Hard to come by in the Big City…

This past weekend Vann took Charlie to Indianapolis to meet up with his parents (Charlie’s Nana and JJ) and I stayed back to take care of some things at home. The report is that Charlie had a ball!! Here are a couple pics of Charlie and her Nana…

We usually drive to Tennessee for the 4th of July, but this year we won’t be able to make it due to Vann’s schedule of classes. Instead, we’ll be taking our roadtrip in August. We plan on dropping Charlie off with her Nana and JJ for five days while we travel to nearby Gatlinburg (home of the airbrushed tee) to stay at a family friend’s cabin. It’s beautiful and was built from the ground up with much love and care. Gatlinburg is a pretty touristy locale, but there are some great outlet malls around and it is a beautiful part of the country. Our main goal will be to relax, so we plan on stocking up on food and movies and enjoying the quiet before this new little one arrives in the Fall. We will most likely venture into town once or twice, but considering the heat of August and the crowds, our venture may not last long, especially with this prego. I should also say that I am looking forward to this trip because I make Vann stop at some “southern” clothing boutiques to hit up all the end of summer sales. Charlie has a closetful of smocked dresses from last summer that are ready to be worn as soon as the weather stops being so rainy and dreary. I call these shopping trips my “buy ahead extravaganzas”!!

I realized I forgot to post these pics last week! When Mimi was here I mentioned that I wanted to buy a toy vacuum cleaner for Charlie so that she could “help” Mommy when it was time to vacuum up all that pesky cat hair…and off to Toys R Us we went. I tested out my theory on Friday and she immediately went for her vacuum when I pulled the Dyson out.

This Laugh N’ Learn vaccum doesn’t have a lot of suction power, but at least it kept her busy for about a half hour.

At Toys R Us, Mimi and Poppy also went ahead and picked up Charlie’s birthday present! Yes, a little early for this September 1st girl, but it saves us on shipping and we can give it to her sometime this summer when she starts to outgrow her other toys. I am VERY excited about this particular gift…it promises many hours of fun playtime!!

Well, this is about the best we could do after church on Sunday. Charlie refused to pose for any pictures, but we managed to grab this quick shot before she melted down. What you can’t see is that she’s wearing her “Wizard of Oz” dress from Orient Expressed. It was one of my treasures from last Fall that she’s just now able to wear.
We enjoyed a lovely brunch (prepared by Vann) and then Poppy went to work on the apartment. Not only did he fix our screen door, but he and Vann performed a complete computer rehab and hung up our outdoor string lights on the back porch. Mimi made some amazing homemade banana pudding, and Charlie generally made mischief and was the target of many tickles and hugs. What did I do, you might ask?? Well, I partook in the banana pudding and spent my time cooking a baby. ;)Originally, we were going to hit up the Museum of Science and Industry this morning so that Poppy could see the trains, but we unanimously decided to sleep in instead and have a lazy day watching HGTV and catching up on all the video footage we had taken of Charlie over the past six months. It was such a wonderful visit and we are so thankful for all of the help and sweat that Mimi and Poppy put into their time here. We love you!!!!

After we picked Poppy up from the airport, we walked around downtown Chicago and stopped at a park along the way. It was so crowded on Michigan Avenue, but we just couldn’t stay away considering it was Mimi and Poppy’s first time to visit the city during warm weather! It was a lot of walking and this prego was definitely exhausted!!

That evening we had dinner at Volare, one of our favorite restaurants from our old neighborhood in Streeterville. It was probably a little ambitious to bring a toddler there, but luckily there was a lovely family sitting next to us that had two older daughters who entertained Charlie throughout the whole meal. Poppy was so appreciative that he bought that nice family dessert for their “trouble”!!

At least Charlie is getting used to dining al fresco…

Saturday morning we got up bright and early to meet our family photographer, Leigh Wilcoxson, at the Ryerson Forest Preserve in Lake County. We love Leigh so much, and this was our third time shooting with her. We almost cancelled due to the prediction of rain, but decided to go ahead and drive out to the ‘burbs considering we had to pick Poppy up from the airport anyway.

I am so glad we did because it ended up being a gorgeous morning and we had no traffic getting out there. We’ve never used up the whole two hour shoot time before, but Charlie was in a fairly good mood, so we took advantage. The first half was taken at the Brushwood House, a historic home that’s used for weddings and parties. Luckily, the Matilda Jane “Ballerina” dress that I lucked into (missed it the first time because it was only made in limited supply) got here a few days before, and once I tried it on her I just KNEW it was the outfit for Saturday. I am SO pumped to see the pics!

Leigh always graciously allows us a couple of watermarked shots for the blog, so I will be sure to post them ASAP. For more info on Leigh, check out her website and brand new blog: www.leighwilcoxsonphotography.com.

Friday night Mimi graciously offered to babysit Charlie while Vann and I had a wonderful date night at North Pond, one of the most delicious and memorable restaurants in Chicago. When we made our reservations, we requested a table in the front dining room, which faces the downtown skyline. It was definitely the best seat in the house!! Not only that, but they made our desserts extra special because we also told them that we were celebrating a new addition to our family. The morning sickness is almost totally gone, so on that night I was able to fully enjoy every part of the meal. Yay!!

At some point I am going to learn how to add a link so that all you have to do is click on “North Pond”, versus having to post the link elsewhere. Anyone know how to do that? Until then, you can check out North Pond at www.northpondrestaurant.com.