Weekend in Chicago!

The weekend after Valentine's Day was quite a shock for me. Thursday night, my sister, Keely, flew into town to surprise me. Her husband, Lars, came in the next day. Come to find out David and Keely had been planning this for over a month. Even better, I got to spend some time with my sister and then even more surprises came about. David was taking me to Chicago from Friday night until Sunday morning and Keely and Lars were watching our kids. I could barely believe they pulled this off!

I have to admit it was hard to leave my sister at my house without me being there when I rarely get to see her anyway but I knew she wanted me to have this trip and did a lot to make it happen for me. So, David and I took off to Chicago and decided to go straight there and eat Chicago-style pizza at Gino's East like some of my friends had suggested. It took us longer to get there than we thought considering the traffic - yes, Chicago had traffic at 9p.m. on a Friday night! I began to appreciate Houston a little bit more at this point. By the time we got to the restaurant we were starving - little did we know it takes 45 minutes to bake a deep-dish pizza! But we were game so I thought I would give David MY Valentine's gift. Just to set this up, David was talking about the details of the surprise that he was able to keep from me and then he said, it was my turn to surprise him next. So, I thought I had just the thing...

Side note here: I took a pregnancy test on Sunday, Valentine's Day. I was a few days early in wanting to know if I was pregnant but I thought it would be neat to find out on that day. The test came up negative (David even saw it and confirmed it). So, by the end of the week (three days late now), I was wondering what was going on. My sister came in town Thursday night and while David was at work Friday, I took another test in the morning with Keely there. It immediately came up positive. I was shocked but excited. So, I decided to wrap up the pregnancy test in a box (blue box with pink paper) and give it to David that night at dinner, for my surprise to him.

Here are the pictures from Gino's East where David found out we were expecting... (by the way, he smiled and said, "I knew it!")

David reserved a 5-star hotel right on the mile for our wonderful weekend. Saturday morning we went by Oprah's studios.

Then, we went to the Chicago temple and were able to do sealings for my family.

That night we walked the mile and it was all lit up and really pretty. The weather was cloudy that day so we didn't think the Willis Tower would be worth the view that day and thought we could come back and do that another time.

We ended our night with a fantastic steak dinner at Fleming's. It was delicious!

We arrived back home Sunday morning and were excited to see that Keely and Lars were still smiling. They did such a good job with our kids - I was SO impressed! They are going to be such good parents one day. We gave souvenirs to the kiddos and I was able to spend the rest of the day with my sister and Lars before they left that evening. I can't thank them enough for such a great weekend and for David surprising me like that. It was awesome.

Dilan has something to say...

...she's pretty excited to become a big sister. This event will hopefully happen late October for our family! :)

Date night with the Milwaukee Admirals

David and I were invited by some wonderful friends for a night out that included dinner and a Milwaukee Admirals game. We actually hired a babysitter (I know, GASP!) and we had a great time! The seats were second row and we thoroughly enjoyed when the players were thrown up against the glass right in front of us. Unfortunately, the admirals lost the game but it was a lot of fun to watch. Maybe they lost because there were actually no fights on the ice which I couldn't believe - maybe they need to play a little dirtier next time.

Funniest part of the break between the first and second periods - Cheese spreads skating around the rink in a race. Only in Wisconsin do they have a cheese product doing this!

The Admirals' pirate ship that threw out t-shirts into the stands.

Us at the game.

A picture of us in front of the Bradley center. Yes, we both almost slipped off that bench trying to stand on it for the picture.

Thanks, Hudsons, for a fabulous night out - our turn to plan the next one!

By the way, the kids did great - Drew liked the babysitter a lot and asked us why we came home so early (we were gone for five hours). I think we need to take advantage of this time where they are both able to be with a sitter! :)

My one year old

Now that Dilan's officially one, I took her to the dr. for her year checkup. She is doing so well - Stats include, 23 lbs 3 oz (81%tile), 30.75 inches long (92%tile) and 45.6 cm head circumference (64th%tile). She's growing and she's starting to eat more solid foods. The doctor did say she has a herniated belly button which means it is sticking out a bit but there is nothing to do. He said for most kids it will go back in on its own but if not, by age four she could have surgery to correct it.

Dilan still loves her milk and won't give up the bottle yet. I've tried several different sippy cups and all she does is chew on them. We did break her of her must-need habit of milk in bed at night (thank goodness!) and she still takes two very good naps a day.

She cracks us up because her favorite thing to do right now is carry around Drew's scooby doo lunch sack like it's her purse. David and I definitely know what the Easter bunny is on the hunt for this year - a cute pink purse of her own! We'll see if we can find one. Dilan always has to have something in her mouth especially when she's walking around and she likes to pull up her shirt for everyone to see her belly.

She is just so precious!!!

Last of the birthday celebration

We took Dilan to Denny's on her actual birthday morning - after all, the grand slams were totally free so it seemed like a great idea. Plus, we woke up in a big snow storm so we thought we could get in pretty easily. The roads were bad but since the restaurant is less than a mile away, we decided to try and make it there. What fun Dilan had eating pancakes and it was nice to spend the morning together as a family somewhere other than our own kitchen. We wished her "happy birthday" several times and there was a man in the next booth who told us it was his birthday as well - not his first birthday but his birthday nonetheless. He was probably in his late 60s and sure enough his father (probably in his 90s) was at breakfast with him sharing in the day. It was very sweet.

I also posted pictures of Dilan's present from PawDee(my dad) - Drew showing her how to ride it and Dilan getting on it too. She really likes it and we appreciate my dad getting her gift to arrive in time for her party and all!

Cake and Presents for a 1 year old!

I decided to go with the Valentine theme for Dilan's first birthday because it's frilly, and lots of pink and red and it makes for a very sweet party! I figure when she can tell me what theme she wants to have, I'll let her pick but I couldn't resist having a theme of LOVE for my little girl - it just fits.

I ordered a heart-shape cake from a local German bakery and they special-ordered this one with her name on it. These cakes were supposed to be $19.99 but they misquoted the store and I got it for $9.99. It was quite the steal.

Anyway, Dilan was tired and not feeling well but we just had to celebrate (okay I did, after all it really is a celebration of the 13.5 hr labor I had with her, right?) Anyway, Dilan definitely put her hands in her cake but was not interested in tasting it. With a little help she got some in her mouth and she promptly spit it out. Very fitting for my little one. She really tried hard to get the icing off her hands and off the tray so after a while of her doing that, I put her out of her misery and cleaned her all up.

I do have to say Drew was a great big brother and helped her open her presents. She LOVED everything. I was surprised how she literally played with all her new toys right off the bat and still has been playing with them nonstop. It's so fun to have some girl toys with lots of pink! Thank you to everyone who made this first birthday very special, especially my mom and Sam who came up for it and to all my family who sent presents and who called Dilan on her birthday, we truly appreciate it.

Dilan's party at Stone Fire Pizza

We tried out Stone Fire Pizza in New Berlin for Dilan's birthday party. It was a family outing that proved fun and exciting even though both kids were not feeling well.

Pictures are out of order but I'm too tired and not feeling well myself this week to sort them out - ENJOY! :)

Happy First Birthday, Dilan!!!

Here's a preview to our wonderful first birthday celebration with Dilan. She was actually sick with fever but she toughed it out to have a family party and wear her new favorite dress my sister gave her with her name on it (Thanks, Nannie!). More pictures and details to come but I couldn't not post about my precious baby girl turning one today. What a special day and the most wonderful year with her in our lives!

Dilan's Birth Announcement

Here is Dilan's birth announcement! I received them last month and forgot to post it on here. Once again, thanks Jen, who helped find these. I had searched and searched and called a few places too to find something with "my little peach" on them because Dilan was born in Georgia and we think that is very special. These turned out perfectly for what I wanted for her!!!