to get a new purse, and to buy MQ some baby perfume from Blvgari...but I passed on both of those ideas and decided to maybe wait until Christmas???  We'll see.  My sister-in-law got me hooked on the baby perfume/lotion from Blvgari when Lily (or maybe it was Nora) was a baby...it's so sweet smelling, and I LOVE IT!  I think the girls (L and N) still use it sometimes.  I asked the man at the store if I could have a sample, and I'm going to test it out on her skin before I buy it.  Friday E and I headed down to Wrigleyville to catch a Cubs game.  We had nosebleed seats, but we couldn't complain since they were playing the Yankees!!!  Oh, and by the way...they won, which is awesome since they've had a bad season so far.  (Let me tell ya...I know way too much about baseball...and golf, and basketball, and football, and anything that's on espn or the golf channel).  After the game we strolled across the street to stock up on some new Cubs gear and to join all the drunk fans at the Cubby Bear...it was a blast!  We had dinner reservations at the Cape Cod Room Friday night, but we shopped too late and ended up just ordering late-night room service (ahhh...how nice to have dinner delivered to your room while relaxing on the couch watching t.v....definitely something that only happens on a vacation!).

I also took Eric to the American Girl Place.  We actually stopped in there twice, because I sent Lily and Nora some pictures to Cara's phone, and Cara said the girls wanted to see more pictures!  I foresee a Chicago trip for them some time soon!  Eric sat there in the little American Girl Cafe watching what his future holds for him!  Our friends just had baby girl twins (remember, Clarabelle and Milly?)...and I kept thinking how fun it would be for our two families to one day make a trip up there with all the little girls!

We came home Saturday night in time to celebrate Eric's first Father's Day and Grandmommy's birthday!

Here are the cuzzies watching Praise Baby at my parents house on Father's Day...how sweet is this?

Tuesday night we had our "first" spaghetti dinner.  Well, she's had the yucky "spaghetti and meat sauce" that's all packaged up in a baby food jar...but the other night I made spaghetti for Eric, and we decided to let MQ have at it with the noodles and meat sauce.  Keep in mind that I put dinner on the table at 5:55 and was supposed to be meeting a friend at Hiene Bros for coffee and to plan a baby shower at 6:00.  This is how the meal started out... a little messy, but not too bad.  

I walked back to the bedroom to make sure I was presentable to be out in public, and I heard Eric cracking up.  When I came back in, this is what transpired...

  

She was having a blast!  Eric quickly changed his attitude from laughing at how cute this munchkin was being, to "I can't believe you fed her spaghetti for the first time right before you had to leave to meet Lori!"....needless to say, I called Lori to tell her I'd be a few minutes late and put itsy bits in the bathtub.  She had a good time playing (and kind of eating) with her spaghetti!

Today we headed to the pool for the afternoon...I think we may have a little pool rat on our hands.  She starts kicking her feet when we walk inside the gate at the baby pool...and she loves the fountains!  Today we had our first "oopsy"...MQ was standing in the baby pool holding on to the side of the pool, while I was chatting with a couple other moms.  When I looked down MQ was reaching for a toy that she had dropped in the water, and as reached over she fell into the water...all the way under!  I was standing right there behind her and grabbed her quickly, but I felt horrible...and kinda embarrassed that I let my child fall into the water right in front of me!  Oh well...I'm sure it won't be the last time that happens.  It didn't seem to phase her...she was ready to get back to playing!  

She sleeps like a rock when she's had a day at the pool!  Lately Eric and I have loved going in to her room before we go to bed just to get a peek at her.  This is her tonight...snuggling with her Rudy and Maggie (the doll that Lily and Nora named for MQ).  Check out those chubby legs!!!