A Chocolate Bomb and Some Big Changes

Yes, there is indeed a dessert called a Chocolate Bomb.

Greg and I went to Barolo's for dinner on Valentine's Day. This is the same restaurant we went to last year, and it was an amazing dinner. But the most interesting part was the dessert. We got something called a chocolate bomb. I believe it was pomegranate ice cream, covered in cake, and then dipped in chocolate. It was delightful.

Greg and I have both been crazy busy this month, so it was nice to get away for an evening. Greg has only two weeks left of working his day job. He has quit in order to stay home with the kids, though he'll still see clients in private practice in the evenings. Greg is a therapist, so he started working evenings at a practice in Hinsdale to start this transition. This has meant that the last three months he's worked three nights per week, plus Saturdays, in addition to his full time job. We are hoping (desperately, desperately hoping) that we will be better off financially, even if Greg works fewer hours. The cost of daycare has become prohibitively high, and Greg was lucky enough to have this opportunity, so we're taking the leap.

I think Greg will make a great stay-at-home daddy.   :)

Happy Birthday Greg!

Today is my husband's birthday, so we went out to Carrabba's in Naperville. There's nothing like a yummy Italian meal to help get you used to being another year older.

We met Grandma Toni, Aunt Sarah, and Jay there for a lovely Italian meal. Both Nick and Henry loved the tiramisu.

Henry kept trying to grab my fork, whether I was eating pasta, scallops, or dessert.

Nick has been doing a better job of behaving in restaurants, but he still has his naughty moments. This was not Nick's best moment. I believe he was objecting to my request for a picture.

He did recover enough to help his daddy blow out the candle on the ice cream, though.

Nick and Henry picked out some nice new jeans and a button-up shirt for their dad. Greg will be leaving his full-time job to stay home with the boys, starting in a few weeks. Instead of working days, he will be in private practice, working evenings as a therapist part time. Since he's going to be his own boss, he will be able to wear jeans anytime he wants. I bought him a cooking class that I found on Groupon for my present. I like to buy things that we can do together for fun.

Happy Birthday to my magnificent husband!

Our First Family Outing

Last Thursday, we decided to go out as a family, just one week after Henry was born. We've been nervous about going out with two kids, and decided it was better to just try it and see what happened. We went out for Italian food and then to a really cool kids playhouse called Kiddie Klub Lane, in Lombard.

Actually, it wasn't too bad. We held dessert over Nick's head so that he would sit down and not scream. It worked fairly well. Henry, of course, was extremely well behaved. I just put him into the baby sling and he slept through our lunch. He did wake up when I dropped bread crumbs on his head, though.

After lunch, we took the boys to Kiddie Klub Lane, which is a little storefront place with playhouses for kids. There's a little firehouse, a gas station, a newsstand, a diner, a theatre, etc. For adults, there are tables with magazines in the center, so you can sit and relax while watching your kid play. I'm definitely going to be returning, because Nick cannot escape.



I thought the concept for the place was really neat. After all, in bad weather, where can you take a little kid to play? Plus, you don't feel guilty sitting down with a magazine, because you have a perfect view of your child the entire time.

I thought Kiddie Klub Lane was very clean (for a place with toddlers running around). That's because all of the kids have to wear socks and take off their shoes. The toys were quite creative too, and the kids could dress up and play different roles. Nick loved the fire truck and all of the toys with wheels. He also liked pretending to cook.

We all took turns playing with Nick and watching Henry. In another year or so, I'm sure Henry will love playing with all of the toys, too. For now, he's mostly interested in his bottle. That and being held. Isn't -Henry's onesie cute? I didn't even know that they made baby "wife beater" tank tops. They were a gift from one of my co-workers, and I think they're just adorable. They make me giggle every time I put one on.

Nick literally had to be carried out of this place kicking and screaming.

Our first outing as a family turned out pretty well, especially for Nick, who had a ball. He fell asleep in the car (thank goodness) and napped the whole way home.

Maybe we can handle this whole "having two kids" thing, after all.  ; )

Fun with Noodles! or Finally! Great Italian Food!

Since Greg and I moved here at the end of 2006, we've been bemoaning the lack of good restaurants in the Plainfield/Joliet area. Most of the time, when we want to go out to eat, we drive up to Naperville. That's because most of the restaurants out here are of the local diner or chain restaurant variety, and honestly aren't very good. It's kind of frustrating to have to drive 45 minutes for a nice meal. But we recently found one excellent restaurant just a few miles from home. We went there the day after Christmas, and were really impressed. It's called Barolo Ristorante. Here we are at our table.

The food was really creatively prepared, and my pasta dish was so cool-looking that I had to take a picture of it. There are spinach and regular pasta noodles with a cream sauce, asparagus, and cherry tomatoes. The seafood is scallops and shrimp. It was absolutely everything I wanted in an Italian meal.

Nick ate very well, too. He ate plenty of calamari (which was perfectly cooked and not chewy at all), some salad, tons of my noodles, and a bunch of Greg's duck. I guess Greg had never had duck before, and he really liked the way they prepared it. Oh, and the tiramisu was just perfect. You know how sometimes it's too cakey? This was just creamy enough, with lots of the coffee flavor. Nick loved it, too.

Nick was especially fond of the noodles, although he hasn't quite mastered the art of eating them with a fork. That's more of an advanced fork skill, though, so I guess he'll figure it out soon.

Anniversary Trip 2010 Part IV: Carmine's, Old Town, and Reminiscing

Back to our Chicago Trip. . .

Wednesday night Greg and I walked to one of his favorite restaurants, and Italian place called Carmine's. It's on Rush Street and the food was delicious, if overly plentiful. It was a bit pricy, but the grilled calamari/octopus/shrimp was perfectly cooked, and the lasagna had an amazing sauce. I'd definitely recommend this place, especially if you like classic Italian food.

As is often the case, the highlight of my meal was dessert, which was a chocolate mousse cake that just melted in my mouth. I wish I'd saved more room, because this cake was phenomenal. The chocolate just melted in my mouth. It's funny, but ten years from now this trip will be a fuzzy memory, but I do believe I'll remember this cake. That's how my memory works. Our waitress took this picture of us, but unfortunately the cake wasn't in the picture.  ; )

After dinner we walked down to Old Town to see Second City's mainstage performance. I've been a few times, but Greg had never gone to see Second City. The show was called: "Spoiler Alert: Everybody Dies in the End." It was pretty funny, though some skits were better than others. I think my favorite one was about a lady trying to keep squirrels off of her bird feeder. There was a lot of physical comedy, and I loved when the actors pretended to be office supplies, like a stapler, a water fountain, etc. Also, it was so nice to be able to drink and not worry about who was going to drive. I had several mugs of coffee with Bailey's, and that probably made me laugh even more. We weren't allowed to take any pictures at the show, but I had Greg snap this shot of me near one of the Old Town signs. This part of town was not as upscale as the Gold Coast, but there were a lot of neat looking shops and quaint bars and restaurants. I'd like to explore this area again, because even though we were very early, Greg wouldn't let me go into any of the stores. (Deep sigh.)

After the show, we decided to walk to the El Station, but discovered (after walking a mile in the opposite direction) that it was closed. By the time we'd walked back to the hotel, we probably worked off all of our dinner and dessert. I was glad I'd worn my comfy flip flops. It was a great evening--it's nice to go on dates with my husband. Evenings like this one take me back five years and make me reminisce back to when Greg and I were first dating. Our first "real" date was on the Gold Coast, in downtown Chicago.

***Flashback*** You know how in a movie, the screen will go all fuzzy for a second so you know there's a flashback? Well, I don't know quite how to do that in a blog, so I'm just going to tell you.  ***Flashback***

Greg and I met online, at Yahoo Personals, to be exact. Both of us were looking for a long term relationship. I was 27, and Greg was 31. We chatted via email for a good month before deciding to meet. Greg was living in Oak Park at the time, and we met at a coffee shop and talked for several hours. While waiting for me to arrive, he was reading a book--"The Wine Bible." That made me giggle, but was kind of a relief after dating guys who wanted to do shots of Jagermeister and chug countless beers. Greg was obviously a little more refined than that, though I was also a little amused by the little earring he wore in one ear. It didn't seem to match with the rest of his personality.

I remember what I was thinking of that first evening. Greg was very polite and gentlemanly. I liked that Greg was older than me, mature, and well-educated (Greg has a Master's Degree in Counseling Psychology from the University of Kentucky). I remember we talked about Europe, because I had been and he'd always wanted to go.  He asked (very politely, I might add), if he could take me out the following Saturday, and I accepted. During the following week, he called me and told me we'd be going downtown for dinner and that I should wear something nice. I was flabbergasted when he showed up in a suit, with a bouquet of flowers. Very nice presentation.

My jaw dropped when I saw where he was taking me--on a horse drawn carriage ride through the city. The funny thing is that the carriage ride took off right by the Water Tower, which is very near where the Whitehall Hotel is located. Our driver even took a picture of us, though it was a Poloroid and has kind of faded.

I think Greg wins for most romantic first date ever. He was trying to impress and he did. We even went up to the Signature Room up in the Hancock Building for dinner. Does it make sense now why going downtown reminds me of our first date? One of the secrets to a good marriage, I think, is planning adventures to go on together. Hopefully we'll have lots more adventures this year.

***Flashback over, pardon my digression***

Schaumburg Farmers' Market and Lunch at Maggiano's with G.G.

On Friday, Nick and I took a little trip to visit my Grandma Dorothy, who Nick calls G.G. We wanted to go to the farmers' market in Schaumburg, and my grandmother brought her dog, Miss Lucy, who weighs only slightly more than a hamster. I think Nick was mildly jealous, because instead of everyone fussing over him, they were fussing over the adorable puppy. "Oh, she is so cute!" Nick was not used to being second fiddle. I somehow think that he won't adjust well when we eventually have a second child. He is always the center of attention.

I've always been pretty close to my grandmother, who is only 41 years older than me. People often assume she's my mother when we're out and about, and that Nick is her grandson. She is always proud to announce that Nick is her great-grandson. I always try to go up and visit her whenever I can, especially during vacations and summer.

The Schaumburg Farmers' Market was nice, medium-sized but with some pretty good vendors. It was smaller and not as complete as the Saturday markets in Lisle and Wheaton, but there were still quite a few local farmers and some great samples. The samples are always Nick's favorite part of  farmers' markets. I bagged a tart from the French nuns, some havarti and gout goada cheese from a gourmet cheese vendor, a nice bunch of green onions, and some fresh broccoli. Lucy (the puppy) got some doggie socialization time and about forty compliments. After the farmers' market, we went to drop the puppy off before going to lunch. She was ready for a nap, after playing with Nick to the point of exhaustion. Nick was still raring to go, though.

We went to Maggiano's for a nice Italian lunch. They told us that the servings were all half portions because it was lunchtime. We decided to order two dishes and split them so that we could try two things. We had meat lasagna and chicken spinach manicotti with alfredo sauce. I also ordered some asparagus with garlic so that we'd have a vegetable. The waitress warned me, "The baby might not like the asparagus, since it has a lot of garlic." I told her not to worry, because Nick eats nearly everything. He likes garlic, too.

The asparagus, in fact, was his favorite part of the dinner. He ate at least five or six spears of the stuff. Nick enjoys anything shaped like a french fry, and this includes green beans, string cheese, and asparagus. He kept waving the stalks around like little flags, but he ate a whole lot, garlic or no garlic. I love the picture above because of the way Nick is holding the asparagus in front of his face, showing me. "MMM," he kept announcing as he grabbed for another stalk and shoved it in his mouth.

The food was pretty good, and the atmosphere was nice. It was just noisy enough for Nick's chattering not to bother anyone. When they brought our food out, we were astounded. If these were half-size, lunch portions, what must the dinner portions look like? I ate less than half of the food and still felt very, very full. We weren't too full to try some tiramisu, though. Can you see it all around Nick's lips? I thought he might not like it, because tiramisu has a kind of coffee flavor, but Nick loved every bite. I asked the waitress to take our picture before we left.

We thought we'd go back to the house and let Nick take a nap, but he wasn't having any of it. He wanted to play, plain and simple. Most of all, he wanted to play with the puppy. "Puppy!," he'd announce as he pointed towards her. "Soft," he'd say as he stroked her fur. Nick wasn't always gentle, but the puppy was surprisingly tolerant and Nicholas wasn't quite as rough as he is with the cats.

Nick and Lucy are on the same scale, size wise. She comes up to about his waist if she jumps on him, and I think she likes his smaller size, because Lucy just can't leave him alone. When he walks with her, it's as if an adult were walking with a medium sized dog. Miss Lucy was extremely active all day, and she even walked down with us to the park, using her leash correctly. My grandma was very proud of her.

But Nick never did take a nap. That's something I'm going to have to work on-whenever I go somewhere, I can't get Nick to sleep at all. He was mad at me when we had to leave, too, because he wanted to stay with GG and the puppy. Poor guy was plumb tuckered out by the time we got back home. He slept nearly 13 hours last night, so at least he got caught up. We'll have to make a point to go and visit again before the summer is over.

3 Days of Pampering, Exploring, and Winter Weather. . . Day Two, Part Two

Well, seeing as we are snowed in and cannot go to Delavan today for Christmas #4, (blizzard conditions in Wisconsin)I'm going to finish reminiscing about our trip to downtown Chicago earlier this week. On Tuesday, after our afternoon nap, we went to the Christkindlmarket, which is a Chicago must, or so I've been told. I'd never seen it before, and despite the sleet/freezing rain/flurries, we set out to see what it was all about.

It was very pretty; Daley plaza was set up with booths all around with food, ornaments, winter wear, and hot beverages. Greg and I split one of tastiest hot pretzels I've ever had and a cup of hot apple cider, which felt great in the cold air. We walked around and looked at all of the European tchotchkes. I especially liked the toy store that sold authentic wooden puzzles and games for kids. I was tempted but the prices made me think twice.
My camera has always taken pretty crappy pictures, and this trip was no exception. My sister actually told me over Christmas that there's something wrong with it. I'm not sure, however, if losing the original reciept voids the Nikon warranty. Anyhow, here Greg and I are standing in front of the big Chicago tree in Daley Plaza. It was gorgeous, and the picture doesn't do it justice.
Here I am on Michigan Avenue. you can see one of the Art Institute lions behind me. Isn't it nice that with digital photography, I can crop my rear end out of pictures if it looks too big? Something about puffy winter jackets tend to make everyone look like the stay-puff marshmallow man. But it kept me warm, anyway, and nighttime in the city is beautiful in December.
This is the sleet/freezing rain that fell on us as we walked around. We found a lovely hot tea place called Argo, and I had an Earl Grey Steamer, which was steamed skim milk mixed with Earl Grey tea (my favorite), bergamot, and a shot of vanilla. yummy. Before we went to dinner, I made Greg take a picture of these pigeons. They were hanging around the flame, and I don't blame them. It was cold and wet. I thought it was cute how they stick their heads down in their birdie armpits to keep warm. If that one had gotten any closer to the flame, though, he would've been a roasted pigeon.
After Christkindlmarket, Greg took me for dinner at Trattoria #10, where we had had dessert Monday night. It was so good we were inspired to visit again for dinner Tuesday. I had the best caprese salad ever and a lobster ravioli that was so good I can't even put it into words. Greg had a magnificent lamb dish, and the chocolate cake we had for dessert was absolutely spectacular. My tummy was so happy. It's funny how I may forget the other details of our trip, but I will remember that meal as long as I live.


Why the shoe pictures? Well, there was a Crocs store near our hotel, and I walked in to look at shoes for Nick. I think that Crocs make your feet look like boats, and I would never buy them for myself. The kid ones are cute, though. However, I decided (after looking at the price tags) that it was a waste of money to spend $29.99 on shoes for a little boy who would grow out of them in a month or two. Then I saw these. . . and I had to buy them. They are pretty comfy flats, and they don't look like Crocs. Plus, they were buy one, get one 1/2 off. And my feet should stay the same size, at least I hope so. It was a wonderful trip, and if we can swing it, we want to go again next year. Maybe next year we'll stay on the Gold Coast. Greg says that he knows of some great places around there. A romantic Chicago trip was a great way to start our Christmas week.

Nick's First Birthday 11/17/2009

It's been a pretty crazy day--Nick is ONE year old today. :) Greg and I woke him up by singing Happy Birthday to him. He looked at us like we were nutcases and then started screaming for his bottle. Instead of a bottle with formula, he got a cup with whole milk. Nice way to start your birthday. But the rest of his day went pretty well. I didn't want to just take him home, and Greg had to work late. So I went out with my fellow ELL teachers. We went to Olive Garden, because breadsticks are awesome and calories don't count on birthdays. (Anyone's birthday. Really.)

Nicholas was very happy eating Italian food. I think he might have even been babbling with an Italian accent. He ate calamari, fried zucchini, toasted ravioli, pasta, shrimp, and breadsticks. (A very full boy.) Then they brought him a lava cake and sang to him. He loved it, especially the part where he grabbed a fistful of chocolate cake and stuffed it into his mouth. Happy birthday boy. Actually, it's probably the company that he liked best. Nick loves it when the attention is on him, and restaurants are good for that. I'm glad we went out; I feel like he had a nice birthday.

This time last year I was having agonizing back labor. Not a pleasant day, but Nick was the happy result of it. I look at the pictures of him and it's hard to believe this is the same kid. The above picture was after his first at-home bath. The picture below was in the hospital soon after he was born. Six pounds, barely, and 17 inches long. Wow. I think I'm going to post a facebook quiz I did awhile back, about having your first child. I'm just reminiscing. I feel happy that my baby is one, but a little sad, too, that he's growing so fast.

I originally posted this on February 8, 2009, when Nick was not even three months old:

Here you go mommies - a different kind of survey for a change - it's all about your first born! Just copy and paste it in a new note for yourself!

1. WAS YOUR PREGNANCY PLANNED? Yup. My doctors thought that I had a fertility disorder, so Greg and I decided to go off of birth control in February so that I could go on fertility drugs in June. Being a teacher, I wanted to time my pregnancy so that I'd have a long summer maternity leave. The OB said it was possible but not likely that I’d get pregnant without the drugs. But fate intervened.

2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME? Nope. Greg and I were engaged in July 2007, and we got married last June (2008). So I was in the midst of planning a big wedding and had already purchased a dress. Thank goodness I had purchased a dress with ties in the back, so it could be loosened.

3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS? Complete denial, and then fear. I didn’t believe it. It was the first time I could have possibly gotten pregnant. My biological clock must really have been ticking. I was even at the doctor’s office getting a blood test, and the lady drawing my blood congratulated me. I told her I thought it was a false positive, and she laughed and said that there are no false positives, only false negatives.

4. WAS ABORTION AN OPTION FOR YOU? Not after I got the amnio results back. I really wanted to have a baby.

5. HOW OLD WERE YOU? 29. I turned 30 before Nick was born.

6. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT? I was very tired and I thought it was due to my graduate school program and working 3 jobs. “Do you see one line or two?!” He said two, and I couldn’t believe it. Plus coffee started making me nauseous. So I bought a home pregnancy test. I had to have Greg verify the results. “Do you see one line or two?!” He said two, and I couldn’t believe it.

7. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST? Obviously I told my husband, then some friends at work. I wanted to ask how accurate home pregnancy tests are. I also needed someone to cover my hall duty so that I could go to numerous high-risk OB appointments. I waited to get the doctor’s call to tell my parents.

8. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX? Oh yes. Nick is the 1st grandchild for 3 grandmas and 3 grandpas, so we wanted him appropriately attired. I didn’t care if he was a boy or a girl, because I wanted one of each.

9. DUE DATE? November 28th, 2008.

10. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS? A bit. Mostly coffee turned me off which is weird, because I am very caffeine dependent. The bigger problem for me was extreme hypoglycemia during pregnancy. I had to eat every hour at least.

11. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE? Strangely enough, I wanted foods I’d eaten as a child. Spaghetti O’s, Cheetos, Macaroni and Cheese. Fake, orange, processed foods. I usually steer clear of heavily processed stuff, but suddenly I was craving it. Towards the end I ate a ton of goat cheese and water crackers daily.

12. WHAT IRRITATED YOU? My growing belly. I felt huge and the doctors kept telling me to eat more protein and iron. Between that and the hypoglycemia, I felt bloated all the time.

13. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CHILD'S SEX? male

14. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING? Nope. I will want a girl for the next one, though. It’ll be hard if I have another boy, because my husband says he only wants two, no matter what. I would like to try parenting one of each.

15. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY Around 40.

16. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER? I had 3 baby showers, actually. They were great and everyone gave us all the stuff we needed. One at my dad’s, one at my grandma’s, and one at work. Greg had one at his work, too, so I guess we actually had 4. I ended up with 37 outfits in the 0-3 month size. At least Nick was small, so he’s still in that size.

17. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW? Well, I knew there’d be showers, I just didn’t know when.

18. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY? I was high risk from the beginning. (Post RNY, thyroid disease, hypoglycemia, etc.) So I saw a maternal fetal medicine specialist every few weeks and had those super ultrasounds done all the time.

19. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH? Edward Hospital in Naperville.

20. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR? I was induced at 38 weeks due to growth restriction with Nick. After 12 hours of pitocin (and back labor), I was only dilated 1 cm, so they told me we could try again in the morning or do a C-section. Nick’s heart rate kept dropping, and they thought the pitocin was causing it. So I had a c-section.

21. WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL? My husband. Since I wasn’t actually in labor, we stopped for tapas on the way.

22. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH? Only doctors. They ended up having to give me a general anesthetic, so they wouldn’t even let Greg in.

23. WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION? C-Section. The spinal didn’t take, even after 7 needle sticks. I guess I had calcification in my spine pretty severely. So they completely knocked me out. Not too bad, considering the morphine.

24. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN? Yup. Narcotics during the back labor, and Morphine during and after the c-section. I had a fun little button. I stopped using it after 1 day, though, because it made me pretty sleepy and high as a kite. They gave me Vicodin, too, to go home on.

25. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH? 6 lbs. even. He was short, though, 17 ½ inches. That’s growth restriction for you.

26. WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN 9:15 p.m. on November 17th.

27. WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER? Nicholas James. My husband and I had a hard time agreeing on a name, and so we made lists and bought books for months. It was hard because I didn’t want to name my child any name I associated with students I’ve taught. So many names had negative connotations, especially with boys. I even had my 3rd and 4th graders make me lists, and we finally decided on Nicholas. James was after my maternal grandfather, who passed away in 2007.