Catch Up Pt.5

Happy Friday! We're pretty excited it's the weekend around here! It's supposed to be unusually warm in Chi-town so I'm hoping we can take a long walk at some point :) And finish little man's room!! Every weekend I find myself thinking this could be our last as a fam of two, ha! So we plan to make the most of it with a date night and lots of hanging out together ;)
In other news, I thought I would continue catching up from 2015... 
At the end of June, my family came to visit!!! We were sooooo excited for them to come. We always love when they visit, plus I'm always missing them like crazy. Aaaand we had just found out that we were going to have a baby so we decided to tell them our exciting news when they arrived ;) I knew I wouldn't be able to keep it a secret once we were with them. Z and I laughed and laughed as we tried to think of how to tell them. He was so sure I would just blurt it out in the airport or on the way back to the apartment, hahaha. I remember him laughing hysterically and saying, "Please don't just blurt it out while we're in traffic on Lakeshore Drive... your mom might scream and I might wreck the car!" Ha! But I kept it in until we got home. We showed them around our new place and then offered them some cupcakes (from Sweet Mandy B's Bakery! mmmm!)....

Each one had a little sign in it that read things like "grandma to be" or "Baby S coming Feb. 2016". I told my mom to pick her cupcake first and then she screamed and asked if this was for real! hahaha Such a fun memory. Everyone was shocked and I think pretty happy too :)
The next day, we started with brunch at Yolk (yummy!) and then went to the Garfield Park Conservatory!

And that's all that I remember from that day :(  oh well. The next day, we drove to Michigan to explore a bit! We went to the huge sand dunes and then to St. Joseph... the cutest little beach town ever!

Such a fun day! On Monday, Z had to work. The fam jam and I walked down the lakeshore path a ways and then took a bus downtown. We did a little shopping and went to Eataly for yummy snacks including gelato!

 We also walked over to Wrigley Field since we live not too far away! Later that night, we ate at Portillos... sooo yum! And then sadly, we had to take them to the airport after dinner.

I wish I had more pictures as well as a better memory of the details of their trip! But as always, it was the best weekend ever! I can't believe that next time they come it will be because our little man is here! Can't even wait!!!!

Catch Up Pt.4

In April, Katie and Dan came to visit! We were super excited for our first guests in our new apartment! Especially since we actually have a guest bedroom and bed ;) They arrived late Thursday night, and Z and I both took off Friday to spend the day with them. We started the morning with brunch at Ann Sather's.. one of our favorites.. mainly for the cinnamon rolls and giant muffins! And then we did a little sight-seeing including the bean.

Later that night, we had dinner (honestly I can't remember where?!?!) and then we went to Second City which is a famous improv comedy club here in Chi-town. Sooo much fun and sooo funny!

The next day, we went to Milwaukee to see a Brewer's game... of course we did a little shopping first ;) Thankfully, the game was indoors since it was still a bit chilly!

We drove back after the game and had a late night dinner (can you call it dinner when it's midnightish!?) at Little Goat Diner... SO yum! Sunday, we took it easy with a slow morning. I'm trying to remember what all we did that day, haha! I know we shopped... of course ;) and we ate at Velvet Taco (mmmm!) and we hit up the art museum. I don't have any pictures and I'm having a hard time remembering what else we did that day. But I know we enjoyed visiting with and hanging out with my bestie and her hubby! Z and I both had to work Monday, so Katie and Dan did some more sightseeing and went to a Cubs game, so fun! And then they had to leave early Tuesday. The trip went by way too fast, as always!! But it was a blast to have them here!!

Just waiting...

We are in the final stretch of waiting for our little man to arrive! So many emotions right now... definitely anticipation and a little anxiety, SO excited, and a weird mix of wanting time to speed up and slow down at the same time. I find myself soaking up every extra second I have with Z. I can't even wait to see him as a dad, but a tiny part of me wonders if I will ever miss life as just the two of us. I know that adding our little man to our fam jam is going to be amazing and feel so right and perfect, but we've had a good 5 years of just being us! Yesterday, Z stayed home sick from work. He had a weird food allergy or food poisoning the night before and was up most of the night. So he slept most of the morning, and then we had the best afternoon together. (Thankfully, he woke up feeling so much better!) We got a few things done for little man's arrival... including Z putting together his crib!!! that finally came in yesterday (I know, I know.. a little last minute! But he'll be sleeping in our room for a while so I wasn't too worried about it, ha!) I'll post a few pictures of his room once we finish the last few details sooooon! It was such a refreshing day though to just relax, prepare, plan, and enjoy some unexpected time together. So now I feel like we're just waiting! I'm trying to still make plans and to do lists to keep me busy, but we are so ready to meet our baby boy! And honestly, I've gotten to that point where I'm pretty uncomfortable... I am NOT complaining though because I have had such an easy pregnancy so far! Just ready ;) I try to spend my days cleaning, stocking up on things (read: making daily trips to Target, hahaha), and making freezer meals! I've also enjoyed spending sweet time with friends over coffee, lunch, and brunch. Oh, and taking selfies to document the growing (SO big!!) bump!

I've also enjoyed being more intentional about my quiet time and actually journaling a bit again. Admittedly, I had started having my "quiet time" on the bus on the way to work by reading a few verses on my phone :/ which is less than ideal. So it has been really nice to dig into the Word and actually focus on what the Lord is teaching me. Here are a few verses that He has shown me and that  I'm leaning on when I feel extra anxious about all of the details...-Psalm 37:7- Be still in the presence of the Lord and wait patiently for Him to act.
-Phillipians 4:6- Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
-Matthew 6:34- Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
-Matthew 6:8- For your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
-Lamentations 3:22&23- ...His compassions never fail. They are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness.
-Proverbes 3:5- Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.
-Hosea 6:3- So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; And He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the earth.
I'm so thankful for His promises and for this time He has given us to prepare for our little guy!

Catch Up Pt3

In March of 2015, my brother got married!! Z and I were so thrilled and honored to both be in the wedding. It was such a perfect weekend. We flew home a few days early to visit with friends and family and help out however we could. We flew into Birmingham pretty late, so my brother, who lives there, picked us up. We stayed with him that night and it is one of my favorite memories from the weekend. It was so much fun to just catch up with him. We stayed up pretty much all night and it was the best. The next morning, we went to the yummiest bakery for a super sweet breakfast before heading to Tuscaloosa. The weather was awful, snowy, sleety and just gross. But we made it just fine! The wedding was in Cullman, about two hours from Tuscaloosa. So my entire family stayed at a huge cabin on Smith Lake. So much fun!! The weekend was a whirlwind... every detail was perfect and beautiful and I'm so thankful for my super sweet sister in law!! She is the perfect addition to our fam! I can't believe their one year anniversary is just a few months away.. seems like we were just home to celebrate the happy couple! Here are a few pictures of the weekend...

That Growing Belly Though

I thought I would take a break from catch up posts and do a little preggo post! I mentioned before that my pregnancy has been pretty amazing. I was never really sick, and my biggest complaints are probably how tired I was in the first trimester and how huge I am in the third ;) Sure I've been a little uncomfortable, especially lately, and sleeping has been a joke.  But overall it has been a wonderful experience, and I feel so very blessed to have had an easy, healthy pregnancy so far! I can't believe that we're soooo close to little man being here! I can't even wait to finally hold him and to see Z with our little guy. My heart melts just thinking about that so I can't even imagine what it will be like! I thought I'd do a quick look back at all of my bump pics, haha. One day it will be fun to show little man all of the pics of him in my belly ;)

I was so excited to finally see a bump, haha!

And I thought this bump was huge! Oh my..

Now we're just patiently waiting for our sweet boy to come! I'm so ready to take pics of him instead of my growing belly each week ;)

Catch Up Pt2

Thought I'd continue my catch up posts with a few other notable things from 2015... Here is catch up part 2, the blizzard and we moved edition ;)
Early in February, we had a blizzard (at least the closest thing I've ever seen to a blizzard! ha). It started snowing on a Saturday night and snowed ALL DAY Sunday and Sunday night. We woke up to SO MUCH SNOW on Monday morning. But no worries, we still had school ;) I wish I was kidding but I'm not. I walked to the bus in over a foot of snow and pretty much sulked about it all day, hahaha. Here are a few pictures of the most snow I've ever seen at one time...

Never been more thankful for snow boots!

SOO glad I don't drive to work!!!

Our grill was under that pile of snow! eek

And a car is under that one. Glad it wasn't ours ;)

 Since our little guy is due this February, we're praying we don't have a repeat of last year!! Another major part of 2015 was we moved! (AGAIN!) I know, we've moved a lot. But we were really itching for more space and we found the cutest apartment in Lakeview. It has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms (praise the Lord!), and space for a dining room table!!! (which I found on Craigslist, of course!)

 One of the bedrooms was promptly turned into Z's office and the other extra room we made a guest room (which is now more nursery than guest room but there's still a bed for all of our visitors!!). Our new neighborhood is admittedly not as wonderful as our old one was. But extra space trumps that for sure. And we're super close to the lakefront and Wrigley Field. I will take a few more pics to share of our apartment another day ;) Right now I'm just proud of myself for blogging AGAIN! haha Have a lovely day friends!

Catch Up Pt1

I know, I know.. Two posts in one day! Since I failed to blog about anything in 2015, I thought I would write a few catch up posts. These are mostly for me ;) I love to look back on what we've been up to. So feel free to skip right over these, ha. Last year for Christmas, Z and I decided to skip giving each other gifts and take a trip instead. Best idea ever! We went to New York City for a long weekend, and it was the BEST! We arrived late Friday evening only to discover that the hotel I booked through Groupon (mistake) was pretty terrible. Like there was no way we were staying there. So we quickly found a new, MUCH nicer hotel and finally got settled in. We weren't far from Times Square so we ventured over and found some New York style pizza (YUM!).

And then we crashed in the comfiest bed I think we've ever slept in ;)
The next morning I was determined to get bagels from Murray's Bagels. So we took a cab and found the tiny bagel shop that had, as promised, the best bagels in the city!

Each day we packed in as much as we could since we were only there for a few days. So after bagels, we hit up the financial district, saw the statue of liberty (from afar), went to the world trade center memorial, and shopped in SOHO. Later that evening we had dinner at Bar Americain and then saw WICKED!!!! (Which was my one and only request while we were in NYC!) It was so, so, so good!

And if that wasn't a full enough day, we decided to go to the Empire State Building after the show! ha! It ended up being such a great idea (I think I read the recommendation somewhere to go late at night?!). There were no lines and the city is beautiful at night! It was the perfect ending to one of my favorite days ever with Z!

The next day was super rainy!! So we started with a slow brunch at Sarabeths (delicious)! And then we went to the MOMA with every other tourist in New York! Even though it was super crowded, we had fun exploring for sure. Later we went to Serendipity (okay maybe I had two requests while we were there ;) ha). We made the mistake of eating dinner there (which was not that great), but the frozen hot chocolate did not disappoint!! yum!

 We decided to walk back to our hotel since it finally stopped raining. Our favorite way to explore any city (especially our own!) is by foot. So the long walk was perfect! We ended up in Times Square and couldn't (read I couldn't) resist a picture! Another super fun, packed day!

We started our last day with brunch at Balthazar in SOHO. By far my favorite meal while we were there!!! So good and the cutest spot ever.

After brunch, we did some shopping, ventured to Chinatown, rode the subway, and explored Central Park before we had to pack up to fly back to Chi-town.

It was a very full, fabulously fun trip! If we weren't about to have a baby I think I'd beg for repeat this January! ;) We will definitely be heading back soon (with a lot more stuff and a little guy in tow! eek!)!