Wigs and Wine

Since I moved to Chicagoland nearly two years ago, I've developed a really great group of girlfriends that have made my transition here so much easier. We all work at the College in some form of student development, and we've been in a Bible study together these last two years. When you work with college students, you never know what kind of funny, crazy, confusing, frustrating, rewarding scenarios you will have with students. So it has been so great to work with such a fantastic group of colleagues that I can call dear friends. We've been a great support sytstem for one another, both professionally and personally - we've celebrated 30th birthdays, new babies, and now an enagagement! Our friend Dee, who was the one who originally rallied us all together for a Bible study and has hosted it these past two years, is engaged and will be married in a few short weeks. So exciting! But she's moving on from her job here at the College - her soon-to-be husband is a military chaplain and they don't know yet where they are heading but likely it won't be in this area. 

So we decided to host a "Wigs and Wine" shower to celebrate Dee and send her off with a bang. It was a blast! How can it not be fun when you're all wearing crazy colored wigs and sipping on wine?

This is me and my friend, Mindy - we both work together in the same office.

The lady of the hour on the far left, opening her gifts. Note the amazing Marge wig in this photo!

I totally want to borrow the afro wig sometime.

Kristy and I are sporting the Blue Bob wigs, wicked right?

One of our friends actually ordered a "normal" looking wig from ebay, and we all felt like country music stars in this wig. I could pull that off, right? I am from a farm town, you know.

And the lovely Hannah...

At the end of the night we all just started trying on everyone else's wigs. My recommendation to anyone reading this is to find some reason in your life to have a Wigs and Wine party. Because trying on these crazy wigs was too much fun. This is my soon-to-be-married friend Dee. Congrats Dee!

I am so grateful to have such a fun and supportive group of co-workers and friends. Really, my job is 10 times better because of these people!

4 months, baby yoga, & mother's day

As I write this post my eyes are nodding off because I am severely sleep deprived. A nasty spring cold hit our household, starting with me, then Madeline, then James. Poor little Madeline is quite stuffy, and that has meant she has woken up crying an average of 7-10 times/night the last 9 or 10 days. Ugh. So all that to be said, this post is going to be random. Ready? Here we go.

So my baby girl is 4 months old, and our 4 month photo shoot was less than easy. I got one smile out of her. Here it is:

 Still pretty cute, right? But she's getting to be a big girl now, and not quite content to just sit and smile for the camera. She's a mover and a shaker, for goodness sake! So as you can see in the pic below, I was trying to keep her from rolling over and she wasn't having it.

 She decided that if she was going to have to stay on her back, she could at least have fun with her puppy.

And having fun for Madeline means eating whatever she can get her hands on. 

 After chewing her puppy, she tossed him to the side...

And got back to the business of rolling. Because that is what 4 month olds do.

 Okay Madeline, I see how it is. Monthly onesie photo shoots are going to be tough from here on out, huh?

One new trick Madeline has learned in her 4th month is to eat her foot. How many of you can do that? It takes some real stretching capabilities.

The one foot in the mouth trick has progressed to two...here she is doing her little yoga pretzel. I'm sure she'll surpass me in yoga abilities any day now.

 We are also realizing that Madeline is much more attuned to her surroundings now, which is good and bad. It makes it even more fun to interact with her, and to watch her respond to her environment. But it means we can't quite schlep her around anywhere and expect her to sleep through it anymore. So we've been trying to have a better naptime routine for her, which involves wrapping her up tight so her little hands can't pull that pacifier out of her mouth. I snapped these photos one day when she was sleeping away peacefully; that is the quilt that James used as a baby and it's so sweet to think of her using the same quilt as her daddy.

And we just celebrated my first Mother's Day. We were all still feeling a little yucky from our colds on Mother's Day, so we had a lazy morning and then took a picnic to a nearby park and lake which was lovely. It was a perfect day - mid 70's, very mild breeze, and abundant sunshine. 

 Augustine says that to have children is to populate the heavenly city. As I was reflecting on my first Mother's Day, I really felt like having Madeline has been like having a slice of heaven here on earth. She is such a wonder to both James and me!