Chicago..What I have Loved

Chicago is an amazing city full of great things to do and see..and living in Chicago can give you some great adventures! Going along with the "glass half full" ideal, here are a few of the things about living in Chicago that I have loved..

*Navy Pier, my FAVORITE place!! That first year when Jason worked almost every weekend I think me and Hadley spent almost every other weekend there! They have a ton to do, see, the Children's Museum. It just makes you smile!! In the summer you can walk outside and eat along the pier, in the winter they have Winter Wonderfest..it is just amazing!

*Zoo, Shedd Aquarium, Museums, the Mag Mile..all the attractions..you can't be bored in Chicago..enough said about that! This was important for me as I needed something to do to remind myself..we will be okay up here..and then we do like living here!

*Neighborhood Festivals: it is amazing to see several blocks just closed off for festivals of live music, food, children activities, and stands of people selling things from jewlery to art to books. It is crowded and crazy and expensive..but so much fun to go to!

*Parks: I LOVE that you can walk out your door and walk to many parks. We have 4 amazing parks within several blocks that we can get to. I will really miss this, it will be a goal of ours to find a neighborhood that has a park in it, hope we can!

*Walking: You can walk to get whatever you need. We can walk to the grocery store, restaurants, coffee shops, 7-eleven. It is nice to just go walk somewhere to get what you need. We can take the El into downtown Chicago or Evanston if we don't want to drive..I will miss that option.

*Beach: we live only 2blks from the beach. How amazing is it to be able to walk to the beach. We go there to swim, the park right there, for picnics, bbq's. We have loved it. A part of the living here we can never duplicate.

*There are other things we love here..but things you have everywhere else..favorite restaurants, the farmers markets, shows, events..

These are all things that we will miss, but they are not things that make you happy for life. So we will get as much of these things in over the next 2 months and I know we will make trip back to Chicago over the years and enjoy them again!

Chicago..what it has given me

As part of my new reflection on myself and my life, these last 4 yrs of living in Chicago is a large part of it, so there will be a few posts about that...and I will start about the positives..I do want to try and be the "glass half full" person..
So we will start with what has living in Chicago given me..

My marriage: I have gotten the type of marriage you dream of. We have been here for 4yrs and had only each other to lean on. We have only each other to talk to, do things with, experience life with, the ups, the downs, all the in between. It has taught us that all we truly need in the world is each other and we know that we can make it through anything that life brings. I have my soul mate next to me. Would I have gotten there without Chicago, yes, but it may have taken me longer, there would have been other distractions along the way.

My Hadley: I have a bond with her that I will never have with another child again. I will never be in this situation again. We have been each other's everything from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to sleep. We haven't had a sitter here in Chicago for the past 1 1/2 yrs (Henrietta we miss you) and when we did, we didn't use her much (it gets expensive)..and so the only times Hadley isn't with me is when family is around to babysit(or when I leave her with Jason to run errands)..so maybe 4-5x a year...and then while she is at school while I work! (thank god for work!!!) But due to this we are very close, and due to this Hadley knows just how to push her Mommy's buttons!! The bond I have with her is something I cannot put into words and is not your normal Mother-Daughter bond, over the last 4 yrs I have repeated more times than I could count.."It's just the two of us" She is my whole heart. And I do admit when we are home, I miss that one on one time I am used to having with her, so it will be hard to lose some of that.

My strength: I was scared to death to come to Chicago. I was never one to do anything by myself, I think I always did things with Jenny by my side in high school and then in college lived in the sorority so I was surrounded by someone to go with me. After that, it was Jason or my mom..so the idea of being in Chicago with just a 1yr old at the time was very scary. But I did it, and in the years I gained a strength to do it all. I learned the way around the city, the suburbs, got 3 different jobs, found Hadley 2 different amazing schools, learned to drive in Chicago traffic, learned the El system (for the most part), developed a sense of city living and independence. And with Jason working so much, took over the household. I didn't have a choice. I didn't have anyone to call to say "help". I also learned I could survive without a million friends around, which was new to me, and sad at the same time.

My Joan: We have been the best of friends since college, sorority sisters, husbands are great friends, we were inseparable while living near each other. So the question is always what happens to a friendship when one person moves many states away...well..in this case..nothing. Moving away has shown me that our friendship is one that will last the test of time. We talk or text almost daily. We are just as close today as we were the day we left college, not many people can say that. We try our hardest to see each other when I make it back to KS, and she has made the trip up to Chicago (heavily medicated as she fears planes!!) Joan is my best friend no matter where I live, and my heart hurts at how much I miss her.

So Chicago, I thank you for giving me these things that will last me the rest of my life! But really, now, I am done with you and ready to move on!!

Ya Get What Ya Get

I have been doing a lot of refocusing on who I am as a person this last year and what type of person I want to be. Ya know the whole, "who do you want to be when you grow up?" talk. The last 4 yrs here in Chicago have really forced me to grow up fast, I have been forced into a strange city having no family support and no friends and said.."Here, figure it out." I had a husband who works nonstop days, sometimes coming home before 9:00 at night, usually not, sometimes working 14 days in a row, most the time working weekends. I have a daughter who has learned to only know Mommy's rules for the most part. And on top of that I worked full time with a 30-45 minute commute and ran the home full time. So in the middle of all this I have had no time for myself or who I was. So I have braved it with a smile, put on the brave face everyone expected of me and had my mental brakes along the way..which I am sure everyone also expected! So as I have tried to do some reflection as to the person, wife, and mother I really want to be in the new developing chapter in my life I like the phrase that I tell Hadley:

YA GET WHAT YA GET AND YOU DON'T GET UPSET

So for me this means, if I don't please everyone around me, it is okay. If people don't like what I write about (you've noticed my blogs are pretty neutral about life)or aren't impressed with how things are, it is okay. If I choose to still work it is okay, if I choose to stay home, it is okay. It is okay that our kids are going to be ages apart. And yes, people may think that some parts of my life are pathetic when they read them, but other parts are amazing..we all need balance. And it is okay that I have control issues and cannot go to bed with a dirty dish in the sink. And it is okay that I freak out if we are late to things, and yes it is also okay that it takes time for me to learn that the over control habits I have developed over these last 4 years of balancing it all on my own will take time.
So here is a glimpse of the chaos in my mind on a daily, if not hourly basis...so
YA GET WHAT YA GET...
and hope you like it cause now that the flood gates have opened, the blogs are coming!!

Tell it like it is

We headed to Home Depot today to replace the soap dispenser for our kitchen sink. Jason stopped the Home Depot guy to see if they had just the pumper or if we had to buy the entire new pump. Hadley looks up at the guy and says: "My Daddy tried to fix it but he broke it." The guy just looked at Jason and laughed and said, "Oh he did, did he?!" Well, we ended up with the whole pump to replace and then the guy asked, "And your going to help your Daddy replace it right?" To which Hadley replied, "Yeah, I will."
Jason didn't need any help, he was able to do it all himself!!

Easter

Easter hasn't been a huge holiday for us since moving to Chicago. We haven't had a family Easter dinner or egg hunt since Hadley has been 1 yr old, the Easter right before we moved. We have only done one Easter egg hunt since we have been up here about 2 yrs ago at a local park, so every year Easter has consisted of dying eggs and the Easter Bunny bringing Hadley a basket for Easter morning. The first few years I felt the Mommy guilt.."My daughter is missing out, she doesn't even know what an Easter egg hunt is." Well..that is just it..she doesn't know. We have lived here in Chicago since she was a year old so there are many things she doesn't know..so a typical Easter dinner and egg hunt is just one of those things..that is what happens when you don't live near family!!!
But she loves dying her Easter Eggs!!! She picked out the kit because it reminded her of the dye kit she saw on an episode of Curious George. But she didn't have the patience to let the eggs sit in the dye long enough to absorb the dye..so they were pastel colored eggs!!!



On the day before Easter we baked cookies for the Easter Bunny and set them out. Hadley was so excited she was up at 6:30 on Easter to get her basket of goodies!! Luckily Daddy didn't have to go into work until 8:00 so he was able to see her get her basket! She got bubbles, a small Tinkerbell kite, Horton Hears a Who movie, Princess Notepad, Candy, and a Cinderella Figurine for her room (Hadley loves that stuff!) She of course opened up the chocolate Easter bunny first..the perfect breakfast!!!

Meals in the Day Household

As I was commenting on Nickie's post about forgetting to feed dinner to her kids (sorry Nickie!!) I made the comment about our routine dinners of pancakes, pb&j, ham, and hotdogs. And yes, this is a routine of dinners for Hadley. Now don't get me wrong. I LOVE to cook. I LOVE cooking shows and cookbooks/magazines.I have binders full of recipes perfectly organized!Even Hadley LOVES to cook and watch cooking shows (esp. Giada) And if you ever come over to our house for a dinner, dinner party, superbowl party, birthday party, etc, you will be served an array of appetizers, salad, meal, desserts, and maybe even a special mixed drink. Partly because I love to cook and partly because I love to through these parties!
But don't be fooled...come over to the Day household on a typical weeknight and you will be served..pancakes..hotdogs (all beef of course!..I try to fool myself!)...ham (Hadley's fav!)...and sometimes..just oatmeal! You see, most nights it is just me and Hadley. So I decided years ago, why make a huge meal for just the two of us. She is happy eating her routine things. I make sure she eats a fruit and veggie and gets her milk..so that is a balanced meal, Right?
Hadley doesn't argue about what is for dinner, and since Mommy desperately needs to lose a few dozen then it allows me to watch what I eat too..so it is a win-win situation. Now on the weekends, if Jason is home I will make a dinner, as it is important for all of to sit down as a family to eat, and as a male he is a little picker!!
I bet over the years there have been many fooled by my "dinner party" meals who thought..wow she must cook like that all the time..HA HA!! Now...I would love to think one day I will work less and have more time at home and in that more time cook more rounded meals. I could spend that needed time making a large dinner every night for everyone, because I do love to cook. But ya know, I won't!! There will always be things needed to be done in that time. And that main thing,spending time with my family.
I guess we do the best we can! I just keep looking at Hadley's plate and say: meat, fruit, veggie, milk...is hotdog a meat?????

5 Year Check Up

Hadley had her 5 Year check up today. This has been a point of anxiety in our house as Hadley has heard her friends at school talk about the dreaded kindergarten shots!! She has gotten so upset that she has cried, convinced herself that her doctor won't give them to her, and tried to convince me that she didn't need to go. But today was the day. She was great for the doctor, and then asked the question: "Do I get shots?" To which Dr. Ellen replied, "Yes, but not until I leave. The nurse will do that." (Smart doctor!)So she let us know Hadley would get 4 shots in the leg, a TB test and then would need to pee in the cup before she leaves (to which Hadley said "gross")Hadley immediately climbs on my lap starting to cry for a bit about the shots and then calms down to play while we wait. As she is playing in the room waiting for the nurse she is constantly saying (in a very anxious tone): "Is the nurse coming?" "Is that the nurse?" "When will the nurse be here?"
And then all of a sudden she says:
"Mommy, what happens if you poop in the cup?"
"What, Hadley?"
"I have to pee in a cup. What happens if you poop in the cup?"
"Hadley, do you need to poop?" (thinking, please don't poop in the cup)
"No."
"Okay. Well, I don't know what happens. Why?"
"Nevermind. I don't want to talk about it."

After that out of the blue conversation about poop, the nurse finally comes in! Hadley gets a little nervous. She lays down for her TB test. Mommy prepares for tears..nothing...Hadley doesn't even realize the shot took place. Next I move in to hold both hands/arms to her chest while the nurse holds the legs for the 4 shots..I really prepare for the shots. Hadley barely notices the first two. Then the nurse says the next two will sting..I think ok..here it comes...Hadley's eyes get really wide and a look of "oh god..ouch" comes over her face..and then nothing. No tears, no ouch, no screams..nothing. The nurse says, "Well, Hadley, you are one of the bravest 5 yr old's I know."
So after the nurse leaves, Mommy in amazement at Hadley. Hadley stands on the table, looks right at me, teeth clinched and she says, "That hurt. That really hurts."
The whole ride to lunch Hadley just kept saying, "I was just so worried about them." I think she was as much in amazement that they weren't the worst pain ever as I was in amazement that I didn't carry out a crying child!

Target..one stop for all

We were shopping at Target on Sunday (as we do every weekend) and looking at the Easter stuff and Hadley spotted a Disney Princess Bubble Easter Ensemble. Here is the conversation we then had:

Hadley: Mommy, I want this.
Mommy: Well, Hadley, that is something the Easter Bunny would bring you.
H: What is it doing at Target?
M: I guess the Easter Bunny shops at Target.
H: The Easter Bunny shops at Target?
M: Yes, the Easter Bunny shops at Target, Everybody shops at Target.
H: Everybody shops at Target

And then she was off to something else. I seem to remember having this conversation around Christmas time about Santa shopping at Target too...

Birthday Party

We had Hadley's 5th birthday party at the Wilmette Gymnastics were she has taken Gymnastics for the last year. She loved it! They divided the kids up into two groups and each had their own instructor who took them around the gym for an hour doing all sorts of gymnastics!! Me and Jason also divided between the groups so we could help keep an eye on the kids. We were allowed on the floor with the kids but the other parents weren't, and since some of the parents just dropped their kids off, I wanted to make sure I kept an eye on them! Then we went into the party room for an hour to do cake, gifts, pinata, and play. It was a great birthday party! Hadley had a blast playing with all her friends. We sure wish family could have been there, but soon we will be able to have both friends and family there for all our parties!! Warning: lots of pics!!
Warming up:

Hadley getting ready to do a flip:

Hadley 'walking' accross bar:

Hanging out with Callan:

All the kids:

Blowing out candle: