Well, as most of you already know, Charlie’s going to be a big sister!! My official due date is November 29th, but because it will be a repeat c-section, this baby will arrive the week of Thanksgiving, at 39 weeks. Do I mind being in the hospital during a major holiday?? Nah…the day I check out we’ll have a big feast and I’ll enjoy my first glass of wine in 9 months. It will be a celebration, and we are thrilled!!

We will be finding out the sex, the week of July 13th, to be exact. I am way too much of a control freak not to. We won’t be sharing the name with anyone (sorry, Mimi)…no front-runner’s yet, but we’d just prefer to not hear all the opinions, to be quite honest. So, you’ll know if it’s a boy or a girl, but you won’t know that we are planning to name him/her Magenta Roosevelt Bischoff. It will be a surprise for all!!!

One thing my friends know about me is that I LOVE to smell nice. While at the mall yesterday, I had to make a stop at my makeup/fragrance mecca, Sephora. Usually I just wander, trying on different scents…sometimes I don’t emerge until my hand looks like one of those painter’s palettes, covered with crazy shades of eyeshadow. This time, however, I made a huge discovery…one that makes me want to SING, that’s how happy I am…

See below: Philosophy’s new “Surfer Girl” exfoliating shower gel/lotion/lip gloss set. Not only does it have a heavenly (and I mean, heavenly) tropical, beachy scent, but it also has a slight shimmer that gives your skin just the teeniest glowy sheen. Who doesn’t want some of that??? Go get some, NOW!!

http://www.sephora.com/

On our way out of Sweet Tomatoes, I noticed signs for the Kohl Children’s Museum. We were already pushing naptime, but it was so gorgeous outside and I just couldn’t BEAR the thought of going home yet. We decided to go and it was so worth it!! It’s very similar to the Chicago Children’s Museum at Navy Pier, very hands-on and interactive…there were tons of different “rooms” to play in, even a “Dominicks” grocery store and a “Potbelly Sandwich Works” where you could make your own (plastic) sandwiches!!

We happened to be there during an off-time, so we had no trouble seeing everything. And, the bonus was, literally 3 minutes after I put the girl in her carseat to head back to the city, she was out for the count. Looks like I sufficiently wore her out.

Here are some various pics of our visit to the Kohl Museum. For more info, check out: http://www.kohlchildrensmuseum.org/ They do offer birthday parties…you pay a fee for a “party room” and get free admission for you and however many guests (different packages for number of guests), but food is not included. Would be a fun idea, though, so something to think about…

Yesterday morning, we woke up with no plans. Originally I thought I would be lazy and just try to stay home, but the weather was forecasting a beautiful day and I’ve had this girl cooped up for too long. We decided to go to the mall. Now, in Chicago, the mall is not just “down the street”. There are actually quite a few to choose from, but you have to be willing to drive to get there. No worries, I thought, we have a Garmin and nothing to do…and we’ll just stay until she gets tired and then drive home and she will (hopefully) sleep in the car.

We had a blast!! It was so nice to have a day where she was in great spirits and behaving (for the most part, except for when I had her trying on shoes at Stride Rite) and it was wonderful to be out of the house.

After some delightful retail therapy (for me and the girl), we stopped at Sweet Tomatoes, a salad buffet joint (a lot like my beloved Souper Salads from my college days) and had a nice lunch. The aisles were made for strollers and I even had a helpful employee carry my tray to the table for me. This pic is of Charlie enjoying her first ever fro-yo cone. You can see that she’s VERY focused on it…

I just love these two pictures!! I caught two of my girls watching pigeons yesterday…

Our last stop was what I think should be coined “The Great Hall”. It has an amazing train set that fills almost the whole room, taking you through major US cities and ending up in Chicago. There is actually a full-size model of downtown with the Hancock building and a little El train snaking through. Poppy would LOVE it. Hanging above Chicago in this first picture is a life-sized 747 airplane. Who knows how they got that thing up there, but it is impressive!!!!

Can’t wait to go back!!

For more info on the museum, check out: http://www.msichicago.org/

I really wish that I knew where I could find Charlie a pirate ship like this one…

Our next stop was the “Idea Factory”, a huge room with interactive activities for kids, kinda reminiscent of “Sesame Place”, if anyone remembers the old Sesame St. theme park. This “Idea Factory” has a section just for toddlers, so it was nice to close the gate and let the young ones go to town. It was a good thing Charlie had on a sleeveless dress that day (an adorable gift from Mimi!) because she refused to wear the rain coat provided for the really fun water fountain. She couldn’t resist splashing, something she LOVES to do in the tub.

Recently we paid a visit to the Museum of Science and Industry with Ms. Jen and the Jernigan boys. To say that Charlie had fun would be a huge understatement! It is by far one of the coolest things that Chicago has to offer. I’ve never been there with a child before, so it was cool to see it through her eyes. Our first stop was the “Farm Tech” room, which boasted life-sized cows and tractors!! Charlie couldn’t believe her eyes….