Suburb Research

One of our key activities this weekend was taking a trip out to the burbs to "check them out".  We are definitely entertaining the idea that we're going to need to leave the city to get the space and yard that we want.  The big problem is not having grown up here, we (especially me) have little experience with the various suburbs and which we may want vs. not want.  We are pretty sure now that we want to head west and so we went to visit two that we'd done some research on. Definitely liked one better than the other, and got to hang with some friends/see their house/neighborhood while we were there.  It was beyond nice being able to let Sawyer run more than 10 feet in front of me and not have to worry about her darting in the middle of a major road.  We'll keep you posted on what we decide, but right now it's just lots of internet research.

Sawyer, Mark and I are all looking forward to a short week this week.  I am playing in a golf tournament tomorrow (crossing fingers I play well).  I can count on one hand the number of times I've played in the last 3-4 years, and have a few digits left over, so it could be interesting.  Luckily it's a scramble so i can rely on some of the talented people on the team.  That combined with the fact that we leave for Michigan Friday morning, means SHORT WEEK!  Sawyer is looking forward to seeing her grandparents - she cracks me up because when I ask her if she wants to go see Ted, Ann, Charlie, and Ben she just says excitedly, "YEAH" as if to say why are you even bothering to ask.  Should be a nice little four day trip for us and we could definitely use the break.

Aside from that, we've been dealing with our rambunctious little toddler.  I'm starting to think we're crazy for thinking we can deal with two kids at once because she is leaving me exhausted.  Mark took this picture today because she has started running up behind me and holding my legs tightly telling me she got me.  She's pulled away slightly in this photo, normally it's like she's glued onto me.  I feel bad for the people that live below us now because Sawyer has taken to just running around the condo - often in circles around the couch or the kitchen island, or sometimes just spinning on the rug.  Quick little story for my sister Katie - Sawyer does her letters all the time - she loves to tell us which ones she sees.  This weekend I had cleaned them all up and put them in order back on her board.  She walked up and pointed, saying "P, Q, Ry-Ry".  For those not in the know - Ry-Ry is one of Sawyer's uncles.

Gems from my Phone

Nope...her cheeks haven't changed much in a year have they?

So while I'm pretty good at all the tech stuff, I've always lagged behind in the phone dept.  I don't yet have the coveted Iphone, and gave away my Blackberry a few years ago.  So when it comes to taking pictures and videos on my phone all I really do is text them out.  But all that changed, because I figured out how to get them on the blog....well kind of.  I got the pictures to work but the video isn't for some reason.  You'll notice that some of these are a bit old.  This pic was taken on the walk back from brunch one fine weekend morning this summer.  It was a hot one and our girl was tired so she decided to take a rest on her daddy's head.

Rocking her new Jackie-O sunglasses we picked up while Alicia was visiting...

Sitting in her racecar carte while at the mall in Florida.  If only I had realized she would love this when we got to the mall, and not right when we were walking out the door. 

One of the first nice days this spring, Sawyer and I heading out for a walk.  Barefeet is the way to go.

Last summer (2009) I think after a trip to the zoo.  Girl was plum tuckered out and didn't even wake up when we took her out of the car and carried her upstairs.  She looks so big compared to the pics I took of her and Porter (the dog) right after she was born.

Walking home from school in Fall 2009...she loved to pick the leaves up and carry them home.

Father's Day Weekend

This weekend started off with a bang - had some crazy crazy storms here in Chicago.  I worked from home so only really had to worry about picking up Sawyer.  Mark left work early to avoid having to commute in middle of 60-70 mile an hour winds and we both went to pick our girl up early.  Spent much of the night just watching the rain because it kept knocking out our directv. 

We had a really nice weekend despite a crazy start.  In the spirit of Father's Day I wanted to make sure Mark had a relaxing weekend so Saturday morning i took Sawyer to the grocery store with me.  Typically I try to keep her at home because (1) she likes to grab things and throw them in the cart and (2) she has to eat the whole time she's in the cart.  I had to hide the raspberries on her because she could have finished them before we got to checkout.  So instead I just had to listen to "Raspberries Mom, Raspberries" being said over and over and over again...atleast until I figured out the next thing to distract her.

The big event on Saturday for sure though was that Mark went SKYDIVING.  Yes, you read that right.  You may remember that this was Mark's birthday present last fall and because of a random snowy October it got postponed.  He decided to schedule it this Saturday and so not long after we returned from the store, he headed out about 60 miles west of the city for a jump from 14,000 feet.  I know - crazy.  I couldn't do it, but he's into it.  My understanding is it was awesome, and he was only scared for about 10 seconds just before jumping out of the plane.  It was a clear sunny day so he said he could see downtown which is pretty cool.  He didn't buy any pictures or video, but they did give him a card.  If you are saying to yourself, "I jumped out of a plane and all they gave me was this stupid card", we are similar people.  Seemed odd to me.

Soy-diggity and I pretty much just hung out while Mark was gone.  I pretty much just try to think of every possible activity known to man to keep her occupied.  Because she knows where the M&M's are kept, I had to distract her with play doh instead (kept in same cupboard).  In case you haven't noticed, she is VERY serious about her play doh.

Atleast until you tell her to say cheese...

So with the big event done on Saturday, Sunday was set up to be pretty low key.  We shared some blueberry pancakes together while rocking out to some tunes which was the perfect start to Mark's Father's Day and then ventured out for a run/walk.  We weren't sure whether it would be more run or walk since my exercise routine has been nonexistent since breaking my foot and being banned for six months.  I think I've taken two runs since I was cleared to work out which is just downright sad.  Anyway didn't do too terrible considering i'm also now 4 months pregnant.  We ended up spending quite a bit of time out by the lake, and every time we do it, all I can think is that I can't ever leave the city for the suburbs.  I love being so close to the lake...hard decisions certainly lie ahead.  Anyway we hung out by the fountain at McCormick Place, watched boats on the rocks, and just walked around alot.  Sawyer entertained us quite a bit because she would say "Biiig Boat" over and over but in a weird voice whether it was a huge yacht or jet ski. Needless to say, the entire family ended up napping when we got home - love those afternoons.

Enjoyable Father's Day weekend for us...hope you had the same.

The CEO

So as you no doubt saw from Mark's previous post we are expecting Harris Baby #2 around Thanksgiving.  We've kept it to ourselves for awhile and are actually 16 weeks along already. It's kind of nice telling people when you're almost halfway done because then it doesn't feel like it takes as long.  We'll find out in a month what we're having.  Nope no waiting for us - we want to know!  Sawyer has been in on our secret since the beginning and has started to talk to my stomach, hit/rub it, and also lifts my shirt and tells me to "open it" so she can see.  She continues to crack us up.  So the rest of the post I actually started writing last week, but I changed/updated it a bit since I am so behind in posting...

My Little CEO

My mom likes to call Sawyer "the CEO". She saw her in action while we were in Buffalo, and let's face it, our girl is a little bossy and likes to get her own way. Now this may be partially attributed to the age, but I do think in part we have a strong-willed girl on our hands. All I can think of is back to my early consulting days when I took this DISC profile test (my friends will know this well) and it categorizes you into one of four primary character profiles (a D, an I, a S, or a C). Everytime I think of my little CEO, I think she is someday going to rate very high in the "D" category (coincidentally in reality as most CEO's do). I've copied the D profile for you below, for those not totally in the know. Who knows if this is actually her, but I had to take this test so many times it's ingrained in my head.

Dominance: People who score high in the intensity of the "D" styles factor are very active in dealing with problems and challenges, while low "D" scores are people who want to do more research before committing to a decision. High "D" people are described as demanding, forceful, egocentric, strong willed, driving, determined, ambitious, aggressive, and pioneering. Low D scores describe those who are conservative, low keyed, cooperative, calculating, undemanding, cautious, mild, agreeable, modest and peaceful.

A few examples:

• Mark and I spend much of our time following Sawyer around...because she tells us to. Her new favorite phrase is "Come on" which is an improvement on her constantly just coming to grab our finger and drag us where she wants to go. Sadly, I think I have to take credit for teaching her this phrase because I say it to her all the time.

• Sawyer does not take kindly to the word "NO". Yesterday she got caught taking dirt from our plant inside and throwing it on the floor. She got warnings (actually probably three), two timeouts, and eventually ended up in her crib for 5-10 minutes to think about how she doesn't listen to her mom. After each of the warnings and timeouts she would go right back to the plant, and stare at me while first tapping the side of the planter, and then slowly inching her fingers up to the dirt. Those eyes are haunting and understand exactly what is going on. We ended crib time with yet ANOTHER talking to by me and when I finally sat down with her specifically to try and find something else she'd be interested in that seemed to do the trick...but if anyone has suggestions on how to make "NO" a more respected term, I'm open to them...

• In the morning Sawyer wakes up (this is no surprise) but within seconds is screaming "Mommy" and "Daddy" over and over. She is not one of those kids who will lay there for a bit chatting to herself or singing or whatever those other calm kids do, she wants out, and she wants out right away. On occasion I will allow myself a trip to the bathroom before getting her, and by the time I get there she is yelling pretty loud because she thinks I can't hear her. When we do get her out of bed, she used to want to come hang with us and watch the news. Now if we even try to sit her in our bed she will grab one of our hands, drag us out of bed, and to the refrigerator. I've learned that she wants you to open it so she can peruse - however since she has picked olives, hummus, and other generally non-breakfast foods to eat, and will throw an absolute fit if she doesn't get them, I've started to just get her milk out and prepare her and I some cereal to eat...not her Apple Jacks either, she prefers my Kashi Crunch, and now Rice Chex, as that's what the big kids eat.

While we make fun, Mark and I are pretty sure we've contributed to these quirky personality traits, especially because we give in to her so frequently. Besides she surprises us all the time because she'll go from being bossy to coming over and giving hugs/kisses and saying "I love you", or saying please/thank you/you're welcome/excuse me quite unexpectedly or before requested.  Sure will be interesting to see how she deals with someone else taking away some of her attention come Thanksgiving.

So it's been awhile since we really posted - trying to keep a long story short, while last weekend was full of errands and trips to the park, this weekend was full of activity.  Last week Sawyer got her first face painting (a heart) while we were at Oz Park.  She spent a ton of time just running across the fields, and it happily resulted in a 4 hour nap!  This weekend, I went out with friends Friday night and we had an all day wedding on Saturday.  I don't go out very much anymore it seems and I think I forget how nice it is to just get out - had a great time both nights, but it left me pretty tired on Sunday. 
Have spent a good amount of time cooking this week.  Did a monster shopping trip at Whole Foods last weekend and prepared my plan for a week's worth of dinners - all pretty much new recipes from the family cookbook or magazines.  I love that store, and while I don't normally do all my shopping here, I treated myself (and Mark and Sawyer).  Besides our little CEO loves her food and gets an upgrade to organic berries when I go there.  That's right - blueberry, raspberry, strawberry, and blackberries. We buy them all. She also seriously enjoys the olive bar. She even tried tapenade on fresh bread and was LOVING it.  Our big hiccup was when she reached outside the cart to grab an extra pint of blueberries and threw it in the cart behind her, opening the carton and spilling it all over the floor.  So embarrassing.  She then proceeded to eat half of the blueberries and raspberries while I did the rest of the shopping.  This is our goob trying plums for the first time (non baby food anyway).  I had a bunch in the fruit bowl and unbeknownst to me she took two out and was switching back and forth. She gives plums a thumbs up, but peaches not so much.

Rocking her new t-shirt from Lauren - it's from Aspen and says "I'm Difficult" with two black diamonds.  The caption couldn't be more appropriate and her day care teachers liked it as well.

Sawyer continues to be obsessed with "upside down" as she says.  She made Mark carry her up the three flights of stairs upside down yesterday and requests it multiple times a day otherwise.  Tiring on the arms to say the least, so Mark came up with this alternative.  Since our monkey immitates Mark in almost every way this took but a second to orchestrate.

Game Change

Expected Arrival ~ 11.27.10