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Reily enjoyed visits from both sets of grandparents for his birthday, on separate weekends, so we could spread out the fun! 

We were able to celebrate at the Lincoln Park Zoo with my parents and a friend (and local celebrity) Rick Hall.  We had fun looking at the animals and Reily even communicated with the monkeys!  Reily also had his first and only taste of sugar, loving every second of it.

G-ma and Poohbah came to celebrate Reily’s birthday and let Dan and I go out to celebrate our 6 year anniversary.  Of all the wonderful gifts Reily got for his birthday, it was a close tie between the Rody (inflatable mule) and his new snow boots.  He insisted on wearing them inside our apartment and out on the town….that is why he is not wearing pants

 

Our friend,Rick, is a local radio personality for Lite 105.  During a recent endorsement for an Insurance company, he mentioned us as people he knows he can rely on.  What a great compliment and a real hoot to hear our names on the radio   So as a small thank you, everyone we know should be listening to him everyday!

It has recently gotten cold!  Ok, by Chicago standards, it is cooler weather, but by California standards, it’s freaking cold!  So we have had Reily bundled up with mittens while he played on the slide and swings today.  He loved running around the park in his new Transformers light up shoes.  He’s become so grown up and continues to impress us with his logical problem solving ability.  It’s almost as if you can hear him saying “now if I want to get up there, I can pull this box lid over to get me up on the larger toy and then climb to the top of the mountain, I mean, ottoman.”  And he does, time and time again, up then down, then up, then down…

Reily enjoys his favorite books and cartoons on repeat.  And recently G-ma gave him a book that says “Trick-or-Treat! Ha ha ha ha….”, which Reily presses again and again and again.  When is Halloween over?  G-ma says she has a turkey one for Thanksgiving, but I think it might get lost in the mail

Yes, Reily continues to grow up faster than we are comfortable with, but I think that is every parent’s delima.  We just continue to spend lots of time together as a family, enjoying the city.  And as the weather starts to get cooler, we just get excited for the Holiday fun around the corner!

When we made the move back to Chicago, we knew that our pace of life would pick up again, but I’m not sure we had any idea just how much!  The best part is that we are squeezing every ounce of summer in Chicago and simply enjoying life (before the cold weather hits the windy city).  Special events like Reily’s baptism and his first Yankees game have been rounded out with kite festivals, picnics in the park, outdoor concerts, cookouts, walks in the zoo, mornings on the beach and many, many walks along the lakefront.  We’ve enjoyed the visits of family and friends and would love to have you all visit often!

Reily continues to be an absolute joy and FULL of energy.  He continues to teach us life lessons about simplicity, positivity, determination, shrugging defeat and always pushing forward.  I often find myself amazed by his ability to pick himself up time and time again and continue to go after what he wants.  It’s time for us to figure out where we are going in life and make it happen

Its been a while since we’ve last talked. A lot has happened. And we’re ready to dance again. I’m not promising any frequency but I can tell you that we’ve found our passion to write again.

Oh, and rest assure. Things here have been fantastic. There isn’t a single thing that has worked out as I outlined but that has been part of the beauty. I’m done forcing life; from here we will simply try to follow her lead!

All our best – and stay tuned!

I’ve seen other parents offer their child a gift in return for them to perform some desired action. Whether its to go to bed, eat their vegetables, stop biting their brother, whatever. We have all seen and while every parent acknowledges that they don’t believe in them, they all still use them. And even those that swear that they don’t, they do. But is their another way to get someone to perform a desired action without offering up something in return?

Living proof has presented itself – and the answer is quite simple. All you need to do is let someone know that they are missing some photos of their grandchildren because they aren’t a member of Facebook! See, Christine and I take loads of photos and videos of Reily – I mean loads! [So much so that we've had one person comment 'We get it, you really love him. And he's smart and cute in all but I got the point after the first 3 minutes of him laughing on the video." (And now we'll see if the person who said this still reads our blog! ] And most of those go straight to our Facebook pages so that everyone can see them without having a massive email list. But there are always stragglers who still need the email and while we try very hard to send as many photos to them as we can, sadly some simply don’t make it.

Then, it dawned on me. Why don’t I just tell those people that they are missing some of those photos. The result?

You got it! Look out – Rhonda Stummer has joined facebook. And then in traditional Stummer fashion, she began to leave a trail of dust. At current count, she amassed 28 friends, recruited two other family members to join, and uploaded a photo album of her grandchildren! All in less than 24 hours.

So my mom will no longer be missing any photos of the little one! And I venture to say that she’ll probably become more ‘popular’ than both Liz and I in no time at all. These are some of the photos that she’ll no longer be missing:

Or my latest favorite…

So, if you are interested in see more like this, perhaps you’ll join Facebook as well. Or just call my mom and she’ll send them on over to you!

From the Endless Oceans of Dreams,

and it’s Brilliant Sunshine…

to the Urban Jungles of Opportunity,

and the Confidence of Layers…

WE ARE HOME!!!

The last box has been unpacked and broken down; a process that seemed to take longer than expected given that one member of the family wasn’t too interested in putting stuff away as he was with putting it in his mouth. And if anyone thought that putting together baby gear was tough straight from the box, they should really try doing it without the instructions and having the movers shove all the pieces of every toy into one box. (Much appreciated fella’s – a little piece of advice for the Los Angeles service industry – ‘Try Harder.’)

Some pieces are missing and a few are damaged but we are moving on and feel a sense of calm again. A feeling that never seemed to resinate while we were in Los Angeles – it always seemed like we were on vacation there. Not here though – from the moment that we left O’hare and headed towards the city, a feeling of serenity blanketed us with the feeling intensifying as each mile clicked off. And then the sight – it is my absolute favorite visual – coming around the bend from O’hare on I-90 just when you get the first glimpse of the city skyline. It looks like something straight out of a Hollywood set where the building look so small and wonderfully aligned as if some set designer meticulously placed them. And its best viewed at night; where the periodic lights of individual offices replace the night stars and the city is trapped by a warm glow.

[Incidentally, Christine's favorite view can only be seen at night as well except she needs to be in an airplane! She is in love city's grid - the orderly array of streets and parks that are lined with rows of street lights illuminating the endless adventures that the city has to offer.]

So we will rest for a few days as the events of the past week have really drained us…

But fear not as we are getting back to normalcy and so updates and photos should become more frequent again…