Dargan Does Chicago

Scott, Dargan, and I took a trip to Chicago this weekend!

Why Chicago? Well, it's a long story...

A little less than 2 years ago, I'd just learned that I was pregnant and sought out support of other moms-to-be on the only place for reliable information: the Internet. Specifically, I found the Birth Month Clubs on TheBump.com where I cautiously joined in the excited "OMG I got a positive test!" chatter and we all shared symptoms, announcement stories, and other fun things about early pregnancy. Fast forward several months and about 40 of us had grown close enough to feel comfortable forming a Facebook group, so we migrated off of The Bump and onto Facebook.

Imagine having a group of friends, all going through the same stage of life together, being able to ask questions and get feedback 24/7, expressing all of the frustrations, excitement, fear, and everything else that goes along with new parenthood.

That's what these ladies have been and are, and a few of us met up this weekend in Chicago. It was a smaller group than what was originally planned, but of course life with toddlers is unpredictable!

We took Friday off from work and flew out in the morning (yay, direct flight)!

Running off some pre-flight energy in the airport

The flight was mostly uneventful. I was nervous how Dargan would do without being able to nurse him to sleep on the flight, but he did really well. Was happy and awake for about the first hour, then we got him to sleep for the rest of the flight (including 30 mins of circling over Muncie, IN because of weather in Chicago). We landed, found our way to the trains, and headed into the city.





We spent the afternoon up in Old Town, visited a couple of bars (some more "dive-y" than others).

Dargan was thrilled.

For dinner, we went to Howells & Hood which was very good and were joined by the first of my mom friends - Megan & her son Lucas!



It was so funny and entertaining to watch the boys interact. I don't get to see Dargan interact with other kids very much, so it's fun to see and really cool to see his personality come out!

It was rainy and we were all travel-weary, so we headed back to the hotel after dinner.

Saturday

Scott and I were signed up for a 6k race in Lincoln Park on Saturday morning (crossing Illinois off the "race in every state" list!). Yes, that's a 6k not a 5k - the race was benefiting Team World Vision and providing water for African children. 6k (3.7 miles) is the average distance families in Africa have to walk to find clean water to drink. Each race entry fee provides fresh water for one child in Africa.

Pre-race selfies


Dargan is excited and ready!


The race went well - it was humid and warm when the sun came out, but not bad since we're used to the South Carolina summer heat. I ended up taking 3rd in my age group with a time of 28:40 (average pace 7:42/mi) and Scott was 4th in his age group, but first person pushing a stroller!



After the race we walked over to the Lincoln Park Zoo and met up with the rest of the momma friends!

"June 2015" babies!

Dargan at the petting zoo - goats!

Dargan actually got to pet some of the goats and feet a cow (Scott has these pics on his phone).

Ladies & Babies in the Windy City!

We spent the rest of the morning at the zoo then made our way over to Stanley's Kitchen & Taphouse for lunch - service was a bit slow but the food was good, and the company was even better. :)

Love these gals.

We headed back to the hotel to regroup and rest up a bit before heading out for an afternoon of our favorite thing - brewery hopping! We headed south on the L towards Motor Row in an up-and-coming area of south Chicago (that's a nice way of saying it was a little sketchy).

Riding the L - holding handles and holding hands.

First stop was Vice District Brewing Company (Dargan's Brewery #50) - we enjoyed some pints until the babies had enough of sitting still.

Crawling on the tables

Quenching thirst

Beers and babies!

Next we headed to Motor Row Brewing (Dargan's Brewery #51) - it was a relatively new brewery and lucky for us it was nearly empty, so we let the babies roam free and play. It was awesome! They all had so much fun running around together.

After a long afternoon we made our way back towards the hotel and stopped for dinner at Public House where we had delicious mac & cheese dishes and grilled cheese for the kiddos. Dargan's newest entertainment at restaurants is playing with forks and knives.



On Sunday morning, we headed out to do some sight-seeing and walk around enjoying the Chicago sunshine (read: it was hot).

Navy Pier

Navy Pier

Walked a bit farther to get to Millennium Park...

Neat walkway / pedestrian bridge

Jay Pritzker Pavilion

The Bean

Beautiful skyline

Selfies!

That's the Trump building behind me.

Back at the hotel we said brief goodbyes to the others who had taken a more relaxing approach to the morning, checked out, then we headed to brunch at River Roast - it was awesome. Probably my favorite meal of the trip, food-wise. Of course, brunch is hard to beat in general, but Rabbit & Waffles (breaded and deep-fried rabbit with belgian waffle & bourbon maple syrup). YUM.

Got my room keys, you guys ready?

We then took the Blue Line train towards O'Hare and stopped at, what else, a couple more breweries.

Piece Brewing & Pizzeria (#52)

Napping at Revolution Brewing (#53)

The flight home was fine - took a little more effort to get Dargan to go to sleep, but once he did, he was out and it was fine. We got home around 10:45 and plopped him right in the crib - he didn't even blink.

All in all, a fun but tiring trip - traveling with a toddler is not for the faint of heart!

15 Months Old

A year and a quarter old!



I took Dargan to his 15-month check up on Thursday (8/11) afternoon.

Stats:
20lbs 5oz (15%)
29.5" tall (4%)
Still has a big head
6 teeth
size 2.5 shoe
Size 3 diapers

He's on track for all developmental milestones like WALKING, and he's got the recommended 3-6 words for his age. Dr. Butcher said that boys are usually a little slower on the speech/communication side but they get moving quicker (vs. girls). She had no concerns at all with his progress! The only problem: another double ear infection. So we're on antibiotics again, and are being referred to an ENT specialist to talk about the possible need for tubes. Clearly Dargan isn't bothered by his ear infections, but the concern is that if he can't hear very well that his speech might not develop properly, so we definitely want to get it corrected.

Movement
Dargan took his first steps and hasn't stopped! It's impressive how well he does just in the short time since he started. He can stand without pulling up on anything, walk, stop, turn, squat down to pick something up, then get back up and move along.



He's doing better walking on uneven surfaces (in the yard, etc). He climbs up stairs really well, but definitely hasn't mastered the reverse yet. We're afraid to let him practice very much, though. He still loves riding his "car" around the neighborhood and will happily sit on it for more than a mile!

Communication
Some words that Dargan currently says:
- uh-oh ("ah-ooowwwww")
- Daddy ("da-dee")
- cat ("ta")
I think he knows "ball" but it, like most words right now, comes out as "da". But he'll enthusiastically point to a picture of a ball, and say "DA!"
He's also started using the sign for "more" a lot recently. When he's eating and wants more of something, he'll do the sign language. It's very cute!

His other favorite thing is to shake his head "no" especially when we offer him food. The confusing part is that he shakes his head "no" for everything, even if he wants it. Maybe he'll get better at it?

Eating

We're fully weaned! It's now been over a month since he's nursed or had breastmilk. I keep meaning to write some kind of de-brief on the whole experience, but I've not yet had the time to fully collect my thoughts.

Pre-breakfast snack in the car on the way to daycare

He was used to nursing first thing in the morning, so we replaced that with some cereal and milk. He also likes to steal some of Scott's breakfast while they eat together in the mornings. This is his "pre-breakfast snack" to tide him over until breakfast at daycare, which happens around 8:30am. Then he has lunch around 11/11:30am and afternoon snack around 2pm. We get home around 5:30 and it doesn't take him long to start fussing for dinner, so we hurry to prepare it and aim to have dinner between 6/6:30 most nights. 

He still likes most foods, or at least will try them. He has lots of opinions, that vary from day to day and even sometimes change during the course of a meal. Some examples:

"I hate squash. How dare you bring me this filth"

"I will cry until you give me squash."

"I will only eat quesadillas for dinner."

"Quesadillas are disgusting."

"I will not eat pasta, which I usually can't get enough of. Instead, I will insist you give me your quinoa/super-grain blend from your plate."

Yep. Mealtimes with toddlers are always an adventure!

Sleeping

Still doing well on the sleeping front, and we've even gotten to sleep in on the rare weekend occasion! Bedtime is around 7:30, plus or minus 15-30 minutes as his attitude requires. Bedtime is now a happy and pleasant nightly event, in which we read stories, say prayers, give hugs & kiss, lay him into his crib and he'll smile up at us while we pull his blanket up, then we leave. He then proceeds to roll around and get comfy and then sleeps until morning. 6am is typical weekday wake-up time, but on weekends he's been known to sleep in until 7:30 or later! It's exciting when that happens. Dr. Butcher said it's common for kids of working families to sleep extra on weekends, and the fact that he's doing it on his own is a positive thing. Hooray!

I'm a happy 15-month-old!

Other noteables...

Smiley boy

Wrap stash with some visitors

Ruck with Tibetan Finish - Zorro Bordeaux Size 4 Wrap 

"Coolest Hip Carry" - Duet Berkshire Size 3 wrap

Crazy walking man!

I have lots of videos this week! Dargan has been very happy (mostly) and active, and with just one week since he took his first consecutive steps, he's now walking everywhere! Like, we went to the pool this afternoon and he had no interest in playing in the water. Just wanted to walk laps around the edge of the pool!

Monday, after our evening walk, Dargan made sure to do his rounds in the bike shop.

Making sure those bike wheels still spin!

Tuesday, we got my family's piano delivered - it lives with us now since my parents are down-sizing. Dargan was very intrigued.

Cool new toy!

On Wednesday, Scott left for a work trip - Dargan and I are flying solo for a while. He decided to do his part by helping to unload the dishwasher.

Helping!

Also practiced walking with his elephant push-popper. He's not quite got the hang of it yet.

On Thursday, Dargan didn't nap well at daycare so he was a bit grumpy and tired after I picked him up. Silver lining: means he's extra snuggly!

Grumpy snuggles

He had more energy after dinner and climbed the entire flight of stairs up to his room at bedtime. Unfortunately the video is too long to upload here!

Friday evening he was grumpy again, so I put him up in the wrap to make dinner. This is called a double hammock back carry. The chest pass takes some of the pressure off your shoulders, which makes it a good carry for lengthy periods of time.



Unfortunately, Dargan was clearly unhappy so it didn't last long. He was much better after we went on a walk with neighbor Aria.

"Oh hey girl, you wanna cruise?"

This little face and those curls.

Saying hi to Harley...

Saturday was a busy and productive day. We slept until 7:30 (!!!!), went for a nice long run on the Swamp Rabbit and through Furman, baked food for a new mama with a one-week-old baby, and attempted a pool trip which involved thunder and walking laps around the pool.

Good morning!

Practicing walking and talking - finally caught his jibberish on camera!

Belltower on our run

He's going to be sprinting through the house, running over cats very very soon.