Week...End Report

I have to give a report on this past week....because it was the absolute pits. 

On Wednesday morning, I took Leo on a little walk before heading to breakfast with my mom, Uncle, and Grandma. While we were at breakfast, I started to feel super, super sick. I ordered dry toast and hot tea and couldn't get either of them down. 

I didn't know what was wrong but Leo had been up the night before (with what I thought was teething issues), so I thought maybe I was just extremely tired. My mom took Leo back to her house and told me to just go home and nap. She brought Leo back to my house to sleep because she had a couple of meetings, and when Leo woke up from his nap at 3pm, I had to call my mom crying asking her to come back.

I had a super high fever, chills, body aches, and swollen glands... and honestly, I felt like I was dying.  I couldn't even get up from my bed to go to the bathroom. It was a long night, but Thursday morning, I rallied as much energy as I could to get to the minute clinic and sure enough it was strep. 

Thank God we live near family, because Thursday I was still just as sick. My mom kept Leo in the morning, and then Joel's dad came by in the afternoon until Joel got home from work. I was literally worthless, but thankfully by Friday morning the meds started to kick in and by my 4th dose I was back to normal.

Just in time for Leo to spike a super high fever. He had been cranky all week, and I was chalking it up to teething. He had a low grade fever, his hands in his mouth constantly, and just seemed cranky. By Friday morning, I took his temp and was getting reads in the 104's. 

We took him to the doctor Saturday morning and sure enough, he had strep too. His first swab wasn't as bad I was expecting it too, and it followed by his first Icee-Pop, so that helped a little too.

Luckily for him, literally one dose of amoxicillin and a four and half hour nap and his fever broke and he was just about back to normal. 

Seriously, the only good thing about Strep is that as soon as you get the meds, life changes!

 

During Leo's super long nap, Joel powered washed our deck and swing set and it made SUCH a difference.  

 

Sunday we rode our bikes to my parents and then went for a long walk around the lake. It felt so good to just move outside! 

We spent the afternoon updating our deck since Joel had power washed on Saturday. I have a feeling we're going to get a ton of use out of the new table and umbrella. 

Sunday night, we took both sets of our parents out to dinner for helping us so immensely this past week. We would have literally drowned without their help.

We went to Duke's on the Water which is at 3 Oaks here in Crystal Lake. It was my first time to this lake and it is so, so cool. By the restaurant there is a huge wake boarding lake with zip lines, sand volleyball, tons of bags.....It's absolutely beautiful and so much fun so I know we'll be back. 

Overall, it was a shit week, but we wrapped it up really nicely and I'm extra motivated and ready to have a great week ahead. Hope you do too! 

Memorial Weekend Recap

We had the quintessential summer weekend....the kind of weekend we moved home for honestly. 

We'll skip Friday, because I tried to do a "Day in the Life" post, so I'll see if I can pull that together for later this week. 

Saturday morning I went with my mom and family to watch my cousin Gia graduate from high school. The same high school I went to, although she was a far more decorated graduate than I was. She had cords for every honor (above 4.0GPA, National Honors Society, 5 AP tests, and more) and we were all so, so proud of her.

She is going to the University of Arizona next year and we are really going to miss her. She hangs with us a few times a week, sits for Leo, and is just a generally amazing person to be around.

 *also, how much better quality is the iphone 7+! 

After lunch we headed back to my house, my sisters came in from the city and we ordered pizzas and hung out. The weather was spectacular most of the weekend, and I finally put water in the water table for Leo, which kept him fully entertained for almost two hours! 

Sunday morning, we had coffee with my sisters, and then went over to my parents house for brunch before my sisters headed back into the city.

Joel and I took Leo for a bike ride around the lake which has been our favorite workout lately. 

That Sunday afternoon we went over to a friend's house for a Memorial Day BBQ. A lot of our friends here have young kids so Leo was in absolute heaven as we had wine and watched the kids and dad run around the yard and hit baseballs. 

 

 

Sunday morning, thanks to all of that fun at the BBQ, Leo slept in until 8:15 which was glorius! I had two cups of coffee in bed, and then when Leo got up, we decided to ride our bikes with my mom into downtown Crystal Lake to watch the Memorial Day Parade.

Joel's parents met us there, we paid tribute to those that serve and have served, and enjoyed the beautiful morning.

 

Sunday afternoon I ran a few errands while Joel and his dad fixed our playset, and then we grilled out and hung with Joel's dad for the night. 

After we put Leo down for a nap we decided to break in our fire pit. We took our drinks and the goods for 'smores and capped off the weekend perfectly. 

PS. Also....I started Younger. It's so good. I'm almost wrapping up season 1 and have loved every episode.

Leo - Month 20

 

::: 1 month recap ::: 2 month recap ::: 3 month recap ::: 4 month recap ::: 5 month recap :::

 ::: 6 month recap ::: 7 month recap ::: 8 month recap ::: 9 month recap ::: 10 month recap

::: 11 month recap ::: 12 month recap  ::: 13 month recap ::: 14 month recap

::: 15 month recap :::16 months :::17 months

   18 months   ::: 19 months  :::

Weight: 24lbs

Nicknames: Leeman, Lee-Lee, Wee-whoa

Clothes: 18 months clothes, and we have gotten away with a few 18-24 month shirts from Gap if I roll the sleeves once. Pants are now all 18-24, still a size 4 diaper although its probably our last box before we move to 5's. Still wearing size 5 shoes

Sleep:  You are a really great sleeper, pretty predictable in the fact that you take one 2/3hr nap and sleep from 7-7. I will say that it takes you almost an hour at night to fall asleep. You don't cry or whine, but we watch you stir and play before your eyes finally shut. You love your Hip Hip and can't sleep without him.

Schedule: 

7:00am - Up and Bottle (we are slowly transitioning this away), you are getting about 5oz now and will continue to do so for a month (because Dad and I are total babies and don't want to give it up) and then we'll switch you to a sippy cup.

8:00am Breakfast- you looove waffles!

9-12am play

11:30am/12pmish- lunch

1:00 pm nap

3:15pm snack & playtime

6:00pm dinner with a cup of milk

6:30 pm bath

7:15 pm  bed

Health: You had a healthy month for the most part. A few days here and there of a runny nose but nothing that kept ya down!

Crying: You get frustrated and whine, but for the most part, you are pretty easy to soothe.

Feeding:  This month you loved cherries, you surprised me one dinner with eating a tonnn of chicken (which is the first time in months you've even tried it!), and I've resorted to smoothies to get extra fruit and veggies into you. You love pasta, avocados, yogurt, cherries, blueberries, peanut butter, egg-ys, crackers, cheese, and papa's pizzas (english muffin pizzas).

Likes:  You like to move. You like to be on the move, constantly. You love to "walk" and be "ousside", you love to point at everything we see and will repeat it until I acknowledge that I, too, say the "lawnmower, tree, dog, water, duck....etc, etc.. You love to be around people, you are not shy, you are a total lover, and you love to play and explore with new things. You've also really started to enjoy coloring and playing with stickers which has been fun.

Milestones: New words and this month you started to put a few sentences together. You'll say "Hi Roro", "Hi Coco", and a few days ago you said "Mama Shoes", when you found my shoes. You say "pwease", when prompted, which is darling, and even learned a few newer and more obscure body parts (eyebrows, shoulders, knees). You love to point out people's accessories too (earrings, watch, ring). You're observant and smart as a whip.

You love to sing the "Open Shut Them" song at dinner and sway your head and do all of the movements as we sing it to you.

Places You’ve Gone: We were home all month but we had quite a few out of town visitors! Big Tucker came to see our house and spend time with you from California, and we got to see the Pressentin family too who came in from LA as well for a sleep over!

Visitors: See above :)

Roscoe: Same as last month, but it's truly the sweetest thing ever....In the morning, after your bottle, Roscoe sits right above the chair that I feed you on in our living room. As soon as your down with the bottle, you start petting him sweetly, talking in this cute little voice saying "Roro", and you kiss him and cuddle him for like 5 or 10 minutes. It's one of my most favorite times of the day...it's absolutely precious. 

You two will also chase each other and you both go absolutley insane. You think Roscoe is just hysterical and when he barks you will tell him "no no".

---

 Where is the time going my sweet boy? It's truly freaking me out just how close we are to TWO. I cannot wrap my head around it! It is very true what they say about the day's being long but the year's being so, so, so short.

Popping In

I spent the whole (rainy and cold) weekend not feeling great. Thankfully my chest cold is starting to break, but as a result, I spent much of the weekend in bed laying low. 

The good news is that I was able to finish the Sophie Kinsella book and I was happy that after the first few chapters it turned into a really breezy, cute book. 

A perfect beach read if you're looking for one. 

Also, my best friend is begggging me to start watching Younger. I tried to watch a few episodes when it first came out a few years ago and couldn't get into it, but, possibly like the book, she swears it picks up. Have you watched? 

I feel like with summer TV being so lame, it might be a good time to get into it. 

Otherwise, things are pretty lame around here right now. I know this summer is going to shake things up and we're going to be begging for some of these quieter days, but I'm ready for all of the fun of summer (I think). Although, I truly cannot believe this weekend is Memorial Day! 

Time is a flyin.

Five on Friday

 

::: 1 :::

If you are in Chicago, or you come to visit, I would highly recommend you try and fit in a food tour. This past weekend, my two girlfriends and I went on one in Bucktown and it was honestly so much fun. We used the company Chicago Food Planet and had a great experience. Our tour was from 12-3pm, and during that time we stopped at 5 awesome restaurants in the area (Jay's Beef, Sultan Market, Stan's Donuts, Piece Pizza, and Hot Chocolate) and also walk through the neighborhoods and local parks to learn a little history about the houses and neighborhoods. It was a really fun way to spend the afternoon and we were damn near stuffed from it.  

::: 2  :::

 And while I'm at it....Another great night in chicago tip? Dinner at Adobo followed by a comedy show at Zanies.Couldn't have asked for a better night with two of my best friends. 

::: 3 ::: 

I mentioned yesterday that Leo got me an essential oil diffuser from Mother's Day. I have been wanting one for month's now, but I'm having a little issue with it. Our main living area is pretty big, and most of it is two stories. That's where I want the diffuser to hang out, but I feel like the room is too big, I can't even smell the oil unless I'm next to the little machine. Any tricks? I may just end up moving it to the kitchen but thought I'd check here first. 

::: 4 :::

We had our first beach day of the season this week and even though it was beautiful and fun....it for sure is not relaxing (or clean). Leo was not a fan of the sand or the water...so that was a curveball I wasn't expecting. He did like digging in the sand, if he was sitting on the blanket, but we're going to have to make a few more trips there so he can get used to it. I laughed at myself that I brought an US Weekly with. Rookie Mistake. 

::: 5 :::

No big plans this weekend and we are keeping it that way. It seems like we have had crazy weekend after crazy weekend so I'm hoping to spend a lot of time at home, some time planting (who am I??), and just spending time with Joel and Leo. 

Mother's Day Recap

I decided on my birthday last week to take Leo to Color Me Mine to do some Mother's Day crafts for Leo's Grandma's and Great Grandma.


What I learned about Color Me Mine with a one and a half year old, is that it's not something you want to do solo. Thankfully my cousin Gia came to help assist, and without her, we would have probably walked right out the door.

Thanks to Gia, I got to enjoy the entire process, and Leo had a lot of fun doing it. We lasted for about 40 minutes and he really liked playing with the paint and paint brushes, and didn't entirely hate getting his hands painted either.

We made coasters for my mom, a vase for Joel's mom, and a little trivet for my Grandma. They were all ready before Sunday and made for darling Mother's Day Gifts.

The Saturday before Mother's Day, I had spent the entire day (and night), downtown with two of my girlfriends. We've made it an annual tradition to try and get away around this time (last year was Mexico) and I always think a little time away makes you return so much more refreshed. 

We left the city really early Sunday morning, and when we got home, Joel had a bunch of gifts on the table along with a huge brunch ready to roll for me and my family.

For Mother's Day, Leo got me a helmet for our new bike and trailer and an oil diffuser and essential oils. 

 

Around 11:30 my family came over, we had mimosas and brunch (blueberry french toast overnight bake, an egg and sausage casserole, bagels and lox, fruit and donuts!), opened a few presents and just enjoyed each other's company.

 

I am so thankful to have my mom and my Kuka in my life, and even more thankful that Leo has them too. They've truly taught me how to be a mom and they're both role models to me every single day. 

 

I ended up sneaking away after brunch (which Joel not only cooked but cleaned every last thing....he's good.) to take a much needed nap right when Leo went down too. 

After nap we decided to break out the new bike trailer and hit the road for a little family bike ride.

 

It took Leo a little time to get used to the helmet, but once we started moving he was happy as clam. I have a feeling we will be riding all summer long.

Sunday night our friends from LA were in Chicago and were able to spend the night with us. I am so mad we didn't take one picture, but we had a blast having them, ordered pizza, let our kids play together, and after like one glass of wine, everyone went up to bed before 10pm. We're getting old.

It was a pretty packed day, but felt relaxing and indulgent all at the same time. Joel and Leo were good to me, and I am so, so, so thankful that I get to be a mom.

minor upgrade, major benefit

a few weeks ago...I showed you how our kitchen had progressed (here). We had the back splash installed, and just like with all house projects, it made the cabinet hardware just beg to get switched out.

 

A reader (thanks Rita!) actually suggested to check on Amazon for pulls, and wouldn't you know it, each pull was about 25% cheaper than almost the exact same one at Home Depot. 

I ordered these since they matched the screw length on our cabinets (3")

I was able to switch out all of the pulls in one afternoon, and while it doesn't seem like the biggest update in the world, it is SO much better than what we were working with. And for a $100 upgrade, it pulled our entire kitchen together. 

 

It also really made me consider the fact that all of our gold, "fancy" handles on our doors need to get switched up too. I think bronze, round knobs will really make a big difference, so that's a project I'd like to complete by the end of the year.

One thing at a time!