Layla's Birthday Wish List

The spray-ground is off to a slow (one small fountain is open) start.
This does not stop our girl from getting soaked.

Birthday hoopla will be moderately toned down this year, at least compared with the 3 parties we had last summer! We will be having a small shindig at our new house complete with food and cake on the weekend prior to Layla's Birthday. Out of town family: you are more than welcome to join us!!! We did not send invitations to everyone as we did not want you to feel obligated to come and/or buy gifts. If you are looking for a weekend in the windy city, call or email me and I will send you the details.

If you are inclined to buy a gift for Layla's birthday, we have put together a few things she would like:

1. Money for college! Yes, this will be #1 on the list indefinitely. Layla has been talking about wanting to go to grad school too, so don't be shy! We have a BrightStart Illinois account where your contribution is tax deductible. Call or email me for details. Cash is fine too, we will deposit it in her account.

2. Pirates Water Activity Table This link is to Toys R Us which looks to have the best price. It's not available at Target. We saw this at a friends' house a few weeks ago and it far exceeds the typical water activity table. Layla played with it for hours.

3. We created a TargetList for other fun toys and games that she would like. You need to put in her name and the list will come up. This can be done on line or in the store at the Customer Service area.

4. Books, books, more books. She sleeps with them, I mean really snuggles them.

Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You

Joys of Homeownership

Sometimes it's convenient to own two homes. Say, for instance, your power goes out for three days. You can take all your food to your new house which does have power. This is especially nice when you bought groceries the day before the storm. We were able to save almost everything. The ice cream was lost in the carnage and beers were allowed to go warm (gasp!).

Then after you spend lots of time cleaning the yard are your new house, which is a battlefield of branches and tree limbs, you can go back to your condo and have a hot shower because you have a central plumbing system.

The downside to this all is that getting dressed and putting make-up on in the dark is not that well received by some people. Those are the people who are currently experiencing the joy of electricity. Also, Layla almost set her lovey on fire this morning.

See the 'branch' that's broken off? It's the size of an 8" tree. I could barely drag it, using all my strength, across the yard. This was the biggest one, but there were a half dozen limbs that were 3-4" diameter and 10' long.

The yard is modestly 'clean'. Layla, the official stick gatherer, has A LOT of work to do. See the huge tree limb pile that is nearly obscuring the shed? I guess we should put chainsaw on our Home Depot list.

The grape arbor fell in the storm. The winds were very strong and the grape arbor was not in good shape, but still.....one more thing to clean up!

Remember the red-winged black bird I posted last week (I call her Ruby now)? I think that she lost her babies in the storm. Poor Ruby, her tree did not weather the storm very well. She was following me around the yard and she was p'oed. After she dive bombed me the 5th time I starting carrying one branch for protection.

Dads are Cool!

Sunday Fun Day this week had an added reason to celebrate: Father's Day!

I am so blessed to have a wonderful father, who has somehow had the strength of character not to strangle me although it was certainly warranted on more than one occasion. He is an amazing Dad, always available when I need a friend or some advice.

My husband is an terrific father to our daughter. Their bond is a wondrous thing to see; the smiles they have for each other are one of a kind. I can't imagine raising her without him!

Jason had a double header on Saturday so Sunday was wide open for FUN! Fun at our house included an afternoon nap by all three of us. So nice. It also included strawberry pancake feast and an adventure out to the Taste of Randolph Street Festival. It was Layla's first street festival and 1900s show. She is hooked!

Our fave band the 1900s with our buds Jeanine, Caroline, and Ed

Taste of Randolph
What we tasted: shrimp kabobs (Jason), grilled corn (natch), fried risotta balls (Yum!), steak tacos and Sangria.

Visiting with my new favorite dog, Cameron, at the Great Lakes Mastiff Rescue booth. We thought Layla would like to pet them, but she mostly wanted to jump up and down on the window sill. Mommy didn't want to stop petting them!

Layla could not be bothered to smile for the picture. She is serious about her music!

Isn't it nice that Mommy has this long hair to hang on to?

Who works on Fridays?

I really think Fridays should be part of the weekend. Especially Fridays like the one we had today. It was breezy, sunny and not too hot. Perfect weather for a day outside.

Layla and I met up with some friends for Dot & Ziggy at the Victory Gardens Theater in Lincoln Park. It was part of the Chicago Children's Theater series for toddlers. The story, about a ladybug and a skunk who become friends, had fun songs and got the kids up and moving a little bit. Layla was pretty shy and didn't want to participate much, but she did seem to enjoy the theatrics of it. Her favorite was the purple and green spider that taught Dot & Ziggy how to share.

We enjoyed some lunch (and margaritas) at a local Mexican place. Very nice since all I was driving was the stroller! Then we were off to the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum to see the butterfly habitat. All the little girls got into the action and enjoyed the butterflies and birds.


The Lincoln Park Zoo was our next and last stop of the afternoon. We saw the lions, tigers, monkeys and gorillas. It was a treat to see the male lion stand on the highest rock and roar to the crowd!

No, I love you!

Two nights ago we were getting Layla ready for bed and she insisted that I read to her. Typically, this is Jason's routine with her and so I felt sort of bad to 'steal' it away from him.

She sat on my lap in the chair and I said, "tell Daddy night, night, I love you." She says, "I love you Daddy" and he responds in kind. Then he starts to pull the door close and she says louder, "I love you Daddy!" He jumps back in the room and responds. Back and forth it goes until all of us are giggling uncontrollably.

....

Last night she was grumping about something and he says, "I love you Layla." She just says, "no" and continues to fuss at him.

Again, she insists it's Mommy's turn to read books. I can tell he is sad, but as he turns to leave she shouts, "I love you Daddy!!!" and the game begins again.....

Days Like These

This day is starting out a little more slowly and a little cloudier than our wedding day just three short years ago. It was the most beautiful day possible, bright and sunny, warm but not humid. Ahhhh, it was a day made for an outdoor wedding, thank goodness!

Since then, things have changed quite a bit. We've definitely experienced some ups and downs. We've seen the birth of our first child, and the death of adored loved ones. I've lost a job and started a business. I've completed my architecture license, a life long dream of mine. We've bought a new house and hope to soon say goodbye to our first home together.

In all these things I could not have done them alone, but only with my partner in life. Thanks Jason for walking this road with me. Although it is sometimes quite bumpy, I know I can travel it with you holding my hand. I love you!

Weekend Update

Front Bedroom, demo complete.
Um....except for that little chunk of siding.
Oh and I still have to take out that pocket door track. Sheesh!

Rear Bedroom, demo complete.

Kitchen sink, operational (sorry, no pictures). I didn't really think you would be interested in a picture of the new plumbing. However, Jason has been working hard on replacing the drainage lines from the Kitchen sink and the Laundry sink in the basement. He was successful. Now, for the first time, we can use our Kitchen sink. HOORAY!

Next project: frame up temporary walls in the front and rear bedrooms and 'fix framing' to correct this problem:


When the new house was constructed around the old house (we think that the white house was moved from the Catholic Church in town) they didn't exactly......well.......how can I say this nicely? They built it really stupidly. They didn't take off the exterior and tie in the new roof rafters to the existing ones. They just toe-nailed some 2x4s into the fascia of the house for the new roof framing. For those of you that don't speak 'construction' this basically means they just nailed the heck out of the 2x4s to the face of the other roof. A better strategy would be to take off the eave and roof, putting the rafters parallel to the existing ones and nailing them together, aka 'sistering'.

So....we're gonna fix it. The roof has been leaking, the roof rafters are not sized properly or attached properly and the roof (not surprisingly) is pulling apart. Not really what we thought we were going to do with our time and money, but there you have it. When you buy an old house you get a lot of creative craftsmanship along with it. Since these rooms are where our child(ren) are going to be sleeping, we'll go ahead and make it right.....so that we can sleep soundly too. If it was a pantry I wouldn't care that much.

Here's what's going on outside the house:

Our first tomatoes!

Some plants did not survive the flood/record heat/flood cycle, but we do have a wealth of potatoes, onions, and some broccoli in bloom.

Hello! We've got LOTS of roses!

And Layla got a bubble mower. It off-roads so much better than her other push cart.


Layla checking out some peonies (I think).
We love, love, love our yard!


Here's a momma bird at the top of a spruce (I think) tree. I am pretty sure she has got a nest up there because she dive-bombed me twice when I tried to take a picture of her.

p.s. I think I need a book on how to identify trees and flowers.

Four, Five, Seven, Eight!

At least someone is enjoying the hot June weather.
I was excited that she let me put the piggies in......
and she pulled them out about a half mile from home!

The wonder of watching my little girl learn is simply amazing to me. It makes me smile through any other crud that is going on around me. Here are a few of her funny quirks.

Layla is working on her counting. Mostly this is by shouting, repeatedly, "four, five, seven, eight". Sometimes I ask her, "what happened to six?" and she just says "Sebaaaaa", even louder. Sometimes she sings to me in the car, "Twinkle, twinkle, little star" and the ABCs which are getting better each day.

She has taken to sleeping with a bed full of creatures and what's best referred to as "stuff": 4 stuffed dogs, 1 cuddly bunny, lovey, anywhere from 2-6 books and 2-3 little people (or little people animals). This morning the first thing she asked me was "where baa baa?" (her sheep). We are encouraging her to call animals by their names and not just their sounds. "What's that?" I ask her. "It a naaaaaay." It continues to bewilder us that she can sleep with a plastic sheep clutched in her hand and a book stuck in her ear.

She asks me about 200 times a day, "what's this". These simple questions reveal that I need to have some more sound explanations for tougher questions coming up. i.e. "but, why momma?"

This morning Jason was up early with us, which doesn't happen every day. He was well rewarded with her first, "I love you Daddy" on our way out the door. I nearly cried and I think Jason did too :)