St. Patrick's Day Weekend

Before I write about my wonderful St. Patty's Day weekend, here are a couple of good pics...

Lyla has been following us as we walk around the room and so we took a picture of her kinking her head back to look at us.  She is a doll!

We have a pond in our front yard and when we first moved here it was pretty much frozen over.  Now that the weather has become warmer, the water has melted the ducks have started to come out and swim in our pond.  Below is a picture of the ducks standing on a still icy part of the pond.  It was funny because they would walk on the ice and then all of a sudden they would fall straight through the ice and into the water and have to figure out a way to get back out.  I thought their struggle was pretty entertaining, rather than sad, because the ducks like to wake us up in the mornings at like 6am. 

Now for the fun part... One of the reasons I love Chicago is because they have a HUGE St. Patrick's Day celebration.  They dye the Chicago River GREEN, they have a huge parade, and everyone gets all dressed up!  We had a BLAST!

Here is Nate and I on the Blue rail heading down to Chicago.  I know Nate is closing his eyes but I still like the picture.

These were rad apartment buildings.  The lower half (or 1/3) is the parking and the rest are the apartments.

Nate and I, happy to be in the city :)

Can you believe how green the river is!?!?!  They had a boat going through to spread all the dye around.  

Nate just took a picture of this part of a building.  I'm not sure where it actually is but it's pretty cool!

The green Chicago River.

Nate and I by the river again.

It was freezing walking in the shadows of all the big buildings and we forgot to pack Lyla her sweatshirt, so we had to do our best and bundle her up in her stroller.  She was such a champ!

Me.

A green (fake) cow during the parade.

I love men in kilts!  Haha! It was awesome to see them marching down and there were even men wearing kilts while playing bagpipes!  I wish I were Irish.

At the parade.

All the guys.

All the girls.

Whenever people started screaming during the parade, Lyla made this face...

...but she then made this face the rest of the time...

Me, Nate, and what looks like our balding baby.  

Nate in front of the "El Train", otherwise known as the elevated train.  I didn't know this but I guess it has been in a bunch of movies like "The Blues Brothers".

The Chicago Theater.

Anyway, we had a blast at our first time in the city and we can't wait to go back!  

Also, we had real Chicago deep dish pizza for the first time and it was everything and more than I could have hoped for.  The cheese is DELICIOUS!  So if you ever go to Chicago, I recommend getting pizza at Nancy's or at Giordano's!

You've got to be kidding me...

My friend Jenny showed me this cute ladybug bedding that she was going to get her daughter and I instantly fell in love.  So when I found out that I was having a girl, I just had to get this bedding (this picture is just the online picture... my nursery isn't that cute).

The sheets are pretty cute too.  Below is a picture of what they look like.  It is basically a bunch of little lady bugs that are pretty much the actual size of real ladybugs.  I lovED this bedding.  So then, what is the problem?  Well let me tell you...

After we moved to Chicago, and after we got this adorable bedding, we realized it is not so adorable anymore.  Why?  Please see the picture below.  These so called lady bugs are actually Asian Lady Beetles that just happen to look like ladybugs and they are EVERYWHERE!  During the winter they tend to migrate into light colored homes (since they resemble rocks where they usually go) and since I live in a light colored home, I see them in my house quite a bit... and mostly in Lyla's room.  So now, I have to be really careful when I set her down or pick her up to make sure her sheets aren't "moving". I know, it's pretty gross and disturbing.  

 

Hopefully with spring coming we will see less of these unwelcome guests.

LOVE

I love my daughter.  I always knew I would love my children but I never knew how much I would love them.  But since I only have one child at the time, I will just say... I love Lyla!  Being a mom is one of the most incredible privileges in the world and the feelings that accompany it are indescribable.  The amount of love I have for Lyla is just... ahh!  I would do anything for this little girl.  I love...

•  sitting and watching her as she lays on the ground on a blanket and just kicks her legs with her braces on... it looks like she is snowboarding and it is awesome.  And she loves it too!  She'll just sit there for an hour straight, pumping her legs like it will be her last time so she is getting in as much exercise as she can!  
• giving her baths. We don't have a baby bath yet so we just hop in the bath tub with her and hold her while we bathe her.   She just stares at whoever is bathing her with this nervous look... not knowing whether or not she should be scared or smiling.  I also love when we pour some water over her face to wash the soap off... she will just close her eyes, tighten her body, and fling her arms all over the place as if she is falling off a cliff.  It is the cutest thing.  So we try to talk to her to let her know that we're there and that she will be just fine and that just seems to calm her right down.

that she knows me.  She knows my voice. She knows my smell. She knows my face and my body.  She knows Nate too and can just stare at him for the longest time! Nate facinates her.

the relationship we are building.  I love that she knows me as mom and that I can help her with whatever she needs.  This morning she woke me up crying because she wanted to eat.  So I slowly got out of bed, went to the bathroom, and finally made it over to her room.  I leaned over her crib and she didn't look at me but I said "Good morning Lyla" and without even looking at me she just got this HUGE smile!  And then she finally found my face and was completely pacified.  It was so cute!  Talk about the best way to start your day.  

her cute smile.  That smile melts me to pieces.  She can be fussy and annoying all day but then give me a smile after it all and everything is forgiven and forgotten.   It has been so fun as she has been more responsive lately and just smiles and coo's when I talk to her.  She LOVES talking back to me and to Nate.  

that she is "finding her voice".  Recently, Lyla has discovered her voice so she has begun to chat up a storm!  The best part, is that she is also discovering the different noises she can make with her voice.  So we will be talking to her and she will coo in this cute little voice and all of a sudden make this high pitch squeal and then this low grunting noise.  She is all over the place and it's so fun to watch her figure out what she is capable of.

that she has the girliest cry I have ever heard!  I'm going to have a little drama queen!

that she is learning to use her leg muscles.  A lot of times I will sit with her and hold her facing me and she will have her feet on my legs and let her body slowly slide down and then spring back up! She'll just sit there doing that over and over again.  A couple of times it has resulted in hitting me in the face but I still love her anyway.

that she sucks all of her fingers but her thumb!  Or she'll suck her whole fist.  She'll start sucking on anything really.  Last night I was holding her and she turned to my neck and started sucking (and it's not like she was super hungry because I had just fed her) and probably could have given me a hicky.  That would have been a fun one to explain... "No it wasn't Nate... it was my baby".  Wrong.

Anyway, I guess I could go on FOREVER with all the things I love.  These are all things that most babies probably do, but for some reason I am just fascinated with it all.  I just love her and sometimes I find myself almost in tears because I am so overwhelmed with the joy she brings to my life.  I love being a mom.