Adventures in babyhood!

I thought with a new year might come a new (old) tradition. So, it's time to start up again with the chronicaling the adventures and misadventures we have taken on as new(ish) parents. I have to say, this is probably the biggest adventure, and neither Ryan or I have ever set foot in this land of the unknown. Miles Steven Daniel came into our world last April, and as they say, nothing has been the same since! 

He's a precocious little man, that Miles. We tend to call him by many names, Miles, Milo, Meelo, Milosh, 

Miloshkovitz Danielewski, Stinky, Bubba, Buggaboo, and sometime just baby boy or little man. 

We've been through the tiring, terrifying days of new babyhood, making it through a rough few days in the NICU, presumably more emotionally draining and physically taxing for a body that was fresh off the C-section table. Little man had low blood sugar to start, but recovered within the first few days, and before we knew it we were on our way home. Thank God for the Grandmas! I would have never made through those first few weeks and months post baby without a LOT of help from the grandmas. Either my mom or Ryan's mom was here for the first two months or so, and they were here to give much needed help, cook, clean, hold and play with the babe and give all kinds of needed advice. 

I struggled a lot with our nursing relationship, which was already disadvantaged due to the fact that I didn't get skin to skin contact right after Miles was born, due to the c-section, and then being in the NICU made it difficult, but those nurses helped, and we slowly, slowly made progress with breast feeding  at home, resorting to a weekly weigh in and check in with a lactation consultat. Mr. Miles wasn't gaining weight fast enough. He never stopped gaining, but he did go from the 7th percentile for his weight, down to the first. We were visiting the pediatrician on a semi-weekly basis for weight checks there for awhile. I worked very hard to keep up with the nursing, tried hard to increase my supply, but did give formula to supplement with a few bottles a week. I never gave up on breastfeeding though! This seemed to help, and by his 6 month appointment he was starting to make more progress. Always was fine for height and head circumference. Ryan never worried about the baby's "financial super brain," as he's come to call it! It was at that 6 month appointment though, that our pediatrician told me that due to some unfortunate diapers and a scary spit-up session that included blood, that the baby was most likely dairy sensitive, so that meant that if we were going to continue to nurse, I had to cut out all dairy and soy (often another allergy that goes along with the dairy) from my diet. So, after the stint in the NICU, my mom and I had a running joke that "it's one g-d thing after another," and honestly, it still sorta feels like that. This was another one of those times! So, we are dairy free, BUT, baby is now growing like a weed, and is in the 30% for his weight. Oh how far we've come!! 

Eating solids started around that time as well, and man, does the little guy LOVE to eat! He's moved past just purées now, and is eating lots more finger foods like banana, carrot, pancakes (I made them dairy free), and today he enjoyed some meatballs. Tomorrow we try eggs! He has his 9 month checkup tomorrow, so I figured if he has an allergy to eggs, it's a good day to try. 

Tuesdays are always pretty busy, so in addition to the doctor appointment, we are going to Milo's favorite thing to do (besides going to Grandma and Grandpa's in Michigan or Meemaw and Pop-pops in NJ) which is Little Gym! It's an actual gymnastics gym for kids, but they have classes that start for 5 months and up, and Miles LOVES that class! He adores his teacher, Ms Stacy, and he's definitely taken off in the motor skills department. This kid was crawling at 7.5 months and now at 9, I'm pretty sure he's going to be walking around any day now, king of the castle, indeed! He loves rolling over, hanging from the rings, jumping and practicing his walking. I know visiting Meemaw and pop-pop for New Years was great for him- he was able to master the fine art of the walker, maneuvering around the dog and rolling around and around the kitchen island. He also loved the giant bouncy house they had in their basement! Ryan came along to Little Gym last week, and we are definitely signing up for the next session. I think he will move up from the Bugs class to the Birds class! I'm already having those "he's growing up so fast" moments! Ahhhhh! 

When this kid is at home, he is ALL OVER THE PLACE!!!! I just don't know if this apartment is big enough for this kid. We really have tried not to clutter up with too much baby stuff, but it's really hard, especially now that we've made it through the season of giving and receiving of baby toys! Our living room may or may not look like a mini Mcdonalds play place. He's now into everything that he shouldn't be, attempting to pull the stereo bar off the TV stand, climbing the wine bar, and just today opening and closing the cabinet doors, then instantly learning how to pull duct tape off the "secured" cabinet doors. It's ok Milo, if you want to pull wine bottles and all the pots and pans onto yourself, that's alright. Best parents ever. Our place is so not baby friendly. We clearly need more baby proofing, stat! I've made due with duct tape for the cabinets and even more duct tape and some cardboard retrieved from the recycle bin taped over the existing wine racks. That'll work for now, I'm sure the financial super brain won't figure out how to pour himself a refreshing glass or wine any time soon. I'm sure that all these shenanigans don't have anything to do with my ever lengthening wish lists of homes I search on my real estate apps during many of the baby's nap times! He's a monster, I tell ya!!! Another fitting nickname- Dinobaby!

He's actually a very funny kid, if any who know us will be shocked to find out. He wakes up happy every morning with a giant grin, he loves attacking your face with kisses, and now that he has two baby bottom teeth, they kinda hurt because his kisses are more like open mouth slobber fests. It's cute though, he loves weird noises and trying to imitate them, funny faces, this little piggy with his toes and rasberries on his belly before and after his bath. He adores books, and mostly would rather read them than eat them, we read Night Night Little Pookie every night before bed, after the baby massage! He'd rather play with us than on his own, but he can amuse himself sometimes without getting bored and crying. He enjoys his little bouncy chair and the activity chair with lots of toys attached. Ryan calls it his captains chair and prefers when he wears his Star Trek onsie while in it! Miles would usually rather sleep in our bed than his own, especially after that first wake up around 1 or 2. I don't think he likes to be moved after he's fallen asleep! We are working on some sleep training, but I think it'll take a little more consistency from us for it to take full effect. 

As far as travel adventures, this kid hasn't had a lack of travel!  Within his first 9 months he's been to Michigan more times than I can count, he's been to NJ on a plane and back probably 5 times, visited Lake Michigan, both here and in Michigan, camping,

Lake Ontario, Wisconsin lake house with our fiend Jamie and her family, Milwaukee for a Cubs game, New York to visit friends, and I'm sure there will be many, many more destinations in the fiture! How can he not be ready to explore the world, with a name like Miles! 

I'm so excited to have this funny, smart, adorable, energetic little man as part of my world now. He's our greatest adventure, I think I've been able to explain our new jaunts into parenthood by of course making a travel reference. Travel, like watching your child grow, has so much fun and wonder in the mystery of what will happen, and dreaming of what each destination will be like, then experiencing each place with wonder and  excitement. It's so amazing to see each dream become a reality. Every day with a baby is like this. You can think and dream about all the ways they will learn and grow, and then to watch it happen, new and bright each day, is so, so amazing. So, like on my trips around the world, I'm taking lots of pictures and making some sweet, sweet memories! :) 

That's it for the catch up! I hope to post regularly with whatever crazy nonsense comes up in our new adventure with three. 

A Year and Change

It's been just over a year since Ryan and I made our return to the motherland. It's a weird milestone to come to, it's like experiencing the end of our trip all over again! For the past three months, on a daily basis I could think back and wonder what I was doing on any given day. Some days I would look back through my journal, trying to relive the sights, sounds and smells of the places we'd visited, relishing the memory of the twists and turns of travel that made it an often difficult lifestyle, yet one that truly changed my life. Our lives. I will always be grateful for my insatiable wanderlust that took me and my husband to thee continents, 14 countries, and gave me memories I couldn't dream up in a million sleeps. 

I know for certain that once we returned to the U. S. that our adventures didn't stop! Around this time last year, after we'd bought our first car, we were anxiously awaiting the arrival of Hurricane Sandy with Ryan's parents in New Jersey. That was an adventure in itself! 

We visited my family in Michigan, spent two frantic days apartment hunting in Chicago, managed to secure the apartment of my dreams, and the off we whisked ourselves to Virginia for Thanksgiving with Ryan's whole family! We returned to our heatless apartment, set up camp, and slowly but surely set up out new home. 

By the time Christmas rolled around, I remember feeling so lucky to be unpacking my Christmas decorations and putting up our tree in just the sort of place I'd imagined way back in July when I was packing all my belongings up in my New York apartment. It felt like I'd found my home. 

A little work, a little play

I didn't really think I'd have another chance to be back in Europe again so quickly, but here we are! So, I have to say how lucky I feel that Ryan likes to travel as much as I do now, AND that he has a good job that lets him travel for the time being. I've been joining him quite a bit, since I think there's only been one week out of the last two months that Ryan hasn't had to take a deposition. I've traveled with him to St. Louis, New York, Purdue in Indiana (it was his birthday week, but honestly that was the most underwhelming "trip" I've tagged along on) and now we are in Belgium for the week-just the perfect amount of whelm here!

We started playing with the idea of me coming along with Ryan to Belgium a month or so ago. I kind of knew it was a long shot, but originally he was supposed to be here for about a week and a half, and I wasn't quite keen to stay home alone that long, especially because it's only about a week now before my surgery, and since it's a source of anxiety, what better way to curb it than distracting myself with beer, frites, waffels, chocolate, humungous churches, cobbled streets...you know, the uge. :)

Does it surprise anyone that I LOVE it here? No, it doesn't really surprise me. We got in very, very early on Monday morning. Ryan's first dep wasn't until Tuesday, so the plan was to check in to this really adorable botique hotel down the winding streets from the Hilton in the town square (we were supposed to be booked there all week, but the secretary didn't get on the ball, and Justin Bieber and his enterage (you read that correctly) snatched up all the rooms at the Hilton for the first half of the week...damn you Beebs!) Anyway, turns out the De Witte Lelie was the perfect little place to set up shop for a few days. We were taken up the back staircase to a room at the top of the back of an old house, an attic room with slanted ceilings and a beautiful bathroom and giant bed that we feel into immediately following the long flight. It was divine!

I woke up feeling better around 1 pm, Ryan got to work prepping for his dep in our room and I went out to check out Antwerp. First up- frites. I wandered around the Old Town Square area, lined with reastraunts and people dining outside on the sidewalk (even though, I can't say it's quite WARM out yet!). The Church of Our Lady takes up almost the entire backdrop view from this square, which is beautiful and chimes out songs hourly. I sort of just started walking wherever my heart desired, which seems to be the best way ever to see Antwerp! I spent the day snapping photos, finding a frites (french fries, but they were actually invented here, so Belgium fries) in a paper cone, enjoying the views of the river, my mouth watering in chocolate shop windows.  I was still tired, so it was sort of all a bewitching kind of haze or delicious smells, tastes and views all around.  I walked for about 3-4 hours, returning to Ryan to see how things were going and get ready for dinner. The mission for dinner that night was mussles, another Belgian treat. Nailed it! Found a great restaurant that served many different flavored sauces with tons of mussels and the best tasting beer I've had in a LONG time.

A Mystery on the Move

When I was about 7, I began writing the Great American Novel. Sitting on my pink bedspread, I just knew I was creating a masterpiece. It was complete 7 year old babble about a girl taking a train and watching the telephone poles whiz by as she traveled from one place to another. I think it was a mystery, but I can't remember, and I am quite certain my ticket to superstar writerdom (that's not a word, and probably will disqualify me from ever becoming a writer with any merit!) was thrown away at some point by myself or my well meaning mother.

I haven't even thought about that story in oh, 25 years or so, but while taking the train back to Chicago, I've been looking out at the stale snowy roadsides and yards, and yes, watching the telephone poles swoosh by out my window. I don't think there's a mystery occurring on this train at this moment, but I guess one never really knows. I suppose any one of us on here could be experiencing mysteries on many different levels.

The past few weeks have been a little all over the place, and I guess I was sort of experiencing a mystery after visiting the lady doctor at the end of January. During my examination, my dr. touched me neck, apparently to feel my glands, but then she asked me if I'd ever gotten my thyroid checked. She recommended I see an internist to follow up because it didn't feel quite right. Over the course of the following weeks, I had several doctors feel up my neck, and proclaim in varying degrees of concern that there was indeed a very large nodule growing on the left side of my thyroid. Interesting, I never noticed that lump before. Since then, I have learned that it is quite common for people, mostly women, to experience benign growths in their Thyroids. Sometimes it results in hypo or hyperthyroidism, and sometimes the doctor will just monitor the growth. Well, as it turned out, my internist and my new otolaryngologist (say that three times fast!) have since found not only a golf ball sized nodule in my left thyroid, but several smaller nodules in the left side. Maybe a little more than something 'to watch'.

If you were to imagine a butterfly spread out over your Adam's apple, you've got the right idea about your thyroid. For a gland that people rarely talk about, it does a lot of things in your body. It's in charge of communicating with the pituitary gland in your brain and is largely responsible for regulating your metabolism, as well as overseeing many of the other functions and organs in your body. Some of my research might help explain it a little better:

Your thyroid gland produces two main hormones, thyroxine and triiodothyronine, that influence every cell in your body. They maintain the rate at which your body uses fats and carbohydrates, help control your body temperature, influence your heart rate and help regulate the production of protein. Your thyroid gland also produces calcitonin, a hormone that helps regulate the amount of calcium in your blood.

It's a little thing that does a lot, and mine, as it turns out is growing nodules. It's been a long few weeks of doctors visits, and trying to solve the mystery of my thyroid. I've had many ultrasounds, and had to take several blood tests. I didn't know I'd be giving blood up for lent, but it has seemed like once a week lately! Most of the blood tests came back somewhere within the normal range, however, once I started seeing Dr. D, my otolaryngologist, he found that some levels were slightly elevated for someone my age. In fact, none of this is really normal for someone my age. Last week I had what is called a Fine Needle Biopsy (FNA), which is used to biopsy the nodules and determine whether any of them contain Big C cells. Thank God, mine did not show any signs of cancer. It's been sort of nerve wracking to go around with daily life, feeling perfectly fine, except for an enlarged side of my neck, after hearing "it's probably not cancer, but...". True story. So hearing that there were no cancer cells detected made me feel a lot better. The procedure, was not what I would consider "painless", as they tried to make me believe, so I let them poke around my neck with large needles after a little lidocaine numbed me up. Sometimes that stuff doesn't always work the best in me, so after the 5th rather painful jostle around my thyroid, they numbed me again. Made talking a chore, and turning my head for the past week was rather uncomfortable. Oh, and I looked like I'd been attacked by a vampire. Maybe that'd be cool if I were more into Twilight or True Blood. I'm glad my mommy was there to baby me a bit while Ryan was taking a deposition in Connecticut that week.

So, now I know what they AREN'T made of, but what to do with these pesky nodules that keep growing?It seems that the left side of my thyroid is showing signs of Hoshimoto's disease, which attributes to hypothyroidism. Might explain why, even though I've been working out like a fiend at least 5 days a week, I am not seeing the results that the totally fit girl inside wants to see! Might also explain my achy knees and why I sometimes have extremely cold hands and feet. Maybe not, but could be.

Getting back to the next steps: bottom line, the thyroid should come out. I'm a young woman, these puppies aren't gonna get any smaller, it could cause fertility issues, and my mom can't wait for more grand babies forever. :)

Not exactly the outcome I had dreamed about, but I trust my doctor and I'm already noticing the big nodule when I swallow and when I work out. When we get preggers someday, having a functioning thyroid is really important, and it would cause them to grow even larger. No bueno. So, this means that I'm now scheduled to have the little bugger out on April 22nd. Will I be on thyroid hormone replacement for the rest if my life? Yup. Am I a little bit scared? Yessiree! Will it take awhile to find the right dosage for my medication after the surgery?You betcha. Would I rather be dealing with this than finding a new job? Not really. But, after all of that, it comes down to the fact that I can't live with em (the nodules)and I can live without it (the thyroid),so I'm gonna have to put on my big girl neckerchief and go ahead with it.

The mothers are already planning their descent upon Chicago to help me out the week after the surgery. Ryan will be able to work from home (hopefully) that week, so I'll be healing in good hands. I'm thankful for that.

In the meantime, I'll write thank you notes to my thyroid for giving me a a good 30ish years (not sure when these bad boys stated growing) of service. Ryan has many depositions going on the next few weeks, and while no job is currently being dropped in my lap, I might as well keep the adventure streak alive and travel with my favorite man in a suit. New York and perhaps Belgium are on the docket, so we might try to see if I can't catch a ride on the undercarriage. :)

I doubt the 7 year old me really knew much about train travel or real mysteries, but she had the right idea about the telephone poles. They are still fun to watch. They mean movement, they mean communication, they mean life, and carrying on. I have no idea what other mysteries are going on around me in this train traveling along the bend of Lake Michigan, but for now, I've figured out one of mine, and I know what I gotta do. I imagine this story isn't my Great American Novel, but it's a start. Onward!

Uptown and beyond

Welcome in, 2013! It's been awhile since I've posted much, I suppose mostly because settling down isn't nearly exciting as moving across several continents! But, it is what it is, and the day to day has become the norm. The new norm I guess. Ryan is a month and a half in to his new job, and now that things are picking up (which also means later and later hours), he's finding his lawyer sea legs again and feeling comfortable on his team. I can tell by the way he comes home at the end of the day now, because his recounts seem more and more confident, and he has a bit more energy about it all. Saying goodbye in the mornings is still rather hard, but as I wave to him out the window, I know he'll come home happy.

I, on the other hand, am still wading through the application process for Chicago Public Schools, and honestly, as much as I love Kathy Lee and Hoda, I am just not totally digging the stay at home lifestyle. Job is needed. So, I spend my time working on my résumé, searching the web for all sorts of employment, and hoping that all this work will pay off in a timely fashion.

I am also dedicated to a creating a body that is far more in shape than my current one, so I've taken up a work out routine with Jillian Michaels shouting at me to literally kick myself in the a**, and taking frigid walks to Lake Michigan (just because I can). I've learned to pay no mind to the bums under the Lakeshore Drive overpass, they are just looking for a warm place to rest, like everybody else. I can't wait for the summer when I can just grab a towel and a book and go sit on the beach that is literally just a 15 minute walk from my apartment. Central Park? What's that? I've got Lake Michigan now! I'm honestly not looking back! Also, I just realized that I may never want to get a gym membership to use the swimming pool ever again! Yes! I love it here.

Lets talk about the cold. It is VERY cold here, which I can handle, I think, and perhaps in some sick, sadistic way I was always sort of wanting it in New York, but didn't get as much. What can I say, I fricken love snow. Although, I've actually seen more snow in Michigan, by my parents place in Kalamazoo. I also have been enjoying the fact that I can just pop over there pretty much any time I feel like it. Home for Christmas? Yes, please! Friend's wedding weekend, no problem! Miss my nephew and want to just head home to visit for a day or two? Think I will! So, there is an upside to still being jobless, I guess.

Before Christmas, I also added Las Vegas to the growing list of places I've seen and loved. Man, that place is wicked fun, and even more fun because I got to spend her birthday with my dear friend Kelly and her super awesome friends. Bloody Mary's were the signature drink of the weekend, except for in the random club we got into because clubs like it when hordes of women join them for all night dancing under strobe lights. They literally haveGo-go dancers there that just stay up next to the DJ and it's their job to shake there scantly clad junk all night long. Man, Vegas is crazy. My liver needed a break after that one. What a way to break in Vegas though! Whew!

So, I'm back from Starbucks, where I sat and worked on applications and my resume today. The Earl Grey latte was my treat to myself after my 2 mile walk to the lake. Had to break in my new tennis shoes, which I love, and I really wish is gotten before our trip. Alas, feet are still healing. Now, I shall remove said feet from their resting place on our new coffee table (so domestic, new furniture!), and start the dinner for the hubs! Pintrest, you inspire me with your homemade chicken tenders yet again! Maybe if the recipe is good I'll post it later.

Home making...

Our Christmas tree

Lake Michigan-walking distance :)

A Christmas tree makes a house a home. So does furniture, making your own dinner, and endless boxes that are finally unpacked (well, mostly)!  This new apartment is slowly, but surely becoming home. It's quite a transition, I have to say, and it's not always an easy one, but it's worth it to say that I love being home in Chicago. For the past 7 years I've lived in New York, I've tried to make a Jane sized dent in the New York City mold, but it never quite fit, no matter how much I wiggled and squeezed and tried to wear stylish boots. It's a hard place to fit into fully, and what ALL my other friends who've left there to make a new place home (or gone back home, which seems to be the case more often than not), it's the people you miss.  I miss my friends, my BECA crew, and even my students like crazy. Ca-RAZY! I haven't found a new teaching job here yet, so I have nothing to compare to my past school life and career, but I miss my friends, my happy hours, and I sorta, kinda miss the unpredictability of New York City.  But all that being said, I feel happy in Chicago. I don't know if it's because we found the most perfect of perfect apartments for us (which has gas, heat, hot water, a gas stove that works, and a gas fireplace- all magical!), because this city seems more down to earth, because I live 5 blocks from a beach on Lake Michigan, or the homes with Christmas lights that adorn our street. I can't really pin point it, but I'm much more relaxed.

Shopping downtown Chicago

Ryan has started his new job this week, which was a big change for both of us.  Since we've basically been inseparable since July, we've gotten used to each other in a way that has been very good for us, and learned even more ins and outs of being married to each other. He's been my buddy, my goofball, my helper, my annoyance (and vice versa), and my always available hug for the past 5 months, so it's hard to be separated. But, we both have plenty to do. We've had fun shopping for the new furniture that were must haves for our new place. We went downtown Chicago last weekend, to have a last hurrah date at the Museum of Science and Industry, then shopping in the Watertower shops, then we found a yummy sushi restaurant right around the corner from our apartment. Tonight will be his office Christmas party, so I spent last night finding a new festive top to wear to meet and greet the new firm.  I'm also still busy putting things away, and we just got all the Ikea furniture for the guest bedroom delivered, so that means many an hour with a hex wrench and cartoon pictures showing me how many things I'm not doing wrong.   Sounds fun, right?

Transitioning from the traveling mindset to the nesting mindset has been a little weird, but not as hard as I thought at first. We didn't have much time at our new apartment before we traveled back to New Jersey, visited New York quickly to spend time with our future Godson, Rowen Hexom, and then drove down to Virginia to spend Thanksgiving with the Daniel clan at a rental lake house in the hills of Virginia. There was lots of fishing, eating, and spending time with our nephews Luke and Warren. :) Toddlers have a LOT of energy. It was a good holiday, pretty quiet, and was good Daniel bonding time. The stuffing was amazing.

Thanksgiving with the Daniels

Upon returning to our new apartment late Sunday night after Thanksgiving, we still didn't have heat/gas, but the gas company came by on Monday morning, which was the answer to all our prayers. It was becoming unlivable! Other things that contributed to making this place more homey was the much anticipated arrival of Mama Risdon! She saved the day when she saved our kitchen last week from utter disorganization! It was great to have her here, and it really did make it feel more comfortable. Our new couch arrived from Macy's, which is lovely, light green, and you sink back in to it and never want to get up! Love it!

View into the kitchen

Our mantel

We had a few friends stop by last week, and this week as well, and entertaining at the peninsula in our kitchen makes it feel great! I really love our living room and kitchen. The journey for the Christmas tree was combined with a stop in the grocery store, mainly because the trees were being sold in the Jewel parking lot.  It's real though, and creates a great smell.  I've found my ornaments and decorations, and our mantel is now set up above our fire place. Slowly, very slowly making our new place our home. It's becoming so cozy...I think I'm gonna like it here!

I ain't got no gas

Usually that's a good thing. For me it is a bad thing! We moved to our place on Magnolia St. on Wednesday, and while setting up and unpacking is coming along pretty nicely, it's hard to ignore the fact that the nimrods that moved out before we moved in turned off the gas to this place. I've also come to find out that living in Chicago is a little bit more ass backwards than anywhere else I've lived, and here's why. First, you can't just call and have your gas turned on like, oh, EVERYWHERE else I've ever lived. Oh no, here, you need to call and sign up for your account, then they will tell you you have to go to some ghetto western union type place which also duels as a People's Gas office, where you have to slide two forms of ID under a plastic window, like a convict, to a teller who could care less whether you ever get hot water in your home. Next they have to fax proof that they saw you, and that you are who you say you are, to the official People's Gas office, and within 24-48 hours they will call you to set up an appointment to come to your house and turn on said gas. I went to this office yesterday, they called me back to make an appointment for NEXT WEDNESDAY!! Holy s#*%! Might I add that gas is what powers our heat, hot water, stove, oven, and a useless freakin' fireplace. So, basically we can pee, wash our hands with cold water, unpack, and microwave soup...and then wash our dishes with cold water. It's like camping, but with unending luggage.

So, despite all that, the unpacking process, while huge and daunting, seems to be happening at a steady, if not somewhat chilly pace. The kitchen is no longer in boxes, and the only thing that makes me warm is the view I get of the little makeshift living room that we've set up with an Ikea easy chair, a butterfly chair I've had since my dorm days at MSU, and our Turkish rug, which seems a tad out of place for now. Ryan got the TV all set up, and since we have no cable or internet, we've had about 2 straight days of the entire Harry Potter series on DVD and Blu-ray looping along in The background. I think maybe we should switch it up a little though, years 6 and 7 are kind of a downer.

Slowly but surely, things will get done. I got some shelves that I need to put up in our master bathroom that will make it possible to unpack. We've had to set our toothbrushes on a paper plate... I have only managed to find one suitcase with underwear and bras, which managed to find its way into the only drawer I have filled in my dresser. I had to locate the bin with as many blankets as I could find, since nights are spent huddling together in our bed, which is one if the few things we've actually assembled, for warmth. I contacted the landlord, who was extremely apologetic, but couldn't make the gas company speed up with the process. He did say he'd reimburse us for the space heaters we had to buy, and said he'd discount our rent as well. A silver lining? Luckily, I have a few friends in the city, so I was able to go to Liz Tracy's apartment last night for a shower, and a much needed glass of wine. Might have to hit Heather up tomorrow. Showering is for the weak! And smelly.

We had a triumphant trip to Crate and Barrel, where I think we may have located a couch that won't break the bank, and then the Container Store and Bed, Bath and Beyond did the rest. Now I'm back in my frigid and sparsely decorated apartment. I could say I feel sorry for myself, which it really sounds like I kinda do, but it's not so bad, I love it here! :) For all your foibles, Chicago, I still got the love (just not the gas!!)