maren

wordle word clouds

Trying to organize myself back to sanity. Tough job. I feel a bit out of control. Perhaps a bit mentally "in a cloud."

My work laptop had a lot of random stuff on the desktop. One really cool thing I found and subsequently filed was a "wordle" that Autumn made me. I had to check it out the site, too, of course (www.wordle.net), and made her one after she sent me mine. 

 

happy bday to Rob - with a string of Saturday night dinner dates

Rob's birthday was the 25th of September. We are really celebrating this year, since we need to claim some spousal time out together --- and we can, thanks to the babysitting services of all possible childcaregivers. 

Last week we went out to dinner and a movie on Saturday the 26th, since Fridays are not so conducive for getting out after a long work week. Our former nanny Aggie was able to come babysit. So we did a super-quick but scrumptious, perfect dinner at one of our favorite restaurants and walked a few blocks to the LaGrange theater to see Tarantino's latest, Inglorious Basterds. All of this was close in proximity and relatively low in cost.

Last night, we went downtown for dinner. G'pa John and Nana Nan had given us a gift certificate for dinner at Atwood Cafe, along with babysitting services to make that possible. Atwood is in the lobby of the Burnham Hotel, located on State Street and Washington in downtown Chicago. Pricey but delicious. Highlights included the lobster rangoon, squash-apple soup and the dessert of pumpkin mousse torte with ginger snap crust, chantilly cream and candied ginger.

Next week, G'ma Linda (aka Mamasita) comes to visit. We'll be able to do yet another dinner date while she babysits our adorable offspring. Mikey and Jupie love when people come and play with them, so it's a win-win-win-win-win situation.

crisp...

... is the weather.

... are the apples --- honeycrisp, that is. From farmers market outside my office on Thursday mornings. Absolutely delicious, these sweet-tart apples.

and mmm, apple crisp... made from hand-picked apples from the orchard last weekend --- photos from our orchard adventure at https://www.photoshop.com/user/maren_jenkins

album is called 2009_09_22-27a

Jupie's stats - one-and-a-half years old

We all went to the pediatrician yesterday morning. Both kids got flu shots, per strong recommendation from the doctor. Dr. Danziger said this year looks to be really bad in terms of germs spreading. She also warned against going places where there are a lot of kids gathered indoors... any time you touch something that a sick child has touched, bam, it could get  you sick. So, low population density with no (or fewer) sick kids... or outside is good. Rob was bummed at this advice - he was planning to do many visits to Monkey Bizness. Looks like a bundling winter if they are to get out of the house.

For her age, Jupie is tall and slender with a big head.

• Head circumference = 19 inches (95th percentile)
• Height = 33 inches (85th percentile)
• Weight = 24 pounds 6 ounces (50th percentile)

And she got three shots total, including the flu shot. Any one of those three could cause some fever, and the measles/mumps/rubella could cause a fever/rash in 7-10 days.

specs of purple, field of gold

Saturday (yesterday) was a good day, marked by a couple notable colorful events.
We had a couple doctor appointments, one of which was for eye exams. More on pediatrician in separate entry, but for the eye doc, we originally intended for both Rob and me to get an exam and new contacts. Didn't work for Rob to do that, so he'll do it another time... the kids were challenging, and Juper ended up taking a nap. Rob and the kids spent the hour in the car after it was apparent that we could not have the kids running loose and crazy in a store full of expensive eyeglass frames. Especially after Rob took out his contacts and couldn't see well.

The doc pronounced my eyes at the same prescription they have been for a few years, but with an alarming finding of neovascularization. Basically, my eyes were not getting enough oxygen and the vessels were growing in areas they weren't supposed to... could lead to blindness. Yikes! So, switched to contactts that let in more oxygen. And she suggested that, in preparation for when my eyes have trouble close up, that we do a type of bifocal. A no-line bifocal, which takes a while for people to get used to. Oh, I feel old now. Bifocals. And then the choice of frames. I chose from some funky red, green, black/white and.... the winner is... purple. 

And after we stopped at home to refill sippy cups, Rob drove us to the place to access the Salt Creek trail. We took a stroll on the path over to the field of yellow flowers they had found this past week.

3rd summer holiday weekend

Ah, the end of summer... it's our third and final long holiday weekend, going by way too fast as always. Hope the weather is as nice tomorrow as it ended up being today: 70s, sunny and the absolute perfect breeze.

On the eve of Labor Day, it's another split-sleep night for me. Mikey's sleeping over at G'pa John and Nana Nan's, and Jupie is asleep but I put myself to sleep along with her so then woke up groggy but determined to do something productive. I just enlisted the help of my husband in making sure we have all photos and videos securely off the memory-now-full new camera and onto my non-work laptop... I was having a hard time figuring out Vista and am somewhat justified in my frustration knowing that it was not easy for him to do what needed to be done either!

sights seen on my Chicago commute

Girl with white-blonde and pink dreads, kept contained by kerchief and various hair thingies

Congregation of Amish men and women by the river, just outside door for Union Station

Wrecking ball, beeping backward on the bridge closed for construction... commuters walking faster than it's backing up

blog blank

I really want to post something. To blog. But I'm blank. CORRECTION - mental circuits overloaded. Cannot discern priorities! I'm not blank, I'm bamboozled... I've blown circuits... must blog about how nice it was to see my dad (happy 76th bday, Dad!) and aunts and uncles and longtime friends of family on Saturday... more blogging later! but must issue this correction ASAP, since I'm far from the blank I drew last night.

Work is so much work and it's never going to be less work. But it is interesting. And getting more so in so many ways.

And our kids are just amazing. When they were babies, they were less interactive. Now that they are BOTH talking, wow. What comes out of their mouths is astounding, enlightening, sometimes annoying and often entertaining.

My eyes are burning, head is hurting, butI just need to finish something due to my boss first thing in the morning. So better finish it now, since mornings just evaporate way too fast.

Mikey's three-year-old checkup

To pediatrician today (Sat am).

Mikey's basically tall and thin, at 28.75 pounds and 37.5 inches tall.

He's doing fine for his age.

Rhino is three!

Happy birthday, Mikey!

(currently known as Rhino)