Totally.

Yoga session

Jack loves Yoga. Especially the Happy Baby pose.

  

Silly boy

Oh, how I love this boy...

...and how Ellie likes to fake kiss him... 

 ... and smell his hands...

... and try to clean the mirror with a baby wipe... 

 ...he makes my heart melt...

...even though he wakes up every night and screams like someone is stabbing him because he is hungry and has to eat. Silly boy.

Crazy kids

Ellie is an entertainer, especially when it comes to her baby brother. Sometimes she gets so worked up, she has to take a quick nap in between on the kitchen table.

A little weekend celebration

Despite the rainy weekend, it was a wonderful one. Saturday we headed to Chicago to do some shopping and eating to celebrate Wendi's wedding. We started out the morning with homemade bagel sandwhiches and smoothies for the car ride. Our first stop was at Mitsuwa (Japanese grocery store) where we bought some groceries and sushi to go. It was super yummy.

The next stop was at Ikea, where we spent hours and hours. Wendi found some things for her wedding center pieces and the rest of us girls bought some necessities stuff. We stopped at a few stores before heading downtown. One of our stops downtown was Sprinkles. We waited in line, people watched and dodged one legged-pigeons. It was worth the wait. My favorite was the peanut butter cupcake. LOVED it. Of course I brought home some for Nick and my mom and dad, I'm nice that way :)

It was a little chilly down by the lake, but there were tons of people out and about on Michigan Ave. We ate dinner at Wendi's favorite restaurant - Le Colonial on Rush St. It was delish! If you ever go downtown Chicago, I highly recommend it!

Rani, Wendi, me, Amy and Kim.

Baby Jack

Happy 7 months to my baby Jack! Even though he is sick, he is still so happy and smiley. I love him so....

Ellie and her seaweed

The last couple of nights, Ellie has wanted to take a shower with me! It's actually been a little easier because then we are both done. We have a double shower head and she likes to play with the sprayer. She giggles the whole time and loves spraying everything with it. After we are done, she wants to wear this hello kitty head towel thingy that belongs to my mom. And then she wants to eat again!! She is addicted to seaweed and also gets it out and demands I make her some rice/seaweed rolls. Here are some snapshots of right after our shower. As you can see, it's still daylight out. We've been taking our showers early because we are all sick. I don't think it's a big deal that we shower before most people get home from work. lol!

Hotness and fevers

The last several days have been crap! Nick got home Friday afternoon from Cancun and brought a cold with him, so he's been sick. Ellie, Jack and I have been sooo sick too. Actually Jack and I have been the worst. Runny nose, fever, congestion, achiness, and the list goes on. I think Ellie brought it home from daycare. Jack has bronchialitis, RSV and now a double ear infection. He's had a fever and some random throw ups. It's been hot out too. So hot that Ellie doesn't want to wear clothes. Check it out below....

Jack's 6 month pictures

I'm happy to finally be posting Jack's 6 month pictures. Amy McManigal took these. She's done all of Ellie's and of course Jack's newborn ones too. As soon as I got the cd, I put them on my computer. I'm really happy how they turned out, but I think Jack's a really easy model. All this kid does is smile! He's so giggly and happy. 

It's kind of amazing how different he looks in this pictures, just with the outfit changes and hat v.s. no hat. I picked out these outfits the night before and think they worked out. He looks so grown up here, but I think it's because he's wearing normal clothes... as you can tell from the pictures I post, he is usually in pjs! I threw in the frog hat (I got from Mayumi in Japan) last minute and it turned out to be my absolute favorite. I just LOVE it. I can't wait to get a canvas print or two of these!

Jack trying to eat Ellie... just a bite.

Ellie and Jack. Jack's shirt says 'baby brother'.

Ellie just loves Jack.

My absolute favorite!!

Mexico and sickies

This week has already been a little hectic. Nick spent all day in Chicago on Monday trying to get his passport renewed. It expired in July and his flight to Mexico was Tuesday morning. Well, he was successful and as I type this I'm sure he is sitting on the beach enjoying a fruity beverage. His team won region of the year, so this was their reward. Jack and I helped him pack all his new vacation clothes and sent him on his way.

I could have gone, but there were too many reasons why I didn't want to. I didn't want to leave Ellie and Jack w/ my mom for 4 days, I'm busy at work, we would've had to pay for my ticket, I am not getting in a swimsuit right now and I just wasn't in the mood to go. I'm glad I didn't because Ellie has a fever/cold and Jack is a little troublemaker and hasn't been sleeping well at night at all. The weather has been so nice lately that it's probably just as nice as in Mexico (minus the beach, good food, pool, spas, etc.) haha! 

Jack and I are trying to make Ellie feel better. Poor little girl.

Bride to Be

I'm sad that this weekend is over. Wendi's shower was on Sunday and so much fun!  Friday and Saturday I was busy cleaning, shopping and decorating for Sunday. My mom and Nick helped so much and I'm lucky to have them! My mom is great to go shopping with and helps with Ellie and Jack. Nick might win the award for being the best vacuumer ever. Nick was going to have a day alone with Ellie, but they ended up staying at the party. I don't think Ellie wanted to miss any action. Ellie is such a good girl, but still so shy. Jack was smiley like always and loved all the attention. It was really nice to see everyone and catch up with friends. We probably had about 30 people there. Wendi and Nick received a lot of nice gifts. It was a great time and I can't wait to start planning the next party!

Here are some pictures from the party.

Bride to Be

I made the "Bride to Be" banner out of card stock and ribbon. So easy!

The hanging pom poms were made out of tissue and ribbon.



Chocolate covered strawberries

The green cake stands I got from Costco and I made the chocolate covered strawberries.


Fruit pizza cookies

Wendi's cake - from Cake's While You Wait

I bought the cake at a local cake store and made the banner out of grey and white twine, Japanese washi paper and baking pop sticks. So cute and sooo easy.

Turtle cheesecake cupcakes

I made the cupcakes the night before and put them in cute little flower wrappers.

YUM!

The mini fruit pizza I made from bakery sugar cookies (these are so good and freshly made that morning). spread cream cheese frosting on and add your favorite fruit topping. These should be made right before the party so they don't get soggy.

Chocolate covered pretzels

I made the pretzels the night before and just stored them in a cool place.

Oreo pops

I made the oreo pops the night before too. These were easy, but I would have liked to dip them one more time and then put sprinkles on, but there was so much white chocolate already!

Rani and Jack

Telling the news!