Chicago 2013

Weekend recap, one fantastic, one plain awful, one fantastic.

First up is our weekend trip to Chicago - I had a conference at a downtown hotel and coincidentally Luke had a Movember gig with the Flavor Savers.  We had an uneventful flight Friday morning - C is a great traveler.  Once ensconced at the hotel, Luke left to rehearse and I did not see him again until 3 am on Sunday... leaving C and me in the hotel room until my parents and Elise arrived at dinnertime.  Unfortunately it was way too cold to go for a walk so she and I were cooped up all day.

Crawling around

 

Pulling everything off every surface

Taking unwelcome selfies

 

Looking at cold cold Michigan Avenue

Crawling into the undercarriage of the stroller, getting stuck, shrieking

Playing with Pringles can because Mommy forgot toys [which she would have ignored anyway]

At long last my family arrived and we had a delicious dinner at the hotel restaurant.  That night -- BE JEALOUS, PARENTS OF YOUNG CHILDREN - my parents kept C in their room so I could sleep.  And I did, the dark-cozy-uninterrupted hotel room sleep of a very tired person.  It was so good.  Off to the conference in the morning, which was fantastic and lasted until Monday afternoon.  I saw my friend Michelle, met pathologists from San Antonio and a bunch of other great folks.

Another marvelous holiday scheduling coincidence was Mike and Eric's holiday party on Saturday night.  After the conclusion of courses for the day, I raced upstairs, changed, and we drove out to Elgin.  Unfortunately, like the rest of this whirlwind weekend I don't have great photos.  So great to see them and their girls!  Another coincidence is that Eric did a rotation in my dad's office in medical school, so not many introductions were needed.

Picasa sometimes makes gifs all on its own, and I always like them.

My parents kept C again on Saturday so I again slept deeply, so deeply, until Luke arrived at the hotel.  He collected C in the morning for his turn at trapped-in-hotel-room-with-baby and my parents and Elise were off.  BUT THEN!!!  Pat and John arrived from Michigan!  For each having a full schedule we managed to spend time with a bunch of people.  Pat and John and I caught up during some conference downtime.  Then they drove back to Michigan and Luke and C were asleep by the conclusion of the conference keynote address and drinks afterward [this to say that I saw Luke for about 4 hours the entire weekend].  Monday afternoon C and I waited for hours and hours at the airport for our flight home - a very long day of travel.  Luke stayed in Chicago, played a show in Burlington, Wisconsin, and returned home Wednesday.

After that hectic weekend we were looking forward to relaxing together the next weekend.  Things took a turn when C started throwing up early Friday morning.  Luke kept her home from daycare and she seemed to be fine.  Weekend back on track.  After work on Friday I swung by Central Market for weekend-at-home supplies - ingredients for this soup, high quality cheese for deluxe grilled cheeses, orange sherbet (a prescient purchase as it turns out).  Friday night was relaxing.

The first sign of trouble was Luke's passing on the buttermilk waffles I made Saturday morning.  By 10 am he had thrown up once and by 2 had taken up permanent residence on the bathroom floor.  Cue soundtrack of grunting, groaning, muttering, and bargaining aloud with the gods of emesis for mercy.  It was very, very ugly.  By late afternoon his face was blotchy with broken blood vessels, he was spent, and the nausea showed no signs of letting up.  I called the Browns and they graciously took Luke to the ER where he was seen promptly, given anti-nausea medication, and a bag of IV fluids.  He felt much improved, still sore and worn out, and I picked him up.  We arrived home, I got out of the car, promptly sank to my knees, and crawled around vomiting in our driveway.  Luke's time to be sick was over, and it was my turn.  Fortunately, however, we now had his discharge Zofran on hand, and that was able to keep further vomiting at bay.  Saturday night passed, and our Sunday consisting of lying catatonic watching hours and hours of Sopranos episodes while eating orange sherbet (the only thing that tasted good) with C exiled to the pack and play.

By Monday I was completely restored and by mid-week Luke felt back to normal.  So THIS weekend we were really looking forward to relaxing, and it was grand.  I took a business trip to Oklahoma Thursday and Friday (Thursday night another blissful solo hotel room slumber session from 7:30 pm to 7:30 am ommmmmmm), Saturday C and I had brunch while Luke slept in, spent the evening at a fabulous holiday party at our new friends' house, and Sunday did a whole bunch of nothing -- C obliged me while napping in the stroller while I read the NYT at Central Market (yes, I go to the grocery store to hang out).  Plus some cooking.  There will probably be some Sopranos later.


quizzical brunch buddy at Twin Sisters



Noontime stroller nap

Happy holidays, everybody!