Mother's Day Walk/Run

Happy (belated) Mother's Day!! I hope all of you moms out there had a wonderful day with your families!

We had a great day yesterday, starting with the Network of Strength Walk to Empower walk/run. Jody and I did the 5K run, and Lisa and Mike took Zoe in the stroller on the walk. It was a cool, but beautiful morning--perfect running weather, for sure. Even though Jody hasn't really run much in the past few years, he was awesome. I run 3-4 times a week, and I'm pretty sure I was holding him back! But, since it was Mother's Day and all, Jody stuck with me and we had a fun run together. He did sprint the last .2 mile and beat me by about 30 seconds! We did a 9:50 mile, which I was still happy with it. I think our final time was 30:32.

Zoe had a great time on her walk with Lisa and Mike. Lots of people to wave to and dogs to say "Dog!" to. I was so impressed that she sat in her stroller the whole time without getting cranky, despite the early wake-up time. She even stayed in good spirits through our whole walk back to our place from Grant Park. It was such a great crowd, so she loved just taking it all in.

It was such a fun way to start off Mother's Day and such a good cause. Pretty much everyone I know has been affected in some way by breast cancer, whether personally or through friends and family. Seeing such a energized crowd--and being part of it all--was a really powerful experience. Both Jody's grandma (Lisa's mom) and Mike's mom had breast cancer, so doing this race was especially personal for our little group.

Like Father, Like Daughter

I spend so much time planning out healthy and balanced meals for Zoe, and she's a pretty good eater (knock on wood). Lately, though, she's discovered after-work snacking with Jody. He's introduced her to all sorts of snackycakes and whenever she sees him munching away, she's right next to him with her arm stretched out saying "more."

The other day Jody texted me that he was bringing home a big surprise for Zoe after work. A few minutes later, in walked Jody with two huge buckets of cheeseballs. Jody's theory was that once he polished off the cheeseballs, Zoe could play with the empty buckets and attached shovels at the sandbox in the park.

Little did he know the cheeseballs themselves would be Zoe's true big treat. As soon as she saw Jody eating the cheeseballs she wanted some too. That's when Zoe officially became a snack-monster, just like Dad. Oh my goodness, she *loved* those cheeseballs! Couldn't get them away from her. With orange dust all over her fingers and mouth, the girl was quite a sight--and quite happy.

New Tricks

One of the most fun parts of parenthood is watching how much Zoe changes every day. It's pretty amazing. She is such a curious and active little girl, too, and she gets so proud of herself when she masters something new. So as a way to keep a record for ourselves (since I've been so bad on keeping a baby book of milestones) and to share with all of you, here's a breakdown of some of Z's new tricks:

* Moonwalking and Twirling: It all started with Zoe figuring out how to walk backward. She gets a sneeky little grin and starts shuffling backward. Then her little "moonwalk" builds into a twirl. Now she just twirls until she gets dizzy and plops down. We have no idea how she decided to start walking backward or twirling, but it just happened one day and she loves it.

* Words: Zoe has started getting really chatty in the past month or so. She's branched out beyond "baby" and "ball" and has moved on to "mama," "uh oh," "mo'" (translation: more), "no mo'" (translation: no more), "toe," "dog," and "up." One day Gracie told me that Zoe said "monkey" and I didn't believe it until later that evening when she totally said "monkey" to me too. Haven't heard it since, though, and Jody doesn't really believe me or Gracie.

* Second gear: She's gone from being a confident walker to a speedy power walker. We're pretty sure running is just around the corner.

* Where's your...?: When asked, Zoe can point out her belly button, toes and nose (usually). She also points to Mommy's nose and Daddy's nose (usually).

Our 1st Seder

Passover has come and gone, but I am just now getting a chance to post about our very first seder. Well, our very first that we had at our place anyway. This year we decided to host a small seder with Jody's dad and Jason, Heather and Ean.

The biggest challenge for the seder was finding a seder plate. We put off this task until the last minute, which didn't help matters. We went all over the city looking for a place that sold seder plates. I had seen some seder plates at Target.com, so I figured they could have them in the actual store too. Nope. When I asked a Target lady if they had Passover stuff, she thought I was talking about funeral stuff. (Which of course made me wonder for a minute what kind of "stuff for a funeral" they have at Target.) Finally, we found a cute seder plate at Art Effect in Lincoln Park. This is one of my favorite boutiques for gift-buying and I was excited that they sell Jewish holiday things (i.e. seder plates, menorahs, etc).

The seder went really well. Since our kitchen table is too small (and usually covered in clutter), we had to improvise. So we set up the "table" on our oversized kitchen island and that seemed to work. We all pitched in to make a complete meal. We provided the matzah, charoset, macaroons and salad; Jerry brought brisket, wine and the haggadahs; and Jason and Heather made matzah ball soup. All very tasty! This was my first time making charoset and I was pretty happy with how it turned out. Zoe enjoyed a matzah ball of her own and ate the entire thing! Go Z! All in all, the kiddos did a pretty good job through the seder. Zoe got a little antsy in her high chair, but we kept the reading portion of the seder shorter than usual (and we kept her busy with Cheerios in the slower parts). It was really fun to host our own seder. Now that we have our own seder plate, hopefully we'll be hosting more in coming years. So instead of next year in Jerusalem I'm saying next year at an actual table!

Good Times

After way too many months, we were long overdue for a visit with Courtney. Lucky for us, she decided to drive up to Chicago a couple weekends ago for some much-needed Courtney-Diana time! So much fun.

On Saturday, we met up with Stephanie and Katie for lunch at Crossroads. It was fun catching up with the two of them and getting the scoop on Katie's wedding plans. Then Court and I got our nails done at this place in my neighborhood that has the most intense massage pedicure chairs ever. The first time we went there a couple years back, we were dying as these chairs went totally crazy. The weirdest part was that no one else in the place seemed to think it was strange. Anyway, we decided to go back. The chairs were just as intense, but this time we were a bit more prepared!

That night, we headed out to dinner at Landmark with Connie and Nick and Beth and Jeff. We had a great time and more wine than I've had in a long time! It was so great to have the Naperville girls (+hubbies) together for the night.

Jody and I have been trying to do either a date night or a kids-free night out with friends at least once a month. It's a great way for us to just have some quality time together and with friends. Thanks to Grandpa J for taking care of Zoe again and letting us have a grown-up night out. And thanks to Courtney for coming in. Still working on getting her to move back here, but I think we'll need to convince Jeremy that the weather in Chicago isn't that bad.

Spring Has Sprung

It's time to bust out the shades!

Yes, it snowed in Chicago this past weekend. Yes, that happened to be on the first official day of spring. But, I didn't forget about the week of gorgeous, almost 70-degree days we enjoyed just before the snow. So yes, spring is here if you ask me!

With spring means plenty of park time for Zoe. Last summer the park by our house was under construction, so this is our first time with Zoe at the new park and it's been great so far. She loves the baby swings, of course. As relative Park Mom newbie, I'm trying to figure out some of the baby swing etiquette.

There are about 4-6 baby swings at our park, and they are pretty popular. My question: if there are only 1-2 other babies in the swings, are you supposed to put your baby in the swing right next to the other babies or space it out so there is a swing in between them? I can't tell if it's like a public bathroom where you don't use the stall right next to someone else if all the other stalls are open. I just feel anti-social not having Zoe swing next to the other babies. But every now and then I'll get a strange look from an unfriendly Park Mommy.

Other than the swings, Zoe loves walking around the whole park and just exploring everything. All in all, it's been great getting outside finally and letting Zoe wear herself out. Of course, getting her back into the stroller to go home for nap time is a whole other story.

Happy St. Paddy's Day

We've been totally MIA on the blog lately. I promise to catch up soon. In the meantime, here is a very green Happy St. Patrick's day family pic! Here's wishing everyone a little luck of the Irish today!