Is it Pool Time Yet?

As the temps slowly start creeping up, I know one little chica who is rearing to rock summer in style.

Hot Mama

Even though we've only had about five days of true summer temps, I am still not a huge fan of being pregnant in the warmer weather. With Zoe, I spent my biggest-bump days bundled up in the midst of Chicago winter. This time around, not so much. While I don't think there's an actual good time of year to lug around a baby in your belly, here are some of my thoughts on spending the ninth month in the heat...

* Sundresses rock. Total comfort for the pregnant mama. The downsides: it's getting harder and harder to comfortably cross my legs; there's really no way to avoid the whole muumuu effect; and moving into a place with only stall showers makes the whole leg shaving thing a bit tricky, to say the least.

* Although people keep telling me I have a "pregnant glow," I'm pretty sure I'm just really shiny and sweaty.

* Flip-flops are way easier to put on than boots. No bending, no pulling, no zipping. Perfect. Of course, painting your toes so they look decent in said flip-flops is a whole other issue.

* Our A/C bill is going to be ridiculous. It is always hot in the house...well, at least to me. Jody may disagree on that though.

Grill Baby Grill!

I haven't gotten around to posting a moving post onto the blog yet, mostly because I would prefer to forget the crazy-stressful weekend all together. Long story short, our move sucked. Our movers were awful. They were 8+ hours late and we were physically and emotionally spent by the end of it all. All I know is that I will never, ever move again when I'm 8 months pregnant. But we're all moved into our new place now and things are going really well here.

We moved to a 3-bedroom duplex down that is pretty much double the size of our old place. It's pretty awesome having so much more space since we had been so squeezed out of our old place. We have a huge playroom for Zoe's stuff and "adult space" to watch TV and hang out without being completely cluttered with toys. But, by far, our favorite feature of the new place is having some outdoor space. We have a nice little balcony and some green space out front for Zoe and Charlie to play.

One of the best parts of having a balcony is that we finally get to use our grill. We got the grill almost 8 years ago as a wedding present and it has been sitting in our storage unit--with the tags still on--since. When we moved in we busted it out right away and we've been using it constantly. Jody is such a happy and good grillmaster, too! We had a barbecue this weekend when Courtney was in town and Jody got to grill up a pretty good feast of brats, burgers and corn (see his proud photo above). Even though it's a small space, we've also been sitting out there to eat a lot of meals. Zoe loves it and actually doesn't put up a fuss to eat (kind of a rarity these days!). So, we even ate dinner out there yesterday despite the 95-degree temperature reading.

I'm surprised to say it, but our new place does feel like home to me. Being in the same neighborhood and staying in the city is a huge part of that. And that is really what we needed as we await Baby #2. So far, we are really happy with our decision to stay in the city a bit longer.

The End of an Era

36 week bump

Less than one month to go before Baby 2's big arrival! Even though this has felt like a crazy-long pregnancy, I am still feeling totally overwhelmed realizing that he/she will be here so soon. I cannot wait to meet our newest family member and have a little baby back in the mix. But, at the same time, I am feeling so emotional thinking about the end of our family-of-three era. We have had the best time over the past two+ years with Zoe. Seriously, I feel so lucky to have such an awesome family and nothing makes me happier than the time we spend together. It's hard to imagine what life will be like with one more. I'm also feeling sad/guilty that I will not be able to give all of my time and energy just to Zoe anymore. I know it'll be great for her to have a litte brother or sister and I cannot wait to be a mom to two, but change is always a little scary.

Adding to all of this is that I cannot get over how quickly Zoe seems to be growing up. I actually read an article recently that said that part of parenting is being able to deal with a sense of constant mourning over the past with your child...yet embracing and looking forward to what's to come. It sounds so depressing, but I suppose no one ever said being a parent was easy! Besides, it does kind of make sense to me. The age and stage that Zoe is at right now has definitely been my favorite so far. She is just so smart, verbal, loving and funny. All in all, a totally fun little buddy! I'm sure it will only get better. But, these darn pregnancy hormones are mostly just making me emotional about it all.

So for the next four weeks or so, I'm hoping to get in as much quality family time as possible and as much Mommy-Zoe time as we can. And before we know it we'll begin the family-of-four era.

Water Table Action

A couple weeks ago, my mom got Zoe a pretty cool water table. Now that the weather is finally warming up, we were able to bring it out . Zoe loves water--swimming, puddles, washing her hands, you name it. So, naturally, the water table was an immediate hit. She spent just a little time splashing the water around in the actual water basin before figuring out that the real fun was throwing water all over the place--on herself, on me, on the sidewalk, on the grass, everywhere. We were both totally soaked, but she loved every minute of water table fun! Thanks, Mom!

New 'Do

Lunch at Qdoba after the cut...still kind of serious

The next day her hair had a stylin' side swipe...too cute!

Well, we finally made the move to get Zoe her first haircut. I have been so reluctant because it has taken so long for her hair to grow. But, after suffering through way too many rainy, cold days inside, it was time to get out for a new adventure. Sure, heading to Snippets may not be the most exciting outing, but it was something.

Zoe handled her haircut in typical Zoe-style: super serious the whole time. She basically vegged out to the Dora video and let the stylist do her thing. Not a single tear shed. Not a single smile cracked. Of course, when we left, Zoe went into full-on chatty mode talking all about her hair cut. We Skyped with my parents later in the day and she couldn't wait to show them her new 'do.

I kind of love her with this new hairstyle. She looks a little older and her hair is not quite as crazy...well, except after naptime when it is all kinds of wild. It also brings out more of her curls, which is pretty much the only thing that she gets from me.

Mother's Day

We had a great Mother's Day celebration a couple weeks ago. We all woke up bright and early to head to the Y-Me Race at Your Pace down in Grant Park. We've done this race/walk a couple of times, but this year we had our biggest group. Lisa, Mike, Bonnie and Roger all came down donning plenty of pink. Jody and Bonnie did the 5K run--and they both kicked butt. Bonnie got first place in her age group and Jody was #172 out of the entire crowd. Totally impressive! I was not running this year since I have not been running throughout the pregnancy. So I waddled along in the 3-mile walk with Zoe, Lisa, Mike and Roger. It was a gorgeous morning and a lovely way to kick off Mother's Day.

After the race/walk, we all headed back to our new place and had a fun breakfast. By noon, we were all pretty pooped. After the family left, Jody, Zoe and I had a fun, relaxing day at the park and a long nap. Totally fun way to spend Mother's Day!