Our Visit to Chicago

Last week we flew to Chicago and spent the week with Derek's parents.  Like last March and last September, Derek's exam seminar for his next test happened to be in Chicago again, so Connor and I tagged along and made a little family vacation out of it.  We flew in on Saturday, and Derek's exam seminar was from Tuesday to the following Saturday.  

Unfortunately Derek woke up on Sunday with the stomach flu, and over the course of the week the rest of us had our share of sickness, too.  (He was mostly better by the time his seminar started, so it was good he got it first).  I thought I was invincible because I've never had the stomach flu in my life, but I sure did experience it and it was not fun!  Connor threw up once and took a few long naps.  Thankfully that was the extent of his sickness.  The week didn't go as any of us envisioned, but it was still nice being together.  

Thanks to his parents, Derek and I still managed to have some time together (dates are such a treat!).  One of the nights his parents happily watched Connor so that I could drive to where he was and we had a nice dinner together.  And on Friday night I drove to spend the night at his hotel so we could drive back the next day after his seminar ended.  I had the flu most of that day and was a little feverish, but I was determined to take advantage of his parents' offer to watch Connor overnight.  I love our little boy so much, but it's nice to have a break every once in a while.  :)  We had milkshakes and watched a movie.  We are so wild and crazy!

So far Connor has flown at 11 weeks, 9 months, and now 14 months.  This was definitely more challenging than previous times.  Thankfully we had the row to ourselves so he had a little room to get some energy out.  He didn't sleep a wink on the plane! He slept a total of 30 minutes the whole day, and oddly enough it didn't phase him at all.  

Exploring Grandma and Grandpa's house is lots of fun!

Connor in motion...as his shirt says, he does all his own stunts :)

Having a blast walking back and forth from Grandma to Grandpa.  He still hasn't completely mastered the art of walking, probably because he starts laughing hysterically whenever he takes steps.  It's hard to keep your balance when you're laughing so hard!

Our family of 4 (Connor is sitting on his brother)

When we arrived, it was snowing and COLD.  A couple days later, it was in the 60's!  Connor loves the park, and playing with Grandma is very fun.  

We took Connor's picture on this bed in this same spot when he was 11 weeks old.  It was a lot easier to get him to sit still then! :)  He's such a big boy!

Grandma giving Connor his very first Chicago style pizza

The growth chart wall.  He is a lot taller than he was 5 months ago!