Single Mommy

Well, Chris has done it again!  He managed to disappear to China, just before another big move.  We are moving into our house in two weeks and Chris is away on business for the week.  Luckily, this will be the easiest move, as all 300 pieces of "stuff" is at a storage facility, somewhere in Texas.  We have minimal clothes and baby items here that need to be moved into our house.  

This is the first week for me as a single mommy since we have been in Dallas.  Thank God for some of the great people and co-workers I have met here that are willing to help if needed.   So far, it has been a great few days with Elliott being a perfect little baby and taking extra long naps.  We visited the Dallas Arboretum today.  Although it was nearly 100 and my eyes were stinging with sweat, Elliott had a great time cooling off in the splash area. 

Where has the time gone?

I am really getting behind on blogging these days... maybe it is because we have been house-hunting every weekend, feeding Elliott snacks, working non-stop or being ill with stomach flu.   The good news is, the chaos is beginning to come to an end.  We finally found our dream house!  It is in Coppell, which is a small suburb of Dallas, located near the airport.   Growing up, Chris and I both had dreams of having a house with a pool and our new house has a gorgeous pool!   We are so excited and cannot wait to have our friends over- start looking for airfare now. 

At daycare last week, Elliott's teacher asked me if I had snacks for Elliott.  I didn't know 7 month olds needed snacks, so I don't have anything for him.  She explained to me that the other kids all have puffs  and that Elliott tries to grab them, but gets upset when he can't have them.  After hearing this sad little story, I made a trip to Target to buy Elliott snacks.  He wasn't sure what to do with them and didn't understand how to put them in his mouth, but I'm sure he will learn how to do that quickly. 

Work is going well for Chris and I.  We are both extremely busy- which means job security, at least for a little while.  We both got sick with stomach flu of sorts last week, but are feeling great now - that is true love, seeing each other in that disgusting condition!

7 Months old

Happy Father's Day

Our big move is half way over and so far

everything is going well.  Our travel day to 

Dallas went very well!  Elliott was on his

best behaivor and luckily took a nap mid

flight.  What a life! We are in our apartment

until we find a house.  The househunting is

exhausting but necessary.

Our corporate apartment is very nice and in a great location.  We are thoroughly enjoying it!  Notice, in this picture, we are not really sitting by the pool, because we are trying to sit in the shade: silly Midwest people!  We bought Elliott a blow up turtle float, which he seemed to like.   It is different having a baby and trying to go to the pool.  We have been twice and both times we have to wait until his naptime is over, then spend about 1 hour applying sunscreen and getting everything together and then by the time we get to the pool, Elliott is good, but can only last about a half hour tops, before we starts screaming and annoying the other pool-goers!  I found a new frozen product at the store that is perfect for pool side enjoyment. 

Chris has been a great dad and husband through all of this! Happy Father's day to a great dad!  With all of this stress and change, I guess everyone deserves a little nap. 



Here are a few clips of Elliott

Perfecting crawling

                                                               Peas and brocolli are yucky

Packing Crew... Who knew?!

Our house is completely boxed up, except for our computer.   We had a packing crew on Friday and they did all of the packing for us.  I didn't even know this type of service existed until this move.  I figured out that I have moved 12 times in the past 12 years, and while this is the biggest, it has been the simplest!   At times like this, I wish I had George Clooney's philosophy from Up in the Air, "everything you own fits in your backpack."

This was our last weekend in Glen Ellyn and it was really wonderful.  We started off with Taste of Glen Ellyn.  We indulged with a deep fried twinkie- highly recommend!   Last night, we had a big night out in the city, featuring Kincaid's, Charlie Trotter's and Violet Hour.... quite the combo.   It has been my dream since I moved to Chicago to eat at Charlie Trotter's, so I can now say that I have done that and it was an absolutely amazing experience.  Chris and I never fully understood what was meant by "wine pairings" until last night.   The food was excellent, but tasting with the wine was even better.   I also had a dream of being in the audience on the Oprah show and made several attempts throughout the past decade to write to her and try calling for tickets but no such luck.  Since Oprah is no longer taping, I will have to modify slightly- maybe I will be an audience member for one of her shows on her network.  Oprah, if you are reading this, I'm a huge fan of you and your show- I would LOVE to be in the audience of any show on your network!



Goodbye Glen Ellyn home



Baptisms, Bulls Games, and Boxing Up Stuff

Boxing Up Stuff:....And so the chaos begins; we are sitting here in our house for the last night in any kind of normal state.  The boxing up and packing people will arrive first thing tomorrow morning.   It is amazing how much time you can spend shopping in stores, perusing websites and catalogs trying to find the perfect furniture, paint, and decor and it all go away in a few hours.   It was definitely fun getting our house together over the past year- I'm excited to see what kind of house we will have in Dallas and all new projects to go with it!  In the meantime, we will be sort of nomadic people, going from family and friends homes to a furnished apartment.

Baptism: ...Elliott was baptized this Sunday.  He wore the outfit my sister and I wore 30 years ago, which was hand-made by my dad's cousin.  While we are starting a new tradition, it seems Elliott liked chewing on his "dress" more than wearing it.

Bulls: ...Chris managed to make it to the Bulls game Wednesday -too bad they lost.  We are really hoping for a Mavericks vs. Bulls Championship game.  Keep your fingers crossed.

Here are some pictures of what has been happening.

Godfather

Making bread with the Godmother and Andy

6 Months Old

 

Video Skills

Since Chris is away, I decided to teach myself how to upload the videos.  Normally, this is something that Chris' does and while I asked him several times to teach me, I figured now was a great opportunity to learn!  Here are some recent videos.... although they are recent Elliott looks totally different and he is doing something totally different.  Elliott has mastered sitting and he is on to crawling.  He is on the move for sure.  I find if I leave him alone for a minute or two, he will scoot over to an interesting corner of the room, such as exploring under the ottoman or trying to grab the de-humidifier.    Here is a video from a few weeks ago.  More current ones to come!

Weekend with Nan

This past weekend we had a whirlwind house hunting trip to Dallas.  We saw close to 20 houses in Dallas, but did not find quite the right one for us.  We are looking for a house with enough bedrooms to accommodate guests...we really hope that you all visit us!  This was Mommy and Daddy's first adventure without Elliott.  Nan was nice enough to watch Elliott while we were away.   I think Elliott had a fun time here, playing with Nan and Chief while we were away.  We returned back to our home- surprisingly with an upgrade in transportation from the airport- white stretch limo!  Today, we found ourselves back at O'hare to drop off Daddy for his big trip to China.  We will miss you! 

 

Cool guy in a stroller





our magnolia tree in full bloom...

Stopping to smell the flowers...



 

Welcome back!