It's been a bit crazy for me the past month or so - I'm really looking forward to being around home for the Thanksgiving holiday.
We had Preston's birthday get-together the last weekend in October, which also coincided with the trick-or-treating that our neighborhood does. So, we did Italian beef sandwiches (from Mr. A's in Crystal Lake!) and cake, then Sarah and I took Nemo and The Fresh Beat Band (i.e. Elizabeth and Megan) out trick-or-treating. Sarah and I froze our butts, but the kiddos had a great time. Preston stayed in his Nemo costume for the next day-and-a-half... he refused to take it off. It was actually pretty adorable.
My dog proceeded to eat all of Preston's candy the next day. Used the tablecloth to pull the bag from the middle of the dining room table over to the edge where he could reach it. Awesome.
Preston had his 3-year appointment the next week, and he is a picture of health! He was 26.5 lbs and 37 inches tall - sailing along still in the 5th percentile! He was not happy about a couple of shots he had to get, "Dr. Meyer got my arms." :( Poor baby.
Rose had her LAST appointment with the GI doctor!! He said that whatever was going on with her has been cleared up, and they were thrilled at her weight gain. When I asked how much longer we should be doing the amped-up feedings, he said that we can't do it forever, but to try and at least get her to the 50th percentile... at which Skip and I promptly burst out in laughter. We told the doctor that she'll probably never get to the 50th percentile, since Preston's never even been close, so he laughed and told us to shoot for the 20th then. :) As she starts to eat more food and get more balanced calories and fat that way, we should be able to cut back on the extra calories in her bottles. Sounds like a good plan to us! And with that, they said we don't have to go back, unless she starts having issues again.
The month of November has been really busy, starting with a trip down to Crystal Lake and Chicago for me and the kids. It was Skip's work weekend, so we headed down on Saturday to first go and see Shay and Tom's new house! I was so happy to finally see where they are living, and all of the great projects they have been working on. The house is definitely a work in progress, but it's already beautiful with what they've done so far, and I can't wait to see the rest of their efforts. After we left the Cooper's, we went up to Woodstock to visit with all the Preston's. Pat was in town, so we all got together to have soup up at Nancy and Jim's. We stayed at Harrison's Saturday night, since my mom was SUPER sick - we wanted to give her space to recooperate, at least for one night. We took it easy on Sunday, had dinner at Sarah and Andy's then did end up going back over to Mom and Dad's Sunday night to stay.
On Monday, I left the kids in CL while I played commuter for the day and took the train (then a bus) to the University of Chicago for a meeting of the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues. Their meetings are open to the public, so I took the opportunity to attend. It was REALLY interesting to hear the discussions from these experts who are the ones who eventually put legislation into place. I also got to spend the day at the U of C, which was very cool (food trucks!). I came back up to CL that night, exhausted, then drove myself down Tuesday for round 2. The drive took me over 2 hours and then I had trouble finding a place to park, which was a pain because I ended up missing a good chunk of the first session that morning. Nevertheless, the discussion was again really interesting, and I was glad to have gone. After I left, I met Lindsay for lunch up in the loop, and then drove back up to Milwaukee. Ironically, it took me less time to get all the way back up to MKE than it did to get down to Chicago from CL. Needless to say I was pretty tired after all that traveling. Skip met my mom in Lake Geneva to get the kids back.
I had a short 2 days at work, then we packed up and headed up to Boulder Junction with Mom and Dad. It was nice and quiet and we had Evergreen all to ourselves, which was great. Unfortunately, it rained basically the whole time we were up there, but we made the best of it and enjoyed fires in the fireplace and some shopping and meals in town. The kids were great, and I think Scotch had the most fun of all, running around in the woods and chasing birds and the resident cat. Skip didn't have any luck fishing, but he (and I) did have fun shooting things with the BB gun...
That brings us to this past weekend, which was the middle of an insane work stretch for Skip (Thursday - Monday nights 7p-7a, then Wednesday 15-23 at Sinai, then Thanksgiving night 23-07. He works so hard, but it works so that he can have some good chunks of time off, too). Preston, Rose and I drove down again to Chicago to see Lindsay, Kathryn and K's nephew Gavin. We met Lindsay then took the water taxi (which Preston LOVED) to meet Kathryn and Gavin. We walked to Navy Pier, where the boys really enjoyed playing at the Children's Museum, while us girls visited - and kept a close eye on the boys (only lost Preston once... which was 4 minutes of utter panic for Mommy...). Rose was super chill on my back all day, and I applaud the Chicago Children's Museum for their dedicated quiet room where I was able to nurse her in peace and quiet (gotta love seeing the universal breastfeeding symbol on the wall!). After we left the museum, we had intended to take the free Navy Pier trolley back to catch the water taxi, but let's just say the city was INSANE with thousands of extra people in town for the Magnificent Mile Festival of Lights. We ended up walking to where were said goodbye to K and G, then walking some more through the hoardes of people to get to the river. We were worried that the water taxi had stopped running, but we eventually caught it and got back to Lindsay's safe and sound. Props and SUPER thanks to Lindsay for helping me with the kids all day! The kids were troopers through the day, and Preston fell alseep as soon as we got into the car. Unfortunately, Rose didn't... and even after a bottle was hysterical in the car. So we drove back to CL instead of MKE, since I knew a 2 hour ride was NOT in the cards for that little girl (or me, to be honest).
It ended up working out well, though, since my parents were slated to bring the kids to my concert on Sunday anyways. So Mom took Rose to church in the morning while I went to the store with P, then I left the kids and came home to get ready. Mom and Dad just brought the kids up with them when they came to the concert (Mary too). The kids apparently were wonderful at the concert, and really enjoyed as much as they could of the music. So glad that my little ones are following in the musical footsteps of me and their rocker daddy! We got to say hello to Mary and Charlie, as well, who came up for the concert too! We had a nice dinner at El Fuego, before saying adios to the 'rents.
Aside from our time up north, Skip and I have been literally on opposite schedules this month (it's like we're switching off being with the kids and/or sleeping while the other is working). I'm looking forward to spending some time together this next long weekend, and next week as well. It's been crazy so it'll be good to be home!