54 - Last Weekend Before D Day

Our boy is due on Thursday. Not that a due date means all that much. He could show up tonight or two weeks from now, but Little A arrived a day after he was due and so I'm hopeful we won't be waiting too long. My belly feels stretched beyond capacity.

I have been so consumed with the any moment mentality that I have not really taken time to relish the final days of free hands, long afternoon naps with Little A, boobs that aren't sore as hell, or even the chance to cook a real dinner. This weekend we made up for it.

Saturday morning we headed downtown to the French Market to pick up hot doughnuts from Beavers Donuts. If you live in Chicago and you haven't tried them yet go get some now. My faves are the regular powdered sugar and cinnamon sugar. Eating them fresh and hot is what makes them so "liscious" (as Little A says).

The day continued how a weekend should, a little shopping, a nap, a movie, backyard playing, and staying up late to watch yet another movie. And it wouldn't be a standard or special weekend at our house if muffins didn't make an appearance so Sunday morning Little A and I busied ourselves baking. 

The rest of the day until an hour or so ago was spent outdoors. Books, markers, sewing machine, trucks, beers (boo hoo, none for me just yet), lots of watermelon, and any other summer necessities were hauled out. Crafting, reading, swimming, it was good. 

My brother, his wife and their awesome kiddos joined the fun early afternoon and stuck around for steak taco night...mmmmmm! Probably one of Luke's favorite dinners and perfect one for enjoying at the picnic table.

 

Have a little project I completed this weekend for Little A and baby boy, but we'll save that for another day.

53 - Celebrating Luke

Some weekends don't work out all as you expect and yet they are just right in the end. This weekend was about focusing on Luke and reminding him how much we love him. We had plans to fish, go to the beach, and all sorts of things, but we ended spending most of it relaxing at home with a few jaunts out for some food, a bookstore and such. I was feeling bad that all our plans weren't coming together and then I realized Luke was having a great time and got over myself.

For much of A's first year Luke was so swamped at work we sometimes would go days without almost seeing him at all. Although it was difficult, I knew that it was all for us, and felt his love through his dedication to provide for our little family. As he has settled further into his new(ish) job and the management role it brought, he has been able to spend much more time home. Little A excitedly watches for Luke to pull up each day. He is so giddy when Daddy walks through the door and usually proceeds to spend the entire evening following him around like a little puppy. We are so blessed with this man. He's just right for us.

52- Time to be outside

We've spent most of our days just being out. We are lucky to have a pretty big backyard for Chicago and even luckier (and much rarer) we live on a dead end street that ends three houses from a huge park. I'm doing my best to keep an active little fellow busy while I find I am slowing down in my last few weeks of pregnancy.

51 - Time for new sunglasses

So when Abel was quite small we were thrifting at our favorite secondhand shop when our diaper bag was stolen while I turned my head for a minute. It was a horrible day and unbelievable amount of stuff had been in there.

A year or so before I had bought a pair of fabulous Tom Ford sunglasses at a crazy sale, $65 for pair of almost $400 glasses. A deal I won't find again. Like so many of my favorite things, they were in the diaper bag. Since then I have been too timid to splurge on sunglasses, but I managed to find a pair I kind of love at Target. For $16 I can't be too bummed if something were to happen to them. And there is something about them that reads almost Madewell-esque to me.

50 - How does your garden grow...

As long and weary as the winters are in Chicago the summers can make you forget how you cursed this city such a short while ago. Everything comes alive with such exuberance, not just plants, but people, the beaches, the sidewalk cafes, neighbors extricate themselves from indoors and suddenly a backyard becomes lively and full of conversations over the fence.

With our new family member set to make his arrival within the month I have been doing my best to get the garden to a state where I don't have to pay it too much mind. All veggies and herbs are planted and thriving. Thank goodness for perennials which not only make life easy, but are so exciting to watch revive themselves each spring. The only annual planting done at our house is edibles and the two pots on my front step since I can't resist the colors of the coleus leaves. Otherwise it's too much money and work.