Hello Windy City!

Sorry to leave y'all hanging.  We made our decision a good week ago and life has been a whirlwind ever since.

We're officially moving to Chicago!

We are thrilled and so sad at the same time.  We have really loved living here in Connecticut and have tried our best to make friends without the mindset of moving.  It is so awesome to watch Millie bounce around from group to group after Church greeting all of her friends (any age group will do for that girl).  We feel like we've made Connecticut our home, and leaving home is never easy to do.

On the other hand, we are so excited to be moving close to my Uncle KC and his family.  They have promised lots of help with the little ones and entertainment, and we intend to take them up on it all.  We've started house hunting, and have every intention of buying a house near them so my cousins can ride their bikes to our house as promised.  Won't that be fun?  We adore those girls.

Yes, Chicago gets very cold.  I think we'll survive.  The town we are planning on moving to (Geneva) has everything.  I'm so happy to be living near a Hobby Lobby and not far from a Chick-fil-a again.  Actually pretty much any store I could want is there.  And I can just pull up to Target and park, without paying.  Here in Stamford it's only $1, but it's the principle.

I haven't even hit on the perks or real Chicago, but we are excited to explore it as well.  We have only heard wonderful things about the city.  Any recommendations of places we need to see?  During our summer in Boston I read Devil in the White City so I've got the World's Fair fair grounds on my list of things to see.  That book was spooky, but I really enjoyed all of the incredible history.  If you don't scare easily, I'd recommend it.

So we've been researching movers, doctors, houses, preschools, and pretty much everything else you can think of.  We're moving at the end of June so I will be about 30 weeks pregnant.  It is a lot to deal with right now, but a few months of stress is completely worth years of comfortable living.

Wish us luck!

Apple of My Eye

Millie figured out how to look at all of our old pictures on the iPad and she's chosen a few favorites of herself.  She loves this one, and comments on how "yucky" it is every time.

I am about one week from when I had Millie, so naturally I've been thinking about her as a tiny infant a lot.  She was so sweet.  I try not to think about how painful everything must have been for her but this morning I couldn't help it.  I was thinking about how much I wanted to hear her cry.  We waited months to hear that very soft voice (which is not the case anymore, thankfully).  I don't know what it feels like to be intubated and have a feeding tube, but I can imagine being in that situation for months must have been painful.  Because she was intubated she couldn't cry out loud, and even when it came out her throat and vocal chords weren't strong so her cries were so soft.  I complained as much as I could about my catheter and I only had it for a few days.  Although pregnancy is uncomfortable, and I often feel like it is more than I can handle I am so thankful for every day I am still pregnant and able to keep this sweet boy safe and comfortable.

But really this post is about Millie.  Y'all hear enough about my pregnancy.  Millie is still the apple of my eye.  She wears me out and pushes my buttons, but even when she runs away from me at the store and I finally catch her, get down at her level and tell her "no, no" all she has to do is grin from ear to ear and all is forgiven.  It's frustrating doing things with a toddler, but so magical at the same time.  She touches everything she sees and comments constantly.  She never hesitates to tell someone "hello."  It doesn't matter if it is someone with very few teeth, a little child, or a sweet looking grandma, they all get "hello" from her.

I think she is incredible.  I know we have friends her age that surpass her abilities in certain areas, but I still want to share with you what she can do because I think she is the smartest 2 1/2 year old out there.  She knows all of the letters (uppercase and most lowercase), recognizes numbers 1-9 and can count but not quite to 10 yet, loves to point out shapes (circle, heart, triangle), is starting to talk in sentences and loves to sing.

Oh my, this girl loves to sing.  She sings to every TV show we watch, knows pretty much the whole Primary Colors: Insideout a Cappella CD, loves Adele (which can be embarrassing when she tries to get me to sing along with her in the grocery store...just in the car Millie, come on), and makes up words to the hymns at church.  She also claps and cheers after the hymns at church, which is not something our church does.  Buck and I do not have any musical talents, so for now I'm day dreaming of slumber parties with this girl that involve a great karaoke set up, Mr. Roboto and Dancing Queen.

At night when we put her to bed she says "bye" to everything we pass.  "Bye kitchen, bye TV, bye bunny," etc.  It's really adorable when she tells her shoes bye.  We have to pry kisses out of her just before bed, but then she insists on hugs which we love.  After she's hugged us she (completely on her own) hugs and kisses herself.  That melts my heart and makes me feel like we're doing something right.  Loving yourself is so important.

It's hard to capture Millie in words, but I tried.  Guess you'll have to come see her for yourself.  Oh, and I'm sorry I don't have any news to share about Buck's next job.  I will pass it on as soon as I can.