After the Polar Play Zone, we sat in front of the dolphin viewing for awhile. It was magical! Every time one would glide through the water in front of Charlie, her eyes would get so wide and she would just chatter away at them. She also got to dig in “tidepools” for different shallow water animals.

Our second to last stop was the gift shop, where we were met with this GINORMOUS plush penguin. It can be yours, too, for exactly $399.99! After a few purchases for her stocking, we shared a quick lunch and of course, an iced pumpkin sugar cookie (her favorite!). All in all, a really fun mommy/daughter date and I’m so happy that I was able to take her!!

This morning my pregnancy insomnia had me up and moving at 5 am. Anyone who knows me knows that I am definitely NOT a morning person, however, for some reason today I had a burst of energy and decided it was the perfect day to take Charlie to the Shedd Aquarium, finally. Turns out it was a “free” day, although only for general admission. The Polar Play Zone, which was our whole reason for going, was extra, but a small price to pay to see my little girl’s eyes fill with pure wonder. It was pretty awesome.

We got there promptly at 9 am, when the doors opened. There were maybe 10 people there…so we went downstairs to the PPZ first, before it got crowded. It is the coolest exhibit. Across from the underwater viewings of the penguins and dolphins, there is a play area made to look like a penguin habitat. Kids can literally dress up in a penguin costume and slide down an “icy” slide, build nests, and crawl through tunnels. Behind all of it, there was an animated background depicting penguins doing those same things. I had a hard time getting Charlie to put the costume on…she was a bit timid about getting out of her stroller at first, but finally let me walk her up the “rock” stairs and catch her as she came down the slide. She was completely enraptured by the “kengas” that she saw. The last time we came to the Shedd was with Ms. Jen this time last year (I don’t even think she was walking yet!)…so it was definitely a change and so fun to see Charlie really “experience” it.

I’ve been having this conversation a lot recently:

Interested Person: So, are you getting excited about decorating the new baby’s room?

Me: Um…Yeah, I guess so!

IP: Oh, well, does it have a theme?

Me: Yeah, “Office”.

Ok, so this is an entirely fair question to ask…and at one point I think I did have a “vision” of sorts…but let’s be honest…this baby is going to be sleeping wherever we can find a spare spot for her. This corner in our office was the one I had “cleared out” for the pack n’ play…and it still will be, but for now it’s stacked with Charlie’s winter clothes and piles of baby towels and burp cloths that I have no place for. Literally.
Maybe I’ll just ask Santa for one linen closet. That’s all I need, I swear.

We originally had plans to join our good friends the Peterson’s at the Lincoln Park Zoo’s “Spooky Zoo Spectacular” this morning, but JUST as we were walking out to the car, it started to rain. Really rain. Enough rain that it would have made our zoo outing pretty miserable. So sad.

When we started taking Charlie’s boots off, her eyes welled up with tears and she got so upset we thought we’d better come up with a back-up plan, and fast. We ended up tooling around at Michael’s and Bed, Bath, and Beyond (I know, exciting, right?) so that Mommy could check off some of her to-do’s. For some reason Charlie insisted on wearing her hat and sunglasses indoors all morning. You would have thought she was being followed by the paparazzi…

Oh, I am in love! We’ve recently discovered the brand Naartjie
(I know, a little late in the game) and it is just adorable (and affordable) stuff! Someone once told me, “it’s like the Old Navy of South Africa!” I am officially hooked…and may have to get more colors in this set when they have their next big sale.

Today we had it on our calendar to venture down to the aquarium and see the penguin exhibit. Unfortunately, it has been raining all week and today was no exception. Even though the aquarium is indoors, I just couldn’t rally to brave the long walk from the parking garage. That, and the place is a literal zoo if you don’t get there early. So, no aquarium for us…instead, I pulled out these cupcakes that I originally bought for Charlie to enjoy on her birthday, but ended up saving for a rainy day. Today was the day! We’ll venture out to see the penguins next week.

We HAD to go to the grocery store on Wednesday night. We were out of everything, but I was majorly procrastinating and really didn’t want to go at 7 pm after Charlie was down for the night. We made the executive decision to go as a family after we picked Daddy up from the train. I’m not sure I would recommend this. Here’s why:

One time at Costco we let Charlie ride in the shopping cart without being strapped in, that is, she stood up in the cart WITH the food. Now of course, she refuses to go back to the “old way” of doing things. I just couldn’t concentrate worrying she was going to fall forward out of the Jewel shopping cart, so I made Vann hunt down…you guessed it…one of those behemoth car-carts that we swore we would never, ever use.Guess what?? You’ll do anything if you need to just get your groceries and get out of there. Notice that Vann is not in these pictures. I think maybe he made a break for it when we weren’t looking…

Wednesday we skipped ballet to go with our Mom’s Group to Goebbert’s Pumpkin Patch, rescheduled from last Friday’s downpours. It was such a beautiful fall day, no coats needed! Charlie and her friend Tad enjoyed running through the vast fields of “pumpins” and especially loved all of the animals in the animal farm. After lunch, we split a gigantic iced sugar cookie and it was DE-LISH!! We brought home some peanut butter fudge for Daddy, so that he wouldn’t feel left out…