Summer in the City

Well, not quite summer but never the less a warm weekend in the city. We spent the weekend at the park and out at the Long Grove Chocolate Festival. Check out Lila on the swing and in front of the tulips. Coming soon, Lila has discovered that walking is more efficient way to get around than her legendary "hop" so we have lots of video. I will post shortly, the funny thing is she is only 16 pounds so people think that she's walking at the 4-6 month age.... very funny. We need to tie a balloon to her so she doesn't get lost. Enjoy.

Easter Sunday

We spent Easter Day with Grandma D and the D's - Check out the pic's!

Cousins.....

Mike came over with Lila's cousin Tyler last week for play day. It was cute to see both kids get to a development status where they could: 1) recognize someone else their age that's "been around" before 2) Understood that by playing together with their toys they could collectively have some fun! And they did, Jill and Mike took them to the park, they went swinging, and of course played around in our family room. Enjoy.

Visiting the Sunshine State

I had a conference in Orlando last week and instead of sitting in the hotel room by myself we decided to turn the event into a family trip. Six days in Orlando in 85 degree weather proved to be the perfect tonic for the April winter blues. We had a blast by the pool swimming and taking long walks with Lila. The funny thing was we had a special guest at Disney. Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich and his family were vacationing at the same resort, and wouldn't you know that he got indicted during the week - the good news was the indictment didn't ruin his fun and was spotted daily at the pool swimming, relaxing, and taking pictures. It was a hoot and I think Jill might have a crush on the former governor. It's currently snowing and 25 degrees so it's safe to say that we have been shocked back into reality. Enjoy the pictures.

Think the Music from Jaw's......

Duh, duh...... duh, duh,duh,duh,duh....... Lila started to walk on her own this week and our lives have been permanently altered. The Jaw's music is appropriate. I had always thought that we would have enjoyed that special moment when Lila, in my arms would walk over to Jill and we would all collectively celebrate. Well, it didn't quite happen that way. The REAL story is she was standing, holding on to our coffee table and spotted some candy in Jill's hands a couple feet away. Instead of asking for it, to our amazement, she decided to walk over to take it herself... we were flabbergasted... oh well, we will try to get some video to this site of her walking on her own but curently she is not cooperating. In the meantime, check her out showing off to Jill's friends Maggie and Megan. Enjoy.

Happy Birthday Lila

Our daughter celebrated her first birthday this past Tuesday. We enjoyed cake and a candle, it was a hoot and you can tell by her face she enjoyed the cake. Other big news this week is she received multiple, awesome presents so thanks to all - she has been very busy working riding ponies, carrying her purse, and playing on the farm. Enjoy.

St. Patrick's Day Fun

We had a great time yesterday as the weather was perfect for St Patrick's Day. As you can see below we spent it up at Chief O'Neill's eating Irish Breakfast (Bacon and Eggs :)) and drinking Guiness. Disclaimer: We did not allow Lila to drink beer. We came back to the house and on our front steps was a surprise gift from an unnamed source (we have idea's on this person's identity so THANKS). It's a pink VW Beetle... so we spent the next hour pushing her around the neigborhood. Enjoy the pictures!

"I've got to believe it's getting better"

"Getting better, all the time...."

To quote Paul McCartney....check out the pictures, outside of some cranky moments, all is good.

Thanks for all the cards, gifts, warm wishes... it ALL helps make us smile.

Lila's LONG week

Lila went in on Wednesday to have her fixator removed and a pin placed in her arm. The procedure went great and aside for a couple rough days in the hospital, is doing great. One funny moment was right before she went in for surgery Lila sat right in the middle of the pre-op room and cracked up the hospital staff with her funny faces and unique scooting around, nobody believe that a small kid with a fixator on her arm could move that quick.....Check out the pictures of the before and after. We are camped out in the house weekend just laying low and Lila is in great spirits. Many thanks out to everyone for their kind words of support. Enjoy!

Brand New 2009 Car, A/C Included, Manual Transmission, British Racing Green

Uncle Mike came over on Saturday with a shiny new gift - a car for Lila. We spent the rest of yesterday and today pushing her around our living room and kitchen. Check out the pictures and the movie.

Talking smack!

You can see our little Lila is starting to engage in the long family tradition of running her mouth. She has Dadda, Mamma, Nanna, and said "hi" twice. Next comes Zienkiewicz. Enjoy.

The future is so bright, I gotta wear Sunglasses

Sorry for the inactivity over the last few weeks but our life out here in Chicago has been severely hampered by the cold. We have had 14 straight days of freezing weather so I figured everyone had seen enough pictures of us hanging out in our family room. It was, however, 50 yesterday so we decided to hit the streets and go for a long walk. Check out Lila with her sunglasses. Everyone out there probably will not find this as funny as we did but we kept taking pictures because not only did she not pull the glasses off her face, she love POSING with them on! We find that particularly strange for a 11 month old and most passer byers did as well as we got plenty of smirks and looks from the Bucktown populace. Last picture is a snap shot of our new daunting challenge - a highly mobile baby that is learning to stand. I hope all is well, and as always - enjoy!